Dr Thomas Spens

PRCPE The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that set the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by royal charter in ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1764–1842) was an 18th/19th century Scottish physician who served as President of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that set the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by royal charter i ...

from 1803 to 1806. He was one of the first writers to provide a written report on what is now called cardiovascular syncope or Adams-Stokes syndrome.

Life

He was born in 1764 the son of Nathaniel Spens of Lathallan in north-east

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. The Spens family owned the estate of Lathallan in Fife and his grandfather was Thomas Spens, 15th Laird of Lathallan Spens studied medicine at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

earning his MD in 1784. At this time he lived with his parents on Niddry's Wynd off the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is the nickname of a series of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The term originated in the early 20th century and has since entered popular usage. The Royal ...

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(now known as Niddry Street). In 1788 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were Dr James Gregory,

Sir James Hall Sir James Hall of Dunglass, 4th Baronet FRS FRSE (17 January 1761 – 23 June 1832) was a Scottish geologist and geophysicist. He was a Member of Parliament for St. Michael's borough ( Mitchell, Cornwall) 1807–1812. Education Hall was born a ...

, and

Andrew Duncan, the elder Andrew Duncan, the elder (17 October 1744 – 5 July 1828) FRSE FRCPE FSA (Scot) was a British physician and professor at the University of Edinburgh. He was joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. As first proposer of an asylum in Edin ...

. He was a physician at

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and Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum. In 1789 he was elected a member of the

Aesculapian Club The Aesculapian Club of Edinburgh is one of the oldest medical dining clubs in the world. It was founded in April 1773 by Dr. Andrew Duncan. Membership of the club is limited to 11 Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and ...

. In 1789 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. By 1794 his father was living at 13 Horse Wynd at the foot of the

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David ...

near

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and Thomas is presumed to still live with him. In 1799 Spens was elected a member of the

Harveian Society of Edinburgh The Harveian Society of Edinburgh was founded in April 1782 by Andrew Duncan (physician, born 1744), Andrew Duncan. The Society holds an annual Festival in honour of the life and works of William Harvey, the physician who first correctly des ...

, serving as President in 1808. In 1803 he succeeded Dr William Wright as President of the

, having previously served as the college Treasurer. Like his father he was a member of the

Royal Company of Archers The Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland, is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland—a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV when the company provided a pers ...

(the monarch's bodyguard in Scotland), and presented his father's yew bow to the Company where it remains on display. He was succeeded in his role as President by

Charles Stuart of Dunearn Charles Stuart of Dunearn FRSE (1745–1826) was a Scottish minister who went on to co-found the Royal Society of Edinburgh and to be President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Life He was born at Dunearn House near Burntisla ...

. By 1810 his father had retired and Thomas was running his practice on Horse Wynd. He disappears from Edinburgh records in the 1820s and reappears around 1830 at Drummond Place in Edinburgh's Second New Town. He died at home 14 Drummond Place on 27 May 1842.

Family

He had one son, James Spens (1797-1870), by an early relationship. As James did not inherit from his father he was presumably illegitimate. His wife Bethia Wood (1781-1867) outlived him and lived at Drummond Place with their son Nathaniel Spens WS (b.1801) and a daughter Helen (b.1821).

Description of Stokes-Adams syndrome

The condition now known as cardiovascular syncope was probably first described in 1761 by the Italian

Giovanni Battista Morgagni Giovanni Battista Morgagni (25 February 1682 – 6 December 1771) was an Italian anatomy, anatomist, generally regarded as the father of modern anatomical pathology, who taught thousands of medical students from many countries during his 56 year ...

(1682-1771). Spens published in 1793 a case history which has been described as the first published account by a British author of episodes of cardiovascular syncope almost certainly resulting from third degree

heart block Heart block (HB) is a disorder in the heart's rhythm due to a fault in the natural pacemaker. This is caused by an obstruction – a block – in the electrical conduction system of the heart. Sometimes a disorder can be inherited. Despite the ...

. The eponymous name relates to the Dublin physicians Robert Adams, who described a case in 1827, and William Stokes, also of Dublin, who published four cases in 1846. Spens' description preceded both of these. In an article entitled "History of a case in which there took place a remarkable slowness of the pulse", Spens described the case of a previously well man who 'fell to the ground senseless' and 'continued in that state for 5 minutes.' The man's pulse rate was noted to be 24 beats per minute but regular and of normal strength. Several subsequent episodes occurred over the next few days, in some instances accompanied by convulsions and always with a slow regular pulse of normal strength, recorded on one occasion at 10 beats per minute. The patient died after one such episode and no abnormality was found at autopsy. The case report was published in Medical Commentaries for the year 1792, edited by Andrew Duncan.Duncan, A. (1795). ''Medical commentaries, for the years 1792, 1793: Exhibiting a concise view of the latest and most important discoveries in medicine and medical philosophy''. Philadelphia: Printed by Thomas Dobson,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spens, Thomas 1764 births 1842 deaths People from Fife Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Office bearers of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh Members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh