Also known as Ibn Zuhr or Avenzoar was born in Seville, Spain. He was considered the most renowned physician of Muslim Spain. His most famous book is Al-Taisir in which he introduced the experimental method into surgery, one example being the tracheostomy he performed first on a goat. He was also the first to perform postmortem autopsies and dissections and also contributed to developing feeding tubes and parenteral nutrition. He established surgery as an independent field of medicine by introducing a training course for future surgeons. He was also known for his contributions to the field of pharmacology, neurology, and parasitology. He was one of the first physicians to use anesthesia for surgical procedures. He belonged to a family of physicians who served the Almohad ruler, but due to political turmoil he fell out of favor with the Almoravid ruler. He fled Seville but was imprisoned in Marrakesh. It was during that time when he wrote “Verrucae That Occur in the Stomach” in which he gives the first detailed description of a prisoner suffering from advanced colon cancer. He describes symptoms of diarrhea, bloody stools, palpation of an apple-sized tumor in the lower abdomen, change in stool caliber, cyclical fevers, and cachexia. He attributed his tumor to the diet of his community, which consisted of cured camel meat. In 1147 when the Almohad dynasty conquered Seville, he returned and continued to practice medicine and teaching. He died in 1161 in Seville. (References: Glick TF, Livesey SJ, Wallis F, eds. Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Psychology Press; 2005; Azar H. The Sage of Seville: Ibn Zuhr, His Time and His Medical Legacy. New York, NY: The American University in Cairo Press; 2008; Azar HA, McVaugh MR, Shatzmiller J. Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar)’s description of a verrucous malignancy of the colon (with an English translation from Arabic and notes on its Hebrew and Latin versions). Can Bull Med Hist. 2002;19(2):431-440; Picture from http://www.nndb.com/people/643/000097352/.) (With appreciation to Hussna Wakily, MD.)

Salmon was born in Bath, England. He received his medical education at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1818. After several years in the General Dispensary, Aldersgate Street, Salmon resigned his position, and in 1835 he opened an institution that was named “The Infirmary for the Relief of the Poor, Afflicted With Fistula and Other Diseases of the Rectum.” After relocation two additional times, it was reopened on April 25, 1854 (St. Mark’s Day)—hence, the adoption of the name St. Mark’s Hospital. Salmon seemed to have more than his share of critics; the following is a quote from an obituary statement that appeared in the British Medical Journal: “How far the course which he took was prompted by difficulties in pursuing an useful and honourable career in a general hospital, where his labours would have been more useful and more instructive, it is now difficult to say. It was, we fully believe, contrary to the best interests both of the profession and of the public; and the success of St. Mark’s Hospital was of unfortunate omen and has since borne bad fruit in encouraging similar enterprises.”

William Allingham was educated for the profession of architecture at University College, where he gained numerous prizes. He even practiced as an architect, exhibited studies at the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, and obtained honorable mention for a design of a building to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. In this year, however, he decided to abandon architecture for medicine. Entering as a student at St. Thomas’s Hospital, he carried off prize after prize—the Descriptive Anatomy Prize, the Anatomy Prize (1854), the Medicine Prize, the Clinical Medicine President’s Prize, and the Clinical Medicine Treasurer’s Prize (1855). After qualifying in 1855, he volunteered as surgeon in the Crimean War. He was in time to be present at the siege of Sebastopol and to see a vast amount of practical surgery in the most arduous circumstances at the hospitals at Scutari. During a large part of his war services, he was attached to the French Army, which was extremely poorly provided with surgical aid, and there is no doubt that under the strenuous nature of the duties which devolved upon him, Allingham gained the courage and sense of responsibility, which marked him out as a successful operating surgeon from the beginning of his career. After his return home, he was surgical tutor, demonstrator of anatomy, and then surgical registrar at St. Thomas’s Hospital. He set up in practice in 1863 as a consultant at 36 Finsbury Square, EC, but removed to Grosvenor Street, where he soon became a wellknown authority on diseases of the rectum and enjoyed a large practice. In 1871, he published his classical book on Diseases of the Rectum.⁷ It was accepted at once as an authoritative and inclusive work, although some surgeons differed from the author on points of technique. William Allingham was not attached to the staff of any of the great London hospitals possessing a medical school, but was for many years surgeon to the Great Northern Central Hospital and to St. Mark’s Hospital for Fistula and Diseases of the Rectum. He was also consulting surgeon to the Farringdon General Dispensary and to the Surgical Aid Society, of which, together with some of his relatives and others, he was one of the founders in 1862. He was a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1884 to 1886 and retired from practice in 1894. Allingham was one of the first surgeons in England to specialize in the treatment of diseases of the rectum, out of which he made a considerable fortune. After his retirement, he lived for some time at St. Leonards, and then at Worthing, where he died on February 4, 1908. (Courtesy of Muath Bishawi, MD.)

Al-Zahrawi was born in El-Zahra, northwest of Córdoba, Spain. He is known as one of the fathers of modern surgery for his contributions to advancing the field. He dedicated his life to medical ethics and to encouraging the knowledge of anatomy. He had great respect for the surgical theories and the works of the Greeks but introduced new surgical techniques and instruments. He is most famously known for his publication, the Al-Tasrif, a comprehensive and illustrated textbook of surgery. This monumental text is composed of 30 volumes, the last part of which deals with surgery, which in itself is divided into three books. The first deals with cauterization; the second discusses general surgery, trauma, obstetrics, gynecology, and urology; and the last covers orthopedics. He was the first to describe the use of cauterization in the treatment of anal fistula and hemorrhoids but recommended it only if the surgeon could avoid damage to the sphincter. Alternatively, he recommended the initial use of a cutting seton, which he describes in detail to treat anal fistulas. He has also been credited for performing the first thyroidectomy, being among the initial proponents of the use of anesthesia, using absorbable catgut sutures, ligation to control bleeding, and much more. The Al-Tasrif has illustrations of 200 surgical instruments, many of which are still in use today. He died in Córdoba in 1013 but his books continued to be used as resources for centuries in Europe. (Courtesy of Hussna Wakily, MD.)

Arderne, or de Arderne, claimed descent from Saxon times. His family was one of the first to assume a surname in imitation of the Normans. He stated that he was 70 in the first year of the reign of Richard II (i.e., 1377), hence our ability to deduce the year of his birth. He was a surgeon of the pre-Renaissance period and quite well educated, but little is known about him except for information that was gleaned from autobiographic details in some of his manuscripts. Scholars surmise that he was educated at Montpellier and served on the English side in France during the early period of the One Hundred Years War. He treated patients in Newark, Nottinghamshire, from 1349 to 1370 and then came to London. In 1376, Arderne issued his Treatise on Fistula-in-ano. A prolific writer in colloquial Latin, it was soon translated into English. Although he was apparently a brilliant surgeon, he still adhered to and promulgated astrology, keeping his medicaments and plasters secret. In fact, his fame as a pharmacist was said to have long outlasted his reputation as a surgeon. (Arderne J. Treatises of Fistula-in-Ano, Hemorrhoids and Clysters. Power D, trans. London, United Kingdom: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner; 1910.)

Pott was born in London, the son of a scrivener, in a house on Threadneedle Street at which location now sits the Bank of England. With the assistance of a relation, the Bishop of Rochester, Pott was able to attend a private school in Kent. At the age of 16, he demonstrated an interest in surgery and was apprenticed to Edward Nourse, an assistant surgeon at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. It was Pott’s responsibility to prepare anatomic subjects for Nourse’s lectures. In 1736, Pott received his diploma and was admitted to the Company of Barber-Surgeons. Following dissolution of the company in 1745, Pott allied himself with the surgeons, having been appointed assistant surgeon at St. Bartholomew’s. In his Treatise on Fistula, Pott stressed the advisability of minimal dissection, that is, the performance of limited fistulotomy. In 1756, Pott was thrown from his horse and suffered a compound fracture of the ankle. Despite having been advised to undergo amputation, he successfully managed to preserve the limb. The term Pott’s fracture is still used to describe this particular injury. In 1786, the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh elected Pott an honorary fellow, the first gentleman of the faculty to whom this honor was given. He served St. Bartholomew’s Hospital for one-half century, and when he died, the place in the Court of Assistants of the Surgeon’s Company was filled by his eminent pupil, John Hunter. (Pott P. The Chirurgical Works. Vols 1-3. London, United Kingdom: J Johnson; 1808; adapted from Parks AG, Gordon PH, Hardcastle JD. A classification of fistula-in-ano. Br J Surg. 1976;63(1):1-12.)