Samuel Osborne Habershon (1825 – 22 August 1889) was an English physician. Habershon was born at

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

in 1825, and studied medicine (from 1842) at Guy's Hospital, London. He gained numerous scholarships at the

university of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, where he graduated M.B. in 1848 and

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

in 1851. After being appointed in succession demonstrator of anatomy and of morbid anatomy and lecturer in pathology, he became assistant physician in 1854, and in 1866 full physician to Guy's. He lectured there on

materia medica ''Materia medica'' ( lit.: 'medical material/substance') is a Latin term from the history of pharmacy for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medications). The term derives f ...

from 1856 to 1873, and on medicine from 1873 to 1877. Having been a member of the

Royal College of Physicians of London The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

from 1851, and fellow from 1856, he was successively examiner, councillor, and censor, and in 1876 Lumleian lecturer, in 1883 Harveian orator, and in 1887 vice-president of the college. He was president of the

Medical Society of London Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

in 1873. In November 1880, being then senior physician to Guy's, he resigned his post, together with

John Cooper Forster John Cooper Forster (13 November 1823 – 2 March 1886) was a British surgeon. Biography Forster was born in 1823 in Lambeth, London, where his father and grandfather before him had been local medical practitioners. He entered Guy's Hospital in 1 ...

, the senior surgeon. Habershon died on 22 August 1889 from

gastric ulcer Peptic ulcer disease is when the inner part of the stomach's gastric mucosa (lining of the stomach), the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus, gets damaged. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while ...

, leaving one son and three daughters, including hymnwriter Ada R. Habershon; his wife had died in April of the same year. As a physician Habershon had a high reputation, especially in abdominal diseases, which he did much to elucidate. He was the first in England to propose the operation of gastrostomy for stricture of the œsophagus, which Cooper Forster performed on a patient of Habershon's in 1858. He was one of the founders of the Christian Medical Association. Habershon wrote, besides twenty-eight papers in 'Guy's Hospital Reports,' from 1855 to 1872, and others in various medical transactions and journals: *'Pathological and Practical Observations on Diseases of the Abdomen,' 1857; fourth ed. 1888; American editions 1859, 1879. *'On the Injurious Effects of Mercury in … Disease,' 1859. * 'On Diseases of the Stomach,' 1866; third ed. 1879; American ed. 1879.
'On Some Diseases of the Liver'
(Lettsomian Lectures), 1872. * 'On the Pathology of the Pneumogastric Nerve' (Lumleian Lectures), 1877
2nd edit. 1885
Italian translation, 1879.

References

Samuel Osborne Habershon
Royal College of Physicians of London (2009)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Habershon, Samuel Osborne 1825 births 1889 deaths 19th-century English non-fiction writers 19th-century English medical doctors 19th-century evangelicals People from Rotherham English anatomists Alumni of the University of London English pathologists English evangelicals English medical writers