Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1072

EDWARD ALANSON (1747-1823) Practical observations on amputation, and the after-treatment. Joseph Johnson 1782 2nd ed. xxxi, 296 pp. 21.2 cm.

Alanson, a native of Newton in Lancashire, was a pupil of John Hunter's (see No. 968 ff.). He practiced medicine at Liverpool as surgeon to the Liverpool Infirmary. Alanson developed a method of amputation in which the skin and muscles were cut in a circular manner, which left a stump shaped like a hollow cone. Alanson's amputations were usually very successful, which may have resulted from his insistence on surgical cleanliness and proper ventilation in the hospital. In the Preface to this work, he noted that he had performed thirty-five amputations at the Infirmary without a fatality. In this work he discusses his amputation methods, procedures for postoperative care, and presents twenty-seven illustrative case histories. The first edition of this work was published at London in 1779 and it was translated into French in 1784 and into German the following year.

See Related Record(s): 968

Cited references: Wellcome II, p. 22