Charles Hewitt Moore, FRCS (1821–1870): Medical innovator

Abstract

Charles Hewitt Moore, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, practiced at Middlesex and St. Luke’s Hospitals and was administratively active in The Medical and Chirurgical Society. From 1851 to 1868, he demonstrated expertise in general surgery and the lymphatic system; on pelvic deformity and disease; on the vascular system and aneurisms; on the etiology of cancer; and on the neurophysiology of sleep. He subscribed to two principles of medical investigation: anomalies can reveal new information; and the propagation of untested theory inhibited medical learning and practice. Translator of the German edition of Rokitansky’s Handbook (vol. 3, 1851), Moore wrote twelve papers, three chapters for Holmes’ System of Surgery (1860-1862), and two treatises. Renowned in vascular and cancer surgery, he combined ablation with ZnCl2 against cutaneous and breast cancer. Theorizing that ganglionic nerve tissue was involved in the sleep cycle, he anticipated modern investigations into the sleep-related activity of basal ganglia, the only nerve tissue in the brain.