Surgery of the Anus, Rectum and Colon

THE Lilly Lecture of 1979 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh was delivered by Professor R. H. Girdwood, a distinguished fellow of the College and Professor of Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology in the University. The lecture commences with a consideration of the portable medicine chest belonging to Prince Charles Edward (The Young Pretender) and possibly brought by him to Scotland in 1745. Thereafter Professor Girdwood traces the exploits of the main medical participants in the '45 rebellion and the fate of the sick and wounded during the battle of Prestonpans and Culloden. The second part of the lecture is concerned with a description of the drugs available at that time, followed by a discussion of the changing pattern in medicinal therapeutics up to the present day and the influence of the Edinburgh Medical School on these developments. Finally the lecture concludes with a description of the Medical Chest of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia which Professor Girdwood considers would be of interest to Prince Charles (an Honorary Fellow of the College), and contrasts its contents with that of The Young Pretender's Chest of 1745. This is a valuable piece of historical research and will be of considerable interest to all doctors whether they regard it from a therapeutic or historical point of view. D.A.D.M.