FROM THE ARCHIVES
VERSION
ROBERT LISTON
REPRO OP SUBS
Pioneer and visionary
ART PRODUCTION
Louise Wilkie dispels the myths surrounding the 19th-century surgeon whose innovation, skill and compassion enhanced the lives of many
CLIENT
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istory often reduces pre-anaesthesia surgery to a ‘butchering art’. While the horror of surgery before the discovery of ether and antisepsis can only be imagined, the skill shown by many surgeons operating at this time cannot be understated. Perhaps the greatest myth from this period is Robert Liston’s 300% mortality rate. Best known for being the first to operate using ether in the UK, Liston (1794–1847) is often reduced to a surgical showman. It is claimed he walked into the surgical theatre declaring: “Time me, gentlemen”, giving him the accolade ‘the fastest knife in the west end’ – and, of course that he killed three people during one surgery. Born in Linlithgowshire in 1794, he studied at the University of Edinburgh from the age of 14 covering a range of topics before focusing on medicine. He did not, however, graduate MD and instead took extramural anatomy lessons, becoming an assistant to Dr John Barclay. With a focus on surgery, he became a surgeon’s clerk at the 26 | Surgeons’ News | March 2023
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Edinburgh Royal Infirmary before completing his surgical training in London. He became a Fellow of both the RCSEd and the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He returned to Edinburgh and started his own anatomical teaching school with his distant cousin, James Syme (1799–1870), although after around four years Liston withdrew from anatomy and focused on a full-time surgical career. In Edinburgh he had a private surgical practice and worked at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary but, after numerous fallouts, he left for London in 1834, where he spent the remainder of his career, passing away at the age of 53 in 1847. DISPELLING THE MYTH The 300% mortality story has become apocryphal and is widely replicated. The tale goes that during an amputation of the leg, in his desire for showmanship and speed, he cut off two of his assistant’s fingers and sliced the coat tail of an audience member. All three are supposed to have succumbed, the patient to blood loss, the assistant to gangrene and the audience member to a heart attack caused by the
Louise Wilkie Curator Surgeons’ Hall Museums
Above inset: Portrait of Robert Liston
shock. However, recent research has found the apparent origin of this story lacking in historical fact and accuracy. In my own research, I have found no primary sources relating to this event and it is hard to believe that someone of his stature could have avoided the public scrutiny of such an occurrence. A rare instance when Liston did fail, resulting in negative publicity, highlights this point. In 1841 a child of 12 was admitted to University College Hospital, London. The house surgeon examined the boy and presented the case to Mr Liston as a suspected aneurysm. However, on seeing the boy and examining his neck, Liston claimed the boy was too young for an aneurysm and diagnosed the swelling as a tumour and proceeded to cut to prove his diagnosis. The incision was followed