John
Hughes Bennett, M.D. (1812-1875)
View
a book in this collection by Dr. Bennett
John Hughes Bennett, as depicted
in the adjacent portraits, was considered a man of high intellect and an
outstanding teacher, whose methods served as a model to other teaching
institutions beyond Edinburgh. He has been described as the founder of
physiology because he introduced the teaching of physiology by practical
classes and number of advances in physiology in Scotland can be
attributed directly to him. His obituarist wrote in the British
Medical Journal, "When all the controversies with which his name is
associated will have been forgotten, the important services which he
rendered to practical medicine will be even more highly appreciated than
they are at present."
Key contributions to medicine:
Published the first case of
Leukaemia (1845)
"It is moreover the same conclusion which Bennett came to in the much
discussed matter of priority between us when he observed a case of
individual leukaemia some months before I saw my first case." Rudolf
Virchow (1858)
Introduced practical experimental histology and the use of the
microscope for the diagnosis of disease into the scottish medical
curriculum.
Opposed bloodletting and the
indiscriminate use of drugs and was an important influence in changing
British therapeutic practices during the second half of the nineteenth
century.
Advocated the use of cod-liver oil
and restorative treatments for tuberculosis and other debilitating
diseases.
"John Hughes Bennett's contribution to tuberculosis were many. He was
responsible for saving many patients from the rigors associated with
the antiphlogistic therapeutic regimen. He recognized that tuberculosis
disease could cure spontaneously. His observations and his attempts to
achieve cures were to set the scene for later interventions which were
also to originate in Edinburgh" A G Leitch (1995)
Emphasized the need for
collaboration between medical and scientific specialties in order to
advance modern medicine
". . . in the struggle between advancing science, and a routine
practice, those who desire the welfare of the profession should never
forget that it can only be maintained by an earnest love of truth. This
is to be promoted not by vague assertion and vulgar douse but by
rational investigation and sound agreement" John Hughes Bennett
John Hughes Bennett (1812-1875)
1812 31st August, born and
educated in Exeter, England.
1829 Apprenticed to a surgeon in
Maidstone, Kent.
1833 Enrolled at University of
Edinburgh to read medicine.
1836 Elected as President of the
Royal Medical Society and of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh and
Vice-President of the Anatomical and Physiological Society. Published
first article in London Medical Gazette On the Anatomy and Physiology of
the Otic Ganglion.
1837 Graduated MD with highest
honours and gold medal. Dissertation on The Physiology and Pathology of
the Brain. Began 2 year's of postgraduate studies in Paris. Founder and
first president of the English-speaking Medical Society in Paris.
1838-1841 Attended medical schools
and hospitals in Germany.
1841 Returned to Edinburgh.
Extra-academical lecturer on histology, physiology, pathology and the
diagnosis of disease illustrated by the microscope. The first to teach
the clinical use of the microscope systemically and the practical
teaching of physiology and pathology in Britain. Published Treatise on
Cod Liver Oil, reintroducing it as an important therapeutic agent.
1842 Fellow of the Royal College
of Physicians of Edinburgh. Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
1843 Appointed Pathologist and
Keeper of Statistics, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Physician to the
Royal Dispensary and to the Fever Hospital.
1844 Married Jessie Samuel at
Kirknewton.
1845 Lecturer in medicine at
University of Edinburgh Medical School. Published On the Frequent
Spontaneous Cure of Pulmonary Consumption and its Treatment and Case of
Hypertrophy of the Spleen and Liver in which Death took place from
Suppuration of the Blood, the first recorded case of leukaemia, then
known as leucocythaemia, in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal.
1846 Editor and later proprietor
of the Monthly Journal of Medical Science.
1848 Elected to the chair of the
Institutes of Medicine and clinical teacher of medicine as professor
within the University of Edinburgh.
1851 Published On Leucocythaemia
or White Cell Blood, a collection of case studies. Founder and President
of the Physiological Society of Edinburgh.
1853 Published On the Pathology
and Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
1855 Unsuccessful candidate for
the chair of the Practice of Physic.
1856 Published Clinical Lectures
on the Principles and Practice of Medicine, an authoritative textbook in
5 editions in Britain and 6 in America to 1868.
1857 Challenge to the practice of
blood letting.
1858 Appointed by the Senate of
Edinburgh University as their envoy to Parliament on the Universities
(Scotland) Bill.
1866 Published The Restorative
Treatment of Pneumonia which had the rare distinction of being
translated and published in Japan.
1869 Supported the admission of
women medical students in Edinburgh.
From: The University of Edinburgh
- Leukaemia Research Fund
John Hughes Bennett Laboratory
