John Hilton (1805-78): anatomist and surgeon.

John Hilton was the foremost anatomist of his day. From only humble beginnings he became an anatomy demonstrator at Guy's Hospital. When appointed Surgeon to Guy's Hospital, his meticulous clinical skills, arising from his depth of anatomical knowledge, led him to develop many anatomical principles culminating in a series of lectures on 'Rest and Pain'. For the first time the clinical importance of each was highlighted in surgical practice. By public demand the lectures were published as a book, still in print today, which brought a new emphasis to clinical anatomy that would permeate surgery thereafter. He became President of the Royal College of Surgeons and was Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria. A substantial review of his life has not been published; with the present decline in anatomical teaching, we can learn much from understanding a surgeon who dedicated his life to anatomy.