Fremont A. CHANDLER
1893–1954
Fremont A. Chandler was born in Chicago on November 29, 1893, the son of Dr. Fremont E.
and Mary S. Chandler. He attended elementary and high school in that city and, when it came time to decide about college, it was his father’s wish that he enter the School of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin. This he did. One of the outstanding things that Mont learned in this School of Agriculture was that, in the judging of stock, the pedigree of the animal should be studied and the animal should be observed in structural appearance, performance, and behavior.
This he never forgot and, in teaching orthopedic surgery, he insisted that, before a diagnosis was made, the patient’s family history should be care- fully reviewed and the patient should be studied as an entity, with the examination never being limited to a local part, but always including the whole body. By his junior year in college, Mont had convinced his father that medicine was his chosen profession and so he transferred to this branch, receiving his BS in Medicine from the University of Wisconsin in 1916. The next year he spent coaching football and basketball in order to have sufficient funds to complete his medical course at Columbia University (College of Physi- cians and Surgeons), from which he was gradu- ated in 1919. He served as resident at the Sloane Maternity Hospital in New York City and took his internship at the Hartford Hospital at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1919–1920.
It was at this point that he was uncertain of his specialty and so he accepted a position as Resi- dent Surgeon in the Grenfell Hospital, St.
Anthony, Newfoundland, 1920–1921. During that year he covered much of that rugged country, traveling by dog team in winter and by small boats in summer. There was a great amount of bone tuberculosis in northern Newfoundland and this had a great deal to do with his decision to turn from obstetrics, the specialty that he had consid- ered, to orthopedic surgery. After his return to the United States, he took his orthopedic residency at the New York Orthopedic Dispensary and Hospi- tal, 1921–1924. During the summer of 1921, he met a nurse’s aide, Eleanor Cromwell of New York, who, on February 9, 1924, became his devoted wife. Two sons were born, Stuart and Stephen Cromwell Chandler.
In 1924, Mont began the practice of orthopedic surgery in Chicago. Throughout his years of prac- tice in Chicago, he was on the staff of St. Luke’s Hospital, where he became a senior attending orthopedic surgeon. In 1924, he was appointed an instructor on the Faculty of Northwestern Uni- versity School of Medicine, and he was advanced through the succeeding 15 years to the rank of Associate Professor. In 1943, he resigned from Northwestern to go to the University of Illinois School of Medicine as Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and head of the department in the medical school and in the research and educational hospi- tals. He was on the staff of the Children’s Memo- rial Hospital from 1925 to 1943, being the Chief of the Orthopedic Department from 1931 to 1943.
In addition, he was a consultant at different times to six other Chicago hospitals.
Some of his other appointments and member- ships were as follows:
Medical societies:
—The American Orthopedic Association (Presi- dent in 1952)
—The American Academy of Orthopedic Sur- geons (Treasurer, 1944–1949)
—International Society of Orthopedic, Surgery and Traumatology
—Chicago Orthopedic Society (Past President)
—The Clinical Orthopedic Society (President, 1940–1941)
—The Orthopedic Research Society (President- Elect, 1954)
—The Orthopedic Research Foundation (member of Joint Committee on Organization, 1954)
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Who’s Who in Orthopedics
—American Medical Association (Secretary of the Section on Orthopedic Surgery, 1932–
1935; Vice Chairman, 1935–1936; Chairman, 1936–1937)
—American Academy for Cerebral Palsy
—American College of Surgeons
—International College of Surgeons (Honorary Member and Vice President 1954)
—American Rheumatism Association (charter member)
—The Central Surgical Association
—Illinois State Medical Society
—Chicago Medical Society
—Society of Medical History of Chicago
—The Institute of Medicine of Chicago
—Advisory Board of Medical Specialties
—Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Fraternity
—Sigma Xi Honorary Fraternity
—Phi Beta Pi Medical Fraternity.
Editorships:
—Associate Editor of Lewis Walter’s Practice of Surgery, 1941–1954
—Associate Editor of Geriatrics, 1953–1954
—Associate Editor of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1948–1954.
Military appointments:
—United States Army Medical Corps, 1917–1918
—Civilian Consultant to the Surgeon-General of the Army, 1943
—United States Navy Reserve Medical Corps, 1928–1938 (Leutenant, senior grade).
The greatest honor of Mont’s life came in 1950, when he was made President-Elect of the American Orthopedic Association. He served as the presiding officer for the American Orthopedic Association for the noted London meeting of the six English-speaking Orthopedic Associations of the world in 1952. This he did with great dignity and in a manner that made all of his fellow Americans justly proud of their President. He received from Queen Mother Elizabeth, the Jewel of Office, which the British Orthopaedic Associa- tion presented to the president of each English- speaking orthopedic association. At the banquet, along with the words of toastmaster, Sir Harry Platt, and the speeches of Sir Reginald Watson- Jones, Rt. Hon. Ian Macleod (the Minister of Health), the Marquess of Reading, and the Rt.
Hon. Lord Justice Birkett, Dr. Chandler’s toast,
“Orthopedic Surgery,” will long be remembered for its clarity, forcefulness, and appropriateness.
Mont’s greatest contribution to Orthopedic surgery was undoubtedly the work he did in asso- ciation with Dr. Henderson, Dr. Ryerson, Dr.
Campbell, and others in the organization and setting up of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery. The establishment of our Board in 1934 represented, undoubtedly, one of the great mile- stones in our history, and he had a major part in it. He was the first secretary of the Board and remained in this office until 1941 when he became President. During his many years of service on the Board, he continually fought for better orthope- dic education and for the raising of the standards of orthopedic training. He fully realized that Board certification sometimes was given undue importance and that performance, character, and the qualities of leadership were far more impor- tant to an orthopedic surgeon than a Board cer- tificate. In the words of the present Board secretary, “He made the Board what it was.” For this contribution, all of orthopedic surgery should be forever grateful.
Mont was an individual who had the respect of all. He was a fighter for truth, justice, and right.
In discussions, his words were few, well chosen, and always meaningful. He was unable to be superficial in words and actions. He was admired by those who knew him for his sincerity, consci- entiousness, frankness, and integrity. He was one whom some have called a decisive personality;
his opinions were definite, but never unalterable if he were convinced that he was not in right. He was noted for his promptness. His personality was stimulating to residents, associates and friends; he had the knack of having his younger assistants do the things they should do without being asked. He was satisfied only with perfection in everything he did, and he demanded the same of those who worked for him. He could not tolerate an inferior quality of work or second best from an assistant.
He was never boastful of what he did. He had a tremendous capacity for work and expected his assistants to maintain the pace he set. He was always willing to do more if it was related to his beloved orthopedics.
Under a sometimes stern-appearing exterior, Mont was extremely kind and warm-hearted, with a good sense of humor. He was mindful of the thoughts and feelings of others. He took misfor- tune when it came without complaint, always in a quiet and dignified manner. He had what has
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been described as fundamental dignity, extreme graciousness, and gentlemanliness.
Mont was a good administrator and loved to teach. It has been said that he was a born teacher and was always teaching. He was keenly inter- ested in all medical research. He had a definitely creative mind and always wanted time to do more research of his own. He became particularly inter- ested, in the last few years of his life, in under- graduate teaching and especially in the development of simple teaching aids. He was responsible for the publication of The Manual of Orthopedic Surgery, which was prepared under his direction and sponsored by the American Orthopedic Association in cooperation with the Undergraduate Teaching Committee of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. It was originally financed by the John R. Thompson Fund, which was established by one of his patients. The Manual is now used by nearly every orthopedic teaching service in the United States and is to be translated into other languages. He loved the training of his residents. He was never too busy to stop and show a new resident some- thing he thought he should know. In his teaching of younger men, a favorite expression was,
“Anybody can do the major things in medicine, but it takes a good doctor to do the last 5 percent of the details.” How true this statement is!
As an orthopedic operator, he was superb and had few peers at the operating table. There was no lost motion; he was deliberate, fast, resource- ful, accomplished, and skillful with his instru- ments, especially with a curette. He loved mechanical things that were efficient and he had the ingenuity to invent and to perfect many instru- ments of his own creation. He was particularly good in all spine work, especially in fusing a low back and in approaching an intervertebral disc.
His hip fusions and foot stabilizations were out- standing. His operative judgment was always considered excellent, but with a difficult case he would invariably weigh the opinions of his asso- ciates before coming to a decision.
His writings through his 30 years of practice were many and always good. What he said and wrote was thoroughly prepared and substantiated by facts and sound experience. Twenty-six of his more than 70 publications were on problems of the crippled child, with seven of those relating to cerebral palsy. He was devoted to children and especially to his work with the child with cerebral palsy. His patellar advancement operation in the
flexed knee of the spastic child is well known.
Nine of his publications were on problems of the low back. Some of these are classic. He will long be remembered for his operation of trisacral fusion for low-back pain, the description of which in 1929 was his first paper. His work on spondy- lolisthesis was among his best. He had three par- ticularly good papers on torticollis, for which work he was widely known. His 1951 Academy exhibit, with two associates, on “The Recording Oscillometer in Orthopedic Surgery” followed by a publication, was one of his very satisfactory contributions; for this he was given an Academy Gold Medal Award. His chapters in Brenneman’s Practice of Paediatrics, and Christopher’s Sur- gery were among his best writings.
Mont’s hobbies were few. His first interest was his work, and this can be easily believed by those who knew him well, for he was dedicated to orthopedics and research. Some say he did not
“get fun out of life” as he should: his fun was found in his family and his work. Nothing took precedence over orthopedics; but when he played, he played hard. He loved and knew photography and took beautiful pictures. He liked to work in a shop—he had a small one in his home. His vaca- tions were usually spent in travel or on a ranch in Montana with horseback riding, fishing, and rifle target practice. He liked to browse in hardware stores, where he got ideas for instruments. He often gave his residents good English pocket knives and special saws for cutting casts. He helped to develop an oscillating electric saw in the early 1930s, but he did not have it put in pro- duction, because he felt it was never mechanically right and was too complicated for general use.
This was the forerunner of our present motor saws.
Throughout his professional career, no one gave him greater and finer support than his devoted wife. He looked up to her, always admired her, and greatly relied upon her judgment in many matters other than home and family. She was his constant companion, working with him on problems with which she could be of assis- tance, helping him in the preparation of many papers, and comforting him in times of undue stress and strain.
He closed his Presidential Address to the American Orthopedic Association by saying, As I leave the office in which I have felt it such an honor to serve, my most sincere wish for all of you is
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Who’s Who in Orthopedics
that you may be receptive of the tribute paid to doctors by Jeshua, the son of Sirach, early in the second century before Christ. He writes: “. . . The skill of the physician exalts him, And he is admired among the great.”
The active and productive life of Fremont A.
Chandler came to an end suddenly and without warning on Christmas Eve 1954. Truly, Fremont A. Chandler is a worthy example of Jeshua’s saying. He was “admired among the great” of his day, and long will he be remembered in the days to come for the sound and lasting contributions he made to his beloved orthopedic surgery; and with the passage of time, his name will grow.
Perhaps his greatest contribution was the recognition that “locomotor ataxia,” a frequent cause of disability, was caused by tabes dorsalis, a form of neurosyphilis. Charcot was a great teacher, whose clinics became world famous. His relationship with Duchenne was very productive and his students, Jules Dejerine, Pierre Marie, and Babinski, carried on his great tradition.
60 Who’s Who in Orthopedics
Jean-Martin CHARCOT
1825–1893
Jean-Martin Charcot was born in Paris where his father was a carriage builder. He was educated in Paris and, after deciding to become a doctor, entered medical school at the age of 19. At that time, Paris was the world center of medical thought and activity: Charcot was exposed to some of the best teachers available.
As he progressed through his training, he con- tinued to develop his skills at drawing. His doc- toral thesis, illustrated by his own drawings, dealt with the differential diagnosis of gout and other forms of acute rheumatism.
Moving up the academic ladder, Charcot, in 1862, was appointed chief physician of l’Hospice de la Salpêtrière, an ancient hospital that con- tained 5,000 chronically ill patients of all types.
It was from this voluminous material that he described various conditions that established his reputation as a founder of the specialty of neurology.
John CHARNLEY
1911–1982
John Charnley was born in Bury on August 29, 1911. He was educated at Bury Grammar School and Manchester University, where he was awarded several prizes and scholarships. He made his ambition for a surgical career plain by passing the primary examination of the Royal College of Surgeons while he was an undergraduate—a feat that was possible for the gifted students of those days—and he became a Fellow of the college in 1936, 1 year after graduating in medicine.
Before the outbreak of the Second World War he held surgical appointments at Manchester Royal Infirmary and Salford Royal Hospital. It was evident then to his mentors and contempo- raries that he was destined for a brilliant career.
During his period of army service, spent in the Middle East, he used every opportunity to work in the REME workshops where he produced an adjustable Thomas’ splint, which was widely used in the treatment of casualties from the North African campaigns. This engineering experience
