Names That Aren't Eponyms

Amussat

Jean Zuléma Amussat (1796 - 1856) was born in Saint-Maixent, Département des Deux-Sèvres, France. He was an army surgeon during Napoleon’s final campaigns.

He was one of the early inventors of lithotripsy, and an advocate for reintroduction of the High Approach for bladder stones.He is very likely to be the first clinician to remove (perhaps unintentionally) a piece of the prostate suprapubically.

John of Arderne

John of Arderne (1307 – 1392) was an English medieval surgeon who worked in Newark and later London. He had previuosly been a military surgeon possibly attached to Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, later the Duke of Lancaster & Leicester, and then John of Gaunt.

He described a method of cutting out urethral stones and his writings contain other medical treatments for diseases of the kidneys, bladder and genitals. He is considered one of the fathers of surgery, described by some as England's first surgeon and by others as the country's first "of note"

Constantinus Africanus

Constantinus Africanus (c.1010 -1087) was one of the founders of the School of Medicine in Salerno. He translated Isaac Judaeus’ work into Latin, thereby opening Arabic thought and culture to European Medics.

Democritus of Abdera

Democritus of Abdera (460 - 370 BC) was a philosopher who believed that an alteration of the balance of atoms led to their accumulation and to the formation of bladder stones.

Gaddesden

John of Gaddesden (1280 - 1361) is believed to have been born at Gaddesden, on the borders of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. He studied at Merton College Oxford, and does not appear to have studied on the Continent, as was the fashion. He was, therefore, the first English Royal doctor, being Physician to Edward II. In his book, the Rosa Medicinae (or Rosa Anglica), he describes the method of perineal lithotomy, probably the first description by a purely English trained doctor.

Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (c. 129 AD  - 216) was born in Pergamon, now Bergama, in Turkey. He was a famous physician, surgeon and philosopher. He became the doctor to many prominent members of Roman society and personal physician to several emperors. Galen's theories dominated and influenced medical science for more than 1,300 years. Medical students continued to study Galen's writings until well into the 19th century. His ideas were eventually disproved by modern research e.g. his anatomical work was disproved by Andreas Vesalius (1543), and his theory of circulation by William Harvey (1628).

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Herophilos of Chalcedon

Herophilos of Chalcedon (c. 335 - 280 BC) was a Greek physician and anatomist who worked in Alexandria. He described the seminal vesicles, the seminal ampullae and the prostate.

Isaac Judaeus

Isaac Judaeus (c. 850 - 932) of Egypt wrote a treatise of uroscopy (diagnosis by examination of urine) called "De urinis". Summarising the knowledge of the ancients on the diagnosis and prognosis to be drawn from urine, it was used in European and Muslim medical schools for more than five centuries.

Pedanius Dioscorides

Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40 - 90) studied the medicinal properties of plants and minerals and wrote "De materia medica". In this, he describes about 200 plants used for the treatment of kidney and bladder diseases. Dioscorides believed in talismans and recommended the use of the Jew-stone, found in Judaea, for dissolving urinary calculi.

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Pierre Gilles de Corbeil

Pierre Gilles de Corbeil (1140 - 1224), also known as Aegidius Corboliensis, wrote "De urinis", "De pulsibus" and "De compositorum medicamentorum", important texts on uroscopy. He distinguished 19 different substances contained in urine, classified by their consistency, quantity and layer in the urine sample