Notice of some of the leading events in the life of the late Dr. John Thomson, formerly professor of surgery to the Royal College of Surgeons, and of Military Surgery in the University of Edinburgh, and more recently professor of general pathology in the University.

Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notice of some of the leading events in the life of the late Dr. John Thomson, formerly professor of surgery to the Royal College of Surgeons, and of Military Surgery in the University of Edinburgh, and more recently professor of general pathology in the University. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    publication, arising out of the difficulty lie had in satisfying him- self with his own intellectual performances, limited the number of his published works much below what might have been expect- ed, and could have been desired, from one so capable of convey- ing instruction in an agreeable and impressive manner. His Lectures on Inflammation is a work that has carried his name to all quarters of the globe, in his own time—having been translated into French, German, and Italian, as well as republish- ed in America;—and it is one which, amidst the changes neces- sarily arising among the hand-books of the day in consequence of the constantly advancing tide of knowledge, must remain in all future times as a portion of the permanent stock of medical litera- ture. His Report on the State of the Wounded in Belgium, after the battle of Waterloo, displays a practical and literary knowledge of the effects and treatment of wounds and injuries of the several parts of the human body, that is well calculated to create regret that he should not have given to the public those able and more detailed discourses in which he was accustomed to expound this important and extensive department of surgery to his students. His Account of the Varioloid Epidemic which prevailed in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland, from 1818 to 1820, in- cluding Observations on the Identity of Chicken-pox with Modi- fied Small-pox, and his Historical Sketch of the opinions en- tertained by medical men respecting the Varieties and the Second- ary Occurrence of Small-pox, with Observations on the Nature and Extent of the Security afforded by Vaccination against the attack of that disease, evince a remarkable combination of pro- fessional ardour, acute observation, close reasoning, and great learning; and have powerfully contributed to settle the opinions of medical men on the very important topics of which they treat. And, lastly, not to mention various other literary productions of less extent but of great professional value, his life of Cullen is a work which, of itself, by the luminous exposition it affords of the progress of medical science during the last century, stamps his character as a medical philosopher of the first order. As a teacher, he was singularly successful in engaging the at- tention of his audience by the judicious selection of materials which he laid before them, as well as by his power of generalising the results of his observation, reading, and reflection, and of pre- senting these results in a clear and simple form; and above all, perhaps, the interest he himself evinced in the subject under dis- cussion had a powerful influence in stimulating the enthusiasm and energy of his pupils. Another striking feature in his charac- ter as a teacher was the rapidity with which he discriminated the several capabilities of his students, and directed their energies in- to those channels in which they might be most usefully employed.