Clodagh Finn: Canoe travel, lamp-lit operations, snake bites — a witness to a lost world

The work of surgeon and later psychiatrist Patricia Horne, who died on October 29, is widely admired

Patricia Horne: ‘You had to watch out for the crocodiles, so you didn’t put your feet or fingers into the water.’ Picture courtesy of Margaret Horne

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. This one of surgeon and later psychiatrist Patricia Horne, who died on October 29, opens a fascinating window into the life of the late Irish doctor, who performed operations in Africa in the 1950s under the light of kerosene lamps and without running water.

However, what it doesn’t communicate is the excitement of the man who repeatedly pointed to his head when Dr Horne stepped into the canoe. He told her that she had stitched it after he sustained horrific injuries when a branch of a tree clipped his scalp as he travelled under it in an open-topped vehicle.