James Blundell MD Edin FRCP (1790-1877): pioneer of blood transfusion

James Blundell was an obstetrician, surgeon, physiologist and teacher. He is best known as the first to perform a successful human-to-human blood transfusion. However, he can also be accredited for significant advances in surgery and obstetrics. After a distinguished career at The United Hospitals of St Thomas and Guy's, he retired early and ended his years in relative obscurity.     

In memoriam: Clayton Daniel Mote, MD (1905-95)

Clayton Mote had a long career as a teacher, scholar and practitioner of medicine. He was noted for his diagnostic skills and rigorous approach to bedside teaching, with emphasis on the physical examination. The author's attitude towards him was a mixture of admiration for his talents and anxiety that one could never quite meet his expectations. People of his kind still have a place in modern academic medicine: they can be leaders and role models, they can integrate the new and the old, and they can inspire those under their tutelage to return to hands-on medicine.     

Archibald Billing (1791-1881) MD FRCP FRS: bedside teaching at the London Hospital (1822)

After graduation at Trinity College Dublin in 1814 Archibald Billing, who was born in County Dublin, settled in London. His Dublin MD (1818) was incorporated at Oxford and he taught at the London Hospital where, when appointed Senior Physician in 1822, he introduced teaching at the patients' bedsides. He ceased to lecture in 1836 when he was invited to become a member of the Senate of the University of London. He published papers on a variety of clinical subjects but is remembered for First Principles of Medicine (1831) that went through six editions. His friends among the operatic artists included Niccolo Paganini, and The Science of Jems, Jewels, Coins and Medals (1867) was the work of a connoisseur. He lived in retirement for many years before he died at the age of 90 at 34 Park Lane, London, on 2 September 1881.     

George (1830-72) and his son James Hogarth (1863-1941) Pringle: unsung surgical pioneers

The achievements of the Hogarth Pringles, father and son, represent a remarkable story of surgical innovation; remarkable not only for the range and significance of their contributions but also because neither of them has been given appropriate recognition for their pioneering work. George Hogarth Pringle introduced antiseptic surgery to Australia. His son James performed the first autologous vein graft in Britain and the first excision with en bloc nodal dissection for malignant melanoma, both of which procedures were successful. He was also one of the earliest exponents of hindquarter amputation, was a national authority on fracture management and an early supporter of women in medicine.     

Florence Rena Sabin (1871-1953), William Osler (1849-1919) and tuberculosis

Florence Rena Sabin received her MD from the Johns Hopkins University in 1900. She was one of the first women to become a medical intern at Johns Hopkins and worked for the year of her internship (1900-01) under William Osler. At Johns Hopkins from 1902 to 1925, Sabin studied embryology and histology with mentor Franklin Mall. She became the first woman professor of histology at an American school. Recruited to the Rockefeller Institute (1925), she focused on tuberculosis immunology, tubercle-bacillus biochemistry and haematology. She was the first woman department head at the Rockefeller and, in 1925, the first woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Settling in Colorado in 1938, she entered public health, emphasizing tuberculosis control. She received the Trudeau Award in 1945 and the Lasker Award in 1951. Her experience with tuberculosis under Osler's tutelage defined the shape of her work in basic tuberculosis research and in public health.     

James Platt White, MD (1811-1881): his interesting and remarkable accident

James Platt White, MD (1811-1881), one of the founders and leading figures of the Buffalo Medical College and a pioneer in American obstetrics and gynecology, suffered an interesting and remarkable accident to his neck at the age of 26 while traveling in a stagecoach in Western New York. He was confined to bed until after 45 days, a piece of bone was discharged into his pharynx and then expectorated. The segment of bone proved to be the anterior arch of his atlas (C1) vertebra. He recovered completely from this injury except for permanent loss of rotation of his head and neck. However, he was without functional disability until his death, 44 years later, at the age of 70. This case documents the clinical result during a 44-year period after traumatic loss of the anterior arch of C1. Such cases have been reported only rarely in the literature. Only limited information is available regarding the long-term clinical significance of a Jefferson fracture with exfoliation of the anterior arch of C1. My analysis suggests that White suffered an open Jefferson's fracture that became infected. The anterior arch of C1 became a sequestrum and was discharged spontaneously into his pharynx and then expectorated. This case report with decades of followup should be of interest to all who care for patients with cervical spine injuries and those who are interested in the history of medicine in Western New York.     

'It seems he is an enthusiast about Tibet': Lieutenant-Colonel James Guthrie, OBE (1906-71)

Of the more than 20 officers of the Indian Medical Service who served in Tibet during 1904-50, when British Indian diplomats were stationed in that Himalayan state, James Guthrie was perhaps the most successful both in gaining the goodwill of the Tibetans and in advancing the reputation of medicine there. A Scotsman, Guthrie served in various military hospitals in India before his posting to Gyantse in southern Tibet in 1934-36, and during World War II he rose to be Assistant Director of Medical Services at the 10th Army headquarters in Teheran and Baghdad. Guthrie preferred the more remote imperial postings, however, and in 1945 he was posted to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as Medical Officer to the British mission there. With his wife, who had nursing experience, he remained there until 1949, enjoying the variety of medical challenges and displaying an ability to accommodate Tibetan cultural beliefs within the practice of medicine. After service in Kuwait he returned to the UK, where he practised in the Shetland Islands for five years before establishing his own practice near Lyme Regis, where he died in 1971.     

Arthur William Douthwaite (1848-99), Order of the Double Dragon, MD (USA) FRGS: evangelist, medical missionary, explorer

Dr Douthwaite AW was first and foremost an evangelist. He became a doctor in order that he would be able better to follow his vocation of seeking to convert the people of China to Christianity. After an unhappy childhood and misspent youth, Douthwaite was converted to Christianity and went to China as a medical missionary. His only qualification was four years as an apothecary's apprentice and a short attachment at the London Hospital but he soon earned a high reputation as a healer and evangelist. During his first furlough, Douthwaite went to America and gained a full medical qualification. On his return to China, he was sent to Chefoo where he oversaw the development of a major mission station, which included one of the first medical schools for native students. His premature death from dysentery at the age of 51 prevented him from achieving even greater things.