Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1869

SIR JOHN ERIC ERICHSEN (1818-1896) The science and art of surgery. Blanchard and Lea 1854 [4] [xvii]-xxxii [33]-908, 33 pp., 311 illus. 23 cm.

Born in Copenhagen, Erichsen was raised in England and received his medical education at London's University College where he was a pupil of Carswell (see No. 1501) and Liston (see No. 1507 ff.). He also studied in Paris and then began his career as lecturer on general anatomy and physiology at the Westminster Hospital in London. Erichsen preferred surgery and was appointed assistant surgeon at the University College Hospital, becoming surgeon at the hospital and professor of surgery at University College in 1850 at age thirty-two. In 1866 he became professor of clinical surgery and served in that post until 1875. Erichsen served in several offices in the Royal College of Surgeons, being elected president in 1880. In 1887 he was selected as president of University College and was acting in that capacity at his death. The present work was first published at London in 1853 and was in its tenth edition in 1895. Over 40,000 copies of the book had been sold by that time and it was also translated into Italian, German, and Spanish. It was so popular in the United States that a copy was issued to every medical officer in the Federal army during the Civil War. Unfortunately, this was done without Erichsen's consent and no acknowledgment was made to him or his publishers. The work is here edited by John Hill Brinton (1832-1907). A native Philadelphian, Brinton received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College. He served as the medical director of Grant's army during the Civil War and later in Washington, D.C. in the Office of the Surgeon-General where he worked on the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (see No. 2300) and began to assemble the collection for the Army Medical Museum.

See Related Record(s): 1501 1507 2300

Cited references: Cushing E91; Garrison-Morton 5602 (London ed., 1853); Osler 2531 (5th London ed., 1869)