Julius Salem NEVIASER1902–1980

Julius Salem NEVIASER

1902–1980

Julius Salem Neviaser was born in Brandywine, Maryland, on October 21, 1902, but his family

John B. MURPHY

1857–1916

John B. Murphy was born near Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1857 of immigrant Irish parents.

He was raised on a farm, attended country school, and graduated from the high school in Appleton.

He began to study medicine as a preceptor of a local physician and at the age of 21 went to Chicago to attend Rush Medical College, which was located directly across the street from the Cook County Hospital. He became a protégé of Christian Fenger, who urged him to further his education by visiting the famous clinics abroad.

Returning to Chicago in 1884, he gradually estab- lished himself in private practice as a surgeon, and he eventually married the daughter of one of his wealthy patients.

Murphy was an ambitious, hard-working entrepreneur who popularized the diagnosis and operative treatment of appendicitis, devised the first widely used method of intestinal anastomo- sis, the Murphy button, and refined the techniques of arthroplasty. He became a professor of surgery at the Rush Medical College and at the North- western Medical College. In 1911 he was elected president of the American Medical Association.

Murphy’s flamboyant personality attracted and held the attention of the local and even the national press. He was not loved by his colleagues in Chicago, who felt that he sought publicity to enlarge his practice. He died of a coronary occlu- sion in 1916.

It is significant that his biography by Loyal Davis is entitled, J.B. Murphy: Stormy Petrel of

Surgery.

When the years pass and the tumult and the shouting dies, it is possible to evaluate such an individual on the basis of his accomplishments rather than his personality. By this measure, Murphy must be rated highly as an innovative and bold surgeon who enriched a wide variety of special areas in surgery, including orthopedics.

The significance of Murphy’s work on arthro- plasty was appreciated by the MacAuslands,

who, in their recapitulation of the development of the techniques of arthroplasty, state: “The credit for the development of the fascial flap method is due to the late John B. Murphy, of Chicago, who was more persevering than any other surgeon in his endeavor to restore motion to ankylosed joints. The method devised by Murphy has formed the basis of the great majority of modern arthroplastic measures.”

References

1. Davis L (1938) J.B. Murphy: Stormy Petrel of Surgery. New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons

2. MacAusland WR, MacAusland AR (1929) The Mobilisation of Ankylosed Joints by Arthroplasty.

Philadelphia, Lea and Febiger

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