Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 2009

ALEXANDER JOHNSTON CHALMERS SKENE (1837-1900) The anatomy and pathology of two important glands of the female urethra. W. Wood 1880 8 pp., plate (part col.). 22.6 cm.

Skene was born near Aberdeen in Scotland and received his early education at King's College. He came to America when he was nineteen and a few years later began the study of medicine. Skene studied at Toronto, the University of Michigan, and graduated from Long Island College Hospital in 1863. Army service occupied him for a year following medical school and in 1864 he entered private practice in Brooklyn. By 1870 Skene had decided to specialize in gynecology and not long after he was appointed professor of the specialty at his alma mater. He served the Long Island College Hospital as teacher, operator, as dean from 1886 to 1893, and president from that time until his death. He was consultant to various other hospitals and dispensaries and was a founding member and tenth president of the American Gynecological Society. In addition to his many scientific articles and books, Skene designed and fabricated a number of surgical instruments; however, his major contribution was the rediscovery of the paraurethral glands. He described what he considered to be a new discovery in this reprint from the American journal of obstetrics and diseases of women and children (Vol. 13 (April 1880), no. 2). In actuality, the paraurethral glands were first described by Graaf in 1672 and reported in De mulierum organis (see No. 638). However, until Skene's work, knowledge of the glands' existence had lain in quiet oblivion. Skene described the circumstances that led to his discovery, gave a very clear description of the glands, and correctly identified gonorrheal inflammation as their most important pathological condition. He undertook numerous clinical studies of the glands that are now identified with his name but stated that "I know nothing about the physiology of these glands" (p. 5).

See Related Record(s): 638

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 1225

Gift of John Martin, M.D.