Benjamin Brodie
Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie (1783-1862) was an English surgeon, anatomist and physiologist
Sir Benjamin Brodie was renowned for his foundational contributions to orthopaedics, pathology, and medical education. Regarded as one of the leading surgeons of the 19th century, he served as President of both the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal Society.
Brodie was a towering figure in early Victorian medicine, equally distinguished for his clinical acumen, surgical innovation, and public service. Known for his studies on joint disease and urinary fistulae, Brodie also played a formative role in modern orthopaedic surgery and medical ethics. His name endures in Brodie’s abscess, a chronic abscess of bone, and through his legacy of educational and institutional reform.
Born in Wiltshire in 1783, Brodie was educated at home before studying medicine under the eminent surgeon Everard Home. He entered St George’s Hospital, London, in 1801 and soon gained recognition for his skill and scientific rigor. In 1808, he became assistant surgeon at St George’s, and in 1810, was elected Fellow of the Royal Society at the unusually young age of 27.
Brodie’s early publications on pathology and physiology—particularly regarding the joints, urinary system, and nervous system—set new standards for clinical observation and surgical documentation. His 1818 treatise On Diseases of the Joints became a classic of surgical literature. He also studied the effects of spinal cord injuries, genitourinary diseases, and nervous disorders, bridging surgery and internal medicine.
He rose to the pinnacle of professional life in Britain, serving as Surgeon to King George IV and Queen Victoria, and holding the presidencies of the Royal College of Surgeons (1844) and the Royal Society (1858). He was created a baronet in 1834, the first surgeon to receive such a title, and remained an advisor and advocate for medical education and reform until his death in 186
Biography
- 1783 – Born June 9 at Winterslow, Wiltshire, England.
- 1801 – Began medical studies at St George’s Hospital, London.
- 1803 – Apprenticed to Sir Everard Home; entered Windmill Street School of Anatomy.
- 1805 – Appointed house surgeon at St George’s Hospital.
- 1808 – Appointed assistant surgeon at St George’s Hospital.
- 1810 – Elected Fellow of the Royal Society; awarded Copley Medal.
- 1811 – Croonian Lecture, Royal Society.
- 1814 – Described synovitis of the knee.
- 1818 – Published Pathological and Surgical Observations on the Diseases of the Joints.
- 1822 – Appointed Surgeon to King George IV.
- 1828 – Became personal surgeon to the monarch.
- 1832 – Appointed Sergeant-Surgeon; elected President of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society.
- 1834 – Created 1st Baronet Brodie of Boxford.
- 1843 – Introduced Fellowship examination for Royal College of Surgeons.
- 1844 – President of the Royal College of Surgeons.
- 1858 – President of the Royal Society.
- 1862 – Died October 21 in London, aged 79.
Medical Eponyms
Brodie–Trendelenburg Test (1846)
Test for varicose veins: used in patients with varicosities of the lower limb to assess valve competency. More specifically it can aid in locating incompetencies in the three venous systems of the leg (superficial, deep or perforating)
Though more often associated with Friedrich Trendelenburg (1844-1924), Brodie described the physiological basis of this examination more than half a century earlier. Brodie observed that “the dilatation of [the saphena vein] is perceptible when the patient stands erect; but when he lies down the varicose appearance vanishes, because then the vein becomes emptied of its blood.” He further advised elevating the leg and applying compression over emptied varices using adhesive plaster:
Let him recline, with the foot raised so that it may be the most elevated part of the whole body. Then, the varix having been thus completely emptied, apply one of the pieces of adhesive plaster across the varicose vessels… prevent the vein from becoming distended when the patient stands erect.
Modern usage: Still taught in vascular examination; commonly known as the Trendelenburg test, with Brodie’s priority often unacknowledged.
Brodie’s Abscess (1832)
A chronic, localized bone abscess typically found in the metaphysis of long bones, especially the tibia. First described by Brodie in 1832, it presents as subacute osteomyelitis with insidious onset, localized pain, and minimal systemic symptoms.
Modern usage: Still recognised radiologically and histologically. Requires surgical curettage and antibiotics. The term “Brodie’s abscess” remains in widespread clinical use.
Brodie’s Knee (1813)
This term has been used to describe two related entities: (1) a stiffened or chronically inflamed knee joint, often tuberculous, and (2) a hysterical knee disorder with limited movement in the absence of structural pathology. Brodie’s keen clinical differentiation of organic and functional joint disease was ahead of its time.
Modern usage: The term is largely historical but of interest in neurology and psychiatry as a precursor to functional limb syndromes.
Key Medical Contributions
Reactive arthritis (1818)
1818 – Brodie reported case histories of five patients with the symptom complex of urethral discharge, arthritis, and inflammation of the eyes. Further case descriptions were added in the 1836 4th edition of his textbook. Brodie clearly describes a disease pattern of recurrent episodes of acute urethritis, arthritis, and conjunctivitis. The arthritis affected the knees, ankles, and feet predominantly, but one patient had ‘swelling of nearly all the joints‘.
Case 1: In a man aged 45, arthritis and conjunctivitis developed about a week after a urethral discharge. The joints of the feet and knees were first involved and later the right elbow and shoulder were painful but without “any perceptible swelling”. The attack lasted 6 to 7 weeks; 6 months later he had “another attack of the same complaint” lasting about 6 weeks, and after 3 months iritis occurred. He subsequently had a second attack of iritis 4 years later.
Brodie, 1818: 54-60 and cases 2-6: 1836: 61-63
Marie-Strümpell disease (1884)
A chronic, progressive inflammatory spondyloarthropathy predominantly affecting the axial skeleton—particularly the spine and sacroiliac joints. Characterized by back pain, stiffness, and eventual vertebral fusion, it often manifests in young adult males (age 15–35) and is closely associated with HLA-B27 positivity.
Clinically, the disease presents with inflammatory back pain, reduced spinal mobility, and can involve enthesitis, uveitis, and cardiovascular complications. Radiographic findings and modified New York Criteria are key to diagnosis.
1850 – Brodie described ankylosis in Case LXXILI in the fifth edition of Pathological and Surgical Observations on the Diseases of the Joints.
Every one who is conversant with pathological museums must have seen specimens in which the bodies of a greater or smaller number of vertebrae are firmly ankylosed, there being at the same time a deposit of bony matter here and there on the surface adhering to the bone beneath, and extending from one vertebra to the other.
Brodie was the first to describe the clinical features of the ankylosing condition in a 31 year old male who complained of pain and stiffness in the dorsal and lumbar spine, buttocks, and thighs. Brodie treated him with mercury, iodides, and sarsparilla, and the disease gradually burned itself out over a period of years, so that eventually the patient was left without symptoms except for “a rigid and inflexible spine“.
He complained of pain referred to the spine from the neck downwards, but especially to the middle dorsal vertebrae. When he attempted to stoop, he experienced a sense of stiffness of the spine, and there was scarcely any perceptible flexure of it, the stooping being apparently confined to the motion of the pelvis on the thigh. A sudden motion had often occasioned an aggravation of the pain in the spine, and on all occasions pain was induced by the act of sneezing, which therefore he carefully avoided.
The progress of the disease was tedious, extending, when I had the opportunity of watching it, over a period of several years, and it terminated in leaving the spine of its natural figure, but completely rigid and inflexible through the greater part of its extent.
The eponym acknowledges Adolf von Strümpell (1853–1925), who described the spinal ankylosis and hip involvement, and Pierre Marie (1853–1940), who expanded the nosology and highlighted the ascending nature of the disease’s progression.
Advocacy in Education and Reform
Brodie restructured surgical training by establishing the Fellowship examination at the Royal College of Surgeons (1843). His tenure promoted higher standards, professional ethics, and humane patient care. A mentor to Florence Nightingale and advocate for Elizabeth Blackwell, Brodie also advanced women’s medical education.
Controversies
1794 – Giovanni Battista Montéggia (1762-1815) was the first to describe the pathology of gonorrhoeal arthritis, Annotazioni pratiche sopra i mali venerei, an observation for which Brodie is usually credited.
Major Publications
- Brodie BC. Pathological researches respecting the diseases of the joints. Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, London, 1813; 4: 210-280
- Brodie B. Pathological and Surgical Observations on Diseases of the Joints. London: Longman. 1818 [Reactive arthritis: Case 1: 54-60][Case 2-6: 1836:61-63]
- Brodie BC. An Account of some Cases of Chronic Abscess of the Tibia. Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, London, 1832; 17: 239-249. [Brodie’s abscess]
- Brodie B. Lectures illustrative of certain local nervous affections. London: Longman. 1837
- Brodie B. On the advantages of exercise in some spinal deviations. London: Causton. 1837
- Brodie B. Lectures on sero-cystic tumors of the breast. London Medical Gazette, 1839; 25: 808-814. [Brodie’s serocystic disease]
- Brodie B. Lectures on the diseases of the urinary organs. London: Longman. 1842
- Brodie B. An introductory discourse on the duties and conduct of medical students and practitioners. London: Longman. 1843
- Brodie B. A physiological essay on the thymus gland. London: Renshaw. 1845
- Brodie B. Lectures illustrative of various subjects in pathology and surgery. London: Longman. 1846 [Brodie–Trendelenburg Test]
- Brodie B. Psychological inquiries: in a series of essays, intended to illustrate the mutual relations of the physical organization and the mental faculties. London: Longman. 1856
- Brodie B. Physiological inquiries: in a series of essays, intended to illustrate the mutual relations of the physical organization and the mental faculties. London: Longman. 1858
References
Biography
- Autobiography and bibliography of the late Sir Benjamin C. Brodie. Longmans, Green. 1865
- Le Fanu WR. Sir Benjamin Brodie, F.R.S. (1783-1862). 1964;19(1):42-52
- Bircher MD. Benjamin Collins Brodie 1783-1862. J R Soc Med. 1988 Jun;81(6):352-3.
- Buchanan WW. Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie (1783-1862). Rheumatology (Oxford). 2003 May;42(5):689-91
- Mostofi SB. Who’s Who in Orthopedics. 2005: 41-43
- Sheldrake JS. Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie (1783-1862). J Med Biogr. 2008 May;16(2):84-8.
- Travers R, Sayag-Boukris V. Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie (1783-1862) – a pioneer rheumatologist. Int J Rheum Dis. 2015 Jun;18(5):587-90.
- Biography: Brodie, Sir Benjamin Collins (1783-1862). Inspiring Physicians. Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Eponymous terms
- Trendelenburg F. Über die Unterbindung der Vena saphena magna bei Unterschenkelvaricen. Beiträge zur klinischen Chirurgie, 1891; 7: 195-210. [Reprinted, with translation, Ligation of the great saphenous vein in varicose veins of the leg. Medical Classics, 1940; 4: 989-1023.] [Trendelenburg test (varicose veins)]
- vO’Connell D. Ankylosing spondylitis; the literature up to the close of the nineteenth century. Ann Rheum Dis. 1956 Jun;15(2):119-23.
- Zorab P. The historical and prehistorical background of ankylosing spondylitis. Proc. R. Soc. Med. 1961;54:415–420
- Spencer D, Sturrock R, Buchanan W. Ankylosing spondylitis: yesterday and today. Med. Hist. 1980; 24(1): 60-69
We cannot enumerate all the professional contributions of Sir Benjamin. His various labours show him to have been one of the most incessant and indefatigable workers of his time. Those who know Sir Benjamin, know him to have been most punctilious in the discharge of his hospital duties to the sick
Eponym
the person behind the name
