The Necessary Evil (1899) features Dr. Armand Caresco, a conscienceless surgeon carrying out medical experiments. Caresco sees himself as an intellectual superman whose discoveries might enable humankind to take a leap forward. This daring book dared to broach such shocking topics as the methodology and occasional necessity of hysterectomies. Andr Couvreur (1863-1944), himself a medical doctor, depicts Caresco's surgical exploits in an explicit,...