Abraham Colles - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Abraham Colles was professor of Anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

, Surgery

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

and Physiology

Physiology

Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland , is a Dublin-based medical institution, situated on St. Stephen's Green. The college is one of the five Recognised Colleges of the National University of Ireland...

. Descended from a Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

family, some of whom had sat in Parliament, he was born to William Colles and Mary Anne Bates of Woodbroak, Co. Wexford. The family lived near Millmount, a townsland near Kilkenny

Kilkenny

Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, where his father owned and managed his inheritance which was the extensive Black Quarry that produced the famous Black Kilkenny Marble

Kilkenny Marble

Black Kilkenny marble is a finely grained carboniferous limestone that can show fossils.The City of Kilkenny is often referred to as "The Marble City". The foothpaths of the city streets were paved with limestone flagstones, which, when wet, glistened...

. The father died when Colles was 6, but his mother took over the management of the quarry and managed to give her children a good education.

While at Kilkenny College

Kilkenny College

Kilkenny College or KCK is a co-educational secondary school located in Kilkenny, in the South-East of Ireland. It is a private school which caters for both boarders and day students. It is the largest co-educational boarding school in Ireland...

, there was a flood in which a local physician's house was destroyed. Abraham found an anatomy book belonging to the doctor in a field and returned it to him. Sensing the young man's interest in medicine, the physician let Abraham keep the book. He went on to enroll in Trinity College

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

, University of Dublin

University of Dublin

The University of Dublin , corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592 Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin, as "the mother of a university" – this date making it...

in 1790 and received the Licentiate Diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1795. Abraham went on to study medicine at Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, receiving his M.D. degree in 1797. Afterwards, he lived in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

for a short period, working with the famous surgeon Sir Astley Cooper

Astley Cooper

Sir Astley Paston Cooper, 1st Baronet was an English surgeon and anatomist, who made historical contributions to otology, vascular surgery, the anatomy and pathology of the mammary glands and testicles, and the pathology and surgery of hernia.-Life:Cooper was born at Brooke Hall in Brooke, Norfolk...

in his dissections of the inguinal region.

Following his return to Dublin, in 1799, he was elected to the staff at Dr Steevens' Hospital

Dr Steevens' Hospital

Dr Steevens' Hospital in Dublin was one of Ireland's most distinguished eighteenth-century medical establishments...

where he served for the next 42 years. He was a well regarded surgeon and was elected as president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1802 at the age of only 28 years. In 1804, he was appointed Professor of anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

, physiology

Physiology

and surgery

Surgery

at the college.

In 1811 he wrote an important treatise on surgical anatomy and some terms he introduced have survived in surgical nomenclature until today. He is remembered as a skillful surgeon and for his 1814 paper On the Fracture of the Carpal Extremity of the Radius
Radius (bone)
The radius is one of the two large bones of the forearm, the other being the ulna. It extends from the lateral side of the elbow to the thumb side of the wrist and runs parallel to the ulna, which exceeds it in length and size. It is a long bone, prism-shaped and slightly curved longitudinally...

; this injury continues to be known as Colles' fracture

Colles' fracture

A Colles' fracture, also Colles fracture, is a fracture of the distal radius in the forearm with dorsal displacement of the wrist and hand. The fracture is sometimes referred to as a "dinner fork" or "bayonet" deformity due to the shape of the resultant forearm...

. This paper, describing distal radial fractures, was far ahead of its time, being published decades before x-rays came into use.

He also described the membranous layer of subcutaneous tissue of the perineum

Perineum

In human anatomy, the perineum is a region of the body including the perineal body and surrounding structures...

, which came to be known as Colles' fascia

Fascia of Colles

The deep layer of superficial fascia is thin, aponeurotic in structure, and of considerable strength, serving to bind down the muscles of the root of the penis.It separates the skin from the superficial perineal pouch.-Relations:...

. He also extensively studied the inguinal ligament

Inguinal ligament

The inguinal ligament is a band running from the pubic tubercle to the anterior superior iliac spine. Its anatomy is very important for operating on hernia patients.-Anatomy:...

, which is sometimes called Colles' ligament. In 1837 he wrote "Practical observations on the venereal disease, and on the use of mercury" in which he introduced the hypothesis of maternal immunity of a syphilitic infant when the mother had not shown signs of the disease. Colles' principal textbook was the two-volume Lectures on the theory and practice of surgery.
He is regarded as the first surgeon to successfully ligate the subclavian artery.

In tribute to his distinguished career, Professor Colles was awarded a baronetcy in 1839, which he refused.

He retired in 1841 and died two years later from gout

Gout

Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...

.
He was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery

Mount Jerome Cemetery

Mount Jerome Cemetery is situated in Harold's Cross on the south side of Dublin, Ireland. Since its foundation in 1836, it has witnessed over 300,000 burials...

, Dublin.
His son followed in his footsteps, being elected to the Chair of Anatomy in the Royal College in 1863. Another of his sons married Elizabeth Mayne, a niece of Robert James Graves

Robert James Graves

Robert James Graves, M.D., F.R.C.S. was an eminent Irish surgeon after whom Graves' disease takes its name. He was President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Fellow of the Royal Society of London and the founder of the Dublin Journal of Medical Science...

Further reading