CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SIR WILLIAM GOWERS AND SIR VICTOR HORSLEY

Sir Victor Horsley.

MANY years ago G. K. Chesterton called the English 'the eccentrics of the earth' because of their unawareness of the 'very existence of some of their most extraordinary claims to glory and distinction'. He referred to a neglect of Chaucer the Father of English Poetry but today, with science in the ascendant, his stricture may be applied to the medical profession for allowing obscurity to threat...

Sir Victor Horsley (1857-1916): pioneer of neurological surgery.

Immortalized in surgical history for the introduction of "antiseptic wax," Sir Victor Horsley played a pivotal role in shaping the face of standard neurosurgical practice. His contributions include the first laminectomy for spinal neoplasm, the first carotid ligation for cerebral aneurysm, the curved skin flap, the transcranial approach to the pituitary gland, intradural division of the trigemi...

The shorthand publications of Sir William Richard Gowers.

OBJECTIVE To examine the shorthand publications of Sir William Richard Gowers. BACKGROUND Gowers developed an almost obsessional interest in Pitman shorthand. During the later part of his active career (1894-1910), the bulk of his professional writing, comprising nearly 100 articles, was printed entirely in Pitman shorthand in the Phonographic Record of Clinical Teaching and Medical Science. ...

Sir William Ramsay

Whither Sir William?

There are times when something is simply so familiar that we can no longer see it at all. It can be a story, or a concept, or even a flesh-and-blood person. Familiarity breeds not only contempt, but a kind of invisibility as well. For too many of us, such is the case with Sir William Osler. In his time (1849–1919), many considered him to be one of the greatest practitioners, teachers, and write...