Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/232

 MUNDE

Germany, serving in 1S6G as assistant surgeon in the Bavari;ui Army in the war between Prussia and Austria and gaining the medal of honor for services to the wounded. Tliree years followed as resident i)liysician at the Maternity Hospital in Wiu'zburg as assistant to Prof. Scaiizoiii whose gynecological work undoubtedly turned young Munde towards that specialty.

In 1870 the war flame was again lighted in Europe and this time, as battalion lieutenant-surgeon, Mund6 served in the Bavarian ranks for Prussia against the French. In the siege of Paris, while away at headquarters, he was told his field hospital was on fire. He rode back to find two inmates in the top story had been cut oflf by the flames. Instantly he rushed in and rescued both. For this the Emperor William gave him the iron cross. Such was the receiver's innate modesty that I never knew of this or the Austrian medal until after his death.

Again the soldier turned student, at Heidelberg, Berlin, and Vienna where he spent nearly two years and took the degree of master of obstetrics in 1871. Later he was in London, Edinburgh and Paris seeking all that was new in gynecol- ogy and obstetrics, and when in 1873 he returned to America he determined, as soon as he could afford it, to devote him- self to these specialties. This same year he married Eleanor Claire Hughes, of New Haven, Connecticut.

In order to occupy his time well while practice came in he, in 1874, took over the editorship of the "American Journal of Obstetrics," and held the position eighteen years. Many of his earlier articles appeared in it and had wide influence in shaping the opnion of the day. When he became secretary to the New York Obstetrical Society he had no official stenographer and rehed on his own notes for the accurate and full accounts published. At that time the society was dominated by master minds — Sims, Peaslee, Emmet, Thomas, Jacobi and others. Mund^ was rather in ad-

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vance of his own set and bridged the gulf between the old and the new. The surgical spirit of the times led him early to surgery and I well remember his first laparotomy (1877), an ovariotomy, of course. He did first what was then con- sidered indispensal)le — drew off some of the fluid for examination, using a needle, probably far from aseptic, and an old stomach pump, the modern aspirator and antiseptic surgery being then unknown. There was a necessarily fatal result when the tumor was removed but his next case was a success. His next appointment was as assistant surgeon to the Woman's Hospital under Dr. Fordyce Barker, but tliis did not give him enough surgery. He found more when he became gynecol- ogist in 1881 to the Mount Sinai Out-door Department where most of his surgical work was done. When the American (jynecological Society was formed in 1876, he was successively treasurer, vice- president and president. Other honors came upon him. He was president of the New York Obstetrical Society; vice-presi- dent of the British Gynecological Society; member of the German Gjmecological Society; consulting gynecologist to the St. Elizabeth Hospital, and to the Italian Hospital.

Munde's valuable literary contribu- tions comprise more than 100 articles on gynecologic and obstetric subjects cover- ing a period of thirty years. His book, "Minor Surgical Gynecology," 1880, had a second edition in 1885. His "Diagno- sis and Treatment of Obstetric Cases by External Examination and Manipula- tion" came out in 1880; his last and greatest work was the re-writing and editing of "A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Women " by Gaillard Thomas. The articles of which a full list is given by me in the "Transactions of the American Gynecological Society," 1902, vol. xxvii, under his name, included:

"The Diagnosis and Treatment of Obscure Pelvic Abscess in Women, etc.," 1880.

"The Curability of Uterine Displace- ments," 1881.