Alexander Skene

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Portrait photography by Alexander Johnston Chalmers Skene

Alexander Johnston Chalmers Skene (born June 17, 1837 in Fyvie ( Scotland ), † July 4, 1900 in Catskill ( New York) ) was a Scottish - British - American gynecologist and university professor.

Live and act

Skene first went to school in Aberdeen , then at the age of 19, in 1857, he moved to North America. He studied medicine at King's College (now the University of Toronto ), then he moved to the University of Michigan , and finally, from 1863, practiced as a doctor at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. From July 1863 to June 1864 he was an assistant surgeon in the US Army during the Civil War , after which he entered a private practice in Brooklyn and became Professor of Diseases of Women at Long Island College Hospital , Professor of Diseases of Women and Clinical Obstetrics (from 1870 until 1899). There he took the position of President of Long Island College Hospital (Downstate's predecessor institution) (from 1893 to 1899). In 1884, accepted an appointment as professor of gynecology at the postgraduate medical school in New York and was president of the American Gynecological Society .

Skene wrote five monographs or textbooks and over 100 medical articles and several textbooks, he contributed to the development of a variety of surgical instruments and improved several surgical techniques. Skene performed the first successful gastro-elytrotomy (see Caesarean section ) recorded, and he also performed the craniotomy of the fetal skull with the Sims speculum. Because in desperate cases in which the child's skull could not pass the woman's bony pelvis at birth, this method, already described by Hippocrates , was used well into the 18th century. The aim of the intervention was to reduce the size of the child's skull. Before the introduction of the caesarean section, this was the only way to save the life of the mother (if not the child) in the cases described . He worked at times with the American gynecologist James Marion Sims (1813-1883) from Montgomery (Alabama) . He is primarily remembered for his description of the Skene's glands, which are located at the bottom of the urethra , in the periurethral connective tissue. An infection that occurs there is named after him as Skenitis .

Sims speculum

As a sculptor, Skene created a bust of J. Marion Sims, which is on display in the lobby of the Kings County Medical Society. A bust honoring him can be found in Prospect Park Plaza (also known as Grand Army Plaza). This statue was moved in 2011 to house a statue of Abraham Lincoln, a former US president.

Skene died of acute coronary syndrome on July 4, 1900 at his summer home in Catskills, New York . He was buried in Rockland Cemetery in Sparkill, New York. Skene left behind a son, Jonathan Bowers and his Belgian born wife, Annette WL Van der Wegen.

Works (selection)

  • Uro-Cystic and Urethral Diseases in Women. New York 1877.
  • Treatise on Diseases of Women, for the Use of Students and Practitioners. (1888).
Memorial of Skene at Grand Army Plaza in New York City .
  • Report on the physical character and resources of Gippsland. R Brough Smyth, Victoria / J. Ferres, Melbourne 1874.
  • The relation of medical societies to progress in science. Inaugural address of the president of the Medical Society of the County of Kings, New York, June 16, 1874. Rome Brothers, Brooklyn 1874.
  • Diseases of the bladder and urethra in women. W. Wood and company, New York 1878.
  • The anatomy and pathology of two important glands of the female urethra. William Wood & Co., New York 1880.
  • Relation of the ovaries to the brain and nervous system. Wood, New York 1881.
  • The practice of gynecology in institutions designed for that purpose. [sn], New York 1883.
  • Education and culture: as related to the health and disease of women. George S. Davis, Detroit 1889.
  • Treatise on the diseases of women, for the use of students and practitioners. Appleton, New York 1889.
  • Intraligamentous ovarian cystomata. Trow's print. and Bookbinding, New York 1890.
  • Treatise on the diseases of women: for the use of student and practitioners. D. Appleton and Company, New York 1890.
  • Notes on modern methods of closing wounds and controlling bleeding vessels. [sn] New York 1891.
  • Pathology and treatment of injuries of the pelvic floor, with special reference to subcutaneous lacerations of the levator ani and transversus perinaei muscles and the formation of rectocele. Stuyvesant Press, New York 1893.
  • Senile endometritis. [sn], New York 1894.
  • Medical gynecology: a treatise on the diseases of women from the standpoint of the physician. D. Appleton and Co., New York 1895.
  • A singular case of patency of a Gartners duct. Publishers' Print. Co., New York 1896.
  • Electro-cautery as a haemostatic. Appleton, New York 1897.
  • Notes on the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the female urinary organs. Wood, New York 1897.
  • Electro-hæmostasis in operative surgery. D. Appleton and company, New York 1899. (online)
  • The status of gynecology in 1876 and 1900. Lea Bros. & Co., Philadelphie 1900.
  • Notes on the galvano-cautery in the treatment of urethral and vesical diseases. [sn, New York? 1892?].
  • Treatment before and after laparotomy. [sn, New York? 1892?].

literature

  • LC Chesley: The evolution of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Downstate (1860-1980). 1981.
  • Louis M. Hellman: Memorable Medical Mentors: VII. In: Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey. 59 (11), 2004, pp. 747-753.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Further photography by A. Skene, sciencephoto.com
  2. ↑ Ed. MacDougall: Scots and Scots' Descendants in America. Reprint, Genealogical Publishing Com, Baltimore (Maryland) 2009, ISBN 978-0-8063-5073-8 , pp. 75-76.
  3. ^ History of Skene Memorial Library
  4. ^ V. Lehmann: Der Kayserliche Schnitt: the story of an operation. Schattauer Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-7945-2494-2 , pp. 89ff. (on-line)
  5. ↑ Alexander JC Skene: The anatomy and pathology of two important glands of the female urethra. William Wood & Co, New York 1880. (online)
personal data
SURNAME Skene, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Skene, Alexander Johnston Chalmers
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish-British-North American doctor and gynecologist, university professor
DATE OF BIRTH June 17, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Fyvie
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 1900
Place of death Catskill