Wilfred Trotter (1872–1939)

• Book ID: 101732506
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1940
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 294 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0007-1323
• DOI: 10.1002/bjs.18002710802

✦ Synopsis

WILFRED TROTTER died on November 25, 1939, at the age of 67. His death has deprived the world of one of the most contemplative minds that has ever been trained towards surgery. His penetrating intellect delighted in an impersonal activity of thought which had as raw material its own original observation of the workings of men's minds and of the sources of their conduct. The main stream of his life ran always towards the pursuit of truth, and his interest in surgery was the joy of a fine intellect in the practice of a worthy handicraft.

Trotter was reticent about the effect of early education on the moulding of his mind and gave the impression that he showed no special aptitudes at school. From his conversation it was clear that the flowering of his latent genius was initiated by his first contact with the scientific method when he entered University College, London, at the age of 18. The vividness of this experience was so