Historical perspective - William Cheselden: Anatomist, surgeon, and medical illustrator

William Cheselden was Great Britain's foremost surgeon/scientist in the fir st half of the 18th century. Cheselden directly challenged the Company of B arber-Surgeons' exclusive right to control dissection in London by being th e first to conduct a regular series of anatomy lectures and demonstrations outside of the Company's Hall. He incorporated his lecture syllabus into a handbook of anatomy, The Anatomy of the Humane. Body, which was used by stu dents for nearly 100 years. Cheselden also wrote the text and drew the illu strations for a majestic atlas of comparative osteology, the Osteographia, or the Anatomy of the Bones. Cheselden used his superior knowledge of anato my to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with perineal lithotomy , one of the few operations possible in his era. Sagacious and pragmatic, C heselden recognized that the enlightened practice of surgery beginning to r ake root in 18th-century London could flourish only under an autonomous bod y of surgeons. Cheselden used his personal funds and political skills to ur ge Parliament to pass legislation for the dissolution of the combined Compa ny of Barber-Surgeons and the establishment of separate and distinct Surgeo ns' and Barbers' Companies. After disjoinder of the two groups on May 2, 17 45, Cheselden served as one of the Wardens of the new Company of Surgeons-a predecessor of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. In 1746, Cheselde n, who helped design the first Surgeons' Hall, served as the Company's Mast er.