“… a ligature was passed round the pediclesof polypi too formidable for scissors or for torsion, and tightened from time to time till the mass sloughed away;  but that day has gone by, never to return…as it is a dangerous operation, resulting not infrequently in pyaemia and death , which seldom indeed happens when the ecraseur is used.”   Marion Sims - Uterine surgery 1858.