Brodie

Brodie, Sir Benjamin Collins, Bart., was horn in 1783 at Winterslow, Wilts, where his father, the rector of the parish, a man of culture and character, directed his education. In 1801 he was sent to London, and began the study of anatomy under Abernethy. Though not at first fond of his profession, he worked at it with patient assiduity, and in 1808 became assistant-surgeon to St. George's Hospital, with which institution he was connected for more than thirty years. His fame as an eloquent teacher soon spread, and in 1810 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and next year received the Copley medal for his experimental investigations as to the connection between the nervous system and the diffusion of animal heat. His other contributions to physiology dealt with the influence of the nerves on the heart and the secretions. He now acquired an enormous practice as a consulting surgeon and operator, and may be said to have originated the modern system of conservative surgery, writing various treatises on pathological subjects. In 1834, after acting as medical adviser to three sovereigns, he was created a baronet, and in 1858 he was President of the Royal Society. He was also first President of the newly-instituted Medical Council. Retiring in his later years from active work, he published anonymously an instalment of an interesting discussion entitled Psychological Enquiries. He died in 1862. His son was an eminent chemist and professor of that science at Oxford. He died in 1880.