During his travels to Continental Europe, the Birmingham surgeon James Fitzjames Fraser West (1833–1883) observed innovative procedures and sound hospital practice. He also witnessed things that dismayed and sometimes disgusted him. West was renowned for recording these experiences in his diaries and snaring them with colleagues in medical society meetings and published reports. This paper provides an insight into some of these observations.
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References
1.
GoodmanGM“Let right be done”: Unprofessional conduct, reputations and injustices, and their effect on the life of the surgeon James Fitzjames Fraser West (1833–1883). Journal of Medical Biography2003;11:190–8.
2.
Obituary. Lancet1883;i:1024.
3.
Obituary. British Medical Journal1883;i:1097.
4.
WestJFFDiary, 1883. This diary is now in the author's private archive. It was bequeathed to her by her late stepmother, Constance Margery Fryer (née West), the grand-daughter of James Fitzjames Fraser West.
5.
WestJFFOn some points of contrast between French and English surgery. Birmingham Medical Review1873: 31–44.
6.
GoodmanGMControversial issues surrounding the professional life of James Fitzjames Fraser West. Türkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Ethics, Law and History, August 2002. The paper contains further discussion on West's interest in Joseph Lister's antiseptic treatment of wounds.
7.
Lister's method of dressing wounds involved great attention to detail. He modified his original antiseptic treatment of wounds but his instructions were always precise. For this reason “Listerism” meant subtly different things at different times.
8.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 5).
9.
A surgical device resembling a snare and used to sever the base of a tumour during its surgical removal. Edouard Pierre Marie Chassaignac invented it.
10.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 5): p. 32.
11.
West does not specify when this was. Although it is known that he made a visit to France 10 years earlier, there is no way of knowing how many times he visited that country in the intervening period.
12.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 5): p. 33. “Monsieur Nelaton” was probably the urologist Auguste Nélaton (1807–1873).
13.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 5): p. 33. “Monsieur Nelaton” was probably the urologist Auguste Nélaton (1807–1873).
14.
The death certificate notes: “Rheumatic Fever 35 days, pneumonia 22 days, oedema of lungs 24 hours”.
15.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 4): 5 April 1883.
16.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 4): 5 April 1883.
17.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 4): 5 April 1883.
18.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 4): 5 April 1883.
19.
West records “Vevay” and states it was situated on the northern shore of Lake Geneva; nowadays it is usually spelt “Vevey”.
20.
WestJFFPrincipal baths and health resorts of Switzerland. Birmingham Medical Review1873: 124.
21.
WestJFFPrincipal baths and health resorts of Switzerland. Birmingham Medical Review1873: 124.
22.
WestJFFJottings from a surgeon's holiday note book. Birmingham Medical Review1879: 169.
23.
WestJFFJottings from a surgeon's holiday note book. Birmingham Medical Review1879: 169.
24.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 5): p. 33.
25.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 5): p. 33.
26.
WestJFFImpressions of German surgery. Birmingham Medical Review1875.
27.
WestJFFImpressions of German surgery. Birmingham Medical Review1875: p. 42.
28.
WestJFFImpressions of German surgery. Birmingham Medical Review1875: pp. 43–4. The Munich hospital was under Professor Nussbaum, while those in Bonn, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Prague and Dresden were under Professors Busch, Simon, Thiersch and Heine, and Dr Leonhardi, respectively. The Vienna hospital was under Professors Billroth, Dumreicher and Dittel, while Berlin's five hospitals were under Professor von Langenbeck (University Hospital and Jacob's Hospital), Professor Bardeleben (Charité Hospital), Dr Willms (Bethanien Hospital) and Dr Küster (Augusta Hospital).
29.
WestJFFOn surgical cases in which Lister's plan of treating wounds is preferable to any other method of dressing. St Thomas's Hospital Reports1879;10:76–7.
30.
WestJFFOn surgical cases in which Lister's plan of treating wounds is preferable to any other method of dressing. St Thomas's Hospital Reports1879;10:76–7.
31.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 26): p. 50.
32.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 26): p. 53.
33.
WestJFF (op. cit. ref. 5): pp. 39–40.
34.
Professor Thiersch published his first paper on the transplantation of skin in 1874, the year of West's visit.
