CHAP. II.] INVENTS A SPLINT. 11 



This was entitled * On the Chemical Nature of the External En- 

 velope of the Frog's Spawn.' For this see the Appendix, No. II. 



The same year Smee left King's College and entered his 

 name on the books at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. King's 

 College Hospital was not then erected, and therefore it was 

 essential for the aspirant to medical fame to gain practical 

 knowledge elsewhere. He became dresser to the eminent surgeon 

 Lawrence, and held the dressership a whole year. Alfred Smee 

 was not long at St. Bartholomew's before he carried off the 

 surgical prize, which consisted of three volumes of books by 

 Lawrence. As at King's College, so did young Smee distin- 

 guish himself at St. Bartholomew's by his good conduct, his 

 steadiness, and by his untiring industry. When he was only 

 eighteen years of age, he became engaged to a young lady, whom 

 he married shortly after he had finished his medical education. 



In 1839, besides giving much attention to surgery, he also 

 employed himself upon chemistry, and some of his numerous 

 experiments were given to the public the following year. 

 Through an explosion which ensued in conducting one of these 

 varied experiments he met with an accident to one of his eyes, 

 which at the time it was feared would cost him the sight of it. 

 Through the skilful treatment of Sir William Lawrence, the eye 

 was saved, although that eminent surgeon had for two or three 

 days almost despaired of it. 



Besides these experiments, Alfred Smee about this time 

 invented a form of splint for fractures, and wrote a paper on it, 

 which appeared in the ' London Medical Gazette ' of the 9th of 

 February, 1839. It was published also in the ' Lancet,' and it was 

 also translated into French and into German. The title of the 

 paper was, * On the Formation of Moulding Tablets for Fractures.' 

 The splint was tried in every hospital in the metropolis, and was 

 used at St. Bartholomew's, as well as in other hospitals. Some 

 years later (in 1846), after gutta-percha had come into use, he 

 invented a modification of the above tablets, and the article on 

 * Gutta Percha Splints ' was also published in the ' London 

 Medical Gazette.' Both these papers will be found in the 

 Appendix, No. III., of this work. Following these two papers 

 will also be found a very curious paper on * Photogenic Drawing,' 

 which he wrote in 1839, in the ' Literary Gazette.' See the 

 Appendix, No. IV. 



During the year 1839 the 'Experiment Book' of Alfred 

 Smee shows that his mind was employed upon other subjects 



