Edwin Lee (physician)


Edwin Lee was an English medical writer.

Biography

Lee was entered the profession as an articled pupil of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. He became a student at St. George's Hospital in 1824, and during his apprenticeship attended the medical schools of Paris. In 1829 he was elected member of the College of Surgeons, and soon afterwards was appointed house-surgeon to St. George's Hospital, an office which he resigned before 1833. Subsequently, he competed for the house-surgeoncy of the Birmingham Hospital, but was defeated by one vote. He then passed some time on the continent attending medical institutions and investigating points of practice which at that time were not much known in England. Among these subjects was lithotrity, upon which he gave public demonstrations in London and some of the larger provincial towns. For his dissertation upon the advantages of this method of operating as compared with lithotomy the College of Surgeons in 1838 awarded him the Jacksonian prize. In 1844 he became a candidate for the assistant-surgeoncy to St. George's Hospital, but withdrew in consequence, as he alleged, of the gross unfairness of the proceedings. Upon the occasion of another vacancy, in 1848, he refused to stand; but protested against the system of election by advertisements in the 'Times' and 'Morning Chronicle,' and by a pamphlet addressed to the governors of the hospital. The College of Surgeons declined to admit him to the fellowship, whereupon he attacked Sir Benjamin Brodie and the governing body. Failing to obtain settled practice he divided his time between London, which he generally visited during the season, and one or other watering-place in England or on the continent. Latterly he resided much abroad. By 1846 Lee had received the M.D. degree of Göttingen. He was subsequently elected member of various foreign medical associations, including those of Paris, Berlin, and Naples, and was for some years fellow of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society of London. He died on 8 June 1870.
Lee was a man of great industry. He was best known by his handbooks to continental health resorts. His earliest work on the subject was ‘An Account of the most frequented Watering Places on the Continent … and of the Medicinal Application of their Mineral Springs; with … an Appendix on English Mineral Waters,’ 8vo, London, 1836. ‘Additional Remarks on the Use of English Mineral Springs’ followed in 1837, and ‘Practical Observations on Mineral Waters and Baths’ in 1846. Similar information Lee published under a variety of titles. ‘The Baths of Nassau, Baden, and the Adjacent Districts. First Part. Thermal Springs,’ was issued in 1839, and the portion treating of Nassau reappeared in 1863. ‘The Principal Baths of Germany,’ 2 vols. 8vo, is dated 1840–1. Rhenish Germany was similarly treated in 1850 ; Homburg in 1853 ; France, Germany, and Switzerland collectively ; Vichy in 1862; Switzerland and Savoy in 1865, and collectively with France in 1867; the Engadine in 1869; Baden and Würtemberg, Spa, France, and Rhenish Prussia, in 1870. A work by Lee on English mineral springs was reissued as ‘The Baths and Watering Places of England’ in 1848, and was followed by books on Brighton, on the Undercliff and Bournemouth, and on the southern watering-places—Hastings, St. Leonards, Dover, and Tunbridge Wells. He translated a French account of Nice ; wrote of Hyères and Cannes ; of Mentone ; and of the health resorts of southern France collectively. He won also several valuable prizes, including the town committee prize for an essay on ‘Cheltenham and its Resources’ ; the Fiske fund prize for a dissertation on ‘The Effect of Climate on Tuberculous Disease’ ; that awarded by the Milan Society for the encouragement of arts and sciences, for an essay on ‘Le Magnétisme Animal: ses applications à la Physiologie et à la Thérapeutique’ ; and another essay-prize given by the Toulouse medical society about 1860 on ‘Des Paralysies sans lésion organique appréciable,’ an English translation of which appeared in 1866.
Lee's writings are, besides those mentioned:
  • ‘A Treatise on some Nervous Disorders,’ 8vo, London, 1833; 2nd edit. 1838.
  • ‘Observations on the Principal Medical Institutions and Practice of France, Italy, and Germany; with … an Appendix on Animal Magnetism and Homœopathy,’ 8vo, London, 1835; 2nd edit. 1843. The appendix was issued separately in 1835, 1838, and 1843.
  • ‘Notes on Italy and Rhenish Germany,’ 12mo, Edinburgh, 1835.
  • ‘Two Lectures on Lithotrity and the bi-lateral operation … also an Essay on the Dissolution of Gravel and Stone in the Bladder, by A. Chevallier, translated from the French,’ 2 pts. 8vo, London, 1837.
  • ‘On Stammering and Squinting,’ 8vo, London, 1841.
  • ‘Memoranda on France, Italy, and Germany,’ 8vo, London, 1841.
  • ‘Report upon the Phenomena of Clairvoyance or Lucid Somnambulism,’ 12mo, London, 1843.
  • ‘Hydropathy and Homœopathy impartially appreciated,’ 3rd edit. 12mo, London, 1847; 4th edit. 1859 and 1866.
  • ‘Continental Travel,’ 8vo, London, 1848.
  • ‘Notes on Spain, with a special Account of Malaga,’ 12mo, London, 1854; another edit. 1855.
  • ‘The Medical Profession in Great Britain and Ireland; with an Account of the Medical Organisation of France, Italy, Germany, and America,’ 2 pts. 8vo, London, 1857; supplements appeared in 1863 and 1867.
  • A translation of L. Aimé Martin's ‘The Education of Mothers,’ 12mo, London, 1860.
  • ‘Remarks on Homœopathy,’ 12mo, London, 1861.