'I studied surgery as a Japanese PoW'

By Jane Elliott Health reporter, BBC News

Ninety-four-year-old Nowell Peach has a very special memento of his war years - a copy of Gray's Anatomy which was at his fingertips throughout the three years he spent as a Japanese prisoner of war.

Nowell Peach with his treasured copy of Gray's Anatomy

A budding surgeon, the doctor was allowed to keep a copy of the book throughout his incarceration - and he spent all the time that gave him to study it from cover to cover.

He knew the material so well by the time he was released that he sailed through his surgical exams first time.

Constant study aid

"I was just about to start a course of surgical training on September 3 1939, but that was indefinitely postponed when war broke out," he said.

Mr Peach became a Royal Air Force medic, and went out to the Far East.

He was captured in Bandoeng, Java, in March 1942.

"The Dutch capitulated to the Japanese invasion and the Japanese just came in and took over.

"They left the hospital, where we had been treating servicemen, alone for several weeks and then they abruptly shut us down at 24 hours notice.

"Some of the patients were sent to another hospital, but most of us were sent to jail in Bangoeng."

He managed to take with him his copy of the Gray's Anatomy, the legendary medical textbook which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. "The Japanese allowed me to keep it with my notebooks and my medical notes. They put an official stamp inside saying I was allowed to keep it.

As a textbook it is first class - it is THE book Nowell Peach

"The Japanese did confiscate a tremendous amount of material, particularly diaries of course.

"Some camps did allow you to keep books but the commandants were somewhat haphazard about it," he said.

"For my first six months I was in a camp where there were several thousands of prisoners of war and six doctors, so I only had to do a sick parade one week in every six.

"The rest of the time I had nothing to do. I really believed we were going to be rescued in about six months so I wanted to read through Gray's and to write notes on a physiology text book and I finished my work about October 1945.

CREATION OF GRAY'S ANATOMY Henry Gray and Henry Vandyke Carter worked together at St George's Hospital, London The pair carried out many dissections together to research the book Gray's was finally published in 1858

"I set myself three hours on anatomy and three hours on physiology. I eventually had to return the physiology book to the Australian I had borrowed it from, but was allowed to keep Gray's.

"The book helped me have some hope for the future," he added.

Mr Peach said: "We were not treated well but I personally did not suffer the series of physical assaults that so many prisoners did. I kept a pretty low profile.

"I did not stick my neck out and avoided being attacked."

But he added: "The food was pretty wretched - just rice and vegetables."

Studying resumed

Mr Peach was able to assist with surgery on other PoWs and, when he was released, he signed up for his surgery course on his return home.

"The hospital staff were most sympathetic and said they were halfway through the course, but that if I wanted to join I would be most welcome so I did.

Gray's Anatomy knocked its competitors into a cocked hat Ruth Richardson, medical historian

"I sat the exam in April 1946 and got through first time. It is quite tricky, that first exam, and a lot of people fail.

"It was very much thanks to the work with Gray's that I passed. I really learned my anatomy very thoroughly.

"My grounding was good. I still have the copy - it is very treasured.

As a textbook it is first class. It is THE book," he said.

Anniversary exhibition

This year Gray's Anatomy celebrates its 150th anniversary and the Royal College of Surgeons, in London, is holding a special exhibition to mark the occasion between April 3 and May 2.

As well as a rare first edition of Henry Gray's Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical, there will be first edition proofs of the engravings made from illustrations by Henry Vandyke Carter.

Medical historian Ruth Richardson said the book - shortly to publish its 40th edition - was "the most outstanding student anatomy text book for the whole of the 19th Century".

In her introduction to the 39th edition, she said it was easy to see why the book has become such a gold standard.

She wrote: "The book Gray and Carter created, Anatomy Descriptive and Surgical, appeared in August 1858 to immediate acclaim.

"Reviews in the Lancet and British Medical Journal were highly complimentary, and students flocked to buy.

"It is not difficult to understand why it was a runaway success. Gray's Anatomy knocked its competitors into a cocked hat.

"Simply organised and well-designed, the book explains itself confidently and well. But what makes it unique for its day was the outstanding size and quality of the illustrations."

Louise King, archivist at the Royal College of Surgeons, said she hoped the exhibition will show some of the brilliance of the book.

"The book is living up to what Gray and Carter hoped - that it would make anatomy more accessible to students. And 150 years later it is still going strong."

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