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Sir Victor Horsley—an inspiration

2006; BMJ; Volume: 333; Issue: 7582 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/bmj.39056.527407.55

0959-8138

Michael Powell,

Empathy and Medical Education

You probably know nothing of this extraordinary late Victorian and Edwardian age surgeon, but you should. Horsley contributed on so many different fronts: pioneering neurosurgeon, ardent experimenter, medical politician, social reformer, and author. If you ever need a doctor as a role model, a medical figure of international importance who was also a vocal social conscience, look no further. By the age of 29, Horsley was a fellow of the Royal Society and had become the first surgeon in the world appointed to a hospital post as a “brain surgeon,” with an impressive series of operative firsts to his name. He had confirmed the cause of rabies and helped to abolish the disease from the United Kingdom, and he had researched and published widely on many anatomical and physiological topics. By his early death at 59, he had reformed the British Medical Association (BMA), Medical Defence Union (MDU), and the General Medical Council (GMC). He had also attempted and failed to reform the Royal College of Surgeons of England (no change there). He had espoused many radical socialist causes, pushing a somewhat reluctant medical establishment into supporting National Insurance, and making himself thoroughly unpopular supporting such issues as votes for women.⇓ Sir Victor Horsley, FRS (1857-1916) Horsley was born into London's artistic aristocracy in 1857. His father was a painter, a royal academician, who invented the Christmas card in 1843. His grandfather was a composer; his aunt inspired the composer Felix Mendelssohn. The house where he was born, in Camden Hill, Kensington, was a small artist's colony: artists Holman Hunt and Edward Lear, the water colourist who taught Queen Victoria, lived there. Horsley was named by the Queen, who became his godmother. He shared his birthday with her youngest child, Princess Beatrice. By the time he entered London's University …