Old Photograph James Syme Edinburgh Scotland

Old photograph of James Syme in Edinburgh, Scotland. James, born 7 November 1799, died 26 June 1870, was a pioneering Scottish surgeon. His father was a writer to the signet and a landowner in Fife and Kinross, who lost most of his fortune in attempting to develop the mineral resources of his property. James was sent to the Royal High School at the age of nine, and remained until he was fifteen, when he entered the University of Edinburgh. For two years he frequented the arts classes, including botany, and in 1817 began the medical curriculum, devoting himself with particular keenness to chemistry. His chemical experiments led him to the discovery that a valuable substance is obtainable from coal tar which has the property of dissolving india-rubber, and could be used for waterproofing silk and other textile fabrics; an idea which was patented a few months afterwards by Charles Macintosh, of Glasgow. In 1824, he started the Brown Square school of medicine, but again disagreed with his partners in the venture. Announcing his intention to practise surgery only, Syme started a surgical hospital of his own, Minto House hospital, which he carried on from May 1829 to September 1833, with great success as a surgical charity and school of clinical instruction. It was here that he first put into practice his method of clinical teaching, which consisted in having the patients to be operated or prelected upon brought from the ward into a lecture-room or theatre where the students were seated conveniently for seeing and taking notes. In 1847 Syme was accepted to the chair of clinical surgery at the University College, London, England. In April 1869, he had a paralytic seizure, and at once resigned his chair; he never recovered his powers, and died near Edinburgh in June 1870.



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