William Fulton Gillespie, 1891-1949: transitional figure in western Canadian academic surgery.

The professional life of William Fulton Gillespie, third professor of surgery at the University of Alberta (1939-49) and tenth president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (1947-49), exemplifies a critical transitional period in Canadian postgraduate surgical training and in western Canadian academic surgery. This article explores the background, the training, the professional career, and the personal character of a surgical scholar and student of the humanities and arts, a man who was thrust into the professorship of surgery in a maturing western Canadian medical school following the financial restraints of the Great Depression and during the challenges faced as a result of the World War II.

Canadian surgery during the French regime, 1608 to 1763.

The history of medicine in Canada, from the establishment of Quebec by Champlain in 1608 to the ceding of Canada to the British by the French at the Treaty of Paris in 1763, represents one of the most colourful periods in the history of Canadian surgery. Physicians were notable by their absence and what medicine was available in La Nouvelle France was provided almost exclusively by surgeons, or apothecaries, or individuals who posed as such. Sketches from the lives of five surgeons (Bonnerme, Giffard, Goupil, Bouchard and Sarrazin), an apothecary (Hébert) and a physician; (Gaultier), are presented to highlight various facets of medical care and the leadership role played by medical practitioners in the development of Canada during that period. In addition the study reveals the conflict between the philosophical approach of the physician and the pragmatic approach of the surgeon in 17th century France.

Observations on the staining of ceruloplasmin following disc-electrophoresis utilizing polyacrylamide gels.

In our hands the dianisidine technique for the staining of ceruloplasmin in polyacrylamide gels following disc electrophoresis has proven unsatisfactory for three reasons. First, staining of ceruloplasmin could not be achieved with physiological amounts of the glycoglobulin present in serum. Second, even when relatively massive quantities of pure ceruloplasmin permitted effective staining there was loss of stain intensity with increasing electrophoresis time. Third, the necessity of utilizing dianisidine in alcoholic solution produces undesirable shrinkage and distortion of the gels. However, a modification of the p-phenylenediamine technique for the staining of ceruloplasmin in agar gels has been found to stain ceruloplasmin very effectively in polyacrylamide gels following disc electrophoresis.