ABSTRACT
The years from the 1860s to the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 saw an extraordinary burgeoning of surgery. By the beginning of the 20th century, gall bladder surgery was becoming a routine procedure. Undoubtedly, the Frank Thomas Paul–Johannes von Mikulicz operation represented a considerable advance in making colonic surgery safe. Paul had a career that was typical of the surgeons of his era, who commenced their work in pre-Listerian days and went on to experience the almost miraculous differences produced by antiseptic and aseptic methods. Berkeley Moynihan was created as Baron Moynihan of Leeds in 1929 when, until then, the only other surgeon to have been elevated to the peerage was Joseph Lister. Perforation of a gastric or duodenal ulcer into the peritoneal cavity gives rise to sudden severe symptoms and usually leads to fatal peritonitis unless the perforation is closed.
