John Abernethy FRS

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

 (3 April 1764 – 20 April 1831) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 surgeon, grandson of the Reverend John Abernethy

John Abernethy (minister)

Reverend John Abernethy was an Irish Presbyterian church leader, the grandfather of the surgeon John Abernethy.He was born at Coleraine, County Londonderry, where his father was a Nonconformist minister...

.

He was born in Coleman Street

Coleman Street

Coleman Street is a street and one of the 25 ancient wards in the City of London.- The Ward :Warren Stormes Hale, Lord Mayor of London in 1864, was the Ward’s most notable civic dignitary...

 in the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

, where his father was a merchant. Educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School

Wolverhampton Grammar School

Wolverhampton Grammar School is a co-educational independent school located in the city of Wolverhampton.Initially Wolverhampton Boys Grammar School, it was founded in 1512 by Sir Stephen Jenyns, a master of the ancient guild of Merchant Taylors, who was also Lord Mayor of London in the year of...

, he was apprenticed in 1779 to Sir Charles Blicke (1745–1815), a surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital

St Bartholomew's Hospital

St Bartholomew's Hospital, also known as Barts, is a hospital in Smithfield in the City of London, England.-Early history:It was founded in 1123 by Raherus or Rahere , a favourite courtier of King Henry I...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. He attended the anatomical lectures of Sir William Blizard

William Blizard

Sir William Blizard was an English surgeon.He was born in Barn Elms, Surrey, the fourth child of auctioneer William Blizard. After an apprenticeship to a surgeon in Mortlake he went to study at the London Hospital where he was a pupil of Sir Percivall Pott and John Hunter...

 (1743–1835) at the London Hospital, and was employed to assist as demonstrator; he also attended Percivall Pott

Percivall Pott

Sir Percivall Pott London, England) was an English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopedy, and the first scientist to demonstrate that a cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen.-Life:...

's surgical lectures at St Bartholomew's Hospital, as well as the lectures of John Hunter

John Hunter (surgeon)

John Hunter FRS was a Scottish surgeon regarded as one of the most distinguished scientists and surgeons of his day. He was an early advocate of careful observation and scientific method in medicine. The Hunterian Society of London was named in his honour...

. On Pott's resignation of the office of surgeon of St Bartholomew's, Sir Charles Blicke, who was assistant-surgeon, succeeded him, and Abernethy was elected assistant-surgeon in 1787.

In this capacity he began to give lectures at his house in Bartholomew Close, which were so well attended that the governors of the hospital built a theatre (1790–1791), and Abernethy thus became the founder of the medical school of St Bartholomew's. He held the office of assistant-surgeon for twenty-eight years, till, in 1815, he was elected principal surgeon. He had before that time been appointed lecturer in anatomy to the Royal College of Surgeons

Royal College of Surgeons of England

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body and registered charity committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients, regulating surgery, including dentistry, in England and Wales...

 (1814). Abernethy was not a great operator, though his name is associated with the treatment of aneurysm

Aneurysm

An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...

 by ligature of the external iliac artery

External iliac artery

The external iliac arteries are two major arteries which bifurcate off the common iliac arteries anterior to the sacroiliac joint of the pelvis. They proceed anterior and inferior along the medial border of the psoas major muscles...

.

His Surgical Observations on the Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases (1809) — known as "My Book", from the great frequency with which he referred his patients to it, and to page 72 of it in particular, under that name — was one of the earliest popular works on medical science. So great was his zeal in encouraging patients to read the book that he earned the nickname "Doctor My-Book". He taught that local diseases were frequently the results of disordered states of the digestive organs, and were to be treated by purging and attention to diet. As a lecturer he was exceedingly attractive, and his success in teaching was largely attributable to the persuasiveness with which he enunciated his views. It has been said, however, that the influence he exerted on those who attended his lectures was not beneficial in this respect, that his opinions were delivered so dogmatically, and all who differed from him were disparaged and denounced so contemptuously, as to repress instead of stimulating inquiry. The celebrity he attained in his practice was due not only to his great professional skill, but also in part to his eccentricity. He was very blunt with his patients, treating them often brusquely and sometimes even rudely. He resigned his position at St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1827, and died at his residence at Enfield.

A collected edition of his works was published in 1830. A biography, Memoirs of John Abernethy, by George Macilwain (1797–1882), appeared in 1853.

John Abernathy is referenced in Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

's, The Purloined letter, 1844.

External links

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• • “John Abernethy” in Biographia Hibernica, 1822, by Richard Ryan
    Richard Ryan (biographer)
    Richard Ryan was an English biographer.Ryan was son of Richard Ryan, a bookseller in Camden Town, who died before 1830, Ryan seems to have followed the business of a bookseller, but found time to write several interesting books, a few plays, and some songs which were set to music by eminent...
    
    

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