Transplantation of Entire Bones with their Joint Surfaces: A. Bruce Gill MD (1876–1965) The 6th President of the AAOS 1937

Arthur Bruce Gill was born in Western Pennsylvania and obtained his undergraduate degree at Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio [1]. He then obtained his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1905, interned there, and remained on the staff for 47 years. He became the third chairman of that department in 1920. He was active in a large number of organizations well into the 1950s. One writer noted he “...was not a prolific writer, but whatever he wrote was extremely clear and well prepared. There are sixty-nine publications listed under his name in the Index Medicus and Quarterly Cumulative Index...” [1] A substantial number of those publications related to problems of childhood and at least six related to new procedures. Yet, Dr. Gill was wary of new operations. In his Presidential lecture at the AAOS in 1938, he wisely commented, “Let us beware of adopting new methods too hastily.” He added, “Are too many operations performed in the practice of orthopaedic surgery?...many of our young men believe that they can attain distinction only by the invention of a new operation,” and recognized the need to refrain from “fads and fancies” [3]. We republish an abridged version of experiments he performed in 1914 in which he transplanted whole bones with their joint surfaces within one animal [2]. Portions excluded include his description of the six operations and their results, and a scholarly discussion of the knowledge of transplantation and regeneration at the time. (Interested readers in such material would be well advised to also review an extensive discussion of the knowledge of bone biology in Sir Arthur Keith’s classic monograph, “Menders of the Maimed” [4].) Dr. Gill concluded fresh bone with cartilage surfaces was readily transplantable as long as “periosteum, medulla, and bony tissue” were all included in the graft. Immunology as a field was not well developed at the time, nor the known problems with transplantation between individuals and species. Nonetheless, his experiments formed a basis for the principles of whole bone transplantation. [Figure: see text] References 1. Arthur Bruce Gill, 1876–1965. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1966;48:394–396. 2. Gill AB. Transplantation of entire bones with their joint surfaces. Ann Surg. 1915;61:658–671. 3. Heck CV. Commemorative Volume 1933–1983 Fifty Years of Progress. Chicago, IL: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; 1983. 4. Keith A. Menders of the Maimed. London, UK: Henry Frowde; 1919.