November 8 – On This Day in Medical History

Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with November 8.

Events

1847 – James Young Simpson (1811-1870) made his first clinical uses of chloroform anaesthesia (including an early dental case and obstetric analgesia), demonstrating its practical application beyond self-experiment.

1863 – Journalist Noah Brooks observed a photograph of President Abraham Lincoln sitting with legs crossed and noted an exaggerated foot “bobbing” with each heartbeat, causing the foot to blur. An observation cited in support of a hypothetical diagnosis of aortic regurgitation and giving rise to the eponym “Lincoln sign” (a forceful popliteal pulse/leg movement accentuated by leg-crossing).

1895 – Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845–1923) observed a mysterious new penetrating radiation while experimenting with cathode-ray tubes in Würzburg. A covered tube triggered fluorescence on barium platinocyanide paper nearby, prompting the investigation of what he first called a “new kind of rays” the X-ray

---

Births

1894 – Claude Schaeffer Beck (1894-1971), American Cardiac Surgeon. Described Beck’s triad (1) acute cardiac compression triad, Beck’s triad (2) chronic cardiac compression triad and the Beck operation [cardiopericardiopexy]

1909 – William Bennett Bean (1909-1989), American physician; described Bean syndrome (1958)

---

Deaths

1911 – Sir Samuel Wilks (1824–1911), English physician; pioneered the systematic correlation of clinical symptoms with post-mortem findings, performing and publishing over 4500 autopsies

1914 – Charles Barrett Lockwood (1856-1914), English surgeon. Described Lockwood’s operation (1898), Lockwood sign (1932), Lockwood’s suspensory ligament of the eye (1885), and Lockwood’s tendon of the eye (1885)

1963 – Austin Talley Moore (1899–1963); designed the Austin Moore Hip Prosthesis (1942)

2010 – Sidney Weinstein (1922-2010), American neuroscientist. Invented the Semmes-Weinstein Pressure Aesthesiometer (1958), Semmes-Weinstein monofilament examination and the Weinstein Enhanced Sensory Test (WEST)

---

Further reading

• Simpson JY. Account of a new anaesthetic agent, as a substitute for sulphuric ether in sugery and midwifery. 1847
• Cadogan M. November 8, 1895: The discory of X-rays. LITFL