Francis Brodie Imlach FRCSEd (1819-1891) was a Scottish pioneer of modern dentistry, and the first person to use chloroform on a dental patient. He helped to raise the profile of dentistry from a back street trade to full professional status.
Francis Brodie Imlach FRCSEd (1819-1891) was a Scottish pioneer of modern dentistry, and the first person to use chloroform on a dental patient. He helped to raise the profile of dentistry from a back street trade to full professional status.
Born in Edinburgh in 1819, he was the son of George Imlach WS, an Edinburgh lawyer, with offices at 10 St Andrew Square. [1] He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1841, and a Fellow in 1856. [2] He thereafter acted as an examiner to students.
In 1860, together with Dr John Smith and Dr Robert Orphoot he co-founded the Edinburgh Dental Dispensary at 1 Drummond Street.
He had his main dental practice at 48 Queen Street, a few doors away from James Young Simpson's offices at 52 Queen Street. [3]
At that time he was one of only two dentists to become President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh (RCSE). [4] He served from 1879 to 1881. In 1881 he was also elected a member of the Aesculapian Club. [5] He also served as President of the Royal Scottish Society of the Arts 1887-89. [6]
Whilst James Young Simpson is credited with the first use of chloroform on a human, he did not invent it. Simpson’s first such use on 4 November 1847, was on himself and two doctor friends, at a dinner party. This was followed 4 days later by Simpson’s first use on a patient, Wilhelmina Carstairs, the daughter of a doctor. [7] Imlach holds the claim to being the first to use chloroform in a dental context. On the afternoon of 11 November 1847 he used it to help extract a tooth of fellow dentist, James Darsie Morrison. [3]
He collapsed while walking on 24 December 1891 and died before reaching hospital.
He is buried on the southern lower terrace of Dean Cemetery, towards its eastern end. The large bronze plaque to his memory has been stolen.
He married Marion Ainslie and they had a daughter Agnes Campbell Imlach (1849-1916) who became a portrait artist of note, and several sons, including Archibald Francis Imlach (1852-1903). [8] [9] Archibald Francis Imlach is buried on the north side of the Dean Cemetery with his daughter Marion Ainslie Imlach.
The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on its west by the Dean Gallery. A 20th-century extension lies detached from the main cemetery to the north of Ravelston Terrace. The main cemetery is accessible through the main gate on its east side, through a "grace and favour" access door from the grounds of Dean Gallery and from Ravelston Terrace. The modern extension is only accessible at the junction of Dean Path and Queensferry Road.
John Smith (1825–1910) was a Scottish dentist, philanthropist and pioneering educator. The founder of the Edinburgh school of dentistry, he served as president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (1883) and president of the British Dental Association. He was the official surgeon/dentist to Queen Victoria when in Scotland.
Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet,, was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anaesthetic properties of chloroform on humans and helped to popularise its use in medicine.
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow is an institute of physicians and surgeons in Glasgow, Scotland.
Lilian Lindsay, CBE, FSA was a dentist, dental historian, librarian and author who became the first qualified female dentist in Britain and the first female president of the British Dental Association.
Sir Patrick Heron Watson was an eminent 19th-century Scottish surgeon and pioneer of anaesthetic development. He was associated with a number of surgical innovations including excision of the knee joint, excision of the thyroid and excision of the larynx for malignant disease. He was President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on two occasions, an unusual honour, and was the first President of the Edinburgh Dental Hospital. He was a great advocate of women training in medicine and surgery and did much to advance that cause.
Robert James Blair Cunynghame of Cronan, FRCSEd, FRSE JP was a prominent Scottish surgeon, physiologist and early forensic scientist in the late 19th century. He served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1891 to 1893. He is said to have had a calm, beautiful face and his opinion was used as a benchmark to medical thought.
Sir James William Beeman Hodsdon KBE, FRCSEd (1858-1928) was an eminent Scottish surgeon who served as president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 1914-1917.
James Duncan FRSE FRCS FRCSE was a Scottish surgeon and manufacturing chemist responsible for much of the British supply of chloroform in the mid-19th century. From 1839 to 1866 he was Director of Duncan Flockhart & Co one of Scotland’s largest chemical manufacturers.
Dr James Dunsmure FRSE FRCSEd was a Scottish surgeon. He served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Dr Robert Mortimer Glover FRSE (1815-1859) was an English physician. In 1838 he co-founded the Paris Medical Society and served as its first Vice President. He won the Medical Society of London’s Fothergill Gold Medal in 1846 for his lecture "On the Pathology and Treatment of Scrofula". Some 5 years prior to James Young Simpson’s use of chloroform on human patients in 1842 Glover discovered its anaesthetic qualities on laboratory animals. He is sometimes called "the true discoverer of chloroform". In an ironic twist of fate he died from a chloroform overdose.
Robert Halliday Gunning FRSE PRPSE FSA LLD was a Scottish surgeon, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He did much to improve social conditions in Brazil and also became rich there. He endowed numerous prizes and awards including the Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prizes. The University of Edinburgh provides scholarships under the title of Gunning Victoria Jubilee Bursaries. He was a close friend of both Thomas Chalmers and Robert Christison.
John Duncan, LLD FRCSEd FRSE was a Scottish surgeon best known for his surgical teaching at the University of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine. He was a pioneer of the use of electricity in surgery both for surgical cautery and for tumour necrosis. On the death of his father James Duncan in 1866 he became a director of the major drug manufacturer Duncan Flockhart & Co, which had been founded by his grandfather, also John Duncan. He served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 1889 to 1891.
Robert Nasmyth FRCSEd, FRSE was a Scottish dental surgeon from Edinburgh who was Surgeon-Dentist to Queen Victoria in Scotland. He was President of the Odonto-Chirurgical Society of Scotland and was one of the founders of the Edinburgh Dental Dispensary, which would evolve into the Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School.
Andrew Wood MD FRCSEd FRSE LLD was a 19th-century Scottish surgeon who served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1855 to 1857.
Robert Omond, MD FRCSEd (1806–1881) was a 19th-century Scottish surgeon who served as president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 1857 to 1859.
Peter Orphoot MD (1827–1913) was a 19th-century Scottish dental pioneer and joint founder of the Edinburgh Dental Dispensary in 1860 which later became the Edinburgh Dental Hospital.
James Dunsmure FRCSEd was a Scottish physician and obstetrician who, as his father had done before him, served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
James Simson, FRCSEd was a Scottish surgeon, who worked for most of his career at the New Town Dispensary and was surgeon to the Edinburgh prison. He was president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1844-45 and again in 1873.
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