Title
Lectures on Diseases of Children
Author
Author: Robert Hutchison, M.D., F.R.C.P.
Publisher: Edward Arnold & Co., London
Edition: Sixth Edition
Publication Year: 1931
Image
Description
This 1931 sixth edition of Lectures on Diseases of Children by Dr. Robert Hutchison presents a systematic series of medical lectures exploring pediatric diseases through early 20th-century British clinical practice. Hutchison, a respected physician at both The London Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, authored several influential works on dietetics and physiology.
Structured as direct addresses to “Gentlemen,” the lectures blend academic rigor with the practical bedside observations of the period. Topics range from the clinical examination of sick children to rheumatism, convulsions, and nutritional disorders. The work captures a pivotal moment in pediatric medicine, reflecting the transition from observational pediatrics to a more scientific, pathology-based approach.
Condition
Red textured hardcover with gilt lettering on spine. Binding tight with light edge wear and mild page toning consistent with age. Clean interior pages without major damage or annotation.
Gallery
Historical context
First published in the early 1900s, Hutchison’s Lectures on Diseases of Children became a standard text for British medical students. The sixth edition, published just before World War II, reflects early understandings of infectious and rheumatic diseases before the antibiotic era. The work’s emphasis on childhood rheumatism, malnutrition, and infant welfare marks an era when pediatrics was establishing itself as a distinct medical specialty.
Curious Facts, Ephemera, and Trivia
Hutchison was also the co-author of Clinical Methods, a core diagnostic manual for generations of British clinicians.
The book’s conversational tone—addressing readers as “Gentlemen”—highlights the gendered medical culture of its time.
His lectures were initially delivered at Great Ormond Street Hospital, a pioneering institution for pediatric care.
Excerpt
“It will be generally admitted that the study of diseases of children… is one which is apt to be neglected in general hospitals. One reason for this probably is that adult patients are so numerous, and their claims on the staff so pressing, that there is very little time left for special teaching in the children’s wards.”
— Lecture I: The Clinical Examination of Sick Children
Why it is in the Cabinet
This volume represents the formalization of pediatrics in early modern medicine. It offers a window into pre-antibiotic clinical thought, capturing the language, priorities, and diagnostic reasoning of a formative era in child health. Preserved for its historical and educational significance, it enriches the Cabinet’s growing pediatric section.
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