Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1693

ALFRED SWAINE TAYLOR (1806-1880) On perforations of the stomach, from poisoning and disease. A. Waldie 1840 pp. [49]-89. 21.7 cm.

Taylor traveled widely in Europe both during and after his medical studies at the united medical school of Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals. He attended lectures in Paris, made a brief geological survey of Auvergne, visited the medical school at Montpellier, and then went to Naples where he studied for nine months and published two papers in Italian. Taylor's interest in forensic medicine led to his appointment to the first chair of medical jurisprudence at Guy's in 1831, soon after his return from Europe. It was the first chair in that subject in London and Taylor held the post until he retired in 1878. He was also an expert chemist and lectured on that subject at Guy's for over thirty-five years. His two major works, Elements of medical jurisprudence (London, 1836) and Poisons in relation to medical jurisprudence and medicine (London, 1848), became standard works during his lifetime because they systematized legal principles and court rulings so skillfully with toxicological data and anatomical and pathological findings. The present work was first printed in Guy's hospital reports in August 1839. In the paper, Taylor discusses the differences between natural perforating ulcers of the stomach that culminate in peritonitis, fatal at that time, and perforations of the stomach caused by various types of poisons. He gives detailed pathological findings in numerous cases and outlines how a correct diagnosis may be achieved even in difficult circumstances.

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