Abraham Colles (1773-1843) was professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He is remembered as a skillful surgeon and for his 1814 paper On the Fracture of the Carpal Extremity of the Radius; the injury known as Colles' fracture. This paper, describing distal radial fractures, was ahead of its time, published years before x-rays came into use. He also described the membranous layer of subcutaneous tissue of the perineum, which came to be known as Colles' fascia. He studied the inguinal ligament, which is sometimes called Colles' ligament. In 1837 he wrote "Practical observations on the venereal disease, and on the use of mercury" in which he introduced the hypothesis of maternal immunity of a syphilitic infant when the mother had not shown signs of the disease. Colles' principal textbook was the two-volume Lectures on the theory and practice of surgery. He is regarded as the first surgeon to successfully ligate the subclavian artery. He died in 1843 from gout.