with little means and no interest to forward his plans. At first he practised medicine and was appointed visiting physician to the Meath Hospital; but in 1799 he gave up medicine on receiving the appointment of resident surgeon to Steevens's Hospital. This he held till 1813, then becoming visiting surgeon to the same hospital.
Colles early became a masterly operator, being cool and dexterous, and singularly fertile in resource. When he first tied the subclavian artery for aneurism, the operation had only twice been attempted in England, never in Ireland. He was the first man in Europe to tie the innominate artery, and he did it successfully. In his unfinished 'Treatise on Surgical Anatomy,' Dublin, 1811, pt. i., he discusses the forms of hernia and various important surgical operations in a manner which shows his deep and accurate study. For many years he occupied some hours a day in dissection. His name is, however, most widely known in connection with Colles's fracture of the radius, a fracture just above the wrist presenting peculiar phenomena, usually the result of a fall on the palm of the hand, which had escaped the notice of surgeons before his time, notwithstanding its comparative frequency. His paper on the subject appeared in the 'Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,' 1814, vol. x.
In 1804 Colles became professor of anatomy and surgery in the Irish College of Surgeons, and held the office thirty-two years. His ability as a lecturer greatly extended the repute of the college and of the Dublin Medical School. In his lectures he was constantly watchful to prevent the influence of preconceived theories on his own and his pupils' judgment. His lectures were published in 1844 in the 'Dublin Medical Press,' and separately in two volumes, from notes by Simon McCoy; they are among the most easily comprehended and practical extant. Colles's practice, both as physician and surgeon, was very remunerative, for many years exceeding 5,000l. per annum. He remained surgeon to Steevens's Hospital till 1841, and died on 16 Nov. 1843. He was twice president of the Irish College of Surgeons, in 1802 and in 1830, and was offered a baronetcy in 1839, but declined it. He married in 1807 Miss Sophia Cope, by whom he had a large family. A son, William Colles, became regius professor of surgery in Dublin University.
Though somewhat lacking in speculative power, Colles had great perspicuity and the art of seizing on salient points. Cautious in criticism, he expressed simple ideas in clear language. He was cheerful, generous, and modest, a liberal in politics, and a protestant in religion, despising fanaticism and charlatanism. He never lost an opportunity of frankly admitting his blunders. On one conspicuous occasion at a post-mortem examination of a patient on whom he had operated he turned to the class and said, 'Gentlemen, it is no use mincing the matter; I caused the patient's death.' Colles was about the middle size, well proportioned and of dignified manner, with a shrewd, clear eye, a fine forehead, and decided mouth.
Selections from the works of Colles have been edited with annotations by Dr. R. McDonnell for the New Sydenham Society (published 1881). They include his classic work on the 'Use of Mercury in Venereal Complaints,' originally published in 1837, and also 'Essays on Lithotomy,' 'Tying the Subclavian Artery,' 'Dissection Wounds,' and on Colles's 'Fracture of the Radius.'
[Memoir of A. Colles, Dublin University Magazine, xxiii. 688; Memoir prefixed to Works, ed. McDonnell ; Preface and Notes to Colles's Lectures on Surgery.]
COLLET, JOHN (1725?–1780), painter, born in London about 1725, and son of a gentleman holding a public office, was a pupil of George Lambert, and studied at the art school in St. Martin's Lane. He first exhibited at the exhibition of the Free Society of Artists in 1761, to which he sent three landscapes. In 1762 he exhibited with the same society 'A Gipsy telling some Country Girls their Fortune.' From this time, though he occasionally exhibited landscapes, portraits, animals, and other subjects, his pictures are mainly of a humorous description, based on the style of Hogarth, whose 'comedy in art' he strove to imitate, if not to surpass. There was a large demand for his pictures, and the engravings from them, many by first-class engravers, were published by Carington Bowles, Smith & Sayer, Boydell, and other well-known publishers. Collet represented scenes of debauchery, low life, and social weaknesses and absurdities. He did not possess, however, the force and deep moral of Hogarth's work, and his pictures are often mere plagiarisms, appealing only to a vulgar taste. When, however, he cared to be original, he showed great ability, and his pictures are always carefully executed. He continued to exhibit with the Free Society of Artists up to 1783. His pictures give a curious insight into the social manners at the end of the last century. In 1775 Sheridan brought out his comedy of 'The Duenna,' and Collet drew several pictures founded on scenes in this play. One of them, representing the drinking scene in the convent (act iii. scene 5), is figured in Wright's
