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2012

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EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITYLAUPUSLIBRARYFOUNDERS WEEK 2004DEDICATION OF THEINTERIM HISTORY OF MEDICINE ROOMLAUPUS HEALTH SCIENCES LIBRARY

LAUPUS LIBRARYHISTORY COLLECTIONSPRESENTATION OF THEKAREL B. ABSOLON MEDICAL HISTORY LIBRARYOPENING OF THE INTERIM RARE BOOK ROOMIntroduction of Vice Chancellor of Health SciencesDr. Dorothy SpencerRemarks on the Librarywithin the Division of Health SciencesDr. Michael LewisRecognition of Special Guests & RemarksDr. Dorothy SpencerRibbon CuttingThe Karel B. Absolon History ofMedicine Library was donated fromthe private collection of noted surgeonand medical historian, Dr. Karel B.Absolon. This collection contains over2, 000 items ranging from books,journal reprints, journal volumes andissues, to prints and manuscripts,some dating to the 16" century.Dr. Absolon was born in Brno,Czechoslovakia in 1926. Heimmigrated to American in 1948,escaping the repressive Sovietgovernment and received his medicaldegree from Yale University in 1952.At the University of Minnesota heworked with colleagues to performpioneering coronary bypass surgery in1955 and participated in the first human liver transplant in 1965.While in medical school at Yale, Dr. Absolon's interest in the history ofmedicine began to grow. Later, at University of Minnesota, theprominent surgeon Owen H. Wangensteen prompted him to investigatethe life and work of Theodor Billroth. This early research led to thepublication of Absolon's four-volume biography of Billroth, TheSurgeon's Surgeon in 1979.When asked why he chose Laupus Library, ECU and not Yale (his almamater) or another university with a larger historical collection, Dr.Absolon pointed out that his books would likely not stay together atsuch a large institution. "I didn't feel they would keep the library as awhole. I was looking for a small school looking to start something, aschool which had only a little now with plans for the future, Yale or theUniversity of Minnesota (where he worked) might have kept 50 out ofall the books that I will eventually give." he said.The Absolon Collection is a treasure that covers centuries of medicalhistory, but more it is a legacy that represents a life work of over 50years. For ECU and Laupus Library it is a central building block aroundwhich our vision for a History of Medicine Collection is being achieved.

Theodor Billroth wasborn April 26, 1829,Bergen, on the island ofRiigen, Prussia and isregarded by many as theleading German surgeonof late 19th century. Hestudied medicine inBerlin, Gottingen andGreifswald and obtainedhis medical degree fromBerlin in 1852. In 1855 hewrote a monograph oncolonic polypsrecognizing therelationship betweenadenomatous polyps andcolorectal cancers, laterbecoming the firstsurgeon to excise a rectalcancer. He wasappointed Professor ofClinical Surgery inZurich in 1860 where he published "Allgemeine chirurgische Pathologie undTherapie" ("General Surgical Pathology and Therapeutics", 1863). AsProfessor of Surgery at the University of Vienna in 1867 he was a pioneer in thestudy of the bacterial causes of wound fever, evidenced by his publication"Untersuchungen iiber die Vegetationsformen von Coccobacteria septica"("Investigations of the Vegetal Forms of Coccobacteria septica"), publishedin 1874. . He carried out the first oesophageal resection in 1872 and the firstlarnygectomy in 1874. Billroth's ideas for more advanced surgical training andprolonged apprenticeships were taken up by many who visited him. He isperhaps best known for the two types of partial gastrectomy that are namedafter him. The first Billroth I partial gastrectomy was performed on in 1881 for apyloric gastric cancer , and the first First Billroth II partial gastrectomy in 1895.In Vienna, he founded the House of the Society of Physicians in Vienna - K. K.Haus der Gesellschaft der Arzte - and it was due to his energetic efforts that the"Rudolfinerhaus", a teaching institution for "worldly" nurses was established.Billroth was also devoted to music. A good performer on the piano and violin,he was an intimate friend and admirer of Johannes Brahms, many of whosecompositions were privately performed at Billroth's home before they werepublished. Two of Brahm's string quartets are dedicated to Billroth. His work onthe physiology of music (Wer ist musikalisch?) was published after his death.Theodor Billroth Operating(Allegemeines Krankenhaus, 1890)