RCSI Heritage Collections

Today marks the 171st anniversary of the death of a man who despite achieving so much in the world of surgery is largely forgotten by it's population. He is recognised as introducing the microscope into Irish medicine in 1830, being Ireland's first investigator into the field of cancer research and for discovering the transverse folds of the rectum, which are also known as ' Houston's valves' . That man was one John Houston. John Houston 1802-1845 Houston was born in Northern Ireland in 1802. Little is known about his childhood before he was adopted by his maternal uncle, Dr Joseph Taylor. Taylor financed his nephew's education in medicine and in 1819 Houston was apprenticed to John Shekleton , a young dynamic surgeon and soon-to-be Curator of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Museum. Houston's apprenticeship finished in 1824, the same year that Shekleton suddenly died at the age of 29. Houston lost his teacher, mentor and friend and on the da...

With the bicentenary of Sir William Wilde only around the corner, the RCSI Heritage Collections decided to look at another gifted eye and ear surgeon who lived, worked and taught in Dublin at the same time as Wilde. A major difference between these two characters was their levels of flamboyancy and it's because of this that Arthur Jacob is not as widely known as Wilde. Bust of Arthur Jacob by Joseph Robinson Kirk Arthur Jacob PRCSI 1837 and 1864 Arthur came from a medical family. His father, John, was Surgeon to Queen's County Infirmary and enjoyed a large practice while his grandfather, Michael, was also a surgeon. Arthur started his medical education be becoming indentured to his father in 1808. In 1811 he became a pupil of Abraham Colles in Steevens' Hospital. Like many other surgeons of the time, Arthur travelled to further his surgical knowledge. He went to the University of Edinburgh and graduated with an M.D. in 1814. The it was to London where he stud...