Sir Samuel Wilks (1824-1911): 'the most philosophical of english physicians'.

This paper retells some of the achievements and personal attributes of Sir Samuel Wilks, one of the great Guy's Hospital physicians and neurologists of the second half of the 19th century. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, president of the Royal College of Physicians, and physician extraordinary to Queen Victoria. A prolific author and original observer of clinical and pathological diseases, he was renowned for his Lectures on Pathological Anatomy, and his original descriptions of syphilis, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel diseases, and myasthenia gravis.