Shepherd on relationship of gynecological to general abdominal surgery

“It should be recalled that many of the ‘firsts’ of abdominal operations were achieved when a confident diagnosis of ovarian cyst had been made but at operation a courageous surgeon dealt with something quite unexpected (e.g., removal of uterus on discovery of a uterine tumor, cholecystostomy [drainage of diseased gall bladder], splenectomy)” (Shepherd, 43).