Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1355

JOHN ABERCROMBIE (1780-1844) Pathological and practical researches on diseases of the brain and the spinal cord. Printed for Waugh and Innes 1828 xv, 444 pp. 23.1 cm.

Abercrombie, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, received his medical degree from Edinburgh in 1803. He studied for a short time at St. George's Hospital in London and returned to Edinburgh where he established a general practice. He soon developed a large diversified practice which he managed by organizing his more advanced apprentices on a geographical basis to assist in caring for his patients. He conducted a regular clinic for his apprentices and eventually attracted a considerable number of students in addition to his own apprentices. Abercrombie was not only a clinician and teacher but also a researcher who made important contributions to neuropathology and the pathology of the gastrointestinal system. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1823 and physician to the Scottish King in 1828. Oxford University conferred an honorary M.D. on him in 1835 and, that same year, he was elected Lord Rector of Marischal College in Aberdeen. The studies upon which the present work is based first appeared in the Edinburgh medical and surgical journal. He later published them as the present work, which is divided into four parts consisting of clinical case histories and pathological findings along with his comments in over 150 cases representing a variety of neurological conditions. His definitive descriptions of the various diseases afflicting the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves were a major contribution to neuropathology and this book "stands as a milestone in the development of neuropathology" (Lawrence C. McHenry, Garrison's history of neurology. Springfield, IL, 1969. p. 249).

Cited references: Waller 164 (1829 ed.); Wellcome II, p. 3

Gift of John Martin, M.D.