Dillwyn EVANS1910–1974

an outstanding young surgeon and was awarded a Hunterian Professorship. His Hunterian Lecture, delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons on March 6, 1951, was entitled “The Mechanism, Reduction Technique, and Results in Fractures of Os Calsis.” Essex-Lopresti is remembered eponymically for his cases of radial head fracture associated with distal radioulnar dislocations, i.e., Essex-Lopresti’s fracture. Mr. Essex-Lopresti was a talented and energetic young surgeon, whose death at the age of 35 cut short a promising career.

no exception, being based on the concept, as he put it himself, “that whereas in the normal foot the medial and lateral columns are about equal, in talipes equinovarus the lateral column is longer and in the calcaneo-valgus foot it is shorter than the medial. It is suggested that one requirement in the treatment of both deformities is that the length of the columns be made equal.” His paper on the relapsed club foot is a classic; his paper on the calcaneo-valgus foot will complete his contribu- tion to the subject and it is sad that he has not lived to see it. After the publication of his club foot paper, he was in great demand. He went to Brazil on two occasions as a visiting professor under the aegis of the British Council, and inau- gurated a system of training for Brazilians in this country. He went to Canada at the invitation of the Canadian Orthopedic Association. He had been a member of the British editorial board of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and traveled and spoke as a member of the British Orthopedic Travelling Club. But he remained essentially as he always was—a teacher, a clini- cian, an original thinker—and he was always as ready to listen to the views of others as to put forward his own.

No account of Dillwyn’s services to orthopedic surgery would be complete without reference to the man himself. Quiet and unassuming as he was, he had complete authority in committee or discussion, and when he rose to speak at a meeting he would be heard with careful attention.

He was a born teacher, because he liked young people and liked imparting his knowledge, and his services to orthopedic surgery in Wales in this respect have been immense. To the writer, however, his most impressive attribute was his clinical honesty. The history was always taken with the same meticulous care, the examination was never hurried, and the conclusion was reached after due consideration; there were no shortcuts for him and he never falsified his findings to suit his ideas.

His interests were legion—golf, rugby football as befitted a true Welshman, music and traveling, all contributed to his progress through life. He came of farming stock and, although he did not farm himself, he allowed one of his daughters to marry a farmer, and so had the best of both worlds.

Dillwyn Evans died at his home at Cardiff on November 9, 1974, at the age of 64. Eighteen months previously he had suffered a severe hemiplegia, but with immense courage and with 100

Who’s Who in Orthopedics

Dillwyn EVANS

1910–1974

Dillwyn Evans intended originally to become an ear, nose and throat surgeon, but after house appointments at the Prince of Wales Orthopedic Hospital and at Oswestry he eventually joined his friend and teacher A.O. Parker in Cardiff, where he remained until his death.

His contributions to orthopedic surgery have

been considerable, mostly papers read to various

societies—on spinal disease, which reflected his

great experience at Glanely Hospital; on subfas-

cial ischaemic lesions of the limbs, a subject that

he regarded as particularly important because of

its medicolegal implications; and on eosinophil

granuloma. His main work, however, and that

which earned him an international reputation, was

on the subject of foot deformities. Most of the

important contributions to surgery have arisen

from simple ideas, and Dillwyn’s work on feet is

the devoted help of his wife, herself once a phys- iotherapist, he had recovered well enough to enable him to resume teaching and outpatient work, and to lead an active life. He retired from the health service in October 1974, because he knew that he could no longer operate.

The success of his professional life was in contrast to the tragedy of his personal life. His marriage ended abruptly when his lovely wife died suddenly of eclampsia during her second pregnancy, leaving him alone with an infant son.

He never remarried and gave all of his thought and energy to his work.

He began to study cancer at the Alfred L.

Loomis Laboratory at Bellevue Hospital. His work there caught the eye of James Douglas, a philanthropist, and led to the establishment, in 1913, of the Memorial Hospital for the Study of Cancer and Allied Diseases. Douglas was espe- cially interested in radium and the benefits of radium therapy, and Ewing quickly became an enthusiast for radiation treatment of malignant diseases. As the pathologist of the hospital, he accumulated the great experience that formed the foundation of his book, Neoplastic Diseases,

published in 1919. It was in 1920 that he first described the bone tumor with which he is iden- tified.

The tumor that he called a diffuse endothe- lioma of bone was labeled “Ewing’s tumor” by Codman in his bone tumor registry of the American College of Surgeons.

It has maintained the designation ever since.

As the director of Memorial Hospital, Ewing had great influence, and his strong support for the use of radiation therapy, rather than operations, for the control of cancer affected the development of the surgical treatment of these lesions. He maintained his position until a few years before his death in 1943 and is remembered as one of the leaders in the fight against cancer during the first half of this century.

References

1. Codman EA (1925) Bone Sarcoma: An Interpreta- tion of the Nomenclature Used by the Committee on the Registry of Bone Sarcomas of the American College of Surgeons. New York, Paul B. Hoeber, Inc 2. Del Regato JA (1977) James Ewing. Int J Radiat

Oncol Biol Phys 2:185

3. Ewing J (1919) Neoplastic Diseases. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders Co

4. Ewing J (1921) Diffuse endothelioma of bone. Proc NY Pathol Soc 21:17

101

Who’s Who in Orthopedics

James EWING

1866–1943

James Ewing

was born in Pittsburgh on Christ- mas Day in 1866. When he was 14 years old, his education was interrupted by osteomyelitis of the femur, for which he was confined to bed for 2 years. At home he had a tutor and in addition he entertained himself by entering contests. In one, for which he provided the longest list of words composed with the letters of the word Constantinople, he was successful. The prize was a microscope, the tool on which his later career was to be based. In 1884, Ewing entered Amherst College where, in spite of a limp and a persistent draining sinus, he participated fully in all of the student activities. Four years later he began his medical education at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons.

After his graduation from medical school in

1891, Ewing interned in Pittsburgh and New

York, showing particular interest in clinical and

microscopic pathology. He went to Germany in

1894 to pursue further study in these areas. In

1899, at the age of 33, he was appointed the first

professor of pathology at Cornell University.