Fitz William Sargent, M.D. & John Atlee, M.D.
Click here for the book in this collection by Dr. Sargent
F. William
Sargent: physician,
born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, May, 17 1820, was graduated at Jefferson
college in 1839, and at the medical department of the University of
Pennsylvania in 1843. He was a surgeon to Wills hospital, Philadelphia, in
1844-'54. At the latter date he moved to Switzerland, where he has
since resided. He published " Bandaging and other Operations of Minor
Surgery" (Philadelphia, 1848; with additions on military surgery, 1862), and
edited Robert Druitt's "Principles and Practice of Minor Surgery"
(Philadelphia, 1853) and James Miller's " Principles of Surgery" (1853).
Information from Rutkow: History of
Surgery, p.23
ATLEE, John Light, physician, born in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, 2 November 1799; died there, 1 October 1885. He was a son of
Colonel W. P. Atlee, and grandson of Judge W. A. Atlee. He studied medicine
with Dr. Samuel Humes in Philadelphia, and was graduated at the University
of Pennsylvania in 1820. He returned to his native City, began practice, and
soon became successful, especially in surgical cases. Dr. Atlee's operation
for double ovariotomy, in 1843, was the first in the history of medicine, he
was one of the founders of the Lancaster city and county medical society in
1843, and twice served as its president. He assisted in organizing the
Pennsylvania medical society in 1848, and became its president in 1857, and
was also one of the organizers of the American medical association in
Philadelphia, and was elected vice-president in 1865, and president in 1882.
At the union of Franklin and Marshall Colleges, in 1853, he became professor
of anatomy and physiology, and continued there until 1869. He was a school
director for forty years. Dr. Atlee was noted for his advocacy of the
difficult operation of ovariotomy, which he was one of the first to
practice. He ably defended its propriety when it was in universal disrepute,
and, by his great skill in over 300 cases, he aided in making it one of the
legitimate operations of surgery. When he first performed this operation in
Philadelphia he was denounced by medical men on all sides as a dangerous
man. Few surgeons dared to be present at his operations, and there was even
talk of having him arrested. Dr. Atlee was also noted for his skill in the
removal of uterine fibroid tumors. He was a brilliant speaker and debater,
and a copious writer on medicine, chemistry, and botany, having published
over eighty articles in various journals.
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