Sir Jonathan Hutchinson - Life, Works, Source

Surgeon, born in Selby, North Yorkshire, N England, UK. He became surgeon at the London hospital (1859–83) and professor of surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons (1879–83). He is best known for his lifelong study of syphilis; Hutchinson's incisors (notched front teeth) are characteristic of congenital syphilis, which he first described. He was knighted in 1908.

Sir Jonathan Hutchinson (1828-1913), English surgeon, ophthalmologist, dermatologist, venereologist and pathologist, was born on July 23rd, 1828 at Selby, Yorkshire, England, his parents belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

Life

He entered St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1850 (and a Fellow in 1862), and rapidly gained reputation as a skilful operator and a scientific inquirer. While a student Hutchinson choose a career in surgery from 1854 on, under the influence and help of his mentor, Sir James Paget (1814-1899). Other hospitals he practiced in the following years were the Lock Hospital, the City of London Chest Hospital, the London Hospital, the Metropolitan Hospitals and the Blackfriars Hospital for Diseases of the Skin.

His intense activity in so many medical specialties reflected also in his involvement with several medical societies. He was president of the Hunterian Society in 1869 and 1870, professor of surgery and pathology at the Royal College of Surgeons from 1877 to 1882, president of the Pathological Society (1879-1880), of the Ophthalmological Society (1883), of the Neurological Society (1887) of the Medical Society (1890), and of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society in 1894-1896.

Works

Hutchinson's activity in the cause of scientific surgery and in advancing the study of the natural sciences was unwearying.

He was the founder of the London Polyclinic or Postgraduate School of Medicine;

Sir Jonathan Hutchinson has his name attached to the following entities in medicine:

Hutchinson's angina Hutchinson's dehidrosis Hutchinson's disease or senile degeneration of the choroid. Hutchinson's facies Hutchinson's freckle (a precancerous spot occurring in old age). Hutchinson's mask Hutchinson's melanotic disease Hutchinson's patch (a corneal sign attached to syphilitic keratitis. Hutchinson's prurigo Hutchinson's pupil Hutchinson's teeth (seen in congenital syphilis). Hutchinson's triad Hutchinson-Gilford disease

After his retirement from active consultative work he continued to take great interest in the question of leprosy.

He was the founder of Haslemere Educational Museum

He died in June 26th, 1913, in Haslemere, Surrey.

Source

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.