ABERNETHY, Jorrx, a very eminent English surgeon, was born in London in 1764. His grandfather was the Rev. John Abernethy, an Irish Presbyterian clergyman, who acquired distinction by his writings, and his bold adoption of bishop IIoadly's views on the right of private judgment and the subscription of confessions. A.'s early tastes dis posed him to the bar; but in 1780 lie was apprenticed to Mr. (afterwards Sir Charles) Blieke, surgeon of St. Bartholomew's hospital. He attended at the same time the lec tures of John Hunter and Sir IV. Blizard. In 1787, A. was elected assistant-surgeon to St. Bartholomew's, an office which he filled for twenty-eight years; at the end of which time lie was appointed surgeon, with a salary. Soon after his election, he began to lec ture in the hospital on anatomy and surgery, and may be said to have laid the foundation of its character as a school of surgery. At first, he manifested extraordinary diffidence, but his power soon developed itself; and his lectures at last attracted such crowds, that, in 1700. it was found necessary to build a lecture-theatre in the hospital for his use. His
clear, simple, and positive style, illustrated by an inexhaustible variety of apt anecdotes, madelihn the most popular medical teacher of his day. In 1813, he was appointed sur geon to Christ's hospital, and in 1914, professor of anatomy and surgery to the college of surgeons. His practice increased with his celebrity, which the singular eccentricity and occasional rudeness of his manners contributed to heighten. Notwithstanding, however, the irritability and harshness which he so often exhibited, those who knew him best bear unanimous testimony to the generosity and kindliness of his character. Ile married in 1800, and had several children. He (lied at Enfield, in 1831. Of his works, the most original and important is his Obserrations on time Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases, tirst published in 1806, in which a simple principle, till then little attended to, was made the foundation of much important and ingenious observation. His Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Surgery were published in 1830.