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Sir Robert Young, C.B.E.
Brit. ft. Dis. Chest ( x 9 5 9 ) 5 3 , 4 x 3 •
SIR ROBERT YOUNG, C.B.E. BY G. E. BEAUMONT ON Saturday, August 22, Sir Robert Young passed peacefully away in his eighty-eighth year, and all readers of our Journal, together with countless other doctors, patients and friends in various parts of the world, will mourn their loss. Sir Robert took a great interest in our Journal and knew intimately the successive editors, Dr. T. N. Kelynack, Dr. L. S. T. Burrell, Dr. Clifford Hoyle, and our present editor Dr. Philip Ellman. Sir Robert found time to contribute several articles to the Journal. In the Golden Jubilee Number of J a n u a r y 1956 he gave a masterly survey of the medical problems of tuberculosis and diseases of the chest which had confronted chest physicians during the last fifty years. He concluded on an optimistic note, " In general it would appear that the outlook in diseases of the chest, including tuberculosis, is a hopeful one." In J a n u a r y of this year Sir Robert published his last contribution to our journal, writing, in a series by eminent members of the profession, his congratulations on the occasion of the Journal changing its name from " The British Journal of Tuberculosis and Diseases of the Chest " to " British Journal of Diseases of the Chest." In i943 the Journal had added " Diseases of the C h e s t " to its original title of " The British Journal of Tuberculosis." Sir Robert now expressed the view that " a change of name does not indicate a change of policy but an adjustment of perspective. Tuberculosis is still a national and even more an international problem." In witness to this is the influx of so many natives from the Dominions, without a medical examination. Sir Robert, or " R . A . , " as he was affectionately known to generations of Middlesex students, was one of the great clinical physicians of our time, who placed the art of medicine first and the accessory aids to diagnosis second. During his later years he was recognised as the leading chest physician in this country. On the occasion of his eightieth birthday I wrote an appreciation of R.A. which was published in this Journal, and I endeavoured then to express the high regard in which he was held by the medical profession in general, and my personal indebtedness to him for the inspiration gained during my close associations with him, first when a student at Middlesex, and later as his house physician and assistant physician at Middlesex and Brompton. I Was first attracted to R.A. when I was a student at Middlesex on account of his powers as a teacher and diagnostician. On his ward rounds he would deal with one case thoroughly, demonstrating how much information could be obtained by taking a careful history from the patient and by a meticulous clinical examination. In those days there were not many X-ray examinations, and the application of Biochemistry to Medicine had not arrived. As his house physician he would leave me to work out a difficult case, and on his next visit he would examine the patient himself and draw his conclusions, and then compare his findings with mine. VOL. IJII.4
6
414
BEAUMONT
I OWe my introduction to Brompton to R.A. Towards the end of m y six months as house physician at Middlesex, hc asked me at the end of a ward round on a Friday afternoon if I would like to go with him to Brompton to see a post-mortem examination on one of his patients. I was delighted at the opportunity, and, on the way in a taxi, R.A. said that the case was very interesting and that he had made the diagnosis of mediastinal tumour. We went to the post-mortem room and found the examination had been completed. The lungs revealed the presence of a tumour encroaching on the mediastinum. The growth was probably a bronchial carcinoma, but in those days a bronchial carcinoma was not a recognised condition and many cases which formerly would have been called mediastinal tumour or mediastinal cancer were shown later to be bronchial carcinoma. I was much impressed with R.A.'s diagnostic skill, and when, on the w a y back, he asked me if I would like to apply for his house physician's appointment at Brompton, which would be vacant in a few weeks' time, I accepted with alacrity. Later he introduced me to medical writing by collaborating with me, shortly after my appointment to the staff of Middlesex and Brompton, in writing the section dealing with Diseases of the Lungs in Price's Medicine. The only time which R.A. had available for this was late at night, and I used to dine with him at Harley Street one or two evenings a week. At about 9 p.m. we would settle down in his consulting room with cigars and coffee and go over what we had written, and at about I I p.m. his kindly and devoted wife would come in with a tray of refreshments and tell us it was time we stopped--much to my relief. R.A. was very careful in all hc wrote, and we would spend much time discussing whether we should put in or leave out certain minor details of treatment. Wc were subsequently associated with this section in Price's Medicine in all its editions. R.A. was also a first class postgraduate teacher at Brompton. In the periodical courses held there before the Second World War his demonstrations were most popular--he was not a showman, as were some of the well-known London physicians at that time, but he emphasised in his postgraduate teaching, as he did to his undergraduates, the importance of the clinical examination and the deduction of the diagnosis from the facts observed and elicited. All his hospital patients were treated with courtesy and consideration, and he insisted that his staff should do the same. In the cold weather at Brompton-and in the wards with the windows wide open, and little or no heating, it was bitterly cold--the staff nurse used to carry round a rubber hot-water bottle wrapped up in a shawl, on which R.A. warmed his hands before applying them to the patient's chest. R.A. was undoubtedly one of the very great physicians we have had at Middlesex and Brompton, standing in a class of his own, b u t despite his numerous distinctions he always remained friendly and readily accessible.
SIR ROBERT YOUNG, C.B.E. BY G. E. BEAUMONT ON Saturday, August 22, Sir Robert Young passed peacefully away in his eighty-eighth year, and all readers of our Journal, together with countless other doctors, patients and friends in various parts of the world, will mourn their loss. Sir Robert took a great interest in our Journal and knew intimately the successive editors, Dr. T. N. Kelynack, Dr. L. S. T. Burrell, Dr. Clifford Hoyle, and our present editor Dr. Philip Ellman. Sir Robert found time to contribute several articles to the Journal. In the Golden Jubilee Number of J a n u a r y 1956 he gave a masterly survey of the medical problems of tuberculosis and diseases of the chest which had confronted chest physicians during the last fifty years. He concluded on an optimistic note, " In general it would appear that the outlook in diseases of the chest, including tuberculosis, is a hopeful one." In J a n u a r y of this year Sir Robert published his last contribution to our journal, writing, in a series by eminent members of the profession, his congratulations on the occasion of the Journal changing its name from " The British Journal of Tuberculosis and Diseases of the Chest " to " British Journal of Diseases of the Chest." In i943 the Journal had added " Diseases of the C h e s t " to its original title of " The British Journal of Tuberculosis." Sir Robert now expressed the view that " a change of name does not indicate a change of policy but an adjustment of perspective. Tuberculosis is still a national and even more an international problem." In witness to this is the influx of so many natives from the Dominions, without a medical examination. Sir Robert, or " R . A . , " as he was affectionately known to generations of Middlesex students, was one of the great clinical physicians of our time, who placed the art of medicine first and the accessory aids to diagnosis second. During his later years he was recognised as the leading chest physician in this country. On the occasion of his eightieth birthday I wrote an appreciation of R.A. which was published in this Journal, and I endeavoured then to express the high regard in which he was held by the medical profession in general, and my personal indebtedness to him for the inspiration gained during my close associations with him, first when a student at Middlesex, and later as his house physician and assistant physician at Middlesex and Brompton. I Was first attracted to R.A. when I was a student at Middlesex on account of his powers as a teacher and diagnostician. On his ward rounds he would deal with one case thoroughly, demonstrating how much information could be obtained by taking a careful history from the patient and by a meticulous clinical examination. In those days there were not many X-ray examinations, and the application of Biochemistry to Medicine had not arrived. As his house physician he would leave me to work out a difficult case, and on his next visit he would examine the patient himself and draw his conclusions, and then compare his findings with mine. VOL. IJII.4
6
414
BEAUMONT
I OWe my introduction to Brompton to R.A. Towards the end of m y six months as house physician at Middlesex, hc asked me at the end of a ward round on a Friday afternoon if I would like to go with him to Brompton to see a post-mortem examination on one of his patients. I was delighted at the opportunity, and, on the way in a taxi, R.A. said that the case was very interesting and that he had made the diagnosis of mediastinal tumour. We went to the post-mortem room and found the examination had been completed. The lungs revealed the presence of a tumour encroaching on the mediastinum. The growth was probably a bronchial carcinoma, but in those days a bronchial carcinoma was not a recognised condition and many cases which formerly would have been called mediastinal tumour or mediastinal cancer were shown later to be bronchial carcinoma. I was much impressed with R.A.'s diagnostic skill, and when, on the w a y back, he asked me if I would like to apply for his house physician's appointment at Brompton, which would be vacant in a few weeks' time, I accepted with alacrity. Later he introduced me to medical writing by collaborating with me, shortly after my appointment to the staff of Middlesex and Brompton, in writing the section dealing with Diseases of the Lungs in Price's Medicine. The only time which R.A. had available for this was late at night, and I used to dine with him at Harley Street one or two evenings a week. At about 9 p.m. we would settle down in his consulting room with cigars and coffee and go over what we had written, and at about I I p.m. his kindly and devoted wife would come in with a tray of refreshments and tell us it was time we stopped--much to my relief. R.A. was very careful in all hc wrote, and we would spend much time discussing whether we should put in or leave out certain minor details of treatment. Wc were subsequently associated with this section in Price's Medicine in all its editions. R.A. was also a first class postgraduate teacher at Brompton. In the periodical courses held there before the Second World War his demonstrations were most popular--he was not a showman, as were some of the well-known London physicians at that time, but he emphasised in his postgraduate teaching, as he did to his undergraduates, the importance of the clinical examination and the deduction of the diagnosis from the facts observed and elicited. All his hospital patients were treated with courtesy and consideration, and he insisted that his staff should do the same. In the cold weather at Brompton-and in the wards with the windows wide open, and little or no heating, it was bitterly cold--the staff nurse used to carry round a rubber hot-water bottle wrapped up in a shawl, on which R.A. warmed his hands before applying them to the patient's chest. R.A. was undoubtedly one of the very great physicians we have had at Middlesex and Brompton, standing in a class of his own, b u t despite his numerous distinctions he always remained friendly and readily accessible.