American College of Surgeons - Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Presentation of Great Mace g THE GREAT MACE PRESENTED TO THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS BY THE CONSULTING SURGEONS OF THE BRITISH ARMIES This Mace has been designed so as to tell in a symbolic way of the close union between British and American surgery, and of the ties which unite Great Britain to Canada and to the United States of America. It retains the traditional shape and proportions of the Civic Mace of the seventeenth century, and is of hand-wrought chiselled and repousse silver gilt. It was made by Omar Ramsden, who embodied in his design some suggestions of the donors. The Dedicatory Inscription engraved on the plate under the Crown sets forth that the Mace is a gift From the Consulting Surgeons of the British Armies to the American College of Surgeons, in memory of mutual work and good-fellowship in the Great War, 1914-1918. The Crown Shaped Finial is formed of six rich scroll but- tresses upholding the Sacred Flame of Science issuing from a mortar of antique pattern, the model of which was recently found on the field of battle near Salonika. These buttresses spring from a cresting composed of alternating Maple leaves and American Eagles interwined with the Serpents of Esculapius, while the position usually occupied by a band of jewels in a monarchical crown is filled with the words The American College of Surgeons. The Body or Head is divided into six panels by the Winged Caduceus, being an ornamental rendering of the badge of the United States Army Medical Corps. The panels set forth the following Achievements at Arms in delicate and finely detailed repousse work: 1. The full Blazon of the United States of America. 2. The Dominion of Canada. 3. The Royal College of Surgeons of England. 4. The Badge of the Royal Army Medical Corps. 5. The Shields of Arms of John Hunter and Lord Lister. 6. A Cartouche bearing the words Philip Syng Physick 1 768-1837, Father of American Surgery.

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THE GREAT MACE

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lo American College of Surgeons The lower portion of the Head is decorated with a symboUc band of water indicating the ocean which both unites and separates America and the Mother Country. The latter is symbolized by the British Lion Brackets of highly chiselled work which support the head and terminate the upper part of the staff. The talons of the lion ' s feet grip the hammered decoration of the upper knop, which consists of a design of American and Canadian Maple seed-pods and heart-shaped spaces. This hammered work is protected by boldly projecting, solid, jewel-like bosses of chiselled work. The Staff is decorated with a free design of the national floral emblems of the United Kingdom — the Rose, the Thistle, the Shamrock, and the Leek. Intertwined among these are a number of ribbon scrolls, each one of which bears the name of one of the donors. The Foot bears, as decoration, the root form from which the above spring and a series of six small shields which may be used for possible future arms of inscriptions. The extreme bottom knop is fluted with leaves of Isatlis tinctoria. The various parts are held together, in the traditional manner, by a rod of English Oak cut from a tree grown at Wytham, Berks. The extreme length is 3 feet iiy inches, and the weight of silver is 140 ounces troy. Consulting Surgeons of the British Armies Who Gave the Great Mace to the American College of Surgeons Sir Charles A. Ballance, K.C.M.G., C.B., M.V.O. Sir Hamilton Ballance, K.B.E., O.B. Sir Gilbert Barling, Bart, C.B. Seymour Barling, C.M.G. Sir Anthony Bowlby, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., D.S.M. . (U. S. A.) Dr. Hubert A. Bruce Frederic Burghard, C.B. H. Burrows, C.B.E. A. Carless, C.B.E. Sir A. Chance, C.B.E.