the steam engine and the gas enginer. In these inventions one man simply added to what other men had done. Sims was the sole discoverer of the speculum and the operating technique for closing a vesico-vaginal fistula. These and his book, Notes on Uterine Surgery, revolutionized the practice of gynecology the world over, and have saved hundreds of thousands of women from the living hell resulting from certain wounds incidental to childbirth.