Antonius MATHIJSEN1805–1878

and the Orthopedic Research Society. He was widely known as team physician for the New York Giants professional football club and a con- sultant for the New Jersey Nets basketball team, the New York City Public School Athletic League, and the Cornell University Athletic Department.

To his colleagues, Dr. Marshall’s incredible success seemed to follow from his keen intellect, limitless energy, and infectious enthusiasm. He was born in Schenectady, New York, on June 16, 1936. He graduated from Cornell University in 1956, excelling academically and athletically in basketball, sailing, skiing, and polo. In 1960, he graduated from the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine and entered private practice, specializ- ing in thoroughbred horses. His interest in high- performance athletics never waned. It seemed natural that orthopedics would be his field. In 1961 he entered Albany Medical College, receiv- ing his MD degree in 1965. In the shadow of Dr.

Crawford Campbell, he developed an interest in orthopedic research, to which he devoted a major portion of his future career. He won the Student Research Award in 1963 for a paper on osteocar- tilaginous loose bodies. After a surgical internship at Tufts–New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Marshall came to the Hospital for Special Surgery as a Research Fellow in ortho- pedics. In 1971 he completed the residency program and was named an American Orthopedic Association North American Traveling Fellow.

He remained on the staff of the Hospital for Special Surgery until his death.

Dr. Marshall’s major area of professional inter- est was the knee. His earliest papers in the vet- erinary and human medical literature dealt with articular cartilage and the unstable joint. He saw the anterior cruciate deficient knee as a model for instability and arthritis in the experimental animal and a major clinical problem in human athletes.

His studies concerned the anatomy, repair, and reconstruction of knee ligaments. He had person- ally dissected hundreds of cadaver knees and con- stantly challenged his residents and fellows to test new and old concepts of anatomy and surgery in the laboratory. He was an exacting scientist who presented papers annually at the meetings of the Orthopedic Research Society, strongly believing that sports medicine should rest on the same research and basic-science foundation as other orthopedic specialties. By his teaching of anatomy to undergraduates, he helped to interest many a promising student in an orthopedic career.

As a teacher, he was exceedingly generous with his time and private operative cases. As an author, he was particular that homework be done and credit be given to other workers in the field. Many of his more than 65 scientific papers appeared in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

In Atlanta, a few days before his death, Dr.

Marshall had his usual several papers on the Academy program, but he also participated in panel discussions as a recognized expert on the anterior cruciate ligament. Many of his papers were yet to be published, but already his work was cited prominently in major textbooks. For many years his concepts regarding cruciate ligament injuries were hardly fashionable or accepted. That he lived less than a decade after completing his residency, yet saw his work rec- ognized, is a testimony to his courage, scholar- ship, and persistent self-criticism in the laboratory and operating room.

John’s enthusiasm and energy extended outside the hospital. He was a fine athlete himself, an avid skier, and an accomplished tennis player and runner. He trained regularly with many of his patient athletes, and could run circles around most of his residents and fellows on the tennis court.

Dr. Marshall was blessed with a devoted family and was survived by his lovely wife Jan and their two children.

Antonius MATHIJSEN

1805–1878

Antonius Mathijsen was born on September 4, 1805, at Budel, a small village in North Brabant, Holland, the son of Dr. Ludovicus Hermanus Mathijsen and Petronella Bogaers. He had seven brothers, of whom three likewise were physi- cians, and two sisters. His father thought that Antonius should become a military surgeon; the young man was first placed in the military hospi- tal at Brussels, later in Maastricht, and finally at the large government hospital at Utrecht. He received his commission in the army on July 14, 1828, and the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Giessen in 1837.

In 1831, Dr Mathijsen took part in the 10-day campaign in Belgium, at Ypres and Breda, and was honorably mentioned and decorated. In 1851, while stationed at the garrison in Haarlem, he worked at his plans for a plaster splint that would 220

Who’s Who in Orthopedics

maintain immobilization of fractures of bone.

Other methods had been tried by other men, but the results had not been good. Mathijsen experi- mented until he found a new and more efficient method of making a plaster splint.

Mathijsen wrote a monograph on a new method of application of the plaster in fracture, which was published in May 1852. In the introduction to this volume he stated that he had tried, above all, to find a good method of dressing the wounded on the battlefield. He pointed out that the majority of these patients, injured by firearms, had compound fractures that required special treatment; and it was his intention to find an immobilizing bandage that would permit safe transportation of the patient. As he conceived them, the requirements of the bandage were: (1) that it could be conve- niently applied at once; (2) that it become hard in a few minutes; (3) that it be so applied that the surgeon would have access to the wound; (4) that it be adaptable to the circumference and shape of the extremity; (5) that it be of such consistency that it would not be damaged by suppuration or humidity; and (6) that it be not too heavy nor too expensive.

Mathijsen’s plaster bandage was constructed after the principles of Seutin’s starch bandage. It proved to be economical and more practical than others used previously. He cut pieces of double- folded unbleached cotton or linen to fit the part to be immobilized; then the pieces were fixed and held in position by woolen thread or pins. The dry plaster, which was spread between the layers, remained two finger breadth widths within the edges of the cloth. The extremity was then placed on the bandage, which was moistened with water.

Next, the edges of the bandage were pulled over, so that they overlapped one another, and they were held by pins. When an opening in the bandage was necessary, a piece of cotton wool, the size of the desired opening, was placed between the compresses, so that this area remained free of plaster. This type of dressing afforded rest to the injured parts by immobiliza- tion. In cases in which it was found necessary to enlarge the cast, enlargement could be achieved by the application of cotton bandages, four inches wide, rubbed with plaster and moistened.

Mathijsen’s own description of the plaster bandage was the first accurate one. In 1854, in a French treatise, he gave a report of his results after the application of the plaster bandage, and he also mentioned various cases in which the patients had been treated by other surgeons.

Moreover, he wrote to the Royal Academy of Belgium that the plaster bandage was his inven- tion, and that it was not the result of collaboration on the part of several surgeons. In 1857, he described a practical pair of scissors for use in working with plaster.

By 1856, the value of the treatment, by means of the plaster bandage, had become appreciated.

The method was commended in the periodicals of the Society of Surgery and Obstetrics, in Amsterdam, and of the Society of Physicians, in Vienna (by Dr. C.J. Cessnor). In 1876, Mathijsen was requested by one of his friends, Dr. M.W.C.

Gori, to present his invention of fixation by means of the plaster bandage at the Centennial Exhibi- tion in Philadelphia, which he did.

Many honors ware bestowed upon Dr.

Mathijsen. He was made Knight of the Order of the Netherlands, Lion of the Oak Crown of Luxembourg, Major Surgeon of the Dutch Army, and member of the medical societies of Amster- dam, Hoorn, Utrecht, Brussels, Bonn, Halle, Vienna, Neuchâtel, and Zurich.

When we consider the significance of this work, we must also bear in mind the status of treatment of wounds and diseases of the extrem- ities in the early 1800s. Prior to Mathijsen’s invention, the treatment of a broken or wounded extremity was woefully inadequate, and such treatment often led to serious disability or to the loss of limb and life.

In 1870, at a time when Mathijsen’s method of treatment of patients was not generally known, Zola in his famous book, La Debâcle, described the appalling inadequacy of the treatment of the wounded. The high mortality rate was markedly lessened by the discoveries of Pasteur, Lister and Mathijsen. Dr. Mathijsen died on June 14, 1878, at Hamont, Belgium, where he is buried.

Reference

1. Mathijsen, Dr. Antonius (1878) Obituary. Neder- landsch Milit Gencesk Arch 2:392–405

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Who’s Who in Orthopedics