G. Frank (George Frank) Lydston

Born in California in 1858, G. Frank Lydston became an American physician, surgeon, teacher, and author whose career was closely tied to Chicago. He trained at Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York and later served for many years as a lecturer at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago, building a reputation in genito-urinary and venereal disease medicine.

Lydston wrote extensively for both professional and general readers. His medical books included works on syphilis and diseases of the genito-urinary tract, while books such as The Diseases of Society and Sex Hygiene for the Male and What to Say to the Boy show his interest in crime, public morals, and sex education. He also published fiction, including Tales of a Talkative Doctor, Told Over the Hookah, which gives a sense of his range beyond strictly medical writing.

He is also remembered in medical history for early experiments involving gland and testicular transplantation, an area that later drew wider attention in the twentieth century. Lydston died in 1923, leaving behind a body of work that reflects both the ambitions and the blind spots of medicine in his era.