Edmond Souchon.

  • Matas, Rudolph, 1860-1957.
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Edmond Souchon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    2 SURGERY, GYNECOLOGY AND OBSTETRICS student career. Dr. Souchon’s gratitude and admiration for Marion Sims is re¬ vealed in his “Reminiscences of J. Marion Sims in Paris” and “The Places Made Famous by Marion Sims in Montgomery, Alabama.” His father’s death hastened his return to the United States, and he came back to New Orleans and received the degree of medicine from the Medical Depart¬ ment of the University of Louisiana in 1867. A letter of introduction from Dr. Sims to Dr. T. G. Richardson, then professor of anatomy and clinical surgery, marked a second epoch in Dr. Souchon’s life. He assisted Dr. Richardson in private practice, and became his prosector and chief of clinic at the Charity Hospital. How deeply and tenderly he cherished Dr. Richardson’s favor and friendship is shown in his “Reminiscences of Dr. T. G. Richardson.” In 1872, Dr. Souchonbecame demonstrator of anatomy in the Medical Depart¬ ment of the University of Louisiana, and served for 4 years. In 1885, he was elected professor of anatomy and clinical surgery and filled this chair for 23 years. While professor of anatomy he laid the foundation for the Museum of Anatomy, now known by his name, which is entirely representative of his anatomical handi¬ craft. It contains over 400 dissections, admirably preserved by original methods of injection and coloration, described in the Anatomical Record, Philadelphia. As a teacher of anatomy his chief aim, like that of all his predecessors and contemporaries, was to teach human anatomy in its practical applications to the needs of the practitioner of medicine. He viewed the subject from the standpoint of what was most useful in the interpretation of function, disease, and injury in the light of the progress accomplished in his day. The importance that he attached to method and system in study is everywhere apparent in his work. These funda¬ mental ideas are especially conspicuous in his “Plea for a Methodically Written Textbook of Anatomy,” in his “Guide for Describing an Organ,” in papers on “How to Learn and Remember Anatomy,” and in his surgical teachings, as exem¬ plified in his papers on the “Methodic Description of a Surgical Disease” and “Method of Reporting a Surgical Case.” In surgery he was essentially an operator of the anatomical era. He naturally excelled in all operations which required a knowledge of anatomy and in this he was soon recognized and quickly acquired an independent and lucrative prac¬ tice. It was his ability as an anatomist that led to his association with Dr. Andrew Smyth, the eminent surgeon-in-chief of Charity Hospital, in connection with the historic case of Banks, the negro patient, whose innominate artery Dr. Smyth suc¬ cessfully ligated for aneurism for the first time in surgical history. This case stimulated Dr. Souchon to pursue his studies on aneurism, and later on disloca¬ tions of the shoulder joint. His many monographs on these subjects will remain conspicuous landmarks in the history of these subjects and are undoubtedly the most enduring literary monuments of his surgical career.