Abernethy, JOHN

Abernethy, JOHN, an eminent English surgeon, was born in London, 3d April 1764. His grandfather, the Rev. John Abernethy (1680-1740), an Irish Presbyterian clergyman, acquired distinction by his controversial writings. Abernethy was educated at Wolverhampton grammar-school, and in 1779 was apprenticed to the assistant-surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1787 he was himself elected assistant-surgeon to St Bartholomew's, and soon after began to lecture on anatomy and surgery. At first, he manifested extraordinary diffidence, but his power soon developed itself; and his lectures at last attracted crowds. His clear, simple, positive style, illustrated by an inexhaustible fund of apt anecdotes, made him the most popular medical teacher of his day. In 1813 he was appointed surgeon to Christ's Hospital, in 1814 Professor of Anatomy and Surgery to the College of Surgeons, and in 1815 full surgeon to St Bartholomew's, a post which he resigned in 1829. His practice increased with his celebrity, which the eccentricity and rudeness of his manners contributed to heighten. He died at Enfield, 28th April 1831. Of his Works (4 vols. 1830) the most original and important is his Observations on the Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases (1809), in which a simple principle, till then little attended to, was made the foundation of much important and ingenious observation. See his Life by George Macilwain (3d. ed. 2 vols. 1857).