Syme’s operation of excision of the lower jaw for osteosarcoma.

Syme, teacher and father-in-law of Lister, was one of the greatest of the Scottish surgeons. He is remembered for his method of amputation at the ankle (see No. 4459), for his speedy adoption of anesthesia and antisepsis, and for the above book, which showed that excision of joints is usually preferable to amputation – a principle soon generally adopted.

“Syme’s amputation” at the ankle joint, an operation first successfully performed by him on 8 Sept, 1842.

Syme was, with Pirogov, the first in Europe to adopt ether anesthesia in surgical operations.

Syme, one-time colleague of Liston, succeeded to the latter’s extensive practice in Scotland. He came to London for a short time as Professor of Surgery at University College, but soon returned to Scotland. He was a popular teacher and a fine, conservative surgeon, one of the first to adopt ether anesthesia and to welcome the antiseptic principles laid down by his son-in-law, Lister.

Syme treated a case of iliac aneurysm by opening the sac and ligating the common iliac and the internal and external iliac arteries.