Chevalier Jackson

Chevalier Jackson was the son of William S. Jackson (1829-1890) and Katherine Ann Morange Jackson (born 1836). Chevalier Jackson and his brothers, Stanford and Shirls, grew up in a family hard hit by poverty. At an early age, he learned woodworking skills and later the decoration of china and glassware. In this way, Jackson earned the funds necessary to enter Western University of Pennsylvania (later the University of Pittsburgh), where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, and Jefferson Medical College, where he graduated in 1886. Also during his summer vacations, he sold medical books and even served as a galley cook on a fishing schooner.

Following graduation, Jackson opened practice in Pittsburgh and turned to the study of laryngology. He read extensively and also attended the clinics presented by Drs. Jacob Solis-Cohen (1838-1927), Charles Eucharist de Medicis Sajous (1852-1929), and Louis Jurist. In order to learn more, he sailed to Europe where he briefly attended various clinics and spent some time with the British specialist Sir Morell McKenzie (1837-1892).

Returning to the United States in 1887, Jackson practiced his specialty. In 1910 he was appointed Professor of Laryngology at the University of Pittsburgh. His appointment was largely based upon his efforts in introducing and improving broncho- and oesophagoscopy, particularly the removal of foreign bodies in the respiratory and gastric tract, as well as his work on cancer in the larynx.

In 1911 it was discovered that Jackson suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis. It was diagnosed at an early stage and he limited his activities, but nevertheless in 1913 he suffered a pulmonary menorrhage that required complete rest.

He abandoned his Pittsburgh tenure in 1916, when Jefferson Medical College offered him the professorship of laryngology and by 1924, he achieved the position of Professor of Bronchoesophalogy and Esophagology, and Department Head. In addition he held parallel appointment at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School (1919-1930), as well as honorary professor of Broncho-Esophagology at both Temple University and Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Jackson was also President of the latter institution from 1935-1941. At Temple University Jackson founded a clinic in his name.

Jackson introduced many improved techniques for bronchoscopy, oesophagoscopy and gastroscopy. and was successful in removing dangerous foreign bodies with the medical instruments and techniques he designed. Jackson retired from his chair at Jefferson in 1930, aged 65, and five year later from the clinic.

As a professor, Jackson was able to showcase some of his artistic talent with chalk and oil paint illustrations of various broncho-oesophagological conditions.

During the 1920s, Jackson began a crusade to spread knowledge of preventive measures in order to protect children from inhaling foreign objects. Of all things that could cause an obstruction to the oesophagus, the one that anguished him most was stricture in children due to swallowing lye. Because of this he campaigned for the passage of a federal law to control lye and other hazardous substances available to children. This led to the passage of the Federal Caustic Labeling Act of 1927, which required labels on all poisonous substances.

Jackson developed a bronchoscope that could be passed through the larynx to visualize the bronchi, "the first tube laryngoscope with its own light". In 1915 he revolutionized supraglottic surgery when he used a laryngoscope and a punch biopsy to remove an epiglottic tumor.

In 1899, Jackson married Alice B. White (d. 1957). Their son, Chevalier Lawrence Jackson (1900-1961) was Professor of Bronchoscopy and Esophagology at Temple University School of Medicine and head of the Temple University Clinic.

During his lifetime, Jackson authored twelve textbooks, four monographs, and over four hundred medical articles.

«All that wheezes is not asthma.» Boston Medical Quarterly, 1865; 16: 86.

«In teaching the medical student the primary requisite is to keep him awake.»
The Life of Chevalier Jackson, chapter 16.

"A physician without knowledge of pulmonary function is like a donut without a hole."

• Tracheo-bronchoscopy, esophagoscopy and gastroscopy.
  St. Louis, The Laryngoscope Company, 1907. First textbook on endoscopy.
• Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery.
  St. Louis, The Laryngoscope Company, 1915.
  3rd edition, Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders Company, 1934.
• Malignant diseases of the epiglottis.
  In: Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery, 1915: 438-439.
• Endothelioma of the right bronchus removed by peroral bronchoscopy.
  The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Philadelphia, 1917, 153: 371-375.
  First reported case.
• Bronchoscopy and esophagoscopy. A manual of peroral endoscopy and laryngeal surgery. Philadelphia and London : W. B. Saunders, 1922. 346 pages. A textbook.
• Foreign bodies in the air and food passages : Charted experience in cases from no. 631 to no. 1155 at the Brochoscopic Clinic. 1923
• Bronchoscopy and esophagoscopy; a manual of peroral endoscopy and laryngeal surgery. Philadelphia and London, W.B. Saunders Co., 1927.
• The nose, throat and ear, and their diseases.
  Chevalier Jackson and George M. Coates, editors.
  W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia and London, 1929. 1177 pages.
• Bronchoscopie et esophagoscopie. With Chevalier L. Jackson. 1933
• Bronchoscopy, esophagoscopy and gastroscopy. 3rd edition, 1934.
• Diseases of the air and food passages of foreign-body origin.
  With Chevalier L. Jackson. Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders Company, 1936.
  One of the most comprehensive treatises on the subject ever published, with a 636 page appendix describing, and in most cases illustrating, 3266 foreign bodies abd how they were removed.
• The larynx and its diseases. By Chevalier Jackson and Chevalier L. Jackson.
  Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders, 1937. 555 pages.
• Diseases and injuries of the larynx.
  With Chevalier L. Jackson. 2nd edition, revised and reset. 1942.
• Diseases of the nose, throat, and ear. 1945.
• Diseases of the nose, throat, and ear.
  Edited by Chevalier Jackson and Chevalier L. Jackson, with the collaboration of sixty-one outstanding authorities. Philadelphia, Saunders, 1959. 886 pages. Biographical:
• Isidor Fischer, publisher:
  Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Ärzte der letzten fünfzig Jahre.
  Berlin – Wien, Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1932.
• Harry Wain (1907-1970):
  The Story Behind the Word. Some Interesting Origins of Medical Terms.
  Springfield, Illinois, Charles C. Thomas, 1958.
• G. M. Coates:
  Chevalier Jackson, 1865-1958.
  AMA. Archives of Otolaryngology, Chicago, March 1959, 69 (3): 372-374.
• L. H. Clerf:
  Chevalier Jackson: 1865-1958. Gastroenterology, July 1959, 37 (1): 107-108.
• Jeremy M. Norman, editor:
  Morton’s Medical Bibliography. An annotated Check-list of Texts Illustrating the History of Medicine (Garrison and Morton). Fifth edition. Scolar Press, 1991. Information was also found on the webpage for Notable Jefferson Alumni of the past: http://jeffline.jefferson.edu/SML/archives/exhibits/notable_alumni/chevalier_jackson.html