| The Background to the Story |
| This is the story of a famous surgeon. Famous surgeons are today an extinct species. Up to the middle of this century, someone who had inherited or learned the manual skills needed for reconstructing the human body, combined with a capacity to command and dominate those around them, was an admired figure. Medical science has now advanced to the point where that sort of person is no longer needed or employable. The glamour has disappeared. Accurate imaging of body processes has made it possible to identify and correct anatomical faults in fellow creatures without having to go through a process that involves first poisoning them and then cutting them open. In developed countries, society will demand that these problems be dealt with by a new sort of professional, who will have been trained to heal broken organs, remove tumours and deal with infection, in fact to do all the things that surgeons used to do, employing virtual technology and visio-spatial skills. Attempts to label this person as a radiologist, surgeon, or technician will be seen as a dispute between artisans, rather than as a reflection of social need. Experts of the new type will supplant the ancient academies and colleges, whose accumulated funds will be used for historic and charitable purposes, much like the old guilds and trades unions. They will be servants of society, rather than guardians of tribal wisdom, and their performance will be managed, scrutinised and priced. Today's skills are tomorow's barbarities, and it is likely that before long surgery will be looked upon as just another ancient craft, and the term `surgeon' will become as picturesque as `cobbler' or `wainwright'. |
| But things were not always so, and there is one famous surgeon whose name has survived for more than a century, and may even outlast the present revolution. Hamilton Bailey was not particularly dexterous, and his relationship with patients and colleagues was often uneasy. His reputation is preserved through his writings and his ability to communicate to others a vast store of knowledge and experience, so that the books that he wrote have run into scores of editions, still bearing his name. Of all those who have ever written about surgery, Bailey is still by far the most widely read. Furthermore, he had a strong and inspirational character, and led an unusually adventurous life. |
| This is not the first biography. In 1973 the Ravenscourt Press published S. V. Humphries' short Life of Hamilton Bailey which has been an invaluable source of material for the new book, and I acknowledge my debt. Humphries was the sort of surgeon who made an immediate and impressive impact on any one who met him (I never did), but was quite unknown to the general public and indeed to most of his own profession. A slight, modest figure, totally selfless and idealistic, he spent his entire working life in mission hospitals in various parts of Africa, including Malawi, Transvaal and Pondoland, never seeking any sort of publicity or recognition, and on the one occasion at which he was given a minor honour, turned up in tropical kit, having forgotten to hire clothes suitable for the event. Most of the time he worked alone, relying on texts and atlases to guide him through difficult unfamiliar operations, and like most surgeons in similar circum- |
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