ABSTRACT
In the late 1830s The Lancet was looking for any evidence of abuse of power or inefficiency in the hospitals of the day. The blow fell on the Westminster Hospital surgeon Sir Anthony Carlisle, President of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1828 and 1837, and a pupil of John Hunter. He had delivered the 1820 Hunter Oration at the Royal College, taking as his title The Anatomy of the Oyster.
