St. Bartholomew’s Hospital: A Nine-Century Legacy of Care and Innovation

St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, located in Smithfield, London, stands as one of the oldest hospitals in the world, with a rich history that spans nearly nine centuries. Founded in 1123 by Rahere, an Augustinian monk and former courtier of Henry I, the hospital was established alongside the Priory of St. Bartholomew. The Augustinian canons performed daily liturgies and commemorated the founders with prayers, while resident nurses and secular chaplains tended to the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, infirm, and unmarried pregnant women. The hospital also served as a sanctuary for orphans and operated a grammar school.

In 1546, Henry VII granted the hospital to the City of London, ensuring its continuation by endowing it with property for income just before his death in 1547. This endowment marked the beginning of a new era for the hospital. Thomas Vicary, the first superintendent, was a significant figure in early medical literature, notably for his work on anatomy. The hospital's reputation for medical excellence was further cemented with the appointment of its first physician in 1562. In the early 17th century, William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of blood, oversaw patient care at the hospital, which then had a capacity of 200 beds and a small medical staff, including three surgeons, an apothecary, and several Augustinian nuns.

The hospital continued to evolve, and with the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, it officially became known as St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Today, it remains a vital part of the NHS, providing cutting-edge medical care while retaining its historical significance. The hospital's long history reflects its enduring commitment to healthcare and its ability to adapt and thrive through centuries of change, from medieval times to the modern era.
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital: A Nine-Century Legacy of Care and Innovation

Edward Jenner: English physician who pioneered the concept of vaccines

Edward Jenner is well known English physician around the world for his innovative contribution to immunization and the ultimate eradication of smallpox. His work is widely regarded as the foundation of immunology—despite the fact that he was neither the first to suggest that infection with cowpox conferred specific immunity to smallpox nor the first to attempt cowpox inoculation for this purpose. In May 1796, Edward Jenner found a young dairymaid, Sarah Nelms, who had fresh cowpox lesions on her hands and arms.

On May 14, 1796, using matter from Nelms’ lesions, he inoculated an 8-year-old boy, James Phipps. Subsequently, the boy developed mild fever and discomfort in the axillae. Nine days after the procedure he felt cold and had lost his appetite, but on the next day he was much better. In July 1796, Jenner inoculated the boy again, this time with matter from a fresh smallpox lesion. No disease developed, and Jenner concluded that protection was complete.

Nearly two years were to elapse between Dr. Edward Jenner's first vaccination in May 1796 and his subsequent experiments, which began in March 1798. In all, perhaps 15 persons were vaccinated. Publication of the findings quickly followed. Jenner published at his own expense, in September 1798, his now famous Inquiry (shorthand for its proper title, An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae, a Disease Discovered in Some of the Western Counties of England, Particularly Gloucestershire, and Known by the name of the Cow Pox).

By the summer of 1799, Jenner's observations had been confirmed by a number of practitioners, and upwards of 1000 persons had been given the vaccine.

Subsequently, Jenner followed-up his original publication with a 1799 “Further Observations on the Variolae Vaccinae,” in which he detailed how to recognize typical Cow Pox lesions and to discriminate them from other similar pustular lesions that were not Cow Pox.
Edward Jenner: English physician who pioneered the concept of vaccines

Sir Erasmus Wilson (1809-1884)

William James Erasmus Wilson was born in the High Street of St. Marylebone, at the house of his maternal grandfather, Erasmus Bronsdorph, a Norwegian by birth on 25th of November 1809.

Erasmus Wilson was a wealthy man and philanthropist. He first described lichen planus in 1869 and attributed its cause to stress.

He practiced in London, and published a “System of Human Anatomy,” (1842), which has passed through many editions, “Disease of the Skin” and other works relating to dermatology; “Cleopatra’s Needle’” (1878), and “The Egypt of the Past,” (1881).

Known as Sir Erasmus, he was of the greatest dermatologists of his time. He is so well known as a dermatologist, occupying the first rank in England, that any contributions from his pen must command attention. He was also known for his philanthropy. Erasmus Wilson was knighted in 1881.
Sir Erasmus Wilson (1809-1884)

Discovery of salicylic acid by Edward Stone

About 3500 years ago Ebers papyrus recommended a decoction of dried leaves of myrtle to cure rheumatic pains.

Hippocrates favored the juices of the popular tree against eye diseases and those of Willow bark in case of pain in childbirth and against fever. The active ingredient of both these remedies is salicylic acid - aspirin’s active ingredient.

One summer day in 1758, an English clergyman named Edward Stone was walking along a brook near Chipping Norton, past some willow trees. For reasons that are not recorded, he put a strip of the bark to his lips and noticed that it tasted bitter.

He knew that the bitter tasting bark of the South American cinchona tree was used as a treatment for malaria, and argued that willow bark might have similar curative properties.

On June 2, 1763, he read a paper to the Royal Society of London entitles “An Account of the Success of the Bark of the Willow the cure of Agues.” By ague, Stone was referring to what now call malaria, but his use of the word cure was optimistic; what his extract of willow bark actually did was to reduce the feverish symptom of the disease.

He described chewing dried bark from Willow trees: “…Which I have found by experience to be powerful astringent and very efficacious in curing anguish and intermitting disorders.”

The substance was named salicylic acid. But when people suffering from pain took the salicylic acid, it caused severe stomach and mouth irritation. In 1899 German chemist working for Bayer, then a dye company found that acetyl salicylic acid was much convenient to take.
Discovery of salicylic acid by Edward Stone