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THE subjects of this series so far have been great general surgeons, often with a special interest. Hugh Cairns was different: he was a specialist with wide general interests, and although his greatest contribution to teaching was in the field of neurological surgery, it will be seen that he had a considerable influence on the teaching of general surgery at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He was different also in that he was one of the pioneers, along with Norman Dott and Geoffrey Jefferson, in the development of neurological surgery in this country. T o develop a specialty, against considerable opposition, and to attract, inspire, and encourage young men in a rigorous discipline, is no small achievement.
Cairns was an Australian, a graduate of the University of Adelaide. He came to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar after the First World War, and it is likely that Oxford was the dominant influence in his subsequent career. As an example, he once said that his rowing blue was responsible for his success in his application for a junior post at the London Hospital. At a higher level, he had been impressed by Oxford teaching and research, and by the advantages offered by a large university in a comparatively small city. His first contact with medicine in Oxford was a house surgeoncy at the Radcliffe Infirmary to the late E. C. Bevers. From Oxford he went to the London Hospital, first into the Pathology Department under Turnbull, and later onto the surgical staff, where he showed some interest in urological surgery. At this time, the neurologist to the hospital, George Riddoch, was looking for someone to cross the Atlantic and bring Cushing's methods back to London, as Dott had done in Edinburgh and Jefferson was doing in Man-Chester. He had the support of Henry Souttar, who had himself shown some interest in brain surgery. Cairns made this journey in 1926, and he proved to be a most ardent disciple. He returned to the London Hospital and established a small department which was soon doing first-rate work, and within 2 to 3 years it was the focus of neurological surgery in London. Not that it was the only place where neurological surgery was being done: Queen Square was still the neurological centre of the metropolis, indeed of the
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