Henry Jacob Bigelow (1818-1890): his contributions to anatomy and surgery

There have been many advances in the medical world over time that have greatly contributed to ameliorating and prolonging human life. The employment of surgical anesthesia is arguably one of the greatest medical discoveries of all time, and has immensely broadened our ability to treat the ill. While Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow (1818-1890) was not the inventor of anesthesia, he was the first to publish and advocate its use in the 19th century (Bigelow and Bigelow [1894] A Memoir of Henry Jacob Bigelow, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Harrington and Mumford [1905] The Harvard Medical School: A History, Narrative and Documentary, Vol 2, New York: Lewis Publishing Company). Bigelow also contributed to revolutionizing the fields of orthopedic and urologic surgery, publishing extensive research on subjects where there was previously very little knowledge, and even developing new techniques. He also impacted the field of neuropsychiatry in his publication regarding Phineas Gage. His contributions to the medical field have set him apart as one of the most influential and famous surgeons of America in the 19th century. Anatomically, he will be remembered eponymously for his iliofemoral ligament and septum in the femur.