(Redirected from Percival Pott)
'Percival Pott' (
January 6,
1714 –
December 22,
1788,
London,
England) was an English
surgeon, one of the founders of
orthopedy, and the first scientists to demonstrate that a
cancer may be caused by an environmental
carcinogen.
Life
He served his apprenticeship with Edward Nourse, assistant surgeon to
St Bartholomew's Hospital, and in
1736 was admitted to the
Barbers' Company and licensed to practise. He became assistant surgeon to St Bartholomew's in
1744 and full surgeon from
1749 till
1787.
As the first surgeon of his day in England, excelling even his pupil,
John Hunter, on the practical side, Pott introduced various important innovations in procedure, doing much to abolish the extensive use of
escharotics and the
cautery that was prevalent when he began his career.
1775, Pott found an association between exposure to
soot and a high incidence of
scrotal cancers in
chimney sweeps. This was the first
occupational link to
cancer, and Pott was the first person to demonstrate that a malignancy could be caused by an environmental
carcinogen. Pott's early investigations contributed to the science of
epidemiology.
See also
★
Cancer cluster
★
History of medicine
Bibliography
★ Dobson J. Percivall Pott. ''Ann R Coll Surg Eng'' 1972; 50: 54-65.
External links
★
History of Surgeons - Percivall Pott. surgeons.org.uk England
★
Sir Percivall Pott. Surgical Tutor UK.
★
Percival Potts (Band). Funk, Soul, Rock established 2002.
----