King George's surgeon
Sir: Sir Denis Brogan in his 'Table Talk' (13 Octo- ber), refers to my late friend and colleague, Sir James Learmonth, under your heading 'King George's surgeon.' Sir Denis's recollections of his childhood acquaintance are in error in several respects. Wherever it was that Sir Denis was brought up, Sir James was born and reared in Gatehouse-of-Fleet, not Gatehouse-on-Fleet. Further, on his return from the Mayo Clinic, Sir James was appointed Professor of Surgery at Aberdeen, as Sir Denis writes, but the appointment was part-time, not full-time, allowing Sir James time and opportunity for private practice. He was, amongst family doctors and other medical men in and around Aberdeen, a most valued and popular consultant surgeon. Indeed I have heard him described as the best consultant physician in Aber- deen at that time because of his knowledge, humanity and breadth of outlook. For a physician to say this about a surgeon represents the highest possible praise. Sir Denis writes that when Sir James Learmonth was appointed to the Regius Chair of Surgery in Edinburgh he was the first Glasgow man so to be honoured. Now this may be literally true but it gives a wrong slant to the fluctuating and often difficult relationships formerly existing between the two cities and universities. Lord Lister, though a graduate of University College, London, was Pro- fessor of Clinical Surgery in Glasgow during the several years when his great work was done before he was appointed to the Chair of Clinical Surgery in Edinburgh. I think it can be fairly said that when he came to Edinburgh for the second time, Lister was a Glasgow man by adoption even though he had earlier worked in Edinburgh and married an Edinburgh wife.
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