37 debates

Debates

Where the sources disagree, each position is set out with its own sources, followed by the evidence and where the question stands now.

Prologue A Stone in a Jar

How old was the El Amrah stone? disputed

4800 BC, or more than 7,000 years / Predynastic on the modern chronology
What was the El Amrah stone made of? disputed

Calcium phosphate and uric acid / Pure uric acid

What does the Hippocratic Oath's stone clause forbid? disputed

A narrow ban: leave lithotomy to its practitioners / A wider renunciation of the knife
Why was Ammonius called Lithotomos? disputed

For the process / For the instrument

When did Theophilus write De urinis? disputed

Seventh century / Ninth century
Could the urine flask diagnose disease?

The flask as the physician's central test / Critics: no disease from urine alone
Did the Royal College of Physicians of London forbid judgment by urine alone? disputed

A statute of Thomas Linacre / A College ruling of 1555

Did Wöhler's urea synthesis end vitalism? disputed

Yes: the founding blow / No: vitalism lingered
How does the kidney make urine: secretion or filtration?

Secretion by the tubule / Filtration, then reabsorption / Both: filtration, reabsorption and secretion

Who was de Romanis, and when was the Marian method first published? disputed

Joannes de Romanis; first published 1522 / Franciscus de Romanis of Cremona; set out in 1535
Franco's high operation: when, and on whom? disputed

1556 / 1561 / A child of ten
How badly did Frère Jacques do in Paris? disputed

About 60 cut, 25 died / 71 operated, 53.5 per cent died
When did Frère Jacques die? disputed

1714 / 1719 / 1720
When did Cheselden start the lateral operation? disputed

1727 / Gradually, from August 1725
Where in Mrs Turner's house was Pepys cut? disputed

A bedroom / The kitchen
How big was Pepys's bladder stone? disputed

As big as a tennis ball / About two inches across / The comparison is unsupported

When did Civiale first crush a stone in a living patient? disputed

January 1824 / 23 January 1823
How many died after cutting, and how many after crushing? Civiale's figures disputed

Herr 2009 / Belinaye 1837, as cited by Mazur 2014 / English Wikipedia
Can pooled numbers judge an operation? The 1835 report on Civiale's statistics

Civiale: the numbers favour crushing / The commission: large numbers matter, but these are not comparable / Double: counting does not belong in medicine / Poisson: the objection fails / Risueño d'Amador (1837): large numbers cannot judge the art
On which day was Napoleon III's second lithotrity? disputed

7 January 1873 / 6 January 1873

What did the Vienna medical faculty say about Bozzini's Lichtleiter, and why? disputed

'A mere toy': the faculty's recorded verdict / 'A magic lantern in the human body': the 1876 account / Rivalry and intrigue rather than a judgement on the instrument
Was Bozzini's Lichtleiter forgotten after Vienna, or only neglected? probable

A half-century eclipse / Neglected, but in use
Who made the first practical cystoscope: Nitze or Leiter?

Nitze: the conception and the method / Leiter: the working instrument / Neither was first with light inside the body
Would X-rays help or hinder renal surgery? Henry Morris and the early radiographers probable

Morris: exploration remains the surer diagnosis / The radiographers: use it, and check it at operation
Who discovered intravenous urography? Swick, von Lichtenberg, Lichtwitz and the chemists

Swick: the urographic use / Von Lichtenberg: the clinic and the platform / The chemists: Binz and Räth

Did Herophilus name the prostate? disputed

Herophilus named it / His word meant something else / The name is Renaissance
Who devised suprapubic prostatectomy: McGill, Fuller or Freyer? disputed

McGill, Leeds, 1887 / Fuller, New York, 1895 / Freyer, London, 1900 to 1901
Does testosterone feed prostate cancer? disputed

Androgen dependence (Huggins, 1941) / Caution from the start / Morgentaler's reading
Nerve-sparing prostatectomy: an American or a European discovery? probable

Walsh's clue and operation / Donker's anatomy
Who discovered prostate-specific antigen? disputed

Ablin, 1970 / Hara, 1971 / Wang, 1979
Does PSA screening save lives? disputed

Yes: ERSPC / No clear benefit: PLCO / Against routine screening (USPSTF 2012) / An individual decision (USPSTF 2018) / A test that does harm

Who invented the Foley catheter? probable

Foley / Raiche
Is robotic prostatectomy better than open surgery? probable

The first minimally invasive results were poor / Adoption outran the evidence / Programmes built around the robot