John Abernethy, surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, was the most celebrated medical lecturer of Regency London and a byword for gruff candour with patients. His former pupil George Macilwain traces his career, his teaching, his writings on constitutional disease and his views on experiment, drawing on documents first published here.
A full portrait of English surgery in the age before anaesthesia, by someone who knew its subject. Download the free EPUB.