11 Dec
Jane Davidson takes a look at the lighter side of her veterinary history PhD, with a quick review of some of the unusal names she discovered during her studies.
Jane Davidson
Job Title
As we reach the end of 2024 and I am reaching the end of my veterinary history PhD, I thought it was time for a light-hearted look at some of the fun things from my research.
Yes, a PhD is a serious academic undertaking, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy what you find along the way!
The fun things I have found have focused on the concept of nominative determinism – the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their names.
The image below may be a particularly spectacular example, but I have discovered several within the history I am researching.
Within the veterinary field we have some well-known yet “unfortunate” naming conventions – for example, I think most of us know the full official title of Edinburgh vet school: The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.
Edinburgh has been blessed with three vet schools over the years, the only remaining of which was established by William Dick. After Dick’s death in 1866, it became known as “The Dick School”, specifically to differentiate it from William Williams’ New Veterinary College and the earlier Gamgee schools.
Now, as current parlance would have it, the word “dick” is used in several ways – none of them particularly complimentary, but possibly helpful to know if we consider my article on euphemisms.
Remaining with slang names for anatomy, and given that much of my research brings up human medical topics, it’s time to consider some human medical practitioners with nominative determinism.
For example, despite limited analgesia and anaesthesia around the late 1870s the removal of urethral stones was carried out surgically in men – not the most pleasant of surgeries – but the person who published on operating into the human male urethra had a particularly apt name…
Yes, Edward Cock published on male urethral surgery, although the originator of the technique, Sir John Simon, took all the glory.
Finally, it’s the turn of Mr Salmon (discovered while I was fending off Mr Cock). Mr Salmon is featured in Notes on Healing. This particular publication includes an introduction by Griffith Evans, who here is using his Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) postnominals, despite also being an MRCVS. This journal also provided information on “The Healing Properties of Spring Water” by WC Salmon.
As base as my humour goes, I will resist commenting on Mr Salmon’s potential first names to give him the initials WC.
I have loved every minute of my PhD and, although I may be becoming a “real academic”, I will never fail to see the light-hearted amusement in simple things.
