Donald Maclean taught surgery at Michigan
for seventeen years, 1872-89. He attended Edinburgh for his medical
education. In his clinical years at Edinburgh, Maclean had assisted
James Syme, and had become proficient in amputations and
excisions for which Syme was famous. Syme told Maclean to pay
attention to Joseph Lister and his antiseptic doctrine:
“There is something in it.”
In October 1877 Maclean used Lister’s
carbolic acid spray in two operations before the class, but he soon
abandoned the spray, citing deaths from carbolic acid poisoning.
Instead, he urgently advocated “perfect cleanliness,” and Will
Mayo, who was Maclean’s student, said that Maclean’s insistence on
cleanliness anticipated Lister’s aseptic surgery.
At the Pavilion Hospital, which was completed in 1876, Will Mayo
could stand beside Maclean at the operating table. Mayo would
also have experienced giving anesthesia. There were no
anesthesiologist, and chloroform was given by anyone handy. He
might also have had responsibility for postoperative care, for after
completing his work, Maclean left for Detroit, where he lived and
practiced medicine. (Not Just Any
Medical School, by Horace W.
Davenport.)
Relationship
between MacLean and Mayo
