Sir Frederick Treves: the extra-ordinary Edwardian

produce, which seems appropriate, somehow. As well as parts taken up with the catalogue of the records, manuscripts and books of the Society, there is an account of its history from 1819-1989 by Palmer. Although brief, this is excellent and includes the history of the collection itself and its relationship to other material in Glasgow and London. Several institutions have Hunter bits and, in a note (p. 32), Palmer puts his finger on what is really required. A single catalogue of all the Hunter-related "benefactions" would be of the greatest use. Two final things come to mind. One is that catalogues which straddle the paper-object divide, like the Hunterian Society's, have not changed much. For example, compare its "Caricatures", "Cataract Knives" and "Coffin-Plate Rubbing" (p. 244) with headings found in the mid nineteenth-century catalogue of the Edinburgh University Museum of Military Surgery, such as "Balls, Missiles and Warlike Weapons", "Worms", "Casts" (unrelated) and "Drawings, Plans, Etc.". Secondly, all these classifications, old and new, exemplify Foucault's thematic elaboration on the Borges passage about the different classifications of animals in a certain Chinese encyclopaedia ("belonging to the Emperor", "stray dogs" and "drawn with a very fine camelhair brush"). Strange, yes, but in another sense entirely familiar when one knows the sub-culture and forms of life they refer to. In this case, it is setting the Society's "possessions" and "benefactions" to work in the business of maintaining the Hunterian tradition. was arguably the best known surgeon of his time. He wrote an autobiography but, tantalising, had second thoughts about publication and, at the last moment, to the dismay of his publisher, he retrieved the manuscript. After his death his wife, in accordance with his instructions, destroyed it along with his personal papers. As his first biographer, nearly seventy years later, Trombley explains the difficulties he faced, notably due to "the absence of the kind of intimate material which has become the cornerstone of modern biography". Not only was Treves remarkably energetic and industrious, even by Victorian standards but he also enjoyed writing. As a consequence there is an abundance of published work available, to an extent that Trombley has listed nearly 400 articles, letters and books written by Treves, which make up a most useful bibliography. Moreover, by incorporating passages taken from Treves's writings into the narrative, the reader is given opportunities to appreciate his talents as a vivid and effective writer. Overall, …