A riposte for a fencer The residency appointment of Alfred Edmund Finckh to Sydney Hospital in 1905. Was it just a matter of male chauvinism? Alfred Finckh gained a residency at Sydney Hospital in 1905 in preference to a more academically successful female medical graduate, amid some controversy over the place of female doctors in hospitals. Here, two of his descendants argue his cause: that he was an experienced scientist with qualities that merited his selection for the post. |
MJA 1999; 171: 679-680 |
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We read with
great interest the biographical note on Susannah
O'Reilly in the Journal,1 with its portrayal of the
difficulties faced early this century by women wishing to enter
occupations dominated then (and to some extent still) by men.
However, the references to our uncle and great-uncle, Alfred Finckh
(1866-1961), who was granted a residency position at Sydney Hospital
in 1905 in place of the more academically successful Susie O'Reilly,
could be taken to imply that a mediocre man was given the position in
preference to a more academically gifted woman.
We believe that other considerations may have influenced the members of the Selection Board. Five of the 16 members of the Board were doctors, two of whom voted for O'Reilly and two for Finckh. One doctor, the Board president, abstained.2 A small majority of Board votes (eight votes to seven) favoured Finckh -- was it entirely male chauvinism? By the time Alfred Finckh graduated in medicine, he already had quite a few runs on the board. After spending some time as a jackeroo, he decided to attempt a career in medicine, and enrolled at the University of Sydney. His financial needs obliged him to look for employment to pay for his course; his interest in biology led him to the Sydney Technological Museum, where he worked first as Assistant in Charge of Animal Products and then as Zoological Assistant to the Museum's Curator, Mr T. Baker. In 1897 and 1898, while he was still an undergraduate, Finckh published a series of short articles in the Museum's Australian Technical Journal, on topics ranging from the phenomenon of phosphorescence in seawater3 to the anatomy of vertebrate animals. Through his acquaintaince with Professor Anderson Stuart, then Dean of Medicine of the University, he came to the attention of Stuart's colleague, Professor (later Sir) Edgeworth David, of the Department of Geology. Professor David persuaded him to break off his undergraduate studies to head an expedition to the coral island of Funafuti, north of Fiji, to test Charles Darwin's contentious theory about the growth of coral reefs (ie, that these reefs were built on a subsiding platform).4,5 Despite encountering many difficulties, Finckh succeeded in bringing the expedition to a successful conclusion.6 Finckh also studied the algae, the corals, the lime-coated protozoa and the starfish found in the atoll, and the role each played in forming and destroying reef rock. This work was published by the Royal Society of London in 1904.7 When Professor David received the drilling cores obtained by Finckh, he sailed at once for London, where he presented the findings to the Royal Society. As a consequence, he was admitted as a Fellow. We have a letter from him telling Finckh: ". . . You have more or less directly by your very successful management of the Funafuti expedition contributed to securing this honour for me . . ." (letter from Edgeworth David to Alfred Finckh, June 12, 1900). As the Funafuti expedition and its final success were extensively reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, Alfred Finckh's name became quite well known. On his return, he resumed his studies, graduating the same year as the much younger Susannah O'Reilly. As stated earlier, his application for a residency position at Sydney Hospital was preferred to that of Dr O'Reilly, despite her better academic medical record. We cannot judge how much the male selection committee was influenced by male chauvinism, but we would like to suggest that Alfred Finckh's background experience may have implied personal qualities that appealed to the committee majority. Be that as it may, Dr O'Reilly and Dr Finckh went on to distinguish themselves in different ways. The late George Bell, former Senior Surgeon at Sydney Hospital, told one of us (E S F) how much Alfred was liked during his time at the hospital, partly because of his cajoling of resident staff into daily fitness training in the adjoining Sydney Domain. "Splendid fellow, Finckh", he said, " they should have put a statue of him in front of the Hospital instead of the dribbling pig!". The wonderful statue of a boar was, of course, given by the Fiaschi family, who were, as it happens, friends of various members of the Finckh family. Alfred stayed on at Sydney Hospital as Resident Pathologist. In 1906, he travelled to Europe to work with some of the foremost pathologists of the day in England, Germany and Austria. Among these was Professor Wasserman, in Berlin, who had just developed the famous "complement fixation test" which bears his name. In 1908, Finckh brought the Wasserman test to Sydney. Finckh was Honorary Pathologist at Sydney Hospital from 1912 to 1918 and he was also Honorary Pathologist at the Women's Hospital and at the Anti-Tuberculosis Dispensary in 1914. In 1915, he acted as Director of the Pathology Department at Sydney Hospital. During this period, he established one of the first private pathology practices in Australia, in Macquarie Street, Sydney, where he continued to practise until he was well into his 80s. Alfred Finckh wrote more than 50 articles in the Australasian Medical Gazette and later in the Medical Journal of Australia, as well as in other local and overseas journals. The first articles were on general biological matters, including the growth of coral reefs.7 Later articles dealt with pathology, often related to infections and their treatment.8,9 He also wrote occasionally on another of his abiding interests, fencing,10 and its role in exercise. He was so enthusiastic that he conducted fencing classes, doing this also until he was well into his 80s. Much to his disappointment, he saw this elegant and dexterous art fade from popularity during his later years. Interestingly, his last letter to the Medical Journal of Australia, published in February 1959, when he was 93 years old, entreated doctors to heed the words of Dr Paul White, that "heart troubles are our own fault, walk more and eat less."11 We write this riposte as, like the O'Reillys, we are proud of one of our forebears. In fact, it was acquaintance with, and knowledge of, Alfred Finckh and his exploits and interests that induced one of us (E S F) to enter medicine and the scientific field of pathology. Ernest S Finckh Andrew S Finckh
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