![]() The first specialist ophthalmic hospital in Scotland, the Dispensary served as a place to treat the sick poor (a similar eye hospital would later be opened in Dalkeith to treat miners) as well as training future generations of ophthalmic surgeons. That year John became surgical apprentice to Wishart and, more significantly, together they founded the Edinburgh Eye Dispensary in the city’s Lawnmarket. There can be no doubt that Wishart would recognise much of himself in John Argyll Robertson, and 1822 was to prove a pivotal year in their working relationship. He himself had studied in Vienna under Georg Joseph Beer (the eminent teacher of ophthalmic theory and surgery, and founder of the first ophthalmological school) before taking RCSEd Fellowship in 1805. Wishart was – as John Argyll Robertson became – a general surgeon with a particular interest in the treatment of the eye. Like his two elder brothers he studied medicine in the capital, writing his thesis for his doctorate ‘On Ophthalmia’, a work he dedicated to John Henry Wishart, Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. ![]() John Argyll Robertson was born in Edinburgh in August 1800. ![]() (from The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh President’s Book). He was, after all, following in the family footsteps of two uncles – Robert and William – who had done so in 18 respectively – but more importantly those of his father, John, who had obtained Fellowship some 40 years earlier in February 1822.įigure 1: Lithograph of John Argyll Robertson Nevertheless, Douglas could be forgiven for feeling pride and no little relief at being elected a Fellow of the world’s oldest surgical college. A dozen years earlier, the somewhat controversial decision had been taken by the College to discontinue separate examination for Fellowship candidates, requiring them only to have the degree-level College Licentiateship (LRCSEd) and then allowing eligible candidates to petition for election by vote of Fellows (FRCSEd by examination wasn’t reinstated until 1885). It should be noted that it wasn’t necessary for these three men to pass an examination to gain Fellowship. By way of context, the number now stands at almost 50,000. Although the College had been in existence for over 350 years by this time, this brought the number of surgeons admitted to Fellowship since its 1505 origins to only 559. On 15 October 1862, three men were elected to Fellowship of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh: James Lumsden King of Prestonpans, Robert Beedie Robertson of Ardrossan, and Douglas Moray Cooper Lamb Argyll Robertson of Edinburgh. This article looks at the contributions of two major figures in this field, namely John Argyll Robertson, Surgeon in Edinburgh and highly-regarded extra-mural lecturer, and his son Douglas Argyll Robertson – like his father a Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh – and one of the first surgeons to dedicate his craft solely to surgery of the eye. ![]() However, it wasn’t until the late-18th and early-19th centuries that ophthalmology made significant moves towards specialisation in Scotland. ![]() The renowned Glasgow Surgeon Peter Lowe described ophthalmic surgery in his legendary surgical textbook A discourse of the whole art of chirurgery as far back as 1599 (albeit around 2000 years after Indian Surgeon Sushruta described a form of cataract dislocation in a Sanskrit manuscript). The author shares the story of an extraordinary father and son, two of the major figures in defining the specialty of ophthalmology as we know it today. ![]()
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