British surgeon
John Abernethy
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Born
| (
1764-04-03
)
3 April 1764
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Died
| 20 April 1831
(1831-04-20)
(aged 67)
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Nationality
| English
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Occupation
| Surgeon
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Known for
| Giving his name to the
Abernethy biscuit
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John Abernethy
FRS
(3 April 1764 ? 20 April 1831) was an English
surgeon
. He is popularly remembered today for having given his name to the
Abernethy biscuit
, a coarse-meal baked good meant to aid digestion.
Life
[
edit
]
He was a grandson of
John Abernethy
.
[1]
He was born in
Coleman Street
in the
City of London
on 3 April 1764,
[3]
where his father was a merchant. Educated at
Wolverhampton Grammar School
, he was apprenticed in 1779 to Sir
Charles Blicke
(1745?1815), a surgeon at
St Bartholomew's Hospital
, London. He attended the anatomical lectures of Sir
William Blizard
(1743?1835) at the
London Hospital
, and was employed to assist as
demonstrator
; he also attended
Percivall Pott
's surgical lectures at St Bartholomew's Hospital, as well as the lectures of
John Hunter
. 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
(1814). Abernethy was not a great operator, though his name is associated with the treatment of
aneurysm
by ligature of the
external iliac artery
.
Abernethy was an anti-
vivisectionist
.
[4]
Although he carried out experiments on animals, he killed them first, for he abhorred vivisection.
[5]
His
Surgical Observations on the Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases
(1809) ? known as "My Book",
[6]
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 on 20 April 1831.
Abernethy biscuit
[
edit
]
Abernethy believed that a variety of diseases originated in a disordered state of the digestive organs, and that treating underlying maldigestion and
dyspepsia
was essential to restoring health.
[7]
He invented, or at least gave his name to, a
digestive biscuit
called the
Abernethy biscuit
that he promoted from about 1829 until his death.
Works
[
edit
]
He contributed articles to
Rees's Cyclopædia
on Anatomy and Physiology, but the topics are not known.
[8]
A collected edition of his works was published in 1830. A biography,
Memoirs of John Abernethy
, by
George Macilwain
(1797?1882), appeared in 1853.
In literature
[
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]
John Abernethy is mentioned in
Edgar Allan Poe
's
The Purloined Letter
(1844).
[9]
His debate with
Sir William Lawrence
is believed by
Marilyn Butler
to have influenced
Mary Shelley
's
Frankenstein
.
[10]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Chambers Biographical Dictionary
,
ISBN
0-550-18022-2
, page 5
- ^
Abernethy, John (1764?1831)
Archived
6 June 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
(AIM25) Retrieved 3 February 2009
- ^
Harrison, Keith; Smith, Eric. (2008).
Rifle-Green by Nature: A Regency Naturalist and His Family, William Elford Leach
. Ray Society. p. 92.
ISBN
978-0903874359
- ^
Sandwith, Frieda Marsden. (1930).
Surgeon Compassionate: The Story of Dr. William Marsden, Founder of the Royal Free and Royal Marsden Hospitals
. London: Peter Davies. p. 63
- ^
Wood, James
, ed. (1907).
"Doctor My-Book"
.
The Nuttall Encyclopædia
. London and New York: Frederick Warne.
- ^
"Abernethy Biscuits"
.
The Foods of England
. Retrieved
13 November
2014
.
- ^
Thomson, Thomas Napier, ed. (1857).
"Abernethy, John"
.
A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen
. Vol. 1. Glasgow: Blackie and Son – via
Wikisource
.
- ^
Poe, Edgar Allan (1898). Trent, William P. (ed.).
Poems and Tales from the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe
. Houghton, Mifflin and Company. p.
63
. Retrieved
18 April
2018
.
- ^
The Times Literary Supplement
4 April 1993
Attribution
[
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]
Further reading
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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