Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1977) vol 59
GORDON-TAYLOR LECTURE, 1976
Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor, surgeon-anatomist and humanist E W Walls
MD FRSE FRCS
Emeritus Professor of Anatomy in the Unitrersity of London
Introduction To be entrusted with this lecture, which commemorates the life and work of a great surgeon who was also a lovable and cultured man, is a high honour: equally it is a responsibility. My special purpose will be to consider Sir Gordon as surgeon-anatomist and humanist and to show that these aspects of his talent contributed in large and equal measure to the manner and magnitude of what he was able to accomplish. A secondary purpose will be to enrich the memories of those who knew him and to make him-for those who did notmuch more than an oft-recurring name in the surgical literature of the middle third of the century. One last word of preamble. It cannot be expected that one who has spent a lifetime in teaching will fail to acknowledge the part played by those who taught Gordon-Taylor as schoolboy, student, and young surgeon; these and many more, for throughout his long iUfe he paid free and generous tribute to others for their help and support. So now I begin, and I do so by stating the meaning of the word 'humanist' as used in the title of this lecture. By humanist is meant one who pursues the study of the humanities, these being the branches of learning regarded as having primarily a cultural character. They include languages, literature, history, and philosophy, and in Scotland to this day the Professor of Latin is known as the Professor of Humanity. As an active member of the Classical Association and of the Horatian Society 'GT'as he liked his friends to call him-could be a worthy champion of the ancient classics Fortunately such champions still exist, and for
those who are concerned the piece by Philip Howard in T'he Times of I5th April 1976 makes fine reading. It is an account of Professor Kenneth Dover's presidential address to the Classical Association the previous day, an address that was, in Howard's words, 'an irresistible defence of the ancient classics an oral paradigm of their eternal virtues: love of langulage and its precise, witty and subtle use and interpretation'. This would have delighted 'GT', and makes it altogether appropriate that almost my first words about him should relate to an occasion when his own splendid mastery of language may never have been bettered. The year was I95I and he had been called back to his old school, Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen, to give the Founder's Day Oration. He began by saying that it was 64 years since he joined the college as a foundationer during the headmastership of Dr Alexander Ogilvie; and then in fitting tribute to that distinguished educationist he quoted the famous Fnes of Thucydides: 'The whole earth is the tomb of great men, nor is their name graven only on stone which covers their clay, but abideth everywhere, wrought into the stuff of other men's lives'. After speaking the original Greek it is just possible that he added the translation; if so it was a rare concession but one fully justified, for in truth the English words have their own grandeur and nobility. That he should have derived a deep aesthetic pleasure from many of the sentiments expressed in the classics is tunderstandable, but probably only a scholar may appreciate the very real joy he took in the beauty of their presentation. In reaching this opinion I have been greatly helped by
Deli\erca at the Royal College of Surgeons oni ioth Junc I976
Sir Gordon Gordon -Taylor, surgeon-anatomist and humanist
Mr Janmes D)oggart, a very senior Fellow of this College, who was a friend of 'GT' and a fellow Horatian. Space allows only one more reference to his Founder's Day Oration, and in these days the words q(uoted are salutary indeed: 'I am very fortunate in my profession to which I am proud to belong for with us the duty of life and the joy of life are not things apart; one is the complement of the other'. Early days When in I887 William Gordon Taylor (as he was then designated) entered Robert Gordon's College, Alexander Ogilvie had been headmaster for I5 years and his aims for the school had been attained. That is to say, he had shown beyond any doubt that advanced Greek and Latin classics, science, and technology, together with the various subjects of a good general and commercial education, could be effectively taught in one institution. Educationists from near and far visited the college to see for themselves this example of a secondary school fulfilling ali the requirements of an industrial and mercantile community while holding itself in closest touch with the university and with civil service careers.
Ogilvie was a brilliant headmaster, 'original in his methods, inspired and a visionary', and one with the priceless gift of being able to select first-class teachcrs. Here the young Gordon Taylor was especially fortunate, for his early love of the classics was created and fostered by three masters-William Riddoch, James Clark, and George Morrison-all of whom were fine scholars with distinctive personal qualities in their approach to teaching. From the beginning 'GT' showed particular brilliance in Latin, but it took him some time to head the class in Greek, However, in 1894 he managed it (in Latin also) and so became Classical Duix of the college. At Aberdeen University he read classics throughout the four years of the honours course, but he also attended other classes, notably English under Professor Grierson-later Sir Herbert Grierson of the Regius Chair at Edinburgh. All are agreed that to sit at Grierson's feet
was
an
intellectual
delight,
but
from all accounts the Professor of Humanity,
5
William Ramsay (later Sir William), did not appeal to everyone. It is true that some of his students who themselves became great scholars have acknowledged their debt to Ramsay, but it is disappointing to read such comments on his lectures as 'uninterestingly dry and pitifully stale'. More than that, the student body complained officially to their representative council of his arbitrary and inconsiderate treatment of examination papers. It has to be borne in mind that Ramsay was a world authority on rediscovering the lost civilizations of Asia Minor-when already 6o years of age he was appointed Professor of Classical Archaeology at Oxford-but even so one expects a fairer balance to be struck than he achieved. In I898 'GT' graduated MA at Aberdeen and almost at once the family moved to London. Here he sat the appropriate scholarship examination of London University and, being successful, entered the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in October I898. Anatomist Two years earlier Arthur Robinson from Manchester had been appointed the first wholetime lecturer in anatomy at the Middlesex, replacing John Bland Sutton, who had combined the duties with those of surgeon to the hospital. But 'dancing Arthur', as his brisk and agile movements led his students to call him, had 'GT' in his class for only a few months before moving to King's College, London, as professor, whence, via Birmingham, he finally settled in the University of Edinburgh. To succeed Robinson there came, also from Manchester, Peter Thompson, who was to follow him first at King's and then at Birmingham. Thompson was a splendid anatomist and his monograph 'The Morphology of the Pelvic Floor' is quite excellent. Sadly, he was to die at the early age of 49, but he had a great influence, and many years later 'GT' was to say of his own love of anatomy, first instilled into youthful veins in the final years of last century by the ardent enthusiasm of a great anatomical teacher, the late Professor Peter Thompson'. The year that he spent under Thompson working for the BSc degree in anatomy-gained with first-class honours gave Sir Gordon im-
6
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2
(i) Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor: from the portrait by James Gunn. (2) Sir Herbert Grierson: from the pencil drawing by David Foggie. (3) Sir John Bland Sutton. (4) Professor Peter Thompson. (5) Sir Charles Bell. (6) Professor John Kirk. (7) Professor Frederic Wood Jones. (8) Sir Arthur Keith. (g) Dr Alexander Ogilvie: from the portrait by Robert Brough. (io) Sir William Ramsay. (i i) Professor Thomas Yeates.
Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor, surgeon-anatomist and humanist
mense pleasure and was something he would refer to again and again half a century later. That the examination was comprehensive may be judged from the scope of the six written papers, which covered human anatomy, comparative anatomy, embryology, cytology, histology, and an essay. The distinguished panel of examiners were nine in number and of these I shall speak briefly of two: Sir Arthur Keith and Christopher Addison. In the early years of the century Keith was at The London Hospital and when, on St Valentine's Day 1955, Sir Gordon gave the memorial address to his fellow-Aberdonian he linked the motto of The London with the man: Humani nil a me alienum puto-I count nothing human indifferent to me: and then added that Keith could well have joined with Browning's Rabbi Ben Ezra in saying 'Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be'. That these words were true for Keith I am in no doubt; but that they could have been spoken of Sir Gordon himself is no less true. Of Christopher Addison let me say just this. One-time lecturer in anatomy at Bart's and later Professor of Anatomy at Sheffield and Hunterian Professor at this College, he went on to become Lord Addison KG, Leader of HM Government in the House of Lords. In the anatomy world he is remembered by the transpyloric plane (of Addison).
Surgeon As a surgeon Gorclon-Taylor is probably best remembered for his abdominal surgery and latterly for the hindquarter amputation. But he did much else besides, including a good deal in the neck and oropharynx, and before undertaking an operation such as diathermy excision of the tonsillar area from the outside he would review the relevant anatomy on material specially prepared for his purpose. To judge from the illustrations in his published work the dissections must have been of great excellence and, as always, he was not faint in his gratitude: 'The anatomical dissections illustrating this paper come from the anatomical department of the Middlesex Hospital.... In the operative surgery of the region as in so many surgical enterprises I have been able to avail myself of the know-
7
ledge, skill and inspiration of Professor Thomas Yeates, whose enthusiasm is always a stimulus to the surgeon-anatomist, that vanishing race to which I am still proud to belong'. I met Professor Yeates only once, and by then he was in his goth year and convalescing in the Middlesex after a prostatectomy. To his great delight he was wheeled across to see once again his beloved dissecting room. Tumours of the carotid body were of great interest to Sir Gordon and their successful removal a source of great satisfaction. And understandably so, for on occasion the growth involved internal jugular vein, vagus nerve, and sympathetic trunk. However, my mention of the carotid body is influenced by another consideration-namely, that it allows me to include the last paragraph of his paper on the subject, a paragraph which shows the impish humour he could on occasion display: 'The part played by the afferent nerves from the carotid sinus in the regulation of blood pressure may possibly be of physiological interest, but to the operating surgeon is of little significance and a mere academic chimera and phantasy which he may disregard light-heartedly'. Gordon-Taylor wvas insistent that the surgery of malignant disease is the surgery of the lymphatic system and that all such operations should be based on sound lymphatic anatomy. To this dictum he was true and inevitably after, say, extensive resections of bowel he would lose some of his patients. Even so he was utterly convinced that a surgeon with a high mortality in such cases would also have a higher cure rate, paradoxical though it may seem on first hearing. His case of septuple bowel resection with recovery is remarkable from several points of view, but it seems to me that the point he wanted to make above all was the fact that the surgeon who referred the patient to him had carried out not a colostomy (as he had thought) but an enterostomy. Such errors in basic anatomy could draw his most scathing criticism, and we find him writing of 'cholecystectomies performed by amateurs in which grave morbidity or death ensues' and offerino as explanation the unfortunate inclusion of the hepatic artery in a clamp or a mass liga-
8
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tion of the cystic duct and the contiguous artery. Like many others he was interested in the sphincteric mechanism at the lower end of the bile duct, and the results of his study of the region-made with his good friend the late Professor John Kirk-formed the subject of a Hunterian Lecture. That John Bland Sutton greatly influenced 'GT' is certain, and this alone would warrant talking about him at some length; but, in truth, Sir John was a fascinating person in his own right-surgeon (mainly abdominal and gynaecological), anatomist, zoologist, pathologist, traveller, and writer. In his early years Bland Sutton had investigated the ossification of the sphenoid and of the axis vertebra, and this must surely account for the fact that whenever 'GT' was going to examine in the Primary Fellowship he would call on me and ask for the loan of specimens of these bones. Here was loyalty carried to extremes, for I see no other reason for asking about the many sphenoidal centres of ossification. Nor seemingly did Sir Gordon, for one who was his coexaminer on a number of occasions assured me that he did not count it against a candidate whose knowledge of the topic was thin. In fact he was a very courteous examiner and had a contempt for those who were not-'My dear chap, the ignorance of the examiner may be concealed under the cloak of the bully'. Although Bland Sutton had a wide knowledge of comparative anatomy, his suggestions with regard to the evolutionary history of certain structures sometimes found little favour with serious workers in the field. Now 'GT' also had some knowledge of comparative anatomy, for under Peter Thompson he had studied aspects of the subject very thoroughly, and of course his memory was prodigious; moreover, comparative matters that interested or puzzled him would draw him unerringly to one or other of his friends Professor Wood Jones and Professor Cave. In a word, he was entitled to comment on Bland Sutton's views, and comment he did, dismissing his suggestions with regard to the ligamentum teres of the hip and the semilunar cartilages of the knee joint as 'unbridled imagination' and 'complete moonshine' respectively.
But for all that he had a warm corner in his heart for his old chief. One last word concerning Bland Sutton. That he and Rudyard Kipling were close friends is well known and satisfied me as to the source of Kipling's knowledge that the sea cow had only six cervical vertebrae. A priori this was an unlikely piece of information for the Poet of Empire to possess, but, as he tells in his preface to the Jungle Book, his story of the white seal owed much to a fellow passenger on shipboard from the East. And who that was we may be sure, for Bland Sutton always took his annual holiday in November, when he sought the sun in warmer climes. Sir Gordon's admiration of Sir Charles Bell was real enough, and he was very proud of the basic contributions made to neurophysiology by the main founder of the Middlesex Hospital Medical School; but I always felt that Bell as a surgeon was a sore disappointment to him. The fact is of course that Bell was not cast in the heroic mould 'GT' demanded of his great ones, and time and again I have heard him say, 'He was not an Astley Cooper'. With that verdict there can be no dispute, yet Bell wNras competent by the standards of the day and it seems hard to be judged against someone so outstanding as the famous Guy's surgeon. Humanist Sir Gordon's love of anatomy embraced the eponymous terms with which the language of anatomy wa5 enriched for centuries. Accordingly when, in 1955, the International Anatomical Nomenclature Committee produced yet another list of names, and one from which all eponyms were omitted, he was very displeased. And in a hard-hitting address. 'In Defence of Eponyms', delivered before the Aberdeen Anatomical and Anthropological Society, he said so very clearly. However, he did so with Such scholarship, elegance, and humour that one's only feeling is that he wvas right and the committee wrong; and besides, he was scrupulously fair: '. . . the injunction from the despots of anatomical nomenclature that Latin is the most useful language for scientific purposes is at any rate refreshing at a time when it is fashionable to deride the humanities'. That he should have preferred
Sir Gordonl Gordon-Taylor, surgeo i-an atomist anld humanist 'Scarpa's triangle' to the 'femoral triangle' is no surprise, for Scarpa was a colourful man whose name was given to a street in Pavia, where he was Professor of Anatomy and where his head in a receptacle presides over his old museum. All this is included in the address referred to, but not to the exclusion of the point that the term 'femoral triangle' is in fact lacking in precision. Alliteration as a phrase form can be overdone, but no one could quarrel with the splendid series which ends the defence of eponyms: sheath of Schwann, Gasserian ganglion, zonule of Zinn, ligament of Lockwood, and Verga's ventricle; but it was stretching things a bit to include Gordon's gin! To what extent Gordon-Taylor's use of English was influenced by the classics cannot be said, but what is quite sure is that he wrote English well and spoke it supremely well, and that support for some of his literary mannerisms is to be found in the works of Horace. Thus in the Ars Poetica we read: 'Dixeris egregie notum si callida verbum reddiderit iunctura novum'. That is to say: 'You may gain the finest effects in language by the skilful setting which makes a well-known word new', and in illustration of this truth here is 'GT' on horseshoe kidney: 'Had I again the opportunity of operating upon a horseshoe kidney, 1 should unhesitatingly eschew the dainty anatomical exposure beloved by those of us whose early surgical years were spent in the dissect ng room, and deliberately select the more carnivorous lumbo-ileal incision despite its damage to muscle'. Whoever heard of a carnivorous incision or, having heard, can ever forget? Again in the Ars Poetica we find: 'Inceptis gravibus plerumque et magna professis purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter adsuitur pannus'. Or in translation: 'Often on a work of grave purpose and high promises is tacked a purple patch or two to give an effect of colour'. Sir Gordon's prose shows no lack of purple patches, and in choosing one from many I do so because it serves a second role that of demonstrating 'GT's' complete frankness in admitting error and his strict censure of himself. The case in question was one of pancreatic tumour, at first wrongly supposed to be an aortic aneurysm because of the 'elemen-
9
tary and unforgivable error' of failing to distinguish between communicated and expansile pulsation. Seeking to confirm the diagnosis, three times a trocar and cannula was plunged into the mass, but thrice 'the erring blade found bloodless sheath'. The outcome was favourable, surely the only possible ending to a case historv so recounted? When he settled on 'interinnominoabdominal' as the correct description for his hindquarter amputation it was only after very careful consideration of the alternatives. 'Interpelviabdominal' he thought suggestive of some feat of expert swordsmanship, while of 'hemipelvectomy' he remarked that it 'evokes a shudder, and a sigh of regret that some knowledge of Latin and Greek is no longer considered necessary for those who claim to have received more than a kindergarten education'. His love of the classics coloured his whole life, and because Horace was his special favourite I shall give a brief sketch of the poet's life and then turn to the Odes. Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born in 65 BC in the Hellenized south-east of Italy. His father, a former slave, managed to give him a good education, first in Rome and then in Athens, where he studied philosophy. He fought on the losing side at Philippi and on his return to Italy had a difficult three years until Octavian declared a general amnesty. During this time he began to write verses, and through Virgil he met Maecenas, a high civic official. A deep and lasting friendship developed and Maecenas gave Horace the famous Sabine farm as a gift. There Horace had security and peace, and by I3 BC (five vears before his death at tlec age of 57) all four books of the Odes had b-en given to the world. If it is asked, how stand the Odes today? we find the answer, clear and unequivocal, in the words of Gilbert Highet, as eminent a classicist a. this century has produced. This is how he rates the Odes: 'One of the few absolutely central and unchallengeable classics in Latin and the whole of western literature'. This is high praise indeed, and when to it we link. Sir Peter Noble's appraisal of Horace as, the intimate friend, the wise counsellor, the kindly boon comnanion, it is evident that Sir Gordon's lifelong devotion was well directecl.
IO
E' W Walls
Some of Horace's philosophy of life as expressed in the Odes was adopted by 'GT' for his own purposes, and in giving three instances he accompanied two vith the translation. The first, from Ode 9, Book I, he rendered thus: Ask not yotur future fate-cnjoy Each day as so much gain, AndI don't despise the girls, my boy, Nor think the (ldance is vain.
All who knew him will agree that this is in character, but his second translation, from Ode 3I, Book I, I am passing over in favour of James Mlichie's version, which would have fitted the aged Sir Gordon perfectly: Here's what I crave most, Son of Latona, then: Good health, a sound mindl, relish of life, and an 01(l age that still maintains a stylish grip Oni itself and the lyric metres.
The single line for which no translation was provided came from Ode I2, Book IV: 'Dulce est desipere in loco'. And for that I shall be bold enough to offer: 'It's nice to let your hair down occasionally'. In his day-to-day dealings with people Sir Gordon was the soul of kindness and the quintessence of courtesy. One had only to do him the smallest service and next morning there was his letter of thanks in his characteristic hand (latterly a little shaky) on his blue notepaper wvith the Boar's Head and the words 'Byde Be'-these being the crest and motto of his ancestor James Gordon of Ardmealie who matriculated his arms with Lord Lyon in 172 1. Is couirtesy then so precious? I believe it is and wotuld enlist Belloc's lines in my support: Of courtesy-it is much less Than courage of heart or holinessYet in my walks it seems to me That the Grace of God is in courtesy. That Sir Gordon hlad a religiouis faith from wThich he drew strength I feel quite sure, and certain it is that he could find wordQ to comfort
the bereaved. Here is soriothing he wrote nearly 40 vears ago of a friend wlho had julst
died: 'His fortitude was perhaps best shown in his final illness, for such were his sufferings that those who ministered to him, can but rejoice that after his Calvary there has succeeded his Eastertide of peace'.
Conclusion A lot may be spoken in an hour, and much of what I have said will soon grow dim. But were I arbiter of what you should remember of 'GT' it could well be put in just four words: courage and skill, kindness and courtesy. For these formed the core, and outside were the endearing charm and the distinctive style. For those of us who knewv him his memory will always be green, and through the hands of others the work he did lives, on. If that be true then sturely we can join with the children in Maeterlinck's Blue Bird who in place of the dread of the tomb saw the beauty of flowers, and with them we may exclaim, 'There are no dead'. For their generous and willing help in the preparation of this lecture I wish to express my best thanks to Lady Templeman, Secretary of the Horatian Society; Mr John Marshall, Headmaster, Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen; the late Dr Roy Strathdee, Archivist to Robert Gordon's College; Mr T B Skinner, Secretary to the University of Aberdeen; the office staff of Lord Lvon; Mr James Doggart; Mr Seton Gordon; and Sir Peter Noble. The slides which illustrated the lecture wvere prepared by Mr T Paterson and Mr P R Runnicles, to both of whom I express my warmest gratitude.
Bibliography
The Horatian Society. Addresses Delivered at the Dinner in the House of Lords, July I958. Circulated privately. The Odes of Horace, trans. James Michie. London, Ruipert Hart-Davis, I964; Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1973. The words from Maeterlinck which conclude the lecture were much loved by Sir Gordon, who would qluote them with great feeling. They were used by Campbell Thomson to end his Story of The MiddleSer Hospital Medical School (1835-1935).
GORDON-TAYLOR LECTURE, 1976
Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor, surgeon-anatomist and humanist E W Walls
MD FRSE FRCS
Emeritus Professor of Anatomy in the Unitrersity of London
Introduction To be entrusted with this lecture, which commemorates the life and work of a great surgeon who was also a lovable and cultured man, is a high honour: equally it is a responsibility. My special purpose will be to consider Sir Gordon as surgeon-anatomist and humanist and to show that these aspects of his talent contributed in large and equal measure to the manner and magnitude of what he was able to accomplish. A secondary purpose will be to enrich the memories of those who knew him and to make him-for those who did notmuch more than an oft-recurring name in the surgical literature of the middle third of the century. One last word of preamble. It cannot be expected that one who has spent a lifetime in teaching will fail to acknowledge the part played by those who taught Gordon-Taylor as schoolboy, student, and young surgeon; these and many more, for throughout his long iUfe he paid free and generous tribute to others for their help and support. So now I begin, and I do so by stating the meaning of the word 'humanist' as used in the title of this lecture. By humanist is meant one who pursues the study of the humanities, these being the branches of learning regarded as having primarily a cultural character. They include languages, literature, history, and philosophy, and in Scotland to this day the Professor of Latin is known as the Professor of Humanity. As an active member of the Classical Association and of the Horatian Society 'GT'as he liked his friends to call him-could be a worthy champion of the ancient classics Fortunately such champions still exist, and for
those who are concerned the piece by Philip Howard in T'he Times of I5th April 1976 makes fine reading. It is an account of Professor Kenneth Dover's presidential address to the Classical Association the previous day, an address that was, in Howard's words, 'an irresistible defence of the ancient classics an oral paradigm of their eternal virtues: love of langulage and its precise, witty and subtle use and interpretation'. This would have delighted 'GT', and makes it altogether appropriate that almost my first words about him should relate to an occasion when his own splendid mastery of language may never have been bettered. The year was I95I and he had been called back to his old school, Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen, to give the Founder's Day Oration. He began by saying that it was 64 years since he joined the college as a foundationer during the headmastership of Dr Alexander Ogilvie; and then in fitting tribute to that distinguished educationist he quoted the famous Fnes of Thucydides: 'The whole earth is the tomb of great men, nor is their name graven only on stone which covers their clay, but abideth everywhere, wrought into the stuff of other men's lives'. After speaking the original Greek it is just possible that he added the translation; if so it was a rare concession but one fully justified, for in truth the English words have their own grandeur and nobility. That he should have derived a deep aesthetic pleasure from many of the sentiments expressed in the classics is tunderstandable, but probably only a scholar may appreciate the very real joy he took in the beauty of their presentation. In reaching this opinion I have been greatly helped by
Deli\erca at the Royal College of Surgeons oni ioth Junc I976
Sir Gordon Gordon -Taylor, surgeon-anatomist and humanist
Mr Janmes D)oggart, a very senior Fellow of this College, who was a friend of 'GT' and a fellow Horatian. Space allows only one more reference to his Founder's Day Oration, and in these days the words q(uoted are salutary indeed: 'I am very fortunate in my profession to which I am proud to belong for with us the duty of life and the joy of life are not things apart; one is the complement of the other'. Early days When in I887 William Gordon Taylor (as he was then designated) entered Robert Gordon's College, Alexander Ogilvie had been headmaster for I5 years and his aims for the school had been attained. That is to say, he had shown beyond any doubt that advanced Greek and Latin classics, science, and technology, together with the various subjects of a good general and commercial education, could be effectively taught in one institution. Educationists from near and far visited the college to see for themselves this example of a secondary school fulfilling ali the requirements of an industrial and mercantile community while holding itself in closest touch with the university and with civil service careers.
Ogilvie was a brilliant headmaster, 'original in his methods, inspired and a visionary', and one with the priceless gift of being able to select first-class teachcrs. Here the young Gordon Taylor was especially fortunate, for his early love of the classics was created and fostered by three masters-William Riddoch, James Clark, and George Morrison-all of whom were fine scholars with distinctive personal qualities in their approach to teaching. From the beginning 'GT' showed particular brilliance in Latin, but it took him some time to head the class in Greek, However, in 1894 he managed it (in Latin also) and so became Classical Duix of the college. At Aberdeen University he read classics throughout the four years of the honours course, but he also attended other classes, notably English under Professor Grierson-later Sir Herbert Grierson of the Regius Chair at Edinburgh. All are agreed that to sit at Grierson's feet
was
an
intellectual
delight,
but
from all accounts the Professor of Humanity,
5
William Ramsay (later Sir William), did not appeal to everyone. It is true that some of his students who themselves became great scholars have acknowledged their debt to Ramsay, but it is disappointing to read such comments on his lectures as 'uninterestingly dry and pitifully stale'. More than that, the student body complained officially to their representative council of his arbitrary and inconsiderate treatment of examination papers. It has to be borne in mind that Ramsay was a world authority on rediscovering the lost civilizations of Asia Minor-when already 6o years of age he was appointed Professor of Classical Archaeology at Oxford-but even so one expects a fairer balance to be struck than he achieved. In I898 'GT' graduated MA at Aberdeen and almost at once the family moved to London. Here he sat the appropriate scholarship examination of London University and, being successful, entered the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in October I898. Anatomist Two years earlier Arthur Robinson from Manchester had been appointed the first wholetime lecturer in anatomy at the Middlesex, replacing John Bland Sutton, who had combined the duties with those of surgeon to the hospital. But 'dancing Arthur', as his brisk and agile movements led his students to call him, had 'GT' in his class for only a few months before moving to King's College, London, as professor, whence, via Birmingham, he finally settled in the University of Edinburgh. To succeed Robinson there came, also from Manchester, Peter Thompson, who was to follow him first at King's and then at Birmingham. Thompson was a splendid anatomist and his monograph 'The Morphology of the Pelvic Floor' is quite excellent. Sadly, he was to die at the early age of 49, but he had a great influence, and many years later 'GT' was to say of his own love of anatomy, first instilled into youthful veins in the final years of last century by the ardent enthusiasm of a great anatomical teacher, the late Professor Peter Thompson'. The year that he spent under Thompson working for the BSc degree in anatomy-gained with first-class honours gave Sir Gordon im-
6
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2
(i) Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor: from the portrait by James Gunn. (2) Sir Herbert Grierson: from the pencil drawing by David Foggie. (3) Sir John Bland Sutton. (4) Professor Peter Thompson. (5) Sir Charles Bell. (6) Professor John Kirk. (7) Professor Frederic Wood Jones. (8) Sir Arthur Keith. (g) Dr Alexander Ogilvie: from the portrait by Robert Brough. (io) Sir William Ramsay. (i i) Professor Thomas Yeates.
Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor, surgeon-anatomist and humanist
mense pleasure and was something he would refer to again and again half a century later. That the examination was comprehensive may be judged from the scope of the six written papers, which covered human anatomy, comparative anatomy, embryology, cytology, histology, and an essay. The distinguished panel of examiners were nine in number and of these I shall speak briefly of two: Sir Arthur Keith and Christopher Addison. In the early years of the century Keith was at The London Hospital and when, on St Valentine's Day 1955, Sir Gordon gave the memorial address to his fellow-Aberdonian he linked the motto of The London with the man: Humani nil a me alienum puto-I count nothing human indifferent to me: and then added that Keith could well have joined with Browning's Rabbi Ben Ezra in saying 'Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be'. That these words were true for Keith I am in no doubt; but that they could have been spoken of Sir Gordon himself is no less true. Of Christopher Addison let me say just this. One-time lecturer in anatomy at Bart's and later Professor of Anatomy at Sheffield and Hunterian Professor at this College, he went on to become Lord Addison KG, Leader of HM Government in the House of Lords. In the anatomy world he is remembered by the transpyloric plane (of Addison).
Surgeon As a surgeon Gorclon-Taylor is probably best remembered for his abdominal surgery and latterly for the hindquarter amputation. But he did much else besides, including a good deal in the neck and oropharynx, and before undertaking an operation such as diathermy excision of the tonsillar area from the outside he would review the relevant anatomy on material specially prepared for his purpose. To judge from the illustrations in his published work the dissections must have been of great excellence and, as always, he was not faint in his gratitude: 'The anatomical dissections illustrating this paper come from the anatomical department of the Middlesex Hospital.... In the operative surgery of the region as in so many surgical enterprises I have been able to avail myself of the know-
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ledge, skill and inspiration of Professor Thomas Yeates, whose enthusiasm is always a stimulus to the surgeon-anatomist, that vanishing race to which I am still proud to belong'. I met Professor Yeates only once, and by then he was in his goth year and convalescing in the Middlesex after a prostatectomy. To his great delight he was wheeled across to see once again his beloved dissecting room. Tumours of the carotid body were of great interest to Sir Gordon and their successful removal a source of great satisfaction. And understandably so, for on occasion the growth involved internal jugular vein, vagus nerve, and sympathetic trunk. However, my mention of the carotid body is influenced by another consideration-namely, that it allows me to include the last paragraph of his paper on the subject, a paragraph which shows the impish humour he could on occasion display: 'The part played by the afferent nerves from the carotid sinus in the regulation of blood pressure may possibly be of physiological interest, but to the operating surgeon is of little significance and a mere academic chimera and phantasy which he may disregard light-heartedly'. Gordon-Taylor wvas insistent that the surgery of malignant disease is the surgery of the lymphatic system and that all such operations should be based on sound lymphatic anatomy. To this dictum he was true and inevitably after, say, extensive resections of bowel he would lose some of his patients. Even so he was utterly convinced that a surgeon with a high mortality in such cases would also have a higher cure rate, paradoxical though it may seem on first hearing. His case of septuple bowel resection with recovery is remarkable from several points of view, but it seems to me that the point he wanted to make above all was the fact that the surgeon who referred the patient to him had carried out not a colostomy (as he had thought) but an enterostomy. Such errors in basic anatomy could draw his most scathing criticism, and we find him writing of 'cholecystectomies performed by amateurs in which grave morbidity or death ensues' and offerino as explanation the unfortunate inclusion of the hepatic artery in a clamp or a mass liga-
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tion of the cystic duct and the contiguous artery. Like many others he was interested in the sphincteric mechanism at the lower end of the bile duct, and the results of his study of the region-made with his good friend the late Professor John Kirk-formed the subject of a Hunterian Lecture. That John Bland Sutton greatly influenced 'GT' is certain, and this alone would warrant talking about him at some length; but, in truth, Sir John was a fascinating person in his own right-surgeon (mainly abdominal and gynaecological), anatomist, zoologist, pathologist, traveller, and writer. In his early years Bland Sutton had investigated the ossification of the sphenoid and of the axis vertebra, and this must surely account for the fact that whenever 'GT' was going to examine in the Primary Fellowship he would call on me and ask for the loan of specimens of these bones. Here was loyalty carried to extremes, for I see no other reason for asking about the many sphenoidal centres of ossification. Nor seemingly did Sir Gordon, for one who was his coexaminer on a number of occasions assured me that he did not count it against a candidate whose knowledge of the topic was thin. In fact he was a very courteous examiner and had a contempt for those who were not-'My dear chap, the ignorance of the examiner may be concealed under the cloak of the bully'. Although Bland Sutton had a wide knowledge of comparative anatomy, his suggestions with regard to the evolutionary history of certain structures sometimes found little favour with serious workers in the field. Now 'GT' also had some knowledge of comparative anatomy, for under Peter Thompson he had studied aspects of the subject very thoroughly, and of course his memory was prodigious; moreover, comparative matters that interested or puzzled him would draw him unerringly to one or other of his friends Professor Wood Jones and Professor Cave. In a word, he was entitled to comment on Bland Sutton's views, and comment he did, dismissing his suggestions with regard to the ligamentum teres of the hip and the semilunar cartilages of the knee joint as 'unbridled imagination' and 'complete moonshine' respectively.
But for all that he had a warm corner in his heart for his old chief. One last word concerning Bland Sutton. That he and Rudyard Kipling were close friends is well known and satisfied me as to the source of Kipling's knowledge that the sea cow had only six cervical vertebrae. A priori this was an unlikely piece of information for the Poet of Empire to possess, but, as he tells in his preface to the Jungle Book, his story of the white seal owed much to a fellow passenger on shipboard from the East. And who that was we may be sure, for Bland Sutton always took his annual holiday in November, when he sought the sun in warmer climes. Sir Gordon's admiration of Sir Charles Bell was real enough, and he was very proud of the basic contributions made to neurophysiology by the main founder of the Middlesex Hospital Medical School; but I always felt that Bell as a surgeon was a sore disappointment to him. The fact is of course that Bell was not cast in the heroic mould 'GT' demanded of his great ones, and time and again I have heard him say, 'He was not an Astley Cooper'. With that verdict there can be no dispute, yet Bell wNras competent by the standards of the day and it seems hard to be judged against someone so outstanding as the famous Guy's surgeon. Humanist Sir Gordon's love of anatomy embraced the eponymous terms with which the language of anatomy wa5 enriched for centuries. Accordingly when, in 1955, the International Anatomical Nomenclature Committee produced yet another list of names, and one from which all eponyms were omitted, he was very displeased. And in a hard-hitting address. 'In Defence of Eponyms', delivered before the Aberdeen Anatomical and Anthropological Society, he said so very clearly. However, he did so with Such scholarship, elegance, and humour that one's only feeling is that he wvas right and the committee wrong; and besides, he was scrupulously fair: '. . . the injunction from the despots of anatomical nomenclature that Latin is the most useful language for scientific purposes is at any rate refreshing at a time when it is fashionable to deride the humanities'. That he should have preferred
Sir Gordonl Gordon-Taylor, surgeo i-an atomist anld humanist 'Scarpa's triangle' to the 'femoral triangle' is no surprise, for Scarpa was a colourful man whose name was given to a street in Pavia, where he was Professor of Anatomy and where his head in a receptacle presides over his old museum. All this is included in the address referred to, but not to the exclusion of the point that the term 'femoral triangle' is in fact lacking in precision. Alliteration as a phrase form can be overdone, but no one could quarrel with the splendid series which ends the defence of eponyms: sheath of Schwann, Gasserian ganglion, zonule of Zinn, ligament of Lockwood, and Verga's ventricle; but it was stretching things a bit to include Gordon's gin! To what extent Gordon-Taylor's use of English was influenced by the classics cannot be said, but what is quite sure is that he wrote English well and spoke it supremely well, and that support for some of his literary mannerisms is to be found in the works of Horace. Thus in the Ars Poetica we read: 'Dixeris egregie notum si callida verbum reddiderit iunctura novum'. That is to say: 'You may gain the finest effects in language by the skilful setting which makes a well-known word new', and in illustration of this truth here is 'GT' on horseshoe kidney: 'Had I again the opportunity of operating upon a horseshoe kidney, 1 should unhesitatingly eschew the dainty anatomical exposure beloved by those of us whose early surgical years were spent in the dissect ng room, and deliberately select the more carnivorous lumbo-ileal incision despite its damage to muscle'. Whoever heard of a carnivorous incision or, having heard, can ever forget? Again in the Ars Poetica we find: 'Inceptis gravibus plerumque et magna professis purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter adsuitur pannus'. Or in translation: 'Often on a work of grave purpose and high promises is tacked a purple patch or two to give an effect of colour'. Sir Gordon's prose shows no lack of purple patches, and in choosing one from many I do so because it serves a second role that of demonstrating 'GT's' complete frankness in admitting error and his strict censure of himself. The case in question was one of pancreatic tumour, at first wrongly supposed to be an aortic aneurysm because of the 'elemen-
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tary and unforgivable error' of failing to distinguish between communicated and expansile pulsation. Seeking to confirm the diagnosis, three times a trocar and cannula was plunged into the mass, but thrice 'the erring blade found bloodless sheath'. The outcome was favourable, surely the only possible ending to a case historv so recounted? When he settled on 'interinnominoabdominal' as the correct description for his hindquarter amputation it was only after very careful consideration of the alternatives. 'Interpelviabdominal' he thought suggestive of some feat of expert swordsmanship, while of 'hemipelvectomy' he remarked that it 'evokes a shudder, and a sigh of regret that some knowledge of Latin and Greek is no longer considered necessary for those who claim to have received more than a kindergarten education'. His love of the classics coloured his whole life, and because Horace was his special favourite I shall give a brief sketch of the poet's life and then turn to the Odes. Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born in 65 BC in the Hellenized south-east of Italy. His father, a former slave, managed to give him a good education, first in Rome and then in Athens, where he studied philosophy. He fought on the losing side at Philippi and on his return to Italy had a difficult three years until Octavian declared a general amnesty. During this time he began to write verses, and through Virgil he met Maecenas, a high civic official. A deep and lasting friendship developed and Maecenas gave Horace the famous Sabine farm as a gift. There Horace had security and peace, and by I3 BC (five vears before his death at tlec age of 57) all four books of the Odes had b-en given to the world. If it is asked, how stand the Odes today? we find the answer, clear and unequivocal, in the words of Gilbert Highet, as eminent a classicist a. this century has produced. This is how he rates the Odes: 'One of the few absolutely central and unchallengeable classics in Latin and the whole of western literature'. This is high praise indeed, and when to it we link. Sir Peter Noble's appraisal of Horace as, the intimate friend, the wise counsellor, the kindly boon comnanion, it is evident that Sir Gordon's lifelong devotion was well directecl.
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Some of Horace's philosophy of life as expressed in the Odes was adopted by 'GT' for his own purposes, and in giving three instances he accompanied two vith the translation. The first, from Ode 9, Book I, he rendered thus: Ask not yotur future fate-cnjoy Each day as so much gain, AndI don't despise the girls, my boy, Nor think the (ldance is vain.
All who knew him will agree that this is in character, but his second translation, from Ode 3I, Book I, I am passing over in favour of James Mlichie's version, which would have fitted the aged Sir Gordon perfectly: Here's what I crave most, Son of Latona, then: Good health, a sound mindl, relish of life, and an 01(l age that still maintains a stylish grip Oni itself and the lyric metres.
The single line for which no translation was provided came from Ode I2, Book IV: 'Dulce est desipere in loco'. And for that I shall be bold enough to offer: 'It's nice to let your hair down occasionally'. In his day-to-day dealings with people Sir Gordon was the soul of kindness and the quintessence of courtesy. One had only to do him the smallest service and next morning there was his letter of thanks in his characteristic hand (latterly a little shaky) on his blue notepaper wvith the Boar's Head and the words 'Byde Be'-these being the crest and motto of his ancestor James Gordon of Ardmealie who matriculated his arms with Lord Lyon in 172 1. Is couirtesy then so precious? I believe it is and wotuld enlist Belloc's lines in my support: Of courtesy-it is much less Than courage of heart or holinessYet in my walks it seems to me That the Grace of God is in courtesy. That Sir Gordon hlad a religiouis faith from wThich he drew strength I feel quite sure, and certain it is that he could find wordQ to comfort
the bereaved. Here is soriothing he wrote nearly 40 vears ago of a friend wlho had julst
died: 'His fortitude was perhaps best shown in his final illness, for such were his sufferings that those who ministered to him, can but rejoice that after his Calvary there has succeeded his Eastertide of peace'.
Conclusion A lot may be spoken in an hour, and much of what I have said will soon grow dim. But were I arbiter of what you should remember of 'GT' it could well be put in just four words: courage and skill, kindness and courtesy. For these formed the core, and outside were the endearing charm and the distinctive style. For those of us who knewv him his memory will always be green, and through the hands of others the work he did lives, on. If that be true then sturely we can join with the children in Maeterlinck's Blue Bird who in place of the dread of the tomb saw the beauty of flowers, and with them we may exclaim, 'There are no dead'. For their generous and willing help in the preparation of this lecture I wish to express my best thanks to Lady Templeman, Secretary of the Horatian Society; Mr John Marshall, Headmaster, Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen; the late Dr Roy Strathdee, Archivist to Robert Gordon's College; Mr T B Skinner, Secretary to the University of Aberdeen; the office staff of Lord Lvon; Mr James Doggart; Mr Seton Gordon; and Sir Peter Noble. The slides which illustrated the lecture wvere prepared by Mr T Paterson and Mr P R Runnicles, to both of whom I express my warmest gratitude.
Bibliography
The Horatian Society. Addresses Delivered at the Dinner in the House of Lords, July I958. Circulated privately. The Odes of Horace, trans. James Michie. London, Ruipert Hart-Davis, I964; Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1973. The words from Maeterlinck which conclude the lecture were much loved by Sir Gordon, who would qluote them with great feeling. They were used by Campbell Thomson to end his Story of The MiddleSer Hospital Medical School (1835-1935).
