{{short description|British surgeon and writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox medical person | honorific_prefix = | name = Thomas Nunneley | honorific_suffix = | image = Thomas Nunneley.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Thomas Nunneley, photographed by Ernest Edwards | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name above --> | birth_date = 1809 | birth_place = | death_date = 1 June 1870 | death_place = | death_cause = | residence = | nationality = | citizenship = | education = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = *Eye and ear surgery *Witness in the trial of William Palmer | relations = | website = | profession = | field = | work_institutions = *Guy's Hospital *Leeds Infirmary *Leeds School of Medicine | specialism = | research_field = | notable_works = | prizes = | child = | module2 = | signature = }} '''Thomas Nunneley''' (1809 - 1 June 1870), was a British surgeon who at first focussed on eye and ear surgery, and built a large private practice in this field. He wrote several essays and books including on topics of erysipelas, eye surgery and on the effects of anaesthesia and hydrocyanic acid.
After studying in Paris he settled in Leeds, where he became attached to the Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Leeds School of Medicine, where he taught surgery and anatomy. In 1864 he became surgeon to the Leeds Infirmary. He opposed Joseph Lister's antisepsis and did not believe in the germ-theory of wound infections. He served as a witness in civil and criminal cases, including being first witness in the trial of William Palmer.
==Early life and family== Thomas Nunneley was born in 1809, in Market Harborough.<ref name=Lives>{{cite web |title=Nunneley, Thomas (1809 - 1870)|url=https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/lives/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ASSET$002f0$002fSD_ASSET:375012/one?qu=%22rcs%3A+E002829%22&rt=false%7C%7C%7CIDENTIFIER%7C%7C%7CResource+Identifier |website=livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk |access-date=21 September 2021}}</ref>
==Career== Nunneley became apprentice to a surgeon at Wellingborough and gained surgical experience at Guy's Hospital where he served as dresser to a Mr Keys.<ref name=NYMJ1870>{{cite book |title=New York Medical Journal |date=1870 |publisher=D Appleton and Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3ZMAQAAMAAJ&dq=Thomas+Nunneley&pg=PA120 |volume=XII|pages=120–121|language=en}}</ref> In 1832 he gained a licenciate of the Apothecaries.<ref name=BMJ1870/> After studying in Paris he settled in Leeds, where he became attached to the Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Leeds School of Medicine, where he taught surgery and anatomy.<ref name=BMJ1870/>
Early in his surgical career he focussed on eye and ear surgery, and built a large private practice in this field.<ref name=NYMJ1870/> His first essay on erysipelas was published in 1831 and won the prize from the Junior Physiological Society of Guy's but was rejected for the Fothergillian medal in 1841.<ref name=NYMJ1870/> He published ''The Organs of Vision, their Anatomy and Physiology'' in 1858.<ref name=NYMJ1870/> Other works included the essay "The Effects produced by Hydrocyanic Acid on Animal Life; with an attempt to determine the real value of presumed antidotes and remedies" and "On Anaesthesia and other Anaesthetic Substances; being an experimental inquiryinto their nature, properties, and actions, and their comparative value and danger, and the best means of counteracting an overdose". He published his last essay "On the Effect of the Calabar Bean on the Animal Economy" in 1863. His papers "On Aneurism of the Eyeball" and "Vascular Protrusion of the Eyeball" appeared in the ''Medico-Chirurgical transactions''.<ref name=NYMJ1870/>
In 1864 he became surgeon to the Leeds Infirmary.<ref name=NYMJ1870/> He regularly contributed to the ''British Medical Journal'' and wrote several texts.<ref name=BMJ1870/> He was one of the first to perform the operation of excising the tongue.<ref name=BMJ1870>{{cite journal |title=Thomas Nunneley |journal=British Medical Journal |date=11 June 1870 |volume=1 |issue=493 |pages=614 |doi=10.1136/bmj.1.493.614 |pmc=2260288 |language=en |issn=0007-1447}}</ref> In 1869 at the meeting of the British Medical Association in Leeds, he made clear his opposition to Joseph Lister's antisepsis and disbelief in the germ-theory of wound infections.<ref name="Tröhler">{{cite journal |last1=Tröhler |first1=Ulrich |title=Statistics and the British controversy about the effects of Joseph Lister's system of antisepsis for surgery, 1867–1890 |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |date=July 2015|volume=108 |issue=7 |pages=280–287 |doi=10.1177/0141076815593720 |pmid=26187307 |pmc=4530413 |issn=0141-0768}}</ref>
In 1843, he became one of the original 300 Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons.<ref name="Lives" />
==Trial of William Palmer== thumb|Trial of William Palmer, Illustrated Times, 1856 He served as a witness in civil and criminal cases.<ref name=BMJ1870/> He was the first witness in the trial of William Palmer,<ref name="Frederiksen">{{cite journal |last1=Frederiksen |first1=Soren |title=Case comment: The trial of William Palmer, a mid- nineteenth century English scientific evidence case |journal=Journal of Law, Information and Science |date=January 2011 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=112–127 |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.051733370417773 |language=EN}}</ref><ref name="Owen2014">{{cite book |last1=Owen |first1=Davies |title=Murder, Magic, Madness: The Victorian Trials of Dove and the Wizard |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-582-89413-6 |page=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWyhAwAAQBAJ&dq=Thomas+Nunneley+william+palmer+trial&pg=PA104 |language=en}}</ref> He presented his opinion on the eighth day of the trial, concluding that "I am of the opinion that death was caused by some convulsive disease".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Trial of William Palmer for the Alleged Rugeley Poisonings |date=1856 |publisher=J. Gilbert |page=138 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d2RHAAAAYAAJ&dq=Thomas+Nunneley+william+palmer+trial&pg=PA138 |language=en}}</ref>
==Death== Nunneley died on 1 June 1870, at the age of 62.<ref name=BMJ1870/>
==Selected publications== ===Articles=== *{{cite journal |title=On Anæsthesia and Anæsthetic Substances Generally; Being an Experimental Inquiry into Their Nature, Properties, and Action, Their Comparative Value and Danger, and the Best Means of Counteracting the Effect of an Over-Dose |journal=Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal |date=1 October 1849 |volume=72 |issue=181 |pages=343–395 |pmid=30330816 |pmc=5792863 |issn=0963-4932|last1=Nunneley |first1=T. }} *{{cite journal |title=On Vascular Protrusion of the Eyeball |journal=Medico-Chirurgical Transactions |date=1865 |volume=48 |pages=15–37 |pmid=20896252 |pmc=2147830 |issn=0959-5287|last1=Nunneley |first1=T. |doi=10.1177/095952876504800103 }}
===Books=== *{{cite book |title=A Treatise on the Nature, Causes, and Treatment of Erysipelas |date=1844 |publisher=E. Barrington & G. D. Haswell |oclc=14832513 |language=en}} * {{cite book |title=The Organs of Vision, their Anatomy and Physiology |date=1858 |publisher=John Churchill |location=New Burlington Street, London|oclc = 1006651356}} *{{cite book |title=On removal of the entire tongue |date=1866 |publisher=T. Richards |oclc=181745443 |language=English}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite journal |last1=Nunneley |first1=Thomas |title=Palmer's trial |journal=Association Medical Journal |date=7 June 1856 |volume=4 |issue=179 |pages=487 |pmc=2439784 }}
== External links == {{commons category-inline|Thomas Nunneley}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunneley, Thomas}} Category:1809 births Category:1870 deaths Category:19th-century English medical doctors Category:Physicians of Guy's Hospital Category:Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Category:19th-century British surgeons