11 



Erichsen had not for long leisure to devote to scientific pursuits, 

 for, owing partly to his exceptional ability, partly to extraneous 

 circumstances, his advancement in the profession of surgery was 

 very rapid. Liston had died suddenly, from aneurism, in 1847, and 

 his place was filled for a short period by Syme, who soon, however, 

 returned to Edinburgh. Mr. Richard Quain then became surgeon 

 to the hospital, and with him was associated as Professor of Surgery, 

 Mr. Arnott, at that time senior surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital. 

 The position of assistant surgeon, which was rendered vacant by 

 Quain's advancement, was filled by the appointment of Erichsen. 

 This position he only held for two years, for at the end of that time 

 Arnott resigned his chair and the surgeoncy to University College 

 Hospital, and Erichsen was appointed by the Council of the College 

 to succeed him. This was in 1850, and at the early age of thirty-two. 

 How abundantly the choice of the Council was justified is shown by 

 the brilliant success which attended his teaching. It is not too 

 much to say that the reputation of the School of Medicine at Univer- 

 sity College, as a training place for practical and scientific surgery, 

 is due in no small measure to his influence. 



Erichsen held the Professorship of Surgery for sixteen years, and 

 then exchanged it for the Chair cf Clinical Surgery, which he held 

 for another nine years, so that he was for a quarter of a century 

 occupying a leading position in the teaching of surgery in one of the 

 first medical schools in the kingdom. Apart, therefore, from the 

 indirect influence exerted by his writings, the direct influence he 

 exerted in the training of students for the medical profession was 

 considerable. And it must be recorded of him that, unlike many a 

 brilliant surgeon of his time, he regarded, and taught his pupils to 

 regard, surgery as a science to be studied rather than simply as an 

 art to be displayed — a line of thought which has been pursued with 

 conspicuous success by the most eminent of those pupils, the "present 

 President of this Society. 



Although essentially an all-round surgeon, and one whose opinion 

 in any branch of surgery was regarded, and rightly so, as of more 

 than average weight, there were one or two branches to which 

 Erichsen more especially devoted his attention. Early in his career 

 he took up the subject of aneurism — always one of greao interest to 

 him — and contributed several articles dealing with its pathology and 

 treatment. Later, he turned his attention to the important, and at 

 the time ill-understood, subject of the results of railway injuries, 

 a subject upon which he was for many years the acknowledged 

 authority. 



Erichsen possessed a singularly attractive personality, with a 

 courteous and winning manner, which reflected the kindly nature 

 within, and a dignified presence, without a tinge of pomposity. His 



