“POTT’S FRACTURE”

I T is an old saying that “it’s an iI

wind that blows no one good,” and

this is especially true of an acci-

dent that happened to Percival Pott.

He was born in 1714. He was surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, from

I -4.4 to 1787. One day he feI1 in the street

and sustained a fracture of the fibula. \Z’hiIe confined to his room he took to

Ivriting as a defence against ennui. Once launched upon the sea of authorship he

produced rapidI\; and voIuminousIy. Many of his works have been called masterpieces

I,>- discriminating authorities. In I”$6

he Lvrote a treatise on Hernia. This was

followed b\- others: Head Injuries in 1-60,

Hvdrocele‘in 1-62, Fistula in Ano in I-65, Fractures and Dislocations in 1-68, an

account of chimney-sweep’s c c’lncer in

r-75, and he reached his pinacle in ‘v-9

with his renowned brochure on caries of

the spine with its resulting paIs\-. Pott was a many-sided man. He had a

taste for literature. He \vas interested in the social life of his time. Charming in

manner, kindIt considerate of others, he was the es&Ace of the English gentle-

man of the 18th century. He \I-as interested in economic questions and various chnri-

ties. To the Iatter he gave generously.

After he passed middle life Pott had one

of the largest surgica1 practices in London. He was a master of anat.om,v. He n,c)rked

fast without sacrificing accurate thorough-

ness to speed. His personalitp atTracted

high and low aIike, and his earnestness

inspired confidence, Lvhich wxs an all-

essential before the da)-s of anesthesia, when the patient in need of surgery tvns in every sense a “victim.”

After more than a century and a half

he has been for the most part for;:otten, except for the fracture which bears his

name. Perci\.nl Pott died

se\.cnly-four J-ears.

in I -88 :lt the age of 1‘. s. \V.

433

PERCIVAL POTT, F.R.S.

iI7’4-I7&81