1813-1883

American gynecologist and surgeon who introduced silver sutures in the 1850s to reduce the risk of infection, improved or originated several complicated gynecological operations, pioneered treatments for infertility, modified the vaginal speculum, and reformed the techniques of gynecological examination. A southerner and a Confederate sympathizer, he voluntarily spent the American Civil War in England and France, where he wrote his most influential work, Clinical Notes on Uterine Surgery (1866).