shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon." (quoted in Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky (eds.), I Wish I Hadn't Said That: The Experts Speak and Get it Wrong! (2000), 31. (Cf. Clarke's First Law, from Profiles of the Future – see Wikipedia article, Clarke's Three Laws: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.") The correct quotation is "There cannot always be fresh fields for conquest by the knife. There must be portions of the human frame that will ever remain sacred from its intrusion – at least, in the surgeon’s hand. That we have nearly, if not quite, reached these final limits there can be little question." The final sentence in the inaccurately quoted statement actually comes from a biography of Joseph Lister, written well after Erichsen died, in which the following sentence appears: "Mr. Erichsen believed that the abdomen, the brain, and the chest would be for ever shut from the intrusions of a wise and humane surgeon." Later writers falsely attributed these words by the biographer to Erichsen himself, but this is attribution is inappropriate: the text in Erichsen's 1873 address immediately following the quoted sentences mentions surgical procedures "from the base of the brain to the lowest organ in the pelvic cavity" as "triumphs of the surgeon's art." A more complete reading of Erichsen's address suggests that his views were much more nuanced. Personal life Erichsen married Mary Elizabeth on 10 September 1842, eldest daughter of Captain Thomas Cole RN. She died childless in 1893. His personality has been described as "honourable and candid" and his appearance as "attractive". He was considered a gentleman and known for accepting his junior surgeon's advances. Erichsen died at Folkestone in 1896 and was buried in Hampstead Cemetery. References 1818 births 1896 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British surgeons Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of University College London Academics of University College London