Abernethy

Abernethy, John, an eminent surgeon, and grandson of a well-known Irish Nonconformist divine; born in London 1764. After receiving his early education at Wolverhampton Grammar School, he was apprenticed to Sir Charles Blicke, whom he succeeded (1787) as assistant-surgeon of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. His success as a private lecturer induced the Governors to build a theatre and establish the now famous school of St. Bartholomew's. In 1815 he became principal surgeon; having already (1813) been appointed surgeon to Christ's Hospital, and (1814) Professor of Anatomy and Surgery to the College of Surgeons. His book entitled Surgical Observations on the Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases was the first attempt to bring surgery and physiology into scientific connection. His teaching was clear and accurate, but dogmatic. Towards his patients he adopted a manner, said to have been foreign to his private life, in which plainness of speech verged on brusquerie and rudeness. He resigned his position at St. Bartholomew's in 1827, and his professorship at the College of Surgeons in 1829; dying at Enfield in 1831.