Cholecystotomy for the relief of the distention of the gall-bladder from obstruction of the common or cystic duct and for the removal of gall-stones was first performed in 1867 by Bobbs of Indianapolis, but it is to Marion Sims, in 1878, that perfection of the operation is due.

It has been gradually improved and developed, until today it is a most successful operation.
Tait reports 54 cases with 52 perfect recoveries.

Cholyecystectomy, or excision of the gall-bladder, was first practiced in 1880 by Langenbuch of Berlin, and is used in cases in which gall-stones are repeatedly forming.

Ashhurst's statistics show only four deaths in 28 cases.
At St.Bartholomew's Hospital, in London, is a preserved specimen of a gall-bladder which had formed the contents of a hernial sac, and which, near the fundus, shows a constriction caused by the femoral ring.

It was taken from a woman of forty-five who was admitted into the hospital with a strangulated femoral hernia.