DOCSLIB.ORG

The Two Holders of the Regius Chair of Military Surgery in Edinburgh – John Thomson and George Ballingall: the Topics Covered in Their Teaching Courses

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Two Holders of the Regius Chair of Military Surgery in Edinburgh – John Thomson and George Ballingall: the Topics Covered in Their Teaching Courses 5 The two holders of the Regius Chair of Military Surgery in Edinburgh – John Thomson and George Ballingall: the topics covered in their teaching courses When John Bell proposed the establishment of ‘one great school of military surgery’ in 1798 to Earl Spencer, First Lord of the Admiralty in the then Whig administration, 1 there is every reason to believe that he viewed Edinburgh as the optimal location for such a school, probably with him at its head. Edinburgh had an Infirmary established sixty years earlier that had amply demonstrated that it was capable of coping with large numbers of soldiers and seamen in its military wards. 2 Equally, there were a number of regimental and garrison hospitals in an around Edinburgh where additional men could be accommodated should the need arise. While Bell had no pretensions to being a military surgeon, he was, however, both a competent surgeon, and a highly regarded teacher and author on anatomical and surgical topics. 3 It was only after 1800 following his bitter controversy with Professor James Gregory, who was acting on behalf of the Managers of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, that he was no longer allowed access to patients in the Infirmary. Bell had argued that all of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh should continue to have access to all patients in the Infirmary. After 1800, Bell devoted much of his time to teaching and writing, 4 and presumably gave up any ambition he might have had of heading a school of military surgery in Edinburgh. This, in due course, opened the door to John Thomson and his influential Whig supporters, coinciding as it did with the increased threat of invasion from the Continent. Thomson was seen at the time as a politically sound appointment. Many considered that his elevation to the Regius Chair of Military Surgery in the University of Edinburgh in May 1806 was a just reward for his political services on behalf of the Whig party. 5 Contemporary information suggests that the Military Surgery course he established complemented his Surgery course associated with his College Professorship in this subject that dated from 1804. His University course covered all aspects of military surgery, medicine 211 M. H. Kaufman and hygiene. Despite attempts by his successor to suggest to the Royal Commissioners who visited the University of Edinburgh in 1826 that, because Thomson was not by training a military surgeon, his course might have been in some way deficient, the available evidence suggests that this was not the case. While no prospectus of Thomson’s Military Surgery course survives, a set of manuscript student’s notes from about 1810 and a set of notes taken down by another student who attended his College course on Surgery at about the same time, makes it clear that there was no overlap. During the pre- and early post-Waterloo period Thomson lectured to enormous audiences, and it was only from about 1816/17 that his two courses were amalgamated, and given as a single ‘combined’ course. 6 Thomson was universally regarded as being ‘the most learned physician in Scotland,’7 having previously taught chemistry during the latter years of the eighteenth century, and even published a book on this topic. His Lectures on Inflammation published in 1813 was a classic of its time, 8 and his Life of Cullen is still regarded as the finest work on possibly the greatest physician of the second half of the eighteenth century. 9 When James Gregory died in 1821, Thomson applied for his Chair of Physic, resigning from the College Chair of Surgery in order to do so. He was unsuccessful principally because the members of the Town Council and Senatus of the University were unsympathetic to his political views. 10 Thomson resigned from his professorship of Military Surgery in 1822. His successor, George Ballingall, was dedicated to advancing his subject despite considerable opposition from his colleagues within the Faculty of Medicine. It is clear from his Prospectus published in 1824 that he proposed to deliver a more practical and comprehensive course than did his predecessor, covering all aspects of the work of the military and/or naval surgeon. He discussed the history and progress of Military Surgery, with particular reference to the means of preserving the health of soldiers, and the clinical examination of recruits to establish their suitability or otherwise for the service. In the first section of his course, he discussed the accommodation of troops and the factors that affected their health in different situations, at home and abroad. He also emphasised the critical features associated with the siting and construction of military hospitals, and illustrated with appropriate models the means of transporting the sick and wounded to hospital. 11 In the second part of his course, he considered the diseases and accidents to which troops were particularly prone. He concluded this section of the course with lectures on ‘Fictitious Diseases, and means of detecting 212.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Introduction
    Introduction Glasgow University Library possesses an extensive collection of the papers of the Thomsons, a family of eminent nineteenth-century medical men. These form part of a larger set of Cullen-Thomson material. Some of these manuscripts were donated to the Library by John Millar Thomson in 1920; the remainder was discovered in the University Library Store in 1973. Among this latter set are a series of letters between Allen Thomson (1809-84) and William Sharpey (1802-80).' The bulk of this correspondence consists of letters from Sharpey to Thomson; but there are also several copies and drafts of the letters Thomson sent. These are valuable because Thomson's side of the correspondence has not otherwise survived. Letters from other individuals mentioned in the correspondence are also present. It seems that Thomson brought together all these letters, along with other documents, as sources for the obituary of Sharpey he was writing. A calendar of these letters will be found in the Appendix. This edition consists only of a selection of the letters. I have chosen those of most interest to the historian of medicine, and, in particular, those that bear on the roles played by Thomson and Sharpey as influential medical scientists and medical politicians in nineteenth-century Britain. Sharpey is the better-known of the two; he has been the subject of a lengthy article by D. W. Taylor.2 However, Taylor did not have access to a manuscript biography of Sharpey that Thomson composed in 1880, which provides much new information especially about Sharpey's early career.3 He was born at Arbroath in Forfarshire, Scotland in 1802, the stepson of a local medical practitioner.
    [Show full text]
  • Smallpox Inoculation in Britain, 1721-1830
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 1990 Pox Britannica: Smallpox Inoculation in Britain, 1721-1830 Deborah Christian Brunton University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the European History Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, and the Virus Diseases Commons Recommended Citation Brunton, Deborah Christian, "Pox Britannica: Smallpox Inoculation in Britain, 1721-1830" (1990). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 999. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/999 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/999 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Pox Britannica: Smallpox Inoculation in Britain, 1721-1830 Abstract Inoculation has an important place in the history of medicine: not only was it the first form of preventive medicine but its history spans the so-called eighteenth century 'medical revolution'. A study of the myriad of pamphlets, books and articles on the controversial practice casts new light on these fundamental changes in the medical profession and medical practice. Whereas historians have associated the abandonment of old humoural theories and individualised therapy in favour of standardised techniques with the emergence of new institutions in the second half of the century, inoculation suggests that changes began as early as the 1720s. Though inoculation was initially accompanied by a highly individualised preparation of diet and drugs, more routinised sequences of therapy appeared the 1740s and by the late 1760s all inoculated patients followed exactly the same preparative regimen. This in turn made possible the institutionalised provision of inoculation, first through the system of poor relief, later by dispensaries and charitable societies.
    [Show full text]
  • BRUNONIANISM UNDER the BED: an ALTERNATIVE to UNIVERSITY MEDICINE in EDINBURGH in the 1780S
    Medical History, Supplement No. 8, 1988, 22-45. BRUNONIANISM UNDER THE BED: AN ALTERNATIVE TO UNIVERSITY MEDICINE IN EDINBURGH IN THE 1780s by MICHAEL BARFOOT* .... They agreed with me that it looked serious; but they both strongly dissented from the view I took of the treatment. We differed entirely in the conclusions which we drew from the patient's pulse. The two doctors, arguing from the rapidity ofthe beat, declared that a lowering treatment was the only treatment to be adopted. On my side, I admitted the rapidity of the pulse, but I also pointed to the alarming feebleness as indicating an exhausted condition of the system, and as showing a plain necessity for the administration ofstimulants. The two doctors were for keeping him on gruel, lemonade, barley-water, and so on. I was for giving him champagne, or brandy, ammonia and quinine. A serious difference of opinion, as you see! a difference between two physicians ofestablished local repute, and a stranger who was only an assistant in the house. For the first few days, I had no choice but to give way to my elders and betters; the patient steadily sinking all the time. I made a second attempt to appeal to the plain, undeniably plain, evidence of the pulse. Its rapidity was unchecked, and its feebleness had increased. The two doctors took offence at my obstinacy. They said, "Mr Jennings, either we manage this case, or you manage it. Which is it to be?" I said, "Gentlemen, give me five minutes to consider, and that plain question shall have a plain reply." When the time expired, I was ready with my answer.
    [Show full text]
  • (From Our Own Correspondent.) of Senile Decay. He Was Ninety-Five
    684 a method which, as far as I am aware, has heretofore not NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. been used in this country. There was a little secondary (From our own Correspondent.) hcomorrhage, which was soon controlled, and the case has since progressed favourably. NEWCASTLE EYE INFIRMARY. CORK UNION : RESIGNATION OF DR. CREMEN. THE annual meeting of our Eye Infirmary was held last At the meeting of the Cork Board of Guardians last week, week, and from the report it was shown that there had been a letter was received from Dr. Cremen, one of the medical the the which a large increase of patients. Some necessary alterations were officers of workhouse, resigning appointment he has held for the ten Dr. at a made in the rules, and it was decided to proceed with the past years. Cremen, pre- vious drew attention to the utter impossibility of erection of the new building at the north end of the city, meeting, any physician engaged in active practice under. which will involve an of .E4000. The visiting expenditure nearly taking the sole medical charge of about a thousand persons, charity has a considerable amount of invested funds, which nearly half of the number being in hospital. Dr. Cremen’s must be trenched upon at first; but it is hoped that, consider- recommendation that additional medical assistance was ing the great advantages of this institution in a manufactur- was not attended to, and consequently he con- ing community like Newcastle and Gateshead, this may requiredsidered, in the interests of the sick poor, that he ought to his After some discussion a resolution be soon made up by benefactions.
    [Show full text]
  • William "Redcloak" Bell
    476 Appendix 1, Scottish Links Appendix 1, Scottish Links OUTLINE DESCENDANT REPORT—CHIEF WILLIAM (REDCLOAK) BELL REVISION B The names, dates and locations outlined below are retrieved from many sources and as such cannot be totally or ac- curately authenticated. The authors posses primary and secondary sources for all of the many branches of Bell’s listed, but some dates and kinship lines may vary due to differences of various research publications. A “Bell of Blackethouse Chart,” first drafted by Donald Whyte, F.S.A., 27 March, 1986 and later revised by an un- known person, was obtained at the 2003 Clan Bell International Gathering at Daytona Beach Florida. Whyte’s genealogy data combined with mostly Charles Mosley, editor, Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage 1050, 1051 and other data contained within the pages of this book are compiled and reconstructed below. The reader is advised to use this outline as a guide and follow up with his (her) own research and sources. This report is limited up to eleven out of a total of present day possible ^sixteen generations due to space limitations and privacy con- siderations of known living persons. Also be alert to: 1.) each individual’s information is generation numbered on a separate line, and each generation is indented slightly more than the one before it. Each descendant’s spouse is directly beneath him or her and is marked with a plus sign (+). Think of time and generations left to right horizontally. 2.) a ^(caret) to indicate that a specific fact (in the authors opinion) is either unproven, of questionable source, or a conflict of sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Corrie, Jane Anne (2017) William Cullen's Exemplary Retirement: the Art of Ageing in Enlightenment Scotland. Phd Thesis. Https
    Corrie, Jane Anne (2017) William Cullen's exemplary retirement: the art of ageing in Enlightenment Scotland. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/30883/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] William Cullen’s Exemplary Retirement: The Art of Ageing in Enlightenment Scotland Jane Anne Corrie Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Critical Studies College of Arts University of Glasgow 2017 Cover image: John Kay (1742—1826), ‘William Cullen, 1710–1790. Chemist and physician.’, etching on paper, 1838, copyright: National Galleries of Scotland. 3 Abstract This thesis looks at the subject of old age and retirement in the later years of the Scottish Enlightenment. These subjects are examined in relation to the final years of the physician and natural philosopher, Professor William Cullen (1710–1790). The Cullen Consultation Correspondence digital database (http://cullenproject.ac.uk/) is used to examine letters between the doctor and some of his elderly patients and a study of the botanical materia medica prescribed for this patient group is made.
    [Show full text]
  • Scottish Smallpox
    SCOTTISH SMALLPOX ENLIGHTENMENT MEDICINE AND THE FIGHT AGAINST SMALLPOX IN SCOTLAND 1750‐1850 Amanda Seyerle A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF SCIENCE WITH HONORS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN March 30, 2011 Advised by Professor Joel Howell and Professor Michael MacDonald ii For my family (Mon, Dad, Missy, and Megan), along with my fellow history honors students who helped to keep me sane during this incredible but demanding experience TABLE OF CONTENTS Figures and Tables ............................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iv Introduction: Studying the Most Terrible of All Ministers of Death ............................... 1 What is Smallpox ................................................................................................... 3 Historiography ....................................................................................................... 6 A New Look at Scotland ......................................................................................... 9 Chapter One: Enlightenment Scotland and the Search for a Cause .............................. 11 Geography and Demography of Scotland ........................................................... 12 Medical and Intellectual Scotland ....................................................................... 18 Smallpox’s
    [Show full text]
  • William Cullen:?A Psychological Study*
    Art. V.- ?WILLIAM CULLEN:?A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY* William Cullen was born at Hamilton, in Scotland, on the 15th of April, 1710. Of liis boyhood little is known, save that he was a lad of lively manner, uncommon quickness of apprehension, anrl great retentiveness of memory. From this text the psychologist seeks to ascertain in what manner grew an intellectual superiority which placed its possessor among the giants of medical science, and in what that intellectual superiority chiefly consisted. The substratum, so far as known, cannot be said to be a rare one ; for there are few schools in which could not be found lads whose disposition, readiness of apprehension, and power of memory might not be described in terms similar to those which have been used to distinguish Cullen's boyish characteristics. Hence it may be that, in tracing the develop- ment of Cullen's mind, we may learn in some degree why it is that Cullens are so few, while the species of soil from which he grew is plentiful. Cullen received his preliminary tuition in the Grammar School of Hamilton, at the hands of a teacher of much repute. That this instruction was solid and substantial is certain from the circumstances under which it was given; that Cullen benefited by it to the full is evinced by the opening of his medical studies. From the Hamilton Grammar School he was sent to the Uni- versity of Glasgow. We know little of the character of his studies in that university, except that his name is to be found in the list of students who, in 1727, attended the mathematical lectures of the celebrated Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Memoir of Thomas Thomson, Advocate
    \ ^^ Roiert C Bell X'-rATOJi-S.CcS.-y^olA.fiiscr- MEMOIR OF THOMAS THOMSON, ADVOCATK EDINBURGH.—MDCCCLIV. t" ccccet » BDIHBVBaH : T. CORSTA,BLB, PRINTXR TO BBR UkjnTT. PRESEiNTED TO THE BANNATYNE CLUB, JAMES T. GIBSON CRAIG, and C. INNES. ? 28867 THE BANNATYNE CLUB. NOVEMBER M.DCCC.LIV. RIGHT HON. ANDREW RUTHERFURD, LORD RUTHERFURD, {PRESIDENT.) THE EARL OF ABERDEEN. WILLIAM PATRICK ADAM, ESQ. THE EARL OF ASHBURNHAM. LORD BELHAVEN AND HAMILTON. WILLIAM BLAIR, ESQ. BERIAH BOTFIELD, ESQ. THE MARQUESS OF BREADALBANE. SIR THOMAS MAKDOUGALL BRISBANE, BART. 10 GEORGE BRODIE, ESQ. CHARLES DASHWOOD BRUCE, ESQ. O. TYNDALL BRUCE, ESQ. THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH AND QUEENSBERRY. VERT REV. DEAN RICHARD BUTLER. SIR HUGH HUME CAMPBELL, BART. JAMES CAMPBELL, ESQ. THOMAS CARNEGY, ESQ. EARL CAWDOR. PATRICK CHALMERS, ESQ. {DECEASED.) 20 RIGHT. HON. SIR GEORGE CLERK, BART. DAVID CONSTABLE, ESQ. THE BANNATYNE CLUB. THOMAS CONSTABLE, ESQ. ANDREW COVENTRY, ESQ. DAVID COWAN, ESQ. JAMES T. GIBSON CRAIG, ESQ., (TREASURER.) SIR WILLIAM GIBSON CRAIG, BATIT. THE MARQUESS OF DALHOUSIE. GEORGE HOME DRUMMOND, ESQ. HENRY DRUMMOND, ESQ., M.P. 30 RIGHT HON. SIR DAVID DUNDAS. GEORGE DUNDAS, ESQ. WILLIAM PITT DUNDAS, ESQ. THE EARL OF ELLESMERE. JOSEPH WALTER KING EYTON, ESQ. LIEUT.-COL. ROBERT FERGUSON, M.P. COUNT MERCER DE FLAHAULT. THE EARL OF GOSFORD. WILLIAM GOTT, ESQ. ROBERT GRAHAM, ESQ. 40 THE EARL OF HADDINGTON. THE DUKE OF HAMILTON AND BRANDON. SIR THOMAS BUCHAN HEPBURN, BART. JAMES MAITLAND HOG, ESQ. RIGHT HON. JOHN COSMO INNES, ESQ. DAVID LAING, ESQ., {SECRETARY.) JOHN BAILEY LANGHORNE, ESQ. .50 THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE. VERY REV. PRINCIPAL JOHN LEE, D.D. THE BANNATYNE CLUB.
    [Show full text]
  • Illustrated by Some Episodes in the Career of John Thomson (1765-1846)
    Res Medica, Volume 268, Issue 2, 2005 Page 1 of 4 Chair-Making For Beginners - Illustrated by Some Episodes in the Career of John Thomson (1765-1846) Edward Duvall Abstract John Thomson is arguably one of the most interesting characters to have been associated with the Royal Medical Society. His interests were wide ranging; from military surgery and the treatment of venereal disease (two areas often closely connected in those times) to chemistry and the newly emerging specialty of pathology. It is, however, with his interest in medical education and his ability to persuade those in authority to create professorial chairs for himself to occupy that I shall deal in this article. Copyright Royal Medical Society. All rights reserved. The copyright is retained by the author and the Royal Medical Society, except where explicitly otherwise stated. Scans have been produced by the Digital Imaging Unit at Edinburgh University Library. Res Medica is supported by the University of Edinburgh’s Journal Hosting Service url: http://journals.ed.ac.uk ISSN: 2051-7580 (Online) ISSN: ISSN 0482-3206 (Print) Res Medica is published by the Royal Medical Society, 5/5 Bristo Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9AL Res Medica, Volume 268, Issue 2, 2005: 59-61 doi:10.2218/resmedica.v268i2.1032 Duvall, E, Chair-Making For Beginners - Illustrated by Some Episodes in the Career of John Thomson (1765-1846), Res Medica, Volume 268, Issue 2 2005, pp.59-61 doi:10.2218/resmedica.v268i2.1032 Chair-Making For Beginners - Illustrated by Some Episodes in the Career of John Thomson (1765-1846) EDWARD D UVALL Olim Praeses, Past Editor Division of Pathology, School of Molecular & Clinical Medicine.
    [Show full text]
  • The Descendants of John Thomson, Pioneer Scotch Covenanter
    Josephine /'Jltcrsnn (Thompion) Zcii To whom this book is dedicated. / The Descendants of John Thomson PIONEER SCOTCH COVENANTER Gcncaloc^ical Notes on All Known Descendants of John Thomson, Covenanter, of Scotland, Ireland and Pennsylvania, with Such Biographical Sketches as Could be Obtained from Available Published Records or were Supplied by the Friends of Those Individuals who were too Modest to Tell of Their Own Accomplishments COMPILED FOR THE COUSINS BY ABDAMS s. McAllister NEW YORK. N. Y. 1917 Easton. Pennsylvania THE CHEMICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY PRINTERS DEDICATION To Cousin Josephine Patterson {Thompson) Zell, without whose initiative, enthusiasm and inspiration the present records would not have been compiled, the compiler dedicates this volume \ : PREFACE In no way can one obtain a better idea of the character of the records it was originally hoped would be included in the present book than by reading carefully the followinf: instructions which were sent to every descendant of Pioneer John Thomson whose address was known, on at least two occasions, namely, when the work of compilation was first started in 1912, and after the records then on hand were placed in type in 1916. The information wc wish to obtain on the family tree, arranged in the order of importance, is as follows First—The Full Name (not merely initials) of every descendant of the Pioneer, the Full Xante of the person married in each case, and the Full Name of each child born to ever>' couple. Second—The Dates of all births, marriages and deaths. Third—The Present Address of every living descendant. Fourth—The Place of birth, marriage and death of every descendant.
    [Show full text]
  • Wolf2015.Pdf
    This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. “OUR MASTER & FATHER AT THE HEAD OF PHYSICK”: THE LEARNED MEDICINE OF WILLIAM CULLEN Jeffrey Charles Wolf This thesis was submitted to the School of History, Classics and Archaeology for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History The University of Edinburgh 2015 i ABSTRACT This is a study of Dr. William Cullen (1710-1790), the Scottish chemist, physician, and professor of medicine, who played a significant role in the Scottish Enlightenment. I argue that Cullen was both a more unorthodox figure in Scottish medicine than he is generally depicted, as well as a more ambitious one. Despite his controversial doctrines, he skillfully managed the hierarchy of his profession and reached the pinnacle of success as a learned physician in the Scottish Enlightenment. I explore Cullen’s life and thought from different angles.
    [Show full text]