Sir George Dancer Thane.

Date:
[1930]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sir George Dancer Thane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/8
    Reprinted from the BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, January 25th, 1930 Obituary. SIR GEORGE DANCER THANE, LL.D., SC.D. F.K.C.S., Emeritus Professor of Anatomy, University College, London. Sir George Thane, both by reason of length and intensity of service, may justly be regarded as the most whole¬ hearted servant of a school which has never lacked sons who placed the interest of the medical school and hospital before all personal advancement. George Dancer Thane was born at Great Berkhamsted, Herts, on May 27th, 1850, and was the eldest son of G. D. Thane, M.D. He died at home, in Harrow, on January 14th, as the result of gradual cardiac failure during the last two months. He entered University College in 1867, following such alumni as H. Newell Martin, the founder of American physiology ; John Williams, obstetrician; William Gowers, neurologist; John Tweedy, ophthalmologist; Marcus Beck and Rickman John Godlee, surgeons. The entry in the years immediately following bears names which became familiar as Henry Morris, surgeon ; Ray Lankester, biologist; Thomas Barlow, physi¬ cian ; Albert Edward Sharpey-Schafer, physiologist. The late Dawson Williams, Frederick Mott, Victor Horsley, Stanley Boyd, and Montague Murray had enrolled before 1874. This was a goodly company. Thane’s progress in anatomy was such that he was appointed demonstrator by Professor Viner Ellis in 1870, a year before he qualified M.R.C.S. He succeeded Ellis in 1877, at the early age of 27, and continued in the chair of anatomy until 1919, when, elected emeritus professor, he was succeeded by the present holder, Professor G. Elliot Smith. He was knighted in 1919 largely for his services as inspector under the Vivisection Act of 1876, as well as for his services to University College. Thane occupied a distinguished position among British and Continental anatomists. He was one of the founders of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and became president. He was a member of the French [38/30]