[Science, Medicine & Mathematics] Mütter, Thomas D. Syllabus of the Course of Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Surgery, Delivered in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia

Philadelphia: Merrihew and Thompson, 1843. First edition. 8vo. 206 pp. Interleaved with over 80 sheets of extensive manuscript notes in pen and pencil regarding Dr. Mütter's lectures, by a Daniel Webster Shindel, of Sunbury, Pennsylvania, with his book-plate on front paste-down, and his ownership signatures on front free endpaper, front blank (dated 1848), and title-page. Contemporary three-quarter black leather over marbled paper-covered boards, stamped in gilt, front board detached but holding, large loss in bottom corner of same, boards and extremities rubbed and worn; all edges trimmed; scattered spotting and creasing to text.

Dr. Daniel Webster Shindel (1822-95) was born in Sunbury, Pennsylvania to Rev. John Peter Shindel and Susanna A. Shindel (nee McCullough). He graduated from Pennsylvania Medical College in 1850, and returned to Sunbury where he established his own medical practice, becoming at the time of his death, the oldest active practitioner in Sunbury. In his obituary it was written that, "He was a skilled physician and was considered a great authority in all cases of fever...He was a reader and a thinker, who kept up with the greatest changes in medicine which have taken place in the last three decades..." The notes in the present volume likely date to around 1848 (dated by Shindel at front) when he was attending Pennsylvania Medical College, and closely follow Mutter's topics within (the notes follow a question and answer format, similar to Dr. Mütter's teaching style, possibly indicating that Dr. Shindel was present at his lectures or copied them from another source), including yellow fever, inflammation, various operation procedures, ulceration, mortification, gangrene, wounds, amputation, etc.

Thomas Dent Mütter (1811-59) was one of the earliest pioneers of plastic surgery in America. Born and raised in Virginia, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a medical degree in 1831, and subsequently traveled to Paris where he studied “les opérations plastiques”. Upon his return to the United States he became a popular surgeon at Jefferson Medical College (he was Chair of Surgery from 1841-56), where he became known for his reconstructive surgeries (his invention of the eponymous technique the "Mütter Flap" is still used on burn victims to this day), and was the first surgeon in American to use ether as an anesthetic. During his career, Dr. Mütter collected a range of medical specimens that he used during his teaching, and in 1856 bequeathed these 7,000 items to the College of Physicians in Philadelphia. His gift, which included $30,000, was finalized only months before his death, and stipulated for the construction of a fire-proof building to house the collection, the hiring of a curator, the funding of lectures, and ensuring that it would remain open for medical professionals to use. It still operates today, now known as the world-famous Mütter Museum.

[Science, Medicine & Mathematics] Mütter, Thomas D. Syllabus of the Course of Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Surgery, Delivered in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia