James Syme (7 November 1799 – 26 June 1870) was a pioneering Scottish surgeon.
Early life
James Syme was born on 7 November 1799 at 56
Princes Street
Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (thr ...
in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. His father was John Syme
WS of Cartmore and
Lochore
Lochore is a former mining village in Fife, Scotland. It takes its name from the nearby Loch Ore.
It is largely joined to the adjacent villages of Ballingry to the north and Crosshill to the south.
Education
Most of the children in Lochore go ...
, estates in
Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...
and
Kinross
Kinross (, gd, Ceann Rois) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the historic county of Kinross-shire.
History
Kinross's origins are c ...
. His father lost most of his fortune in attempting to develop the mineral resources of his property. His father had a legal practice at 23 North Hanover Street, not far from
Princes Street
Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (thr ...
in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
.
James was educated at the
Royal High School at the age of nine, and remained until he was fifteen, when he entered the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...
. For two years he frequented the arts classes (including botany), and in 1817 began the medical curriculum, devoting himself with particular keenness to
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...
. His chemical experiments led him to the discovery that a valuable substance is obtainable from
coal tar
Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat pso ...
which has the property of dissolving
india-rubber, and could be used for
waterproofing silk and other textile fabrics; an idea which was patented a few months afterwards by
Charles Macintosh
Charles Macintosh FRS (29 December 1766 – 25 July 1843) was a Scottish chemist and the inventor of the modern waterproof raincoat. The Mackintosh raincoat (the variant spelling is now standard) is named after him.
Biography
Macintosh was ...
, of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
(see also
Mackintosh).
In the dissecting room
In the session 1818–1819 Syme became assistant and demonstrator of the dissecting room of
Robert Liston, who had started as an extramural teacher of anatomy in competition with Liston's old master,
John Barclay; in those years he held also resident appointments in the infirmary and the fever hospital, and spent some time in Paris practising dissection and operative surgery. In 1823 Liston handed over to him the whole charge of his anatomy classes, retaining his interest in the school as a pecuniary venture; the arrangement did not work smoothly, and a feud with Liston arose, which did not terminate until twenty years later, when Liston was settled in London.
Clinical teaching
In 1824–1825, he founded the Brown Square School of Medicine, but again disagreed with his partners in the venture. Announcing his intention to practise surgery only after being unable to fill a vacancy at
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary
The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...
, Syme started a surgical hospital of his own,
Minto House hospital. He worked there from May 1829 to September 1833, with great success as a surgical charity and school of clinical instruction. It was here that he first put into practice his method of clinical teaching, which consisted in having the patients to be operated or prelected upon brought from the ward into a lecture-room or theatre where the students were seated conveniently for seeing and taking notes.
His private practice had become very considerable, his position having been assured ever since his
amputation
Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...
at the hip joint in 1823, the first operation of the kind in Scotland. In 1833 he succeeded
James Russell as professor of clinical surgery in
Edinburgh University. Syme's accession to the clinical chair was marked by two important changes in the conditions of it: the first was that the professor should have the care of surgical patients in the infirmary in right of his professorship, and the second, that attendance on his course should be obligatory on all candidates for the medical degree. When Liston removed to London in 1835 Syme became the leading consulting surgeon in Scotland.
University College, London
In 1847 Syme was accepted the chair of clinical surgery at
University College, London left vacant after Liston's death. He began practice in London in February 1848; but early in May the same year difficulties with two of his colleagues at
Gower Street and a desire to escape from animosity and contention led him to give up his appointment. He returned to Edinburgh in July, and was reinstated in his old chair, to which the crown authority had meanwhile found a difficulty in appointing. The judgment of his friends was that he was always right in the matter, but often wrong in the manner, of his quarrels.
He was elected President of the
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The College has seven active faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical practices. Its main campus is located o ...
in 1849.
Medical reform
In 1849, he broached the subject of medical reform in a letter to the lord advocate; in 1854 and 1857 he addressed open letters on the same subject to
Lord Palmerston; and in 1858 a
Medical Act was passed which largely followed the lines laid down by himself. As a member of the general medical council called into existence by the act, he made considerable stir in 1868 by an uncompromising statement of doctrines on medical education, which were thought by many to be reactionary; they were, however, merely an attempt to recommend the methods that had been characteristic of Edinburgh teaching since
William Cullen
William Cullen FRS FRSE FRCPE FPSG (; 15 April 17105 February 1790) was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, and professor at the Edinburgh Medical School. Cullen was a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment: He was ...
's time—namely, a constant reference of facts to principles, the subordination (but not the sacrifice) of technical details to generalities, and the preference of large professional classes and the magnetism of numbers to the tutorial system, which he identified with cramming.
In the 1860s he acted as a surgeon at
Leith Hospital
Leith Hospital was situated on Mill Lane in Leith, Edinburgh, and was a general hospital with adult medical and surgical wards, paediatric medical and surgical wards, a casualty department and a wide range of out-patient services. It closed in 1 ...
.
Death
In April 1869, he had a paralytic
seizure
An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with lo ...
, and at once resigned his chair; he never recovered his powers, and died near
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
in June 1870. He was a Christian whose religious feeling increased as he grew older.
Syme is buried on the upper north-east terrace of
St John's Episcopal Churchyard at the east end of
Princes Street
Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (thr ...
, Edinburgh.
Syme's character is not inaptly summed up in the dedication to him by his old pupil,
John Brown, of the series of essays Locke and Sydenham: ''Verax, capax, perspicax, sagax, efficax, tenax''.
Family
Syme married twice. Firstly he married Anne Willis,
the sister of his former colleague,
Robert Willis. She died in 1840, while giving birth to their ninth child. Only two of their nine children, daughters
Agnes and Lucy, survived into adulthood.
In December of 1841, Syme married Jemima Burn. The couple had five children, three of whom survived into adulthood.
In 1856, Syme's daughter Agnes married
Joseph Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of ...
, who in 1854 had been appointed first assistant surgeon to Syme at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...
. Having grown up as the eldest surviving child of a surgeon, Agnes Syme Lister often assisted her husband's medical research, including taking dictation and case notes.
They maintained a home laboratory, where Joseph Lister conducted experiments that would lead to the development of antiseptic sprays for surgical theatres.
Bibliography
Syme's surgical writings were numerous, although the terseness of his style and directness of his method saved them from being bulky:
* ''A Treatise on the Excision of Diseased Joints'' (1831)—the celebrated
ankle-joint amputation is known by his name
* ''Principles of Surgery'' (1831 often reprinted)
* ''Diseases of the Rectum'' (1838);
* ''Contributions to the Pathology and Practice of Surgery'' (1848)—a collection of thirty-one original memoirs published in periodicals from time to time
* ''Stricture of the Urethra and Fistula in Pei-ineo'' (1849)
* ''Observations in Clinical Surgery'' (1861)
* ''Excision of the Scapula'' (1864)
References
Further reading
''Memorials of the Life of James Syme'' by R. Paterson, M.D., with portraits (Edinburgh, 1874)
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Syme, James
1799 births
1870 deaths
Medical doctors from Edinburgh
People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Scottish pathologists
Scottish surgeons
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Academics of University College London
Presidents of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh