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John Vetch MD (1783–1835) was a Scottish army surgeon, now known for his early work on trachoma. The variant spelling Veitch of his surname was also used.
Life
He was the eldest son of Robert Vetch of Caponflat, born in East Lothian;[1] James Vetch and Hamilton Vetch were younger brothers. He graduated M.D. at the University of Edinburgh in 1804.[2]
In 1804 Vetch observed in a battalion of the 52nd Foot at Hythe, Kent, an apparent outbreak of contagious ophthalmia, which over the course of a year spread through most of the soldiers. The unit had been joined by an intake of Irish militia volunteers. Vetch connected his observation of cases of eye disease with the proximity of the Irish militiamen with regiments that had served in Egypt and then returned to Ireland.[3] Vetch built on the finding of Arthur Edmondston, that a high proportion of "Egyptian ophthalmia" infections might be passed by direct contact, and reasoned that the discharge from the infected eye was the only vector of the disease.[4]
A depot hospital had been set up in 1801 at Selsey to treat British troops returning from the fighting in the French campaign in Egypt and Syria, with the condition called "Egyptian ophthalmia". The name was not a very good fit, but its scope in severe cases is recognised as modern medicine's trachoma. Vetch worked on treating these cases, over 3,000 in the period 1806 to 1812.[5]
In 1811 Vetch was made physician to the forces.[6]
Vetch became embroiled in a priority dispute with William Adams, from about 1813.[7] In the opinion of Gorin, the disputed treatment had been used in Ancient Greek medicine and Islamic medicine.[8] John Peter Grant asked in parliament in 1819 why Adams, who was not a military doctor, was being supported by public money to treat patients who were mainly soldiers. Adams was backed by Lord Palmerston.[9]
Vetch was interred in the vault of the Charterhouse Chapel.[10]
Works
- An Account of the Ophthalmia which Has Appeared in England Since the Return of the British Army from Egypt, 1807[11]
- Observations Relative to the Treatment by Sir William Adams, of the Ophthalmic Cases of the Army, 1818[12]
- A letter to ... Viscount Palmerstone, ... on the subject of the Ophthalmic Institution, for the cure of Chelsea Pensioners, 1818[13]
- A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Eye, 1820[14]
Family
Vetch married in 1812 Henrietta Maria Grant, daughter of Sir Alexander Grant, 7th Baronet.[15]
Notes
- ^ "Deaths". Perthshire Courier. 7 May 1835. p. 3.
- ^ "John Vetch, RCP Museum". history.rcplondon.ac.uk.
- ^ Taylor, H. F. Lechmere (1913). "Trachoma". The Public Health Journal. 4 (7): 407–408. ISSN 0319-2660. JSTOR 41997547.
- ^ The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal ... Arch. Constable & Comp. 1807. p. 361.
- ^ Lane, Joan (12 November 2012). A Social History of Medicine: Health, Healing and Disease in England, 1750-1950. Routledge. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-135-11927-0.
- ^ The Royal Military Chronicle: Or, the British Officer's Monthly Register, Chronicle, and Military Mentor. J. Davis. 1811. p. 320.
- ^ Tiffany, J. M. "Adams [later Rawson], Sir William (1783–1827))". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23200. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Gorin, George (1982). History of Ophthalmology. Publish or Perish. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-914098-25-6.
- ^ Kelly, Catherine (6 October 2015). War and the Militarization of British Army Medicine, 1793–1830. Routledge. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-317-32245-0.
- ^ Collins, Francis (1892). The Registers and Monumental Inscriptions of Charterhouse Chapel. Mitchell & Hughes, printers. p. 90.
- ^ Vetch, John (1807). An Account of the Ophthalmia which Has Appeared in England Since the Return of the British Army from Egypt. Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme.
- ^ Vetch, John (1818). Observations Relative to the Treatment by Sir William Adams, of the Ophthalmic Cases of the Army. Callow.
- ^ Vetch, John (1819). A letter to ... Viscount Palmerstone, ... on the subject of the Ophthalmic Institution, for the cure of Chelsea Pensioners.
- ^ Vetch, John (1820). A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Eye. Whittaker.
- ^ The Scots Magazine and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany. Archibald Constable and Company. 1812. p. 316.