On the history of pathology in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the functions of the Pathological Department / by John H. Teacher.

  • John Hammond Teacher
Date:
[1912]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the history of pathology in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the functions of the Pathological Department / by John H. Teacher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    vulgar error, and checks the enthusiasm of theorists and of sects in medicine, to whom perhaps more of the human species have fallen a sacrifice than to the sword itself or pestilence. Or again, were I to guess at the most probable future improvements in physic I should say that they would arise from a more general and more accurate examination of diseases after death. And were I to place a man of proper talents in the most direct road for becoming truly great in his profession, I would choose a good practical anatomist, and put him into a large hospital to attend the sick and dissect the dead. We have travelled far since William Hunter's day. Morbid anatomy is still the foundation of pathology. But we must not forget that when we examine a body in the jjost-mortem room we interpret what we see in the light of knowledge which has been gathered by many investigators in years of histological, bacteriological, and experimental research. The post-morter)i examinations at the Royal Infirmary w^ere at first made by the physician or surgeon, and valuable results were obtained. For example, typhus and typhoid fever were first clearly distinguished from one another by Dr. Perry (father of the present Dr. Robert Perry) who was a physician to the Royal Infirmary. In 1852 the pathology department originated in the form of a pathological museum. The old minute-book of the Pathological Museum Committee reports:—At a quarterly meeting of the directors of Glasgow Royal Infirmary, held within the secretary's oflSce, on Monday, 4th May, 1852, at 2 o'clock P.M. Secretary—Robert Lamond. Convened—Mr. Cogan [hon. treasurer of the Royal Infirmary]; Mr. Hannan [Dean of Guild]; Messrs. M'Lean, Reid, and Craig [managers elected by the general court of contributors]; Dr. Macfarlane [Professor of Medicine in the University]; Dr. Allen Thomson [Professor of Anatomy in the University]; Dr. Watson [President of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons]: Mr. Lyon [surgeon, representative of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons]; Dr. J. Gibson Fleming [surgeon to the Royal Infirmary]. In terms of a remit from the special committee of physicians and surgeons. Dr. Fleming produced and read the following report with regard to a pathology museum:— The committee having considered the proposal of institut- ing a pathological museum in connection with the infirmary, beg to report that such a museum seems to be really necessary in order that the institution may keep pace as a school of