John Murray Carnochan

John Murray Carnochan (July 4, 1817 – October 28, 1887)[1] was an American surgeon who performed the first successful neurosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia.

John Murray Carnochan
Born(1817-07-04)July 4, 1817
Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
DiedOctober 28, 1887(1887-10-28) (aged 70)
New York City, New York, U.S.
NationalityUnited States
EducationUniversity of Edinburgh Medical School
Alma materColumbia College of Physicians and Surgeons
Known fortrigeminal neuralgia
Scientific career
Fieldssurgery

Early life

Carnochan was born in Savannah, Georgia on July 4, 1817.[1] He was taken to Scotland, his father's native land, in early boyhood and attended, but did not graduate, from the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Returning to New York in 1834, he entered as a student the office of Valentine Mott and took his degree of M.D. from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.[2]

Career

Devoting himself with ardor to the study of anatomy, he acquired special distinction in that field and gave lectures to private classes. In 1841, he again visited Europe, where he passed several years attending clinical lectures of the principal hospitals of Paris, London and Edinburgh.[3] In 1847, he began practice in New York and in a short time his steadiness of nerve and boldness as an operator, gave him a high reputation as a surgeon. He later served during the war and for many years was professor of surgery of the New York Medical College. Although he was known for a dictatorial temper and consequently was on bad terms with his colleagues, he received liberal fees, wrote numerous technical monographs and died in fame.[4]

Soon after beginning the practice of surgery in New York City, Carnochan attained a high reputation on account of his success in operations never before attempted. In 1852 he severed and tied the femoral artery, effecting a cure in an exaggerated case of nutrition (elephantiasis arabrum). The same year he removed an entire lower jaw, with both condyles.[5]

In 1854, he removed the entire ulna, and also the entire radius. In 1856, he cut down and removed the entire trunk of the second branch of the fifth pair of cranial nerves, the nerve being cut from the infra-orbital foramen to the foramen rotundum, at the base of the skull, involving an operation through the malar bone. The removal of this nerve had been decided upon to secure relief in a chronic case of neuralgia. It was entirely successful, and made the bold and accurate operator famous throughout the world. In 1851 he was appointed professor of surgery in the New York Medical College. He occupied other professional appointments, including that of surgeon-in-chief to the State Immigrant Hospital. He published Congenital Dislocations (1850) and Contributions to Operative Surgery and Surgical Pathology (1860, 1877–86).[5] His professional activity continued almost to the day of his death; so in September 1887, a month before he died, he attended the International Medical Congress at Washington and read two papers.[3]

Personal life

He married Estelle Morris (1838–1922), a daughter of Major-General William Walton Morris who commanded at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland during the U.S. Civil War. She was a great-granddaughter of Lewis Morris, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.[6] Together, they were the parents of:[7]

  • Harriet Frances Putnam Carnochan (1857–1905), who married Thomas William Ludlow III (1857–1894),[8] the eldest son of Thomas W. Ludlow Jr., in 1870.[9]
  • Mary Morris Carnochan (1859–1892), who married James Lawrence Aspinwall (1854–1936), an architect with Renwick, Aspinwall and Russell.[7]
  • Estelle Phebe Carnochan (1863–1889), who died unmarried.[7]
  • Lillian Murray Carnochan (1864–1949), who married Livingston Crosby (1864–1919), nephew of Clarkson F. Crosby and grandson of Henry A. Livingston.[7]
  • Gouverneur Morris Carnochan (1865–1915), who married Mathilda Grosvenor Goodridge (1869–1905).[7]

Carnochan died of apoplexy on October 28, 1887 at his home, 14 East 16th Street in New York City.[1] After a funeral at his home conducted by The Rev. Dr. William Reed Huntington of Grace Church, he was buried at the Morris family cemetery, St. Ann's Episcopal Church Cemetery in the Bronx.[10] His widow died in New York City, on December 9, 1922, aged 84.[6]

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter, he was the grandfather of Julia Elektra Ludlow (1879–1920), who married Richard Mortimer Young in 1901;[8] and Thomas Ludlow (1881–1929), who married Harriet Danforth Browne in 1904;[8] Lewis Walton Morris (b. 1884), who married Harriet McKain in 1914;[8] and Mary Alida Gouverneur Ludlow (b. 1893), who married William Meredith Ashley, a grandson of James Mitchell Ashley (parents of U.S. Representative Thomas William Ludlow Ashley), in 1917.[11]

Through his son Gouverneur, he was the grandfather of John Murray Carnochan,[7] Frederic Grosvenor Carnochan (1891–1952),[12] an ethnologist and explorer,[12] and Gouverneur Morris Carnochan (1892–1943)[13] (who was father of Gouverneur Morris Carnochan Jr., Eleanor Carnochan, and W. B. Carnochan).[14]

See also

References
  1. "Death of Dr. Carnochan; Stricken with Apoplexy in His Bath--His Career" (PDF). The New York Times. 29 October 1887. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  2. Tubbs, R Shane; Loukas Marios; Shoja Mohammadali M; Cohen-Gadol Aaron A (Jan 2010). "John Murray Carnochan (1817–1887): The First Description of Successful Surgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia". J. Neurosurg. United States. 112 (1): 199–201. doi:10.3171/2009.5.JNS09192. PMID 19480543.
  3. Weeks, Lyman Horace (ed.) Prominent families of New York; being an account in biographical form of individuals and families distinguished as representatives of the social, professional and civic life of New York city (1897)
  4. Bostock, John; Moulton, Charles Wells (1905). A biographical cyclopedia of medical history.
  5. Bostock, John, Moulton, Charles Wells, A biographical cyclopedia of medical history (1905)
  6. MacBean, William M. Biographical register of Saint Andrew's society of the state of New York .. (1922)
  7. Aitken, William Benford (1912). Distinguished Families in America, Descended from Wilhelmus Beekman and Jan Thomasse Van Dyke. Knickerbocker Press. p. 240. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  8. of 1880, Harvard College (1780-) Class (1920). Fortieth Anniversary Report. Harvard College. p. 233. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  9. "A Grace Church Wedding; Ludlow-Carnochan. a Ceremony Which Fashionable Society Looked Forward to the Toilets and Presents Reception at Dr. Carnochan's House" (PDF). The New York Times. 17 January 1879. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  10. "Dr. Carnochan's Funeral" (PDF). The New York Times. 1 November 1887. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  11. Court of Appeals of the State of New York On Appeal from the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, First Department | The City of New York against New York Telephone Company | Case of Appeals. 1914. p. 517. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  12. "Frederic Carnochan, Ethnologist, 61, Dies" (PDF). The New York Times. 4 August 1952. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  13. "NAVY OFFICER KILLED IN AIRPLANE CRASH; Lieut. Comdr. G.M. Carnochan in South American Accident" (PDF). The New York Times. 18 October 1943. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  14. "SGT. CARNOCHAN KILLED; Descendant of Lewis Morris Died in Action in Luxembourg" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 January 1945. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
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