Benjamin Phillips (surgeon)
Benjamin Phillips (1805–1861) was a Welsh surgeon.[1] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1834.[2]
Life[edit]
He was the son of Thomas Phillips of Llanellen House, Monmouthshire, and his wife Ann James, daughter of Benjamin James of Llangattock; he was the younger brother of Sir Thomas Phillips, Mayor of Newport.[3][4][5] Their sister Mary married the Rev. William Price, vicar of Llanarth, and was mother of Thomas Phillips Price.[6]
Phillips was a medical student at Bristol Infirmary under the surgeon Henry Daniel (1783–1859), whose wife Cecilia James was from Lansoar House, Llandegveth, Monmouthshire.[1][7] After studying at London University, he went to Paris in 1829, returning on the July Revolution the following year. He set up in practice as a surgeon in London, and was appointed to the St Marylebone Parish Infirmary.[1]
In 1843 Phillips was in practice at 17 Wimpole Street.[8] That year he was appointed assistant surgeon at the Westminster Hospital to Anthony White, who had been surgeon there from 1823. In 1846 White retired, and Phillips was his replacement.[1][9]
Phillips died in Gloucester Place, London, on 11 June 1861.[1] In poor health, he had retired some years before that.[10]
Works[edit]
Phillips published:
- A Series of Experiments performed for the purpose of shewing that arteries may be obliterated without ligature, compression, or the knife (1832). Dedicated to Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux.[11] A review of the book stated that the experiments had already been performed, by Jean Zuléma Amussat and Alfred-Armand-Louis-Marie Velpeau.[12] Later Phillips innovated by passing an electric current through a needle across an artery, to increase the clot formed on it. This technique was developed with a view to treating aneurysms.[13] As "galvano-puncture", it was taken up in the 1840s by Luigi Ciniselli (1803–1878) in Cremona.[14][15]
- A Treatise on the Urethra: Its Diseases, Especially Stricture, and Their Cure (1832). Dedicated to Henry Halford.[16] After a review, Phillips defended himself against the charge of advocating a technique of the French urologist Théodore Joseph Ducamp without proper attribution.[17]
- Epidemia, Contagion and Infection, with their remedies, an essay: to which is added an enquiry into the mode by which cholera is propagated (1832)[18]
- Scrofula: Its Nature, Its Causes, Its Prevalence, and the Principles of Treatment (1846)[19]
In 1837 Phillips read a paper before the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, suggesting that statistical methods should be applied to surgery.[20] In 1843, after he had performed an experimental and unsuccessful operation for ovariotomy (in 1840 at the Marylebone Infirmary), he published a statistical table, arguing that under-reporting was leading to under-estimation of the operation's risk.[21][22]
Family[edit]
Phillips married in 1832 Elizabeth Page, daughter of William Woods Page of Woodbridge, Suffolk, son of the surgeon John Page, and his wife Charlotte Sheppard. They had an only son William Page Thomas Phillips (1833–1905).[5][23]
Notes[edit]
- ^ a b c d e "Phillips, Benjamin (1805 - 1861)". livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk.
- ^ "Epsilon: Phillips, Benjamin". epsilon.ac.uk.
- ^ Walford, Edward (1864). The County Families of the United Kingdom, Or Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland. Hardwicke. p. 796.
- ^ Dod, Robert Phipps (1846). The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland for ...: Including All the Titled Classes. Whittaker. p. 319.
- ^ a b Burke, Sir Bernard (1921). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain. Burke Publishing Company. p. 1409.
- ^ Grant, John (1913). Essex: historical biographical and pictorial;. London: London & Provincial Pub. p. 463.
- ^ Smith, George Munro (1917). A history of the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Bristol, London: J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd.; Simpkin, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd. p. 204.
- ^ The Post Office London Directory. Kelly's Directories Limited. 1843. p. 325.
- ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1900). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 61. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ British Medical Journal: BMJ. British Medical Association. 1861. p. 639.
- ^ Phillips, Benjamin (1832). A Series of Experiments performed for the purpose of shewing that arteries may be obliterated without ligature, compression, or the knife. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green.
- ^ The London Medical and Surgical Journal: Exhibiting a View of the Improvements and Discoveries in the Various Branches of Medical Science. T. & G. Underwood. 1832. p. 115.
- ^ Winn, H. Richard; Newell, David W. (2004). Management of Cerebral Aneurysms. Saunders. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7216-8754-4.
- ^ Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal and Western Lancet. Bonestell & Company. 1885. p. 105.
- ^ "Dr. Ciniselli". The British Medical Journal. 2 (935): 810. 1878. ISSN 0007-1447. JSTOR 25248723.
- ^ Phillips, Benjamin (1832). A Treatise on the Urethra: Its Diseases, Especially Stricture, and Their Cure. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman.
- ^ The Medico-chirurgical Review and Journal of Medical Science. Burgess and Hill. 1833.
- ^ Phillips, Benjamin (1832). Epidemia, Contagion and Infection, with their remedies, an essay: to which is added an enquiry into the mode by which cholera is propagated. Longman, Rees.
- ^ Phillips, Benjamin (1846). Scrofula: Its Nature, Its Causes, Its Prevalence, and the Principles of Treatment. Baillière.
- ^ Killewo, Japhet; Heggenhougen, Kristian; Quah, Stella R. (18 August 2010). Epidemiology and Demography in Public Health. Academic Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-12-382201-7.
- ^ Frampton, Sally (30 December 2018). Belly-Rippers, Surgical Innovation and the Ovariotomy Controversy. Springer. p. 72. ISBN 978-3-319-78934-7.
- ^ Wells, Spencer (1882). On ovarian and uterine tumours. P. Blakiston. p. 192.
- ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.