Opening the report books
As the archives team works towards a move to a new cataloguing system later this year, we continue to add new records to our current catalogue, as well as updates to improve the searchability of the collections.
One such project, recently completed by our volunteer Paul, has made the titles and authors of each case report published in the St Bartholomew’s Hospital Reports (series SBHMS/PB/4) text searchable, meaning that they can for the first time be found via a search engine. The St Bartholomew’s Hospital Reports were a historic medical journal and statistical record published by the hospital from 1865 to 1939, in which Bart’s clinicians reported unusual and interesting clinical cases and new medical research. Few copies survive elsewhere, but we hold a full set in the archives. As many of the reports were later cited elsewhere, we regularly receive enquiries from researchers looking to find a specific article, and they can now search for these themselves on the catalogue.
The Reports reflect the wider story of medical journal publication. Medicine saw great change during the later 1700s and 1800s, with new diagnostic techniques, the development of vaccination and the introduction of anaesthetics and antisepsis. Following the Enlightenment model for publishing and disseminating new scientific findings, new medical journals were established throughout the 19th century. The Lancet was first published in 1823, with the equally well-known British Medical Journal created from the merger of two earlier publications in 1853.
Doctors and surgeons at teaching hospitals like Bart’s were keen to demonstrate their clinical and research prowess and share their findings with others, and regularly wrote up case reports for publication. In 1865, the hospital published the first volume of the new series of St Bartholomew’s Hospital Reports, which were printed annually until 1939 (with some interruptions during the First World War). Copies were sent to subscribers, usually alumnae of the hospital’s medical college, as well as being circulated to a wide range of other medical schools and academic institutions. The ‘In Exchange’ list included at the front of each volume demonstrates that Bart’s was far from alone in publishing its own journal; journals were received in exchange for the SBH Reports from medical schools across London and the UK, and around the world, from Egypt, Finland and the Philippines to New Zealand.
Each volume contains papers on a variety of (mainly clinical) subjects by staff of the hospital. The reports provide detailed case histories and clinical descriptions, providing an insight into the types of illness and disease encountered in late 19th and early 20th century London, as well as the consequences of some alarming accidental injuries! They also reflect the personal interests and enthusiasm of individual doctors and surgeons, with reports considering the history of medicine as well as cutting-edge medical research. To demonstrate the breadth of the subjects covered, Paul has selected a list of some of the most intriguing titles - all of which can now be found via a catalogue search and ordered by researchers in the archives:
Volume 8 (SBHMS/PB/4/8) - Singular Injury of Cranium by a Marble. By J. F. Nicholson. p91
Volume 12 (SBHMS/PB/4/12) - Fatal Wound of the Ascending Pharyngeal Artery by a Tobacco-Pipe. By W. Morrant Baker p163
Volume 14 (SBHMS/PB/4/14) - On the Transplantation of Teeth. By Alfred Coleman p101
Volume 14 (SBHMS/PB/4/14) - On the Diagnosis and Treatment of Apparent Drunkenness. By V. D. Harris, M.D. p257
Volume 15 (SBHMS/PB/4/15) - On Fur on the Tongue. By Henry T. Butlin p37
Volume 19 (SBHMS/PB/4/19) A Case in which a Pocket-Knife Remained for Seven Months in the Post-Pharyngeal Tissue. By Thomas Smith. p45
Volume 24 (SBHMS/PB/4/24) - A Case of a Piece of Glass in the Eyeball for Seven Years and Ninety-four Days. By Richard J. Reece p201 [an ink drawing of the front half of the eye is part of the St Bartholomew’s Pathology Illustration collection, SBHB/MU/14/33/28 - shown here] 
Volume 25 (SBHMS/PB/4/25) - A Case of Brassfounder's Palsy. By Samuel Gee, M.D. p77
Volume 36 (SBHMS/PB/4/37) - Accidents on the Cricket-Ground. By J. F. Steedman, F.R.C.S. Eng. P221
Volume 41 - (SBHMS/PB/4/42) A Case of Complete Transposition of Viscera in an Adult. By T. J. Horder, M.D. p111 [a watercolour drawing illustrating the abdominal organs of a patient with this condition, is part of the part of the St Bartholomew’s Pathology Illustration collection, SBHB/MU/14/48/16 - shown here]
Volume 47 (SBHMS/PB/4/48) - An Examination of the Chief Causes of Disease at Sea in the Era of the Tudors and Stewarts and of the Measures taken against it. A Thesis for the Degree of M.B. (Cantab.). By Alan Moore, M.В. p67
Volume 55 (SBHMS/PB/4/56) Notes on the value and employment of some remedies now much forgotten or ignored. By Sir Dyce Duckworth, Bt. p37
Volume 68 (SBHMS/PB/4/70) Observations on Pink Disease. By Charles F. Harris, M.D., F.R.C.P. p137