William Cunningham Blest

[3] On 21 March 1827 he married María de la Luz Gana Darrigrandi, a woman from a wealthy family and sister-in-law of Manuel Blanco Encalada, which helped Dr Blest in setting up practice independently in Chile.

The repercussions of this report were immediate, and in the same year the government abolished the Protomedicato and created the Chilean Medical Society, constituted of all practitioners in Santiago de Chile, and made Blest its chairman.

In his hands were left all responsibilities and authority with everything related with medicine; such power gained him many detractors, among them a Spaniard, Dr José Passaman.

Dr Blest's constant speeches about the importance of studies in the fields of medicine put him at the head of Chilean physicians when he published his "Essay on the most common causes of illnesses suffered in Chile".

Blest died in retirement at his estate in San Bernardo, on 3 February 1884, leaving to his adopted Chile a School of Medicine and a family illustrious on many accounts.