The Chirurgical Works of Percivall Pott. Vol. I

1790

Hist. Coll. WOA P865

London: Printed for J. Johnson, et al.

Percivall Pott (1714-88; later Sir) was the leading surgeon of his day. In 1745, he became Master of the Company of Surgeons, the forerunner of the Royal College of Surgeons. Pott taught John Hunter at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. He wrote on all aspects of surgery, but is most famous for linking soot to the high incidence of scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps. This discovery lead to the Chimney Sweeper’s Act of 1788. He is known in contemporary medicine for ‘Pott’s fracture’ (of the ankle), ‘Pott’s puffy tumour’ (osteomyelitis, or bone infection of the skull) and ‘Pott’s disease of the spine’ (tuberculosis occurring outside the lungs).