WILLIAM SHARPEY (1802-1880)* By JOHN C. BROUGHER, A.B.

PORTLAND, OREGON

N England during the eighteenth cen- trie juice. These discoveries and contri- tury physiology was taught by the butions were made, for the most part, in anatomist, aided by the surgeon in the latter part of the eighteenth century the hospital. Experimental physiology and the first quarter of the nineteenth. with laboratory equipment for teaching They indicate that an understanding of Ihad not yet come into existence. The body function was edging its way to recog- status was even less encouraging in France nition as a science. and Germany. Italy led the way in the One of the first men to turn his attention medical sciences still, and the work of to physiology, in the sense of it being a her brilliant philosophers continued to be separate science and deserving of a labora- the vanguard for the whole world, as the tory, was William Sharpey. He was born in names of Volta, Galvani, Spallanzani, the little seacoast town of Arbroath, in Scarpa and Morgagni bear witness. Several eastern Scotland, April 1, 1802. His father outstanding contributions to physiology was a ship owner, and a native of Folke- were made by men without physiological stone in Kent, having emigrated to laboratories, and primarily interested in Arbroath a few years previously. He died other fields of science: Lavoisier in 1777 before William was born, and the boy came described the exchange of gases in res- under the influence of Dr. Arrott. The latter piration; Galvani published his essay on married Mrs. Sharpey, who previous to animal electricity in 1792; classical experi- her marriage to Sharpey was Mary Bal- ments by Spallanzani on digestion appeared four. Having attended the public schools in 1780, and his posthumously published of Arbroath, William was sent to the work on the seat of respiration in 1803; University of at the age of Haller had (1757) conclusively demon- fifteen. Here he studied the humanities and strated irritability of tissues and organized natural philosophy. During his second col- the knowledge of physiology for the first lege year he began the study of anatomy time; Bichat began to lecture on anatomy under Dr. , who then lectured in 1797, emphasizing the mutual relation in an extra-academical school. Thus it of structure and function and verifying seems he had decided to study medicine, his views by experimental study of animals. and in 1821 he obtained the diploma of the Thomas Young (1801) described astigma- Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. tism, stated the undulatory theory of light The next year he went to London and stud- and proposed a theory of color vision; ied anatomy in the Brooks school. After Gall (1810) published a treatise on the three months’ dissection here ' he was nervous system; Legallois in 1812 described attracted to Paris, largely no doubt by the the action of the vagi on respiration and reputation of Dupuytren (1777-1835), later located the respiratory center; Mag- founder of the Societe Anatomique of Paris endie (1822) demonstrated that the ante- in 1803, surgeon-in-chief of the Hotel rior spinal roots are motor, and the Dieu, the leading surgeon of France. At posterior, sensory. Two years later Flourens the same time operative surgery was studied published his work on cerebral physiology under Lisfranc (1790-1847). While in Paris, and Prout found hydrochloric acid in gas- Sharpey made the acquaintance of James * Read before the University of Oregon Medical Syme (1799-1870) who had also been a History Club, Portland, March 12, 1926. student of anatomy under Dr. John Bar- clay at Edinburgh. Syme’s accomplish- on to Geneva. Nearly three months were ments as a teacher of anatomy and later spent here in the library and making trips as a surgeon both in Paris and at Edinburgh over the country on foot. We next see him may have stimulated Sharpey. His surgical in Pavia, Italy. Here he may have met operations in the infirmary at Edinburgh Scarpa, now eighty, the great surgeon- were remarkable. Sharpey and Syme be- anatomist whose work had been recognized came lasting friends and made extensive internationally. Volta was eighty-two and collections of museum specimens wherever passed away this year (1827). Panizza they travelled. (1785-1867), a surgeon-anatomist then at After a year in Paris under Dupuytren the height of his career at Pavia, attracted and Lisfranc, Sharpey returned to Edin- the young anatomist and he spent several burgh and was graduated in August, 1823, weeks in study and observation here. He presenting for his thesis, “De Ventriculi journeyed on to Florence and to Rome. Carcinomate.” He now began practice in While visiting this ancient city he probably Arbroath with his step-father. However, reread parts of Galen and mused over he was not long in finding that his interest what particular parts of anatomy that lay elsewhere. Scientific study had its immortal discoursed upon in the streets hold on him and there was no way of over 1600 years previously. Sharpey’s visit escaping it. In 1826 he gave up practice was brief, however, for he was roaming, and and never returned to it. For the rest of so he sauntered on to Naples. In the spring of his life he devoted himself to the study of 1828 he returned to northern Italy. Stop- pure science. ping at Bologna a few days, he strode on Returning to the Continent (1826) with to Padua, where much of historical interest his staff in hand and knapsack on his awaited him. Many of his countrymen back, he trudged through France. Doubt- had attended anatomy lectures here during less another visit was paid to the Hotel the past two centuries. No doubt he paid Dieu. There may, however, have been a visit to the tomb of Harvey’s old pro- another meeting that meant far more to fessor, Fabricius (1537-1619). him since his decision to follow investiga- From Padua he went to Vienna where tion and teaching. In Paris at this time the he spent the summer. Skoda (1805-1881) Father of Experimental Physiology was edit- and Rokitansky (1804-1878), the Bohe- ing the first journal of experimental physi- mians, who were to make the new Vienna ology, and carefully checking the results school, were completing the work for their of all papers sent for publication. In fact, degrees. Proceeding on to Heidelberg he Magendie asked authors to send their met Tiedemann, the distinguished German papers a month before they would be anatomist and physiologist. On his way to expected to appear, in order that he might Berlin, he must have met another Bohe- repeat the main experiments therein given. mian, John Purkinje (1787-1869), who was He was a practicing physician who found professor of physiology at Breslau and time to build his monument in science by struggling hard to establish physiology his contributions to physiology. His text- as a separate science. Once in Berlin he book, “The Anatomy and Physiology of remained for nine months, carefully dis- the Nervous System” had appeared a secting the human body under Rudolphi year previous and perchance had fallen (1771-1834), an able Swedish naturalist into Sharpey’s hands. Surely the young and physician. anatomist could have gotten a thrill in On his return from the Continent in watching a dog vomit after its stomach the autumn of 1829, he established himself had been replaced by a pig’s bladder! in Edinburgh and engaged in microscopical Lingering a few months Sharpey plodded observation and anatomical research. Desir- ing to teach, he obtained the Fellowship presidency of the Duke of Devonshire from of the College of Surgeons in 1830, a neces- 1870-1875. Taking an active part in its sary qualification, and presented a proba- proceedings, he aided greatly by his tionary essay, “On the Pathology and sagacity and knowledge, the deliberations of Treatment of False Joints,” a subject the body. He was also one of the trustees of which was probably suggested by his inti- the Hunterian Museum of the Royal Col- macy with Mr. Syme, to whom the printed lege of Surgeons and a member of many essay is inscribed. In 1830 he published his scientific societies of this and other first work on scientific investigation: countries. He received the honorary degree “On a Peculiar Motion Excited in Fluids of ll .d . from the by the Surfaces of Certain Animals.” in 1859. He was also offered the chair of In the summer of 1831 he again spent physiology there but was persuaded by the three months in Berlin. On this occasion officials at University College to remain. he was chiefly employed in collecting ana- Dr. Sharpey was appointed one of the tomical preparations and other materials examiners in anatomy at the University of for the illustration of a course of instruction London, when that body obtained its char- in anatomy which he expected to deliver ter to grant degrees in 1840, and he con- the following winter. tinued to perform the duties of that office During 1831-1832 a course of systematic during the long period of twenty-three years. lectures was given in the extra-academical He was, at a later period, a member of the school of Edinburgh in association with Dr. senate of that university. He was also, for , who taught physiology. fifteen years, a member of the General Coun- Through the years Sharpey’s class increased cil of Medical Education and Registration. from twenty to eighty-eight in number, At the same time that he was devotedly giving evidence of his success as a lecturer. carrying on his researches, there appeared His reputation as a teacher and man of in the Edinburgh New Physiological Journal science had advanced so that he had now for 1835, a translation of the preliminary come to be generally known, both in Edin- memoirs in which the discovery of Purkinje burgh and at a distance, as a learned investi- and Valentin on ciliary motion was gator and teacher. announced together with an account of Dr. Sharpey’s connection with the Royal additional observations on the subject Society began by his election as Fellow on made by himself. Shortly afterward he the ninth of May, 1839. He became a embodied the whole of the information on member of the Council in 1844-1845 and “Cilia” in a paper published in the “Cyclo- was appointed one of the secretaries in place paedia of Anatomy and Physiology.” Even of Mr. Bell in 1853. This office he held for though Purkinje and Valentin (1834) found nineteen years, when the failing condition the existence of cilia in vertebrate animals, of his eyesight obliged him to resign. He yet Sharpey had worked on the subject was again in 1872 chosen member of the previously but because of the lack of a Council for the next two years. At this time sufficiently powerful microscope, he was the Baly medal of the Royal Society was unsuccessful in detecting the presence of conferred upon him for physiological cilia in the Batrachia. research. It is interesting here to note that In the summer of 1836, when Dr. Jones the Baly medalist of the Royal College of Quain resigned his position in the chair of Physicians in London in 1881 was Burdon- anatomy and physiology in the then Uni- Sanderson, who followed Sharpey in Uni- versity of London, a desire was felt by the versity College as professor of physiology. leading professors and authorities of that Dr. Sharpey was also a member of the institution to give greater prominence to Science Commission, which met under the physiological study than had previously been done in the London schools of discussion. It was thirty-four years later medicine. After due inquiry, Dr. Sharpey (1870) that Bowditch established the first was selected as the fittest person to fill the physiology laboratory in this country in chair and carry out the object in view. He Boston. At Breslau, since 1824 Purkinje was accordingly appointed to the chair had accompanied his lectures with demon- designated as that of anatomy and phy- strations but he did not have a laboratory siology while Mr. was named in which to work until 1839. professor of anatomy. It now became his Billroth says as regards German schools: duty to treat fully of physiology and the The sequence of the establishment of entirely functions of organs, together with the study independent, separate professorships of physiol- of minute and visceral anatomy, while Pro- ogy is to the best of my knowledge, as follows: fessor Quain taught the descriptive and Halle 1843, Tubingen 1853, Kiel 1857, Berlin practical aspect of anatomy. There was and Heidelberg 1858, Bonn 1859, Zurich 1862, then established in London for the first Berne and Munich 1863, Leipzig and Wurzburg time the full and systematic teaching of 1865, Greifswald 1868, Basel and Erlangen 1872. physiology, which had previously been only Many of the new Professorships were for a imperfectly treated as an appendage to the time adjunct. course of anatomy in the London medical Up to the age of sixty-eight or seventy, schools. The difference in the characters of Sharpey retained most of the vigor of his the fellow professors, Sharpey and Richard earlier years, but about the year 1871, the Quain, was well known to the students. rapid formation of cataracts together with Quain and Sharpey greatly improved the some dullness of hearing began to interfere Anatomy of under combined seriously with his efficiency. These affections editorship. Sharpey was the senior editor for led to his retirement from the Royal Society the fifth, sixth and seventh editions. The in 1872 and from the professorship in ninth edition was dedicated to him. University College two years later. Follow- His lectures, excepting an introductory ing his retirement he was appointed pro- one, were delivered from notes only. He fessor emeritus. made use of diagrams and pictorial illustra- Even after his health was failing, Sharpey tions as well as of anatomical preparations continued to haunt his old laboratory. His and physiological experiments. He was one health improved and in 1878 he made a of the first to introduce the employment of tour of the Continent with his former pupil the microscope for the practical illustration and assistant, Michael Foster. While on of his lectures. For this purpose he employed this trip he contracted a bronchitis that a revolving table which still exists in the proved stubborn. After it was finally over- physiological laboratory of University Col- come he had aged considerably and a lege. As experimental equipment became recurrence of an attack in March, 1880, more abundant in later years, Sharpey proved fatal. He died sitting in his chair continued to make physiology as practical about 11:00 o’clock at night April n. His as possible. For thirty-eight years he held body was returned to Arbroath for burial. the position as professor of physiology in He had a host of friends among former University College, resigning in 1874 students and men of science. Long before because of his age and ill health. he retired (1869), his friends and former Sharpey’s laboratory, therefore, became pupils showed their regard for his services an active one under his direction and it is at the college and to science by raising a significant as being one of the first physio- sum of money for endowing a Sharpey logical laboratories established. Although Memorial Scholarship in connection with there was instruction in physiology in University College. An oil portrait and a many institutions it was only theoretical marble bust were presented at the same time. Sharpey presented his library to the of teaching with the microscope and revolv- College in 1872 and at his death bequeathed ing table are classical. He was a pioneer in £800 from his small holdings to increase the field and made a great success of it. the endowment of the Sharpey scholarship He lived to see his plan in operation in in physiology. Upon his retirement (1874) all the better schools. That his teaching Gladstone’s government accorded him an was not lost with the day’s work is seen annual premium of £150 because of his emi- by the many contributors from among his nent services as a teacher and man of science. pupils. Lord Lister could not give Sharpey Although not numerous, Sharpey’s con- enough credit for his own success. His tributions deal with a variety of subjects. In stimulus and attachment to science was 1823 he wrote “De Ventriculi Carcinomate”; gained from Sharpey’s lectures and demon- in 1830, “A Probationary Essay, on the strations. Sir Michael Foster, too, was a Pathology and Treatment of False Joints.” product of his work. Even though he had Others of his writings were: ‘‘ On a Peculiar done nothing more, to have credit for Motion Excited in Fluids by the Surfaces launching these two scientific leaders lifts of Certain Animals”; “Remarks on a him far above the average. To Sharpey, Supposed Spontaneous Motion of the teaching was a great delight and he did Blood”; “An Account of Professor Ehren- enough original investigation to measure berg’s Researches on the Infusoria”; “An up to Tyndall’s standard when he said: Account of the Discovery by Purkinje and The original investigator constitutes the Valentin of Ciliary Motions in Reptiles fountain head of knowledge, but it belongs to and Warm Blooded Animals, with Remarks the teacher to give this knowledge the and Additional Experiments”; “Echino- requisite form, an honorable and often difficult dermata.” He edited the fifth, sixth and task. It is a task that receives its final sanctifi- seventh editions of Jones Quain’s “ Elements cation when the teacher himself honestly tries of Anatomy,” and he contributed important to add a rill to the great stream of scientific information to Baly’s translation of Mul- discovery. ler’s Physiology (1837-1840). He wrote an Bibl iogr aph y article published in Brain, entitled “Case Garris on , F. H. History of Medicine. Ed. 3; of Loss of Memory in an Individual Which Phila., 1921. had Come under his Notice in 1824, in Stirlin g , W. Some Apostles of Physiology. Lond., 1902. Which the Lady had to be Completely Nature, Lond., April 17, 1880, xxi, 567. Retaught.” The minute anatomy in Jones Lancet, Lond., April 24, 1880, 1, 662. Quain’s Anatomy was largely written by Brit. M. J., Lond., April 17, 1880, 1, 606. Sharpey, and the “perforating fibers of Med. Times & Gaz., Lond., April 24, 1880, lxxv ii . Sharpey” serve to immortalize his excellent Proc. Roy. Soc., Lond., 1880-1881, xxxi, x. observation of histological structure. Edinb. M. & S. J., 1830, vol. 11. Libb y , W. History of Medicine in Its Salient The name of William Sharpey stands out Features. Bost., 1922. as the father of efficient teaching in physi- Dictionary of Nationary Biography. Lond., 1899. ology in England. His laboratory methods Pater son , R. Life of . Edinb., 1874.