| Description | Collection of letters written to Richard Butcher over a twenty year period. The earlier letters (1837-1851) relate to the advancement of Butcher career and include letters testimonial and letters of congratulation on appointments. The majority of the letters (1854-1857) relate to Butcher's publication on various aspects of surgery, but mainly on excision of the knee joint. It is clear from the letters that Butcher solicited information from other surgeons on their experience of excision as part of his research. In some cases this led to length correspondence about the operation and its merits compared to amputation of the knee. Many of the letters contain notes on cases under the care of the author, as we as their views on surgery and/or Butcher's publications.
The publications by Butcher which are covered in the correspondence are;
- On wounds of arteries, and their treatment (Dublin Journal of Medical Science, August 1854)
- On excision of the knee joint (Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Feb 1855)
- On excision of joints (Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Nov 1855)
- On the operative measures necessary in the treatment of hare-lip (Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Feb 1856)
- On poisoning by corrosive sublimate injected into the vagina (Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Feb 1856)
- On encephaloid cancer occurring as an isolated manifestation of malignant disease (Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Nov 1856)
- Second memoir on excision of the knee-joint (Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Feb 1857)
- Reports in Operative Surgery (Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Nov 1857) |
| History | Richard Butcher was born in Killarney in 1819. He studied medicine in the Cork School under John Woodroffe, at the Peter Street School in Dublin and in Guy's Hospital in London. He received the Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons, England (1838) and Ireland (1841), becoming a Fellow of the Irish College in 1844. Butcher lectured in anatomy at the College of surgeons, was Surgeon to the Meath Hospital, and had a sizable private practice. He was appointed to the new post of Lecturer in Operative Surgery in Trinity College and joined the medical staff of Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital. Butcher published extensively on various aspects of surgery, mainly in the Dublin Journal of Medical Science, and invented his own surgical saw, 'Butcher's Saw'. He was held in high regard as a skilful surgeon, sparing blood, and 'anxious to conserve as much as possible of the "precious porcelain" of man - in a word, he was a successful practitioner of "bloodless" and "preventative surgery".' |
| Custodial History | Found in the archive store during cataloguing in 2011, no details of where they originally came from. |