Ohitnarg. 
GUST AY SIMON. (Dbifaapg. 
GUSTAV SIMON. 
Reprinted from The American Journal op Obstetrics, January 1st, 1877. (Miftiarg. 
GUSTAV SIMON. 
Professor Gustav Simon was born at Darmstadt on the 30th 
of May, 1824. He was educated at Heidelberg and Giessen, 
taking his medical degree at Giessen. He then accepted the 
position of military surgeon at Darmstadt. While here, he 
visited Vienna, Paris, and London for scientific observation. 
In 1861 he was called to Rostock, where he became professor of 
clinical surgery and director of the hospital. In 1867 he 
was chosen professor of clinical surgery in the University of 
Heidelberg, which he retained till the day of his death. He 
was repeatedly invited to other universities, but preferred to 
remain at Heidelberg. In 1866 he was director of the Military 
Hospital at Moabit near Berlin. In the late Franco-Prussian 
war he was surgeon-general of the Reserve Barracks of the 
Grand Duchy of Baden. 
In 1851 he published his first treatise on “ Gunshot Wounds,” 
containing the results of experimental researches, with original 
views on the subject. 
In 1854 he published a “ Description of the Operation for 
Vesico-vaginal Fistula.” In 1862 he published more extended 
observations on the same subject. And the last paper he wrote 
was on vesico-vaginal fistula, published only a few weeks before 
his death. 
In 1868 appeared his “ Communications from the Surgical 
Clinic of Rostock.” They contain a long series of original 4 
observations, with some “ Hew Methods of Operating in Cases 
of Incurable Fistulse,” also “ Double Puncture and Subsequent 
Incision in Cases of Abdominal Echinococcus and Hydro-ne- 
phrosis,” “ The Pendulum Method for the Reduction of Dis- 
located Humerus,” “ Kolporaphia Posterior for the Cure of Pro- 
lapsus Uteri,” “ Operation for Ruptured Perineum,” “ Con- 
tributions to Plastic Operations of the Face, Vagina, and 
Rectum,” “ Hare-lip and Cleft-palate,” “ On Covering Ampu- 
tation and Resection Wounds with Diseased and Perforated Skin 
Flaps,” “ Treatment of Malignant Disease of the Vagina, 
Bladder, and Rectum by the Curette, and the Methods of Ex 
posing them sufficiently to View by Using the Sims’ Speculum 
for the Vagina and Rectum.” 
Among his last contributions to surgical science is his 
“ Method of Rendering the Female Urinary Bladder 
and on Probing the Ureter in Women,” a paper which, in the 
short space of six months, has appeared in four different lan- 
guages. His “ Manual Palpation of the Rectum, etc.,” is now 
known and adopted by the profession all over the world. He 
finished the second part of his great work, on “ The Surgery of 
the Kidneys,” but a few days before his death. The third and 
last part will be laid before the profession in an unfinished 
state. 
Until the last day of his life, he was busily occupied with 
the arduous duties of his profession. 
The foregoing resume of Prof. Simon’s labors was furnished 
by his friend and pupil Dr. A. C. Bernays, of St. Louis, Mo., 
now in Heidelberg. 
When in Europe, last summer, I made a visit from Paris to 
Germany especially to see Ivoeberle at Strassburg, and Simon 
at Heidelberg. At Baden, I telegraphed to Simon, to know if 
he was at home, and received as answer : “ Yes. Very ill, but 
most happy to see you.” Arriving late, I went to see him at 
9 p. m. He was in bed, and received me most cordially. I 5 
remained but a short time, but in ten minutes he arranged a 
day’s work, to begin at 9 the next morning. On my arrival, 
next morning, I found several young doctors and many patients 
in the ante-chamber. Simon gave me a real clinical lecture 
for more than three hours, illustrating his method of operat- 
ing for vesico-vaginal fistula, lacerated perineum, for exploring 
the female bladder, probing the ureters, and for exploring the 
abdominal cavity by passing the hand into the rectum. 
It was a hard day’s work for a man in good health. But he 
did not seem to think of himself for a moment. He was 
wholly absorbed by the pursuit of science for the relief of 
humanity. His genius, learning, industry, and skill are known 
and recognized by the profession everywhere; and we call him 
great. But his qualities as a man could only be realized by 
personal contact. His earnestness and enthusiasm, his sincerity 
and honesty, his generosity and kindness of heart, impressed 
all with the conviction that he was one of the best of men. 
I spoke to him of his health. He supposed he had em- 
physema, with some congestion of the lungs. He was not 
.aware of his real condition, though it was well understood by 
his friends. 
The propriety of withholding from such a man the gravity of 
his disease seems to me questionable. 
He died on the twenty-seventh of August last, of an acute 
attack of oedema of the lungs, caused by an immense aneurism 
of the pars descendens of the thoracic aorta, which had greatly 
compressed the lower half of the left lung and pulmonary 
veins. The circumstances of his death are curious and inter- 
esting. One of his favorite assistants, Dr. Bernays, called, on 
the morning of the 27th, to read to him the translation of his 
paper on vesico-vaginal fistula, which lie wished to see pub- 
lished in America. He expressed himself as well pleased, 
and Bernays was about to leave, when Simon, who was in bed, 
called him back, and said: “ Don’t forget to send my needle- 6 
holder and some needles to Mr. Marion Sims, and tell him 1 
shall go to the Congress of Gynecologists'in America if my 
health improves.” 
This was but twelve hours before his death. 
At 4 p. m. Dr. Braun, his first assistant, called to report 
the condition of patients whose after-treatment he was con- 
ducting in the hospital for Simon. Simon gave him instruc- 
tions about having some important cases ready for operation at 
11 the next morning. Dr. Braun left at 6 r. m., and he had 
passed but a few steps from the villa, when Simon was taken 
suddenly with dyspnoea. He raised himself up in bed, ordered 
some one to open the window and call Dr. Braun, who hur- 
riedly returned, expecting to find his friend and teacher dead. 
Simon requested him to call a carriage and go for his tracheotomy 
instruments as soon as possible. Braun obeyed, and returned 
in twenty minutes with Dr. Ilaek. Simon now said: “ Operate 
quickly; perform high tracheotomy.” He refused to take an 
anaesthetic. Dr. Braun operated as quickly as possible. The 
veins of the neck were greatly distended, and there was con- 
sequently some trouble. Simon still hurried him on. There 
was a good deal of venous hemorrhage, which had to be con- 
trolled before the canula could be introduced. 
Prof. Simon then said he felt easier, and breathed freer. 
His pulse kept up till 10 o’clock, when there was a sudden 
collapse, and he died about midnight. And thus passed away 
one of the great lights of medicine. 
The name of Simon was as well known and as highly hon- 
ored among us as in his own fatherland. Science knows no 
boundaries. It is cosmopolitan, and its votaries all over 
the world are linked together in a common brotherhood. The 
success of one is the glory of all. The loss of one is a loss to 
all. Had Simon been an American, we could not have felt his 
death more keenly, nor mourned him more sincerely. 
For a quarter of a century lie lias been prominently before 7 
the profession, and always as tlie standard-bearer of an onward 
movement. Ilis name is the synonym of progress, and his 
fame will endure for ages. 
J. M. S.