Journal of Medical Biography

Dr Silas Weir Mitchell, known as the father of neurology in the United States and as the author of several best-selling novels, pursued many interests during a long career in medicine and literature. He was also a renowned public figure and an able laboratory scientist who, according to President Theodore Roosevelt, served his country well. Mitchell was well ahead of his time and his refusal to conform to certain rigid ideas about what was and what was not permitted to a physician brought him into conflict with some of his contemporaries. This paper examines aspects of Mitchell's versatility, the rewards it brought him and the price he paid for it.

Professor Bernardo A Houssay, Director of the Institute of Physiology at the University of Buenos Aires, was an outstanding physiologist who created the first school of medical research in Argentina and brought it to world attention. His research covered a wide range of physiological fields, but particularly concerned the hormonal control of metabolism and arterial hypertension. Houssay was dismissed from the university during the Perón era but was able to found and direct the Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine in Buenos Aires. He was joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1947 for his discovery of the role of the anterior pituitary in carbohydrate metabolism.

James Allison Glover served in the Boer War and World War I. In 1917 he was appointed to the Cerebro-spinal Laboratory in London. There, his work on cerebrospinal fever resulted in the “spacing out” of beds in huts and earned him the name of “good friend of the private soldier”. In 1919 he proceeded OBE for his work during the war. In 1920 he was appointed medical officer to the new Ministry of Health. He made significant contributions to rheumatology and the understanding and treatment of tonsillitis, and to public health more widely.

Henry Duncan Spens (“Harry”) Goodsir was one of the younger brothers of John Goodsir, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh from 1846 to 1867. Harry Goodsir qualified with the LRCS Edinburgh diploma in 1840, and was an anatomist and naturalist of the highest promise. He was Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1843 until 1845, when he was appointed assistant surgeon and naturalist to the Franklin Expedition. This sailed to the Arctic seas under Sir John Franklin, to find the North-West Passage, but was lost. Its fate was never determined satisfactorily, although several subsequent expeditions attempted to do so.

In August 1914 the university library of Leuven (Louvain) was destroyed by the German occupying forces. In October 1914 an Appeal was addressed to “The World of Culture” by 93 German academics and artists in which they disclaimed any German responsibility — “It is not true that our troops have brutally destroyed Louvain”. The Appeal had a profound, although mainly negative, effect, especially in the United States, where it almost certainly influenced that country's decision to enter the conflict. Signatories to the Appeal included Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the discoverer of X-rays. Why did Röntgen sign such an extraordinary and untrue statement? He claimed that he had not read it, but both the personal and political backgrounds to his action were complex and are worthy of further scrutiny. This paper explores the issue and the reception of the notorious Appeal by the British radiology community.

The evolution of medical jurisprudence in ancient China is discussed in relation to Sung Tz'u (1186–1249), a district judge in the Southern Sung Dynasty. His work represents some of the earliest on the subject.

Britain's first medical marriage was between George Hoggan and Frances Morgan, in 1874. George was a naval engineer before he studied medicine; he showed great promise in research before his death, aged 54, after a long illness. Frances was arguably the most gifted of the early medical women. She was the first British woman to obtain an MD in Europe and the first to do high-quality medical research. Her clinical practice was curtailed by George's illness and death but she continued to campaign on social issues — including women's education, health education and civil rights. Her life was all the more remarkable because new evidence suggests that, at the age of 17, before she started her medical studies, she gave birth to an illegitimate child. Had this been known it would, in Victorian times, have dashed her hopes of a career in medicine.

In this paper evidence is presented that Michelangelo met the criteria for Asperger's disorder, or high-functioning autism. The evidence relates to his single-minded work routine, unusual lifestyle, limited interests, poor social and communication skills, and issues of life control. Depression and various medical conditions, including gout, renal colic and renal stones, did not stop his obsessive working habits.