Henry O. Marcy

Henry O. Marcy (1837–1924) was an American surgeon. He served as a surgeon in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he established his own surgical practice, becoming an advocate for antiseptic technique in surgery. He was particularly known for describing a technique using antiseptic-treated catgut sutures to seal internal wounds in the treatment of hernias. Marcy was elected president of the American Academy of Medicine in 1884 and the American Medical Association in 1892.

Early life Henry Orlando Watson was born June 23, 1837, in Otis, Massachusetts to Smith and Fanny (Gibbs) Marcy. He attended school at Wilbraham Academy and Amherst College before attending Harvard Medical School, earning his medical doctorate in 1863. Marcy left Edinburg a lifelong proponent of Lister's practice of antiseptic surgery and wound care.