Dr John Gorham (1814-1899).

 

After qualifying   with the MRCS LSA in 1835, he stayed at Guy's and worked as a practitioner in Southwark, for further experience. This included taking Thomas Addison's outpatient clinics when Addison was away. Gorham gave several papers to Guy's Medical and Physical Society, and in 1838 published the first of many papers on medical and other subjects. The subjects included, Intussusception in Children (1838), A Case of Fungoid Disease of the Kidney (1838), and a case of Extraordinary Development of the Mammae in a Male (1839).  Gorham joined the controversy in the medical journals about the propriety of removing ovarian cysts with Observations on the Propriety of Extirpating the Cyst in Some Cases of Ovarian Dropsy (1839).

 

In 1841, Gorham was appointed Medical Attendant to the Poor Law Union. It would have been difficult not to appoint him, as he had glowing testimonials from thirteen distinguished doctors from Guy's, including Richard Bright, Thomas Addison, Aston Key, and John Hilton.

 

Whilst at Guy's a microscopical department was founded and it could have been this that fired Gorham's interest. He joined the Royal Microscopical Society and contributed several publications to its journal. These included papers on compound eyes in insects, venation in the leaves of umbelliferae and on the composite structure of simple leaves. He was a practical man, as in other papers he suggested ways of making casts of insect eyes and other objects in collodion for microscopic study and improving ways of preparing microscopic slides. His botanical interests were furthered by membership of The Royal Botanical Society.   

 

By 1869 his interest had turned to teeth. He wrote a booklet on  "The proper method of extracting teeth." It was full of common sense and advice, and pointed out that if the doctor learnt early on his career how to do it, "the practitioner might vie with the professional dentist in this department of surgery."  This would have added to the doctor's income considerably and it is not surprising that the booklet ran to five editions.  

 

His interest in teeth lead him to study some thousands of them supplied by a local dentist and Charles Fox at the London Dental Hospital. He published his findings in The Medical Times and Gazette and they were reprinted in The British Journal of Dental Science. Each was carefully measured and the average weight of each tooth calculated. All the lower teeth were lighter than their complementary upper ones. By measuring the distance from each tooth to the mid point of the jaw, he worked out the 'lever power' for each tooth. After many calculations he came to the conclusion that if the lower teeth were as heavy as the upper, an extra 200 grains of work would be necessary at each bite. The inescapable conclusion was that The Divine Artificer has designed the body perfectly and that the arrangement of the teeth was 'the best and wisest that could be devised'. This fundamentalist view accorded well with his Free Church views. He never really got involved with the Parish Church.   

Gorham kept a very high profile in the town. He gave courses of lectures in the Public Hall

on mineralogy, colour and conchology. That on colour was 'not very well attended, but the company was select'.  He gave penny readings at the Mechanics Institute, which he had helped to found and played his flute in trios with his wife and daughter in concerts at The Public Hall. He became President of The Aesthetic Society and later, The Choral Society.

In  1894 he retired and died of influenza in 1899, by which time the young man who had worked with Addison and Bright in the advances of the early nineteenth century was described as 'a doctor of the old school'.