n the century before Queen Victoria the uses of the technical term inversion were largely confined to fields such as Mathematics; Geology and the folding of rock strata.
In medicine and physiology it describes a variety of complex anatomical abnormalities, which were especially well-researched by German medical men. This state of affairs continued to the 1880s, by which time psychological and specifically psychopathological and psycho-sexual studies had advanced sufficiently to bestow upon the term a new and dynamic meaning, albeit a controversial one. Development is here shown in the following brief timeline. See also The Lingua-Franca of Nineteenth-Century Medical Psychology.
1868. Bartels, Maximilian Carl August. Ueber die Bauchblasengenitalspalte, einen bestimmten Grad der Soggenanten Inversion der Harnblase. (On the abdominal-bladder genital cleft, a certain degree of so-called Inversion of the bladder). Anatomy brochure, pp. 165-206. 1 lith. Berlin: Tafel.
1873. Drubinowitsch, B. Inversion d. Uterus durch Tumoren. (Inversion of the Uterus by Tumours).
1875. Dausman, H.L. Über die Inversion d. Uterus. (On the Inversion of the Uterus). German publ.
1879. Wing, Clifton. A Case of Complete Inversion of the Uterus. Suffolk District Medical Society.
Last Modified 10 February 2021