Journal of Medical Biography recent issues

Diagnostic reappraisal of disease in famous persons

Goldman, A. S, Schmalstieg, F. C — 2009-09-01

Book-collecting for medical biographers

Nieman, E. — 2009-09-01

Edgar Haydon (1859-1942): general practitioner and radium pioneer

Guy, J. M — 2009-09-01

Edgar Haydon was a general practitioner in Newton Abbot, Devon, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He introduced radium therapy to the cottage hospital in this small market town in 1914 at a time when many cities lacked this facility. He raised funds for the building of a cancer wing and an extension to the hospital that were completed in 1927. This paper describes his fund-raising efforts, some of his cases and the way in which radium treatment influenced the number of cancers treated in the hospital. The hospital's records are fragmentary and leave many questions unanswered about the practicalities of radium treatment in those early years.

George N Papanicolaou (1883-1962) MD

Frangos, C. C — 2009-09-01

Thomas Henry Osler (1875-1936): a descendant of Sir William Osler's great-uncle and the founder of a South African medical dynasty

Myers, E. D — 2009-09-01

Sir William Osler's great-uncle Benjamin emigrated from England to South Africa with his wife and children in 1820. From Benjamin's son, Stephen, descended a large family of Oslers including at least seven doctors and dentists. This paper describes the lives and careers of Thomas Henry, and his medical and dental descendants.

Notes and Jottings

2009-09-01

George Guthrie's clinical trial at the Napoleonic War Battle of Toulouse in 1814

Malhan, N. K, Greenslade, T., Mitchell, P. D — 2009-09-01

George James Guthrie (1785-1856) was a British military surgeon who came to prominence during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15). He wrote several books on military surgery and was President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England three times. However, his most innovative and important achievement has largely gone unrecognised by modern historians. In 1814, at the battle of Toulouse in the Peninsular Campaign, he performed a landmark early trial of the treatment of musket wounds to the thigh. Here we not only discuss this clinical trial and place it in its social context, but also present the pathological skeletal specimens of two wounded British soldiers who took part in it.

Venereal disease and the great

James, D G. — 2009-09-01

Jonathan Osborne (1794-1864) MD FRCPI: a crypto-neurologist

Breathnach, C. S — 2009-09-01

Jonathan Osborne was born in Dublin and educated in Trinity College Dublin, where he became Professor of Materia Medica. As physician to Sir Patrick Dun's and Mercer Hospitals he reported extensively on those patients who came under his care. In his native city he is remembered for the instruments he devised, for his studies on dropsies (particularly albuminuric nephritis), and for his therapeutic approach to epilepsy and neuralgia. It is his thorough analysis of a patient with conduction aphasia in 1833, however, which has stood the test of time.

15 Cavendish Square, London

James, D G. — 2009-09-01

Sir Hans Adolf Krebs (1900-81), pioneer of modern medicine, architect of intermediary metabolism

Leigh, F W — 2009-09-01

Krebs was born in Hildesheim (North Germany) and graduated (MD) from the University of Munich in 1923. He was assistant to Otto Warburg (1926–30) who taught tissue slicing and manometry which Krebs used to complete his three great works: The Detoxification of Ammonia (Freiburg im Breisgau 1933), The Degradation of Foods to provide Energy for Life (Sheffield 1937) and Gluconeogenesis (Oxford 1963). He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS) in 1947, Nobel Laureate in 1953 and KBE in 1958.

Guillaume Dupuytren (1777-1835) and his contracture

James, D G. — 2009-09-01

The chemistry of light: the life and work of Theobald Adrian Palm (1848-1928)

Ekpe, J. — 2009-09-01

The chemistry of light examines the work of Dr Theobald Palm. After his graduation from Edinburgh University, Palm joined the Edinburgh medical mission and was sent to Niigata in Japan where he remained for 10 years. During this time he noted the absence of rickets (a disease rife in Britain) in Japanese children and instituted a survey from which he deduced that sunlight deficiency was implicated in the aetiology of rickets. Unfortunately, he was largely ignored by the medical world. This paper seeks to contextualize his work. By placing Palm's study within a historical and social framework, its reception can be explained more easily.

Harley Street addresses and residents

James, D G. — 2009-09-01

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): a classical case of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome?

Koszka, C. — 2009-09-01

Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most influential and profound German philosophers. After prolonged illness, he died at the age of 55 in Weimar, Germany. The interest in his medical biography has always been strong while the cause of his illness and death has remained a mystery, intriguing philosophers as well as physicians. The diagnosis of syphilis proposed in the 19th century has been controversial until today and many other diagnoses have been discussed. This paper suggests that Nietzsche suffered from mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes syndrome.

Alexander's (356-323 BC) expeditionary Medical Corps 334-323 BC

Retsas, S. — 2009-09-01

Alexander had a profound interest in medicine and healing. Original Greek texts survive mainly from the works of Plutarch and Arrian. This paper examines original sources naming the physicians who participated in Alexander's expedition in Asia, the battle injuries he sustained and his final illness in Babylon.

Tuberculosis in the Ottoman harem in the 19th century

Baris, Y I., Hillerdal, G. — 2009-09-01

At least four of the sultans who ruled during the 19th century suffered from tuberculosis (TB), and probably many of the women and children in the harem too. Life there was crowded with low standards of hygiene, resulting in high mortality, especially among children. Infectious diseases were the main killers and TB was one of the many factors behind the decline and fall of the empire.

Waldenstrom's syndromes

James, D G. — 2009-09-01

James Hector (1834-1907): doctor, geologist, explorer of Western Canada

Loosmore, B. — 2009-09-01

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, James Hector joined the Palliser Expedition of 1857 as a doctor and geologist. The objectives of the expedition were to explore the plains of North America along the 49th parallel of latitude, the recently agreed boundary between the USA and Canada, and investigate passes through the Rocky Mountains for possible railway passage. Hector's contribution was immense, his dedication and endurance contributing in large measure to the success of the venture.

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) and his medical legacy

James, D G. — 2009-09-01

Leonard Craske (1878-1950): from medical student to sculptor

Duke, M. — 2009-09-01

Leonard Craske (1878–1950), born and raised in London, England, spent two years as a medical student at St Thomas' Hospital Medical School. Following this, he worked as an actor and studied drawing and sculpting. After emigrating to the USA and settling in Boston, he became an accomplished sculptor, creating the well-known Fishermen's Memorial in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the work for which he is best remembered.

Henry Wellcome (1853-1936) and his institute

James, D G. — 2009-09-01

Medical student Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

Skrziepietz, A. — 2009-09-01

Bertolt Brecht was one of the most important dramatists of the 20th century. At the start of his career he studied literature but switched from the humanities to medicine. This paper discusses reasons for this switch, the influence of his medical experiences on his poetic work and why he eventually abandoned his medical career. His political development towards Marxism is described and a short sketch of his theory of theatre is given. He is considered the most important German-speaking dramatist of the 20th century.

Astley Cooper's herniotome

Kirkup, J. — 2009-09-01

Tropical medicine: an illustrated history of the pioneers

Gibson, M. — 2009-09-01

Maritime Quarantine: The British Experience, ca. 1650-1900

Hardage, J. — 2009-09-01

Essays in Medical Biography

Emery, A. — 2009-09-01

Reading Livingstone

Larner, A J — 2009-04-28

George Higoumenakis (1895-1983): Greek dermatologist

Frangos, C. C, Frangos, C. C — 2009-04-28

This paper describes the Higoumenakis sign, enlargement of the sternal end of the clavicle in patients with late congenital syphilis and the dermatologist after whom it is named. Several professors and doctors from the Medical School of the University of Athens opposed his actions especially at the University in Greece. His persistence led him to productive scientific activity in syphilis, leishmaniasis and psoriasis. He became a member of the Greek Parliament from 1964 to 1967 and eventually Minister of Hygiene – even though this may have been an imprudent political choice, due to the unstable socio-political status of that period. He died on 27 December 1983 at the age of 88.

Dr Lazar Remen (1907-74): a forgotten pioneer in the treatment of myasthenia gravis

Ohry, A. — 2009-04-28

Dr Lazar Remen (1907–74) was the first, in 1932, to describe the beneficial effect of prostigmine on a myasthenia gravis patient. His observation actually preceeded by two years Mary Broadfoot Walker's (1888–1974) paper, which is considered to be the landmark article on this association.

Notes and Jottings

2009-04-28

Natan 'Nikolai' Abramovich Vigdorchik (1874-1954): social activism and public health in early 20th-century Russia

Sharp, D. S, Tauger, M. B — 2009-04-28

Virtually unknown in the West, the physician Nikolai Vigdorchik is recognized in Russian-Soviet history for his role in introducing social security into Russia. He rose from Jewish working-class origins to a career that combined activism in labour rights and public health with extensive and path-breaking publications in social security, occupational safety and public health. He contributed more than 30 years of leadership to Soviet research and educational institutions devoted to occupational safety and health. Vigdorchik's 1935 publication on lead and hypertension is illustrative of his contribution to modern epidemiological methods, describing a statistical bias in the study of hospitalized patients. It predates by 11 years Joseph Berkson's paper, after whom the bias is named. Vigdorchik's life illustrates a modern-day conundrum: social activism comes with political cost – by virtue of its evidence-based orientation, public health science is safer but both are necessary to move a culture towards health and stability.

John Aitken's chain saw

Kirkup, J. — 2009-04-28

Alfred Francois Donne (1801-78): a pioneer of microscopy, microbiology and haematology

Diamantis, A., Magiorkinis, E., Androutsos, G. — 2009-04-28

Alfred François Donné is widely known in the scientific community as the discoverer of Trichomonas vaginalis, since he was the first to illustrate the parasite that later was recognized to cause vaginal infections. However, his other, less-known findings are equally important: he was also the inventor of the photoelectric microscope, with the assistance of his student Léon Foucault, as well as the first to apply photography to microscopic preparations (Daguerreotype). His research in microscopy extended to almost all human fluids that could be investigated and culminated in his famous Atlas, which was illustrated with numerous photographs. Donné was also the first to describe the microscopic appearances of leukaemia based on blood preparations acquired from patients. Finally, his work in the hygiene of child upbringing and nutrition is very significant.

Notes and Jottings

2009-04-28

Look but do not fix: the pioneers of interventional cardiovascular radiology

Banerjee, A. — 2009-04-28

The extension of endovascular radiological procedures to a one-stop combined investigation and treatment of cardiovascular disease has revolutionized clinical practice. The giants in this respect are Charles Dotter, working from Portland, OR; Mason Sones from the Cleveland Clinic; and Andreas Gruentzig from Zurich and latterly Atlanta, GA. Serendipity and lateral thinking were pivotal in developing procedures that are now routine.

What motivated Dr David Livingstone (1813-73) in his work in Africa?

Beard, J. A S — 2009-04-28

Born of humble beginnings in a Scottish mill-town, David Livingstone would become one of the great explorers of the 19th century, traversing 30,000 miles of unknown Africa. His pioneering spirit and inquisitive mind brought knowledge and discoveries in the fields of tropical medicine, linguistics, botany, zoology, anthropology and geology. While it can be argued that Livingstone exhibited contradictions and shortcomings as a man, he nonetheless grasped the imagination of Victorian Britain and helped to change European attitudes towards Africa forever. His numerous endeavours were undertaken under the banner of divinely inspired missionary work – ‘If God has accepted my service, then my life is charmed till my work is done’ (Livingstone D. Livingstone's Private Journals, 1851–53. London: Chatto & Windus, 1960:108). Yet whether it was indeed religion that truly motivated Livingstone, or rather that he used it as a vehicle for his other passions, is less certain.

Samuel Alderman Lomas (1838-1901) the man with two gravestones, his brother Muscot Atkin Lomas (1840-1907) and their lives in Victorian asylums

Hilton, C., Hilton, B. — 2009-04-28

Samuel Alderman Lomas died in the Hertfordshire County Asylum, Hill End, St Albans in 1901. He was buried in the asylum cemetery where two gravestones bear his name. This paper traces his life history and that of his brother Muscot Atkin Lomas. Both were classed as idiots in Victorian society and spent most of their lives – from childhood until death – in asylums.

Kaethe Kollwitz (1867-1945): the artist who may have suffered from Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

Drysdale, G. R — 2009-04-28

Kaethe Kollwitz was a 20th century German artist who grew to fame for her socio-political impressions of Germany during World Wars I and II. In her diary, Kollwitz self-described symptoms of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome during her childhood. She complained of episodes where objects appeared to grow larger or smaller and perceptual distortions where she felt she was diminishing in size. This may explain why Kollwitz's artistic style appeared to shift from naturalism to expressionism, and why her artistic subjects are often shaped with large hands and faces. The distortion present in her visual art may have less to do with a deliberate emphasis of the artist's feelings and more to do with her perceptual experience.

Dr Edward Wilson (1872-1912): Antarctic Hero

Williams, I. — 2009-04-28

Edward Wilson was an artist, doctor, naturalist and explorer. He was on both Scott's Antarctic expeditions of the early 1900s, as Junior Surgeon and Zoologist on the Discovery expedition of 1901 and as Chief of Scientific Staff on the Terra Nova expedition of 1910. He reached the Pole with Scott in 1912 and died with him on their ill-fated return from the Pole.

Sir James Edward Smith (1759-1828) MD FRS, botanist, co-founder of the Linnean Society of London

Hawgood, B. J — 2009-04-28

James Edward Smith's interest in botany led him to enter medicine at Edinburgh in 1781. Smith was continuing his medical studies in London when Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820) suggested to him that he should purchase the collection of the famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus that had just been offered to Banks. Smith bought the Linnean Collection and Library in 1784. In 1786 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine from Leiden. In 1788 Smith, with two associates, founded the Linnean Society of London and became President for life. Smith turned from medicine to natural history as a lecturer and writer. During his lifetime he produced numerous botanical works of high value, including The English Flora (1824–28), and he did much to popularize botany.

Where Ronald Ross (1857-1932) worked: the discovery of malarial transmission and the Plasmodium life cycle

Dutta, A. — 2009-04-28

Hodgkin's tomb in Jaffa

James, D G. — 2009-04-28

Prof. The Life of Sheila Sherlock 'The liver queen'

Ellis, H. — 2009-04-28

Sir Francis Fraser 1885-1964

James, D G. — 2009-04-28

Disease in the Merchant Navy: A History of the Seamen's Hospital Society

Hardage, J. — 2009-04-28

Doctors at War

Ellis, H. — 2009-04-28

Variations on a theme

Parsons, M. — 2009-02-03

A little-known aspect of Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930): the call of India and a debt to Walter Scott (1771-1832)

Gardner, D L, Macnicol, M F, Endicott, P, Rayner, D R T, Geissler, P — 2009-02-03

This paper recalls the early life of Dr Arthur Conan Doyle when his writing centred briefly on India. The significance of a young female skeleton given to the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1879 is reviewed. Morphometric and genetic evidence is provided to show that the skeleton originated in the Andaman Islands. It is suggested that Doyle saw it during his undergraduate or early postgraduate years, leading him to introduce an Andaman Islander into his novel The Sign of the Four, published in 1890. Like his inspiring predecessor Walter Scott, Doyle wrote of India but did not visit the country: both authors learned indirectly of the Indian Raj and the Indian Medical Service. Doyle knew of the convict colony established after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 at Port Blair, capital of the Andamans, but the reason he chose an Islander to commit murder in London has, until now, remained contentious.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) as a stroke victim: hemiparesis: a result of a vegetarian diet?

Ozturk, S. — 2009-02-03

Professor Arthur Norman Exton-Smith CBE MA MD FRCP (1920-90): distinguished Geriatrician and Gerontologist

Denham, M J — 2009-02-03

Professor Norman Exton-Smith was a highly respected, distinguished postwar consultant geriatrician with a worldwide reputation. He devoted his life to improving the medical care of elderly people and researching age-related decline in physical function, particularly thermoregulation and postural balance. He established thriving clinical and research departments at St Pancras Hospital, London. Many of his junior medical staff became well-known geriatricians. He published and lectured extensively, organized many meetings and conferences, and was advisor to the Department of Health and Social Security for many years. He was a valued authority on geriatric medicine within the Royal College of Physicians of London and a major influence in the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) of which he was Secretary and later the President.

Moses Maimonides (1135-1204)

Connor, H. — 2009-02-03

Sir Stanford Cade KBE CB FRCS (1895-1973): a pioneer in the modern treatment of cancer

Westbury, G., Ellis, H. — 2009-02-03

Stanford Cade, born in Tsarist Russia, trained in Medicine first in Brussels and then in London at King's College and Westminster Hospital. His potential as a brilliant clinician was recognized by his appointment to the surgical staff at Westminster at the early age of 29. Here he was one of the first in the UK to use radium in the treatment of a wide variety of tumours. His interests covered the broad spectrum of malignant diseases including the head and neck, breast, bone and soft tissues. He was an early exponent of the multidisciplinary approach to the management of cancer.

Dr Adam Zamenhof (1888-1940) and his insight into ophthalmology

2009-02-03

Adam Zamenhof was greatly influenced by his father, Ludwik Zamenhof, who designed the international language Esperanto. Like his father, he became an ophthalmologist and joined the Esperanto movement. He published in the field of ophthalmology and was soon chosen as head of an ophthalmology department. He subsequently became Chief of the Orthodox Jewish Hospital at Czystem in Warsaw. He was active in the leadership of the Bialystok-Warsaw Chamber of Medical Doctors. He perished in the Nazi Holocaust (Shoah) but all Zamenhof's ideals that Adam served as a doctor and social activist remain still alive.

Ignac Fulop Semmelweis (1818-65)

McIntyre, N. — 2009-02-03

Dr William Sargant (1907-88) and the emergence of physical treatments in British psychiatry

Beard, J. A S — 2009-02-03

Dr William Walters Sargant stands out as a firm champion of physical treatments in 20th century British psychiatry. Some saw his ultra-physical approach as evidence of the progress that the speciality of psychiatry had made in moving on from its unscientific beginnings in the 19th century. Other psychiatrists, however, maintained that Sargant's practices were too ‘surgical’, immoral even. Sargant was a flag-bearer for the new treatment methods of insulin coma, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), psychosurgery and intensive drug therapy. He rebutted the claims of clinicians who argued for a more psychologically or socially driven approach. Moreover, he advocated the eradication of memories from the mind by physical means rather than teasing them out by Freudian analysis.

Walter Russell Brain (1895-1966), Baron Brain of Eynsham, Lord Brain MA DM DSc LLD DCL FRCP FRCS FRCOG FRCPEd. FRCP.Glas FRACP FACP FCPSA FRS

Storey, G. O — 2009-02-03

Intensive care 1650: the revival of Anne Greene (c. 1628-59)

Breathnach, C. S, Moynihan, J. B — 2009-02-03

On a cold December day in 1650, 22-year-old Anne Greene was hanged in Oxford. When taken down after half an hour, she was found to show signs of life and over the next few days William Petty (1623–87), Thomas Willis (1621–75), Ralph Bathurst (1620–74) and Henry Clerke (1622–87) ministered to her full recovery. She was later pardoned of the charge of infanticide and, with the coffin wherein she had lain as a trophy, went into the country, became the subject not only of a prose and poetic narrative but also of a woodcut. Anne married happily, bore three children and lived until 1659. A combination of low-body temperature and external (pedal) cardiac massage after her failed execution, it is suggested, helped to keep her alive until the arrival of the physicians who had come to make an anatomical dissection but serendipitously won golden opinions.

John Hyacinth de Magellan (1722-90): 18th century physicist with views on medical matters

Fernandes-Thomaz, M. — 2009-02-03

John Hyacinth de Magellan, whose Portuguese name was João Hyacintho de Magalhaens, though not a doctor nevertheless had many contacts with doctors and showed a genuine interest in disseminating medical news to his many friends and correspondents in Europe. The abundant and less formal correspondence with his friend Ribeiro Sanches forms the greater part of the work but in letters to other correspondents, including Trudaine de Montigny, Condorcet, Volta, J A Euler, Fabroni and Johann III Bernoulli, we find comments on medical subjects. The Sanches letters are particularly interesting because they are private, friend-to-friend letters that convey spontaneous and sincere thoughts and feelings.

Nikolai Konstantinovich Kulchitsky (1856-1925)

Drozdov, I., Modlin, I. M, Kidd, M., Goloubinov, V. V — 2009-02-03

Nikolai Kulchitsky is best remembered for his identification of the Kulchitsky (enterochromaffin) cell. His life spanned a teaching and scientific career at Kharkov University, employment as the Imperial Minister of Education for all Russia, work in a soap factory and flight from the Russian Revolution to London, and a position at the University College with Elliot Smith. His subsequent contributions to the anatomic delineation of dual nerve-endings in the muscle were highly regarded, although his identification of the enterochromaffin cell (1897) remains his enduring scientific legacy. The observation of a cardinal neuroendocrine cell of the gut formed the basis for the subsequent delineation of the diffuse neuroendocrine system and provided the cellular framework on which the discipline of gut neuroendocrinology would be established. Kulchitsky's mysterious demise in a bizarre lift-shaft accident at UCL on his 69th birthday tragically terminated a life of service to science.

Conn's syndrome

James, D G. — 2009-02-03

Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) and the nucleus of Darkschewitsch: a discursive commentary

Golden, R. L — 2009-02-03

Gertrude Stein is an icon of American literature whose scientific and medical background has become shrouded in obscurity. As an undergraduate at Radcliffe she was strongly influenced by William James and published two papers on motor automatism in the Psychological Review. As a medical student at Johns Hopkins University, her research on the nucleus of Darkschewitsch was quoted in Lewellys F Barker's acclaimed textbook on neuroanatomy; Stein's first book appearance. The background of the Russian neurologist Liverji O Darkschewitsch, little known in the West, is explored particularly in regard to his relationship and collaboration with Sigmund Freud whose letters provide considerable insight. Gertrude Stein failed to graduate with her class of 1901 at Johns Hopkins and soon after departed for an expatriate life in Europe devoted to art and literature.

Notes and Jottings

2009-02-03

Men of steel. Surgery in the Napoleonic Wars

Ford, J. — 2009-02-03

Europe's Physician - the various life of Sir Theodore de Mayerne

Parsons, M. — 2009-02-03

Letter to the Editor

Keynes, M. — 2009-02-03

A Victorian Surgeon - a biography of James Fitzjames Fraser West (1833-83) Birmingham Surgeon

Weir, S. — 2009-02-03

'I want to see the work': Maud Forrester-Brown: inspiration and paradigm

Newell, R. L M — 2008-10-24

The life and work of Abu ul-Ala Shirazi (d. 1001): a Persian pioneer in the treatment of malaria, in the style of Rhazes (865-925)

Mahmoudian, M., Rahimi-Moghaddam, P. — 2008-10-24

Abu ul-Ala Shirazi, who lived around the 10th century at the Court of Amir Azud ul-Duleh Bueieh (902–951) from the Dailami Dynasty, found that arsenic, known as sam-al-far, could cure malaria. A clinical trial dating from the 10th century demonstrates Abu ul-Ala's intelligence and careful clinical observation, in the tradition of Rhazes' practice based on experimentation and clinical trial.

Sir James Mackenzie (1853-1925) at 17 Bentinck St, London WI

Storey, G. O — 2008-10-24

The Shorts of Bury St Edmunds: Medicine, Catholicism and politics in the 17th century

Young, F. — 2008-10-24

The Short family of Bury St Edmunds produced at least eight doctors between the first half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th. Some of these practised locally and others went on to achieve fame in London or abroad. They included Richard Short (d. 1668), a medical polemicist, and Thomas Short (1635–85) who treated Charles II in his last illness and became the subject of poetry and other literature. The Shorts generated controversy through their adherence to the Roman Catholic faith at a time of persecution and suspicion. Richard Short used medical polemic as a vehicle for advancing his religious views, and his son and nephew became involved in James II's political programme to introduce religious toleration in 1688. After the Revolution the Shorts withdrew from political life but continued in their medical practice and their recusancy. This paper is the first to unravel the family relationships of the Shorts, which previously have eluded most historians.

Norman Bethune (1822-92), Canadian surgeon, as remembered by Henry Dunant (1828-1910), founder of the Red Cross Organization

Vanni, D, Ottaviani, R, Vanni, P — 2008-10-24

Maud Forrester-Brown (1885-1970): Britain's first woman orthopaedic surgeon

Kirkup, J. — 2008-10-24

In an era when few women achieved consultant surgical status, Miss Forrester-Brown proved not only a pioneer orthopaedic surgeon but also demonstrated that her sex was no bar to this physically demanding specialty. Virtually on her own she consolidated a series of clinics throughout three counties, elevating the Bath and Wessex Orthopaedic Hospital to national prominence. In addition to her books and journal communications, she maintained strong links with distinguished orthopaedic surgeons in Europe and America to keep abreast of innovations beneficial to her patients. Yet her shoulder was not always at the wheel, for she enjoyed horse-riding, ski-ing and swimming, and she was deeply interested in literature and art.

Sir John Gray (1816-75)

McIntyre, N. — 2008-10-24

Louisa Garrett Anderson (1873-1943), surgeon and suffragette

Geddes, J. F — 2008-10-24

Louisa Garrett Anderson, daughter of Britain's first woman doctor, has been largely forgotten today despite the fact that her contribution to the women's movement was as great as that of her mother. Recognized by her contemporaries as an important figure in the suffrage campaign, Anderson chose to lend her support through high-profile action, being one of the few women doctors in her generation who risked their professional as well as their personal reputation in the fight for women's rights by becoming a suffragette – in her case, even going so far as to spend a month in prison for breaking a window on a demonstration. On the outbreak of war, with only the clinical experience she had gained as outpatient surgeon in a women's hospital, Anderson established a series of women-run military hospitals where she was a Chief Surgeon. The most successful was the Endell Street Military Hospital in London, funded by the Royal Army Medical Corps and the only army hospital ever to be run and staffed entirely by women. Believing that a doctor had an obligation to take a lead in public affairs, Anderson continued campaigning for women's issues in the unlikely setting of Endell Street, ensuring that their activities remained in the public eye through constant press coverage. Anderson's achievement was that her work played no small part in expunging the stigma of the militant years in the eyes of the public and – more importantly – was largely instrumental in putting women doctors on equal terms with their male colleagues.

Heath's non-rusting steel instruments

Kirkup, J. — 2008-10-24

Samuel Wilks (1824-1911): neurologist and generalist of the Mid-Victorian Era

Eadie, M. J — 2008-10-24

Sir Samuel Wilks, sometime Physician to Guy's Hospital and President of the Royal College of Physicians (1896–99), was regarded as the leading British scientific physician of his day. His contributions to gastroenterology, cardiology and clinical science in general have been emphasized in recent times. He also recognized that syphilis affected the internal organs as well as the skin. In 1866 he realised that epileptogenesis occurred in the cerebral cortex: independently of Sir Charles Locock (1799–1875), he discovered the antiepileptic properties of potassium bromide. He provided possibly the first account of alcoholic peripheral neuritis and published an early account of probable myasthenia gravis.

Gillies needle-holder/scissors

Kirkup, J. — 2008-10-24

Sir Michael Foster MD FRS (1836-1907): the rise of the British school of physiology

Hawgood, B. J — 2008-10-24

In 1867 William Sharpey (1802–80), Professor of General Anatomy and Physiology at University College, London, appointed Michael Foster to the unique post of Teacher of Practical Physiology; in Britain the study of experimental physiology was dormant. In 1870 Foster accepted a Praelectorship in Physiology at Trinity College, Cambridge, and soon established a school of physiology. He was the first Cambridge Professor of Physiology (1883–1903). Foster, a great teacher, had a remarkable ability to attract talented students and to inspire them to undertake research. He himself took inspiration from the scientific philosophy of Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) and of Claude Bernard (1813–78). Foster was active in the foundation of the Physiological Society (1876), and founded and edited the Journal of Physiology (1878). He was interested in the scientific training of medical students and wrote a highly lauded Text Book of Physiology (1877). Physiology became a profession in its own right and British physiologists were in the vanguard of research.

Hutchinson's disorders

James, D G. — 2008-10-24

Hubert Maitland Turnbull (1875-1955): Pathologist at the London Hospital

Storey, G. O — 2008-10-24

The start of the Peninsular Campaign 1808

Hunting, P. — 2008-10-24

Jean Langlais (1907-91): an historical case of a blind organist with stroke-induced aphasia and Braille alexia but without amusia

Fisher, C A H, Larner, A J — 2008-10-24

The subject of a prior report of a blind organist with aphasia and Braille alexia without amusia, published in French, has been identified as Jean Langlais. His artistic and medical history is presented, the latter via translation of the original 1987 paper.

Thomas Beddoes (1760-1808), founder of the Pneumatic Medical Institution

Hunting, P. — 2008-10-24

Notes and Jottings

2008-10-24

William Allen Miller (1817-70): a distinguished scientist re-discovered

Ashley-Miller, M. — 2008-10-24

Dr William Allen Miller developed an early interest in science and astronomy at secondary school. Although qualifying in medicine, he pursued a career in Chemistry at King's College, London. A particular interest in spectrum analysis led to a collaboration with Dr Huggins in examining the spectra of stars. For this work they each received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. His subsequent work at King's College, the Royal Society, the Courts of Law and for various Government enterprises earned him an outstanding scientific and advisory reputation.

Ellis, H. — 2008-10-24

Paton, A. — 2008-10-24