Antiseptic Surgery in Edinburgh

Was the real Sherlock Holmes a pediatric surgeon?

PURPOSE This article reviews the pioneering efforts of Joseph Bell, the model for Sherlock Holmes, in the surgical care of children during the antiseptic era. METHODS I reviewed biographies of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; the biography of Joseph Bell; his surgical textbook, Edinburgh Medical Journals; and the history of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children. RESULTS Dr Bell was a collea...

Surgical Work in the State Hospital of Kashmere

Dressing. ? In moat cases strict antiseptic precautions were taken. In the surgical wards of this hospital, Listerism was seldom practised before. Having observed during my studentdays the most excellent results of antiseptic surgery in the first Surgeon's wards of the Medical College Hospital and subsequently iu the wards of the Edinburgh Royal infirmary, the very scene of Listerian labour and...

William Henry Dobie, of Chester: disciple of Lister.

In October 1877, ten years after he had published his first report on the antiseptic method of surgery, Joseph Lister left Edinburgh, having accepted the Chair of Clinical Surgery at King's College Hospital, London. He took with him four men-Watson Cheyne and John Stewart, who were qualified, and two student dressers, James Altham and Henry Dobie. The career of Watson Cheyne (1852-1932) is well...

Antiseptic Treatment of Mammary Abscess

The History and Practice of Surgery in Ancient and Mediæval Times

The progress of modern surgery owes its recent phenomenal success and expansion to the use of anaesthetics and the prevention of sepsis in wounds. In 1844 the American dentist Horace Wells demonstrated the practicability of using nitrous oxide gas for surgical anaesthesia; within a few years (1846) ether was used for a similar purpose by Mr. Morton, also an American dentist; and Sir James Young...