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130 SIR ALMROTH WRIGHT (1861 - 1947) . Sir WILFRED FISH C.B.E., M.D., D.Se., F.D.S.R.C.S. Honorary ConsultanUn Dental Surgery to the Army
To say that Almroth Wright was the man who made the 1914-18 war possible is no doubt an exaggeration and is as provocative as he himself could be upon occasion. • But there is no doubt that Wright's work on anti-typhoid inoculation saved hundreds of thousands of lives. It began at Netley in 1893 when Haffkine, the Russian bac teriologist, who had worked with Pasteur,'visited the Army Medical College, and it was brought to a brilliant and successful conclusion during the 1914-18 war .. Wright was both a clinician and a laboratory worker and he had ·a simple formula which enabled him to perform this dual role: he did his clinical work in the day-time and spent moSt of the night in his laboratory. It is true that the constant clinical challenge of diseases for which medicine had as yet no cure,.': the pain in the mind" asCole- . brook describes it, spurred him on to greater effort, but he loved a fight as much as guest. Protected by copyright. any man, and the conquest of typhoid in the 1914-18 war was almost as much the result of his determin~d advocacy as of his unrivalled skill and brilliant scientific imagination in the laboratory. In the .course of the controversy he was. lost to the ArmybutJound a per:manent home, honour, and great opportunities forservice~at S1, Mary's Hospital. . H~ was one of the last survivors of what the Cavendish Laboratory called the sealing wax and string era that ended for physics in 1914 but persisted in biological research until after the last war. In the '20s and '30s a biological laboratory could be equipped for a few hundred pounds. A microscope of simple design, an incubator, a microtome, a few reagents and some glassware would suffice; but just so much more depended on the inventive genius and originality of the worker himself. Arid it was here that Almroth Wright excelled: . His incredible skill in making and mampulating
his minute pipettes and microscopic cells with hands, large and apparently clumsy http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ but in fact sensitive and wonderfully controlled, was only exceeded by the sheer ingenuity of the devices. themselves...... ' . It may be true that he who would command must first learn to obey, but Almroth Wright is a notable example of the fallacy that he who would lead must first learn to follow. He had a wonderful flair for inspinrig loyalty and enthusiasm. in his staff but he was himself only happy when he was the l~ader. He was well aware of the responsibilities of leadership." At St. Mary's he gathered his own team around him, founded his clinic and then, since he had only two rooms to accommodate the six or seven virtually unpaid workers,' several visiting scientists, and the. rapidiy growing'
. clime, he collected the money to rent some. empty wards from ,the hospital and fit' on October 5, 2021 by them out as laboratories. There he continued to inspire his team to seek new means of securi~g specific immunity to bacterial disease. During the first war the resources of the departmental staff were devoted to making anti-typhoid vaccine and after the war this became a means o(financing their research work. The research· output is known J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-107-01-37 on 1 January 1961. Downloaded from
, Sir Wilfred Fish 131
to everyone: the discov~ry by Wright ~nd Douglas of th~ opsonic index and its use in /' controlling the dosage of vaccines, Freeman's work on the desensitization of hay fever patients with 'extracts of grass pollen, Wright ~md Fleming's work on wound infectiQn in,Boulogne at\13 General Hospital where other menibers'of the I!loculation Depart ment soon joined them, Colebrook's work with Fry and Hare on puerperal sepsis culminating in the use of the sulphanilamides for the infection, and, of course,' Fleming's discovery, of lysozyme in 1922 and of penicillin in 1928. More recently .still the production of virus vaccine against influenza has been developed. How then cap. one reconcile the role of an original thinker reflecting on the abstract problems of research with that of a man of action,collecting funds to build a research institute and forcing political issues at the highest levels? In fact there is no real conflict. The disciplines of research are jus,t as strict and the objective must be pursued, with the same brand of indomitable determination as must the purpose of any political or business engagement. The same courage is needed, the same qualities ofleadership and the same stamina. Almroth Wright had them all. He was a man of exceptional ' insight and quick understanding. He could concentrate for long periods on an elusive sequence of ideas; but always with aconstructive purpose. All his scientific specula~ guest. Protected by copyright. tion, supported by superb t~chnical skill and by great ingenuity, had a practical, trend which earned for him a place among the' greatest benefactors of ,mankind whilst he was still in'the prime of life ..
Sir ZACHARY -COPE B.A., M.D., M.S., F.R.C.S. Consulting Surgeon to St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington Almroth Edward Wright was one of the most notable figures, perhaps the most notable figure, in the medico-scientific world during the first two decades of this century. He-had a double connection with the Royal Army Medical Corps. From 1892 to 1902 he was professor of Pathology at the Army Medical School at Netley; and during the course of the First-World War he served in France with the rank of Colonel, doing important research work on the bacteriology of wounds. Al roth lIl http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ Wright was the second of five sons of the Rev. Charles H. H. Wright, a Hebrew an~ Arabic scholar who was also a militant Protestarit and a powerful conttoversialist: His mother was the daughter of Professor Nils Almroth, Governor of the Royal Mint in Stockholm; 9uring the Crimean War she' had accompanied Lady Alicia Blackwood to Scutari, had met Florence Nightingale and done some nursing. : With such parents it was ho surprise that four out of five sons' attained distinguished positions,nor that, , Almroth Edward; the most distinguished of the group, had rather an independent and combative disposition, andthroughout his professional life maintained a prote~ tant attitude towards what he regarded as'the most unscientific methods ~f the prac- tising clinicians. It is 'true that at the turn ofthecentury medicine was still in the ' on October 5, 2021 by \ , therapeutic doldrums, but it was on the e~e ofa great stride forwards in which the- discoveries ofWright took a: prominent place. ' During Alniroth Wright's childhood his father held in succession posts in Y ()rk shire, Dresden, Boulogne, and Belfast, so that it was no wonder that he learnt to s~eak J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-107-01-37 on 1 January 1961. Downloaded from
132 Sir Almroth Wrighi .
. \ ... , French and German fluently. Atthe ageoL13 he attended the Belfast Academic Institute where he was well grounded in the classics. At the. age of 17 he 'proceeded to . Trinity College Dublin, where' he took courses in modern literature' and medicine . . I~ 1882 he took his Arts degree, wil1ning the Gold Medal and in the following year he qualified inm~dicine. Doubtful as to his future he asked Professor Dowden whether he 'ought to pursue literature or medicine as a career. Dowden advised him to practise medicine and, enjoy literature, as a pastime. . . For the next six years he increased his knowledge in many ways. With a travelling' scholarship he was able to visit L~ipzig and learn from Cohnheim, Weigert and Ludwig. A year later he, gained a law studentshipand for a year studied law .. Then .. - apparently still undecided as to his future career he entered the Higher Civil Service and was posted to the Admiralty; he ,occupied his spare' time in working at the Brown Institute wh~re he met Victor Horsley and L. c. W ooldridge.' He soon tired of the Civil Service and became demonstrator, first of pathology and-then oq>hysiology, at Cambridge University, following this, wi,ththe aId 9fa scholarship of the Grocers' . Company, by another visit to scientific centres in Europe, In 1889 he. married Jane. , Georgina Wilson, a Ca~bridge graduate, ana accepted the post, of demonstrator of.. physiology at, Sydney University. It was ~hile there and for the benefit of his infant guest. Protected by copyright. child that he devised the valuable method of citrating milk so as to prevent its clotting. in bulk in the st()mach. Two yearsiater he returned to England and f()r a time carried out research work at the, laborat?ry of the two Roya1 Colleges established under Professor Sims W oodhead. In a peri()d of two years he published eleven papers of scientific worth chiefly dealing with the coagulation of the blood. Th~n came what he always regarded as a piece of good fortline. He was offered the post of Professor / of Pathology atthe Army Medical School at Netley. This was the turning point of his life which enabled him to devote a considerable part of his time to research.· From now onwards his single,aim was to advance medicine by scientific means. For 50 years' his life was dedicated to research, chiefly into the problem of therapeutic . immunization, and scarcely anything was allowed to stand in its' way. At Netleyhe had as pupils many' brilliant young men who responded well to his enthusiastic stimulation. Himself encouraged by a visit paid to Netley by Haffkine; http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ he began to experiment on ways of producing immunity against infection .with the typhoid bacillus. He devised simple methods of measuring the patient's i~sistance to the bacillus, and' experimented on, himself and volunteers to 'show that the injection of killed typhoid organisms produced an increased anti-bacterial power in, the blood' against the typhoid bacillus. He was thus convinyed that protection a~ainst typhoid fever could. be produced by inoculation with this vaccine,' but he had some difficulty in persuading the army authorities to try the vacCine on troops. In the Boer War anti-typhoid inoculation was not compulsory, but its protective power in those who were voluntarily inoculated was demonstrated. Further proofs onts protective power
soon accumulated and everyone knows,how;by the use of preventive inoculation, on October 5, 2021 by typhoid fever in the .First World War diminished in incidence and severity .with the 'consequentsaving of many lives..' . ..' This was perhaps the most spectacular of all Wright's achievements, But this suctess was not complete for another 15 years, His reputation .was .now increasing and , ~.: , " J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-107-01-37 on 1 January 1961. Downloaded from
: SirZachary, Cope- , 133;
· from-';l898 to J900>heserved onih~:lndiimPl~gUe C~mmissi6n;-NeveFtheless:per haps because of the slow. acceptance, of hHi work on typhoid by the Army, Wright - was not entirely happy at Netley, and. wl1en in. 1902. the post of pathologist at St .. Mary'sHospitaI,Paddington, fell vacant and was offered to l).im, he ~ccepted,,::ith · alacrity .. He now had the chance to develop, under favourable circumstances, the ,lines of research which he had already'begun. • ,. , His impact6n the hospital and medical schoolto which he_came was remarkable. The. writer happened tobe~memberpfthefirst class which Wright took at St. Mary's. ' - His lectures were enthralling and held the students with such .rapt attention'that one · could have heard a pin drop. His s6ft melodious voice, his conversational manner c(rriecl on without the aid of a single .note, his obvious depth ~>f knowledge and keen ness to impart it; combined to make him an outstanding .and 'convinCing teacher, SOy convincing indeed that one. student who was' a doubting Thomas said once that he' .' was not going toa lecture byWright, for (he complained)" He always convinces me of something which I know t6 be untrue." . On the research side Wrightsoon made his in:tluence felt. Itwas no sllrprise-that
many brilliant workers were attracted to work in'the laboratories under his guidance. guest. Protected by copyright. · In the early years his dosest colleague was CaptainS. R. Douglas who had come with .him from Netley, but soon many young men joined the devoted band.bfworkers-,-:., J. H: Wells, John Freeman, Alexander Fleming, W .. Parry Morgan,Leonard Cole brook~ John ,Matthews~nd mai1yother~. These gifted and enthusiastic men worked · day arid night -in the outpatient. department and tIie'laboratories, helping- Wright to extend- the range ·of vaccine therapy (or therapeuticimmttnization) .to one organism .. after another-the staphylococcus, the '. streptococcus, the tubercle bacillus,. the, influenzabaciilus and so forth. Vaccine-therapy soon established itself all over the . '~orld. In 1906 ,this pioneer work of Wright was recognized oy his being elected a " . Fellow of the Royal Society and by the conferment. of a knighthood upon him, In.,: 1911 Wright wentto South Africa to investIgate the outbreak of pneumonia among the .. native workers in the mines. By in:otulation he somewhat reduced the incidince'of the .... disease but. ~t was left to Dr. -(later Sir) Spencer. Lister to. differentiate the, types of _ '
pnimin:oc6ccus aUdto increase the benefit of inoculation. Meanwhile the Inoculation http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ . Department ,at St. Mary's was -flourishing and funds for scholarships and research were provided by gifts from generous donors, and ruso ~y the. sale of vaccines. In the Great War Wright and his co:workers played an: important part in improving the. treatment 'of -wounds. .H.is brilliant, ,assistant Alexander 'Fleming showed con~ elusively that.most of the commonly used antiseptics when applied to wounds;did harm to the tissues and even encouraged the gTowth\;f septic microbes. Wright showed in additio~ thatstale serum was suitable material in which micr~besmight · flourish, and he recommended that by applying hypeI'tonic salt solution afree flow of fresh serum with anti-bacterialprope,rties should be obtained." T~s started the \treatment of wounds by hypertoQic salt solution which was often or benefit and had a :.;. on October 5, 2021 by . vogue for a time. '. Wright also. tried, though withollt success; to persuade the .authori tie~ to appoint 'a scientific staff who ~hould investigate all the available methods of,· treating wounds and determine which was the best method which then,would be accepted oy all servingmedlcru officers. I ,,' ,/' :i ''.., J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-107-01-37 on 1 January 1961. Downloaded from
, '/ ~Up to. 1914Wright had aco.nsiderable co.ns'tlltingprivate practice b4thegave this, " , up when, he {Qund itinterfered with'his i'esear~hes. He w'as ~pP9inted Dlrecto.ro.f " ",Bacterio.lo.gy : under t~e MedicalResearch,~Co.uricilquta:t •th,e end o.fthe War, he, ret~rned fro.m Fran<;:e to. the )abo.ratories at, St.'¥ary's. He had,beenho.no.llred with the CB. in 1915'andat the end o.fthe War he was made a Knight Co.mmander , o.f-the British Empire; In 1927 he retired from his';chair at St. Mary's:b~t contin~ed , as; Principal o.f the Institute o.f Research which he had built up; Thene\Vchem:o.-, 'therapeu.tlc drugs were investigated in his labo.rato.ries, and his assistant,Leo.nard : :\ Coleorook, working tllere and at Queen Charlottes Hospital laboratories, showed the great vallle of the,sclpho.namides in the prevention and cure of puerperal fever and /o.ther strepto.co.ceal'i11fyctio.ns;When Alexand(fr Fleming disco.vered penicillin in ' ,Wright's!abo.ratories,'Wrightdid not, at first take an~ctive P~llt in that line o.f research, but whell/at'alater date there was so.me danger tha~ the full credit o.f the disco.very , ,might no.t be given to.'Fleming, Wright at. o.ncewro.te to. The Times and calledattentio.n to the claims' of his, colleague. ,He was rightly prcmd of the achievements of ;his junio.r ' 'icolleagues, two.o.fwhom (Co.lebro.ok and, Fleming) were elected ,Fello.ws 'Of the Royal
"So.ciety. In: the ,last decade o.f his life Wright successfully~ underwent'. an o.peratio.n fo.r guest. Protected by copyright. 'gall"sto.nes. He died o.n 30th April, 1947; at his ho.me at Farnham Commo.n., Lidy , Wrighthad died in'1926., They had two. sons and a daughter. " ' " ,AlmrQth Wright was a genius but like many a genius ,he held SQme uno.rtho.dQx' "" views: He didnotthinkhighlyof mathematic~is an intellectual ifursuit, and ,11e had a , lowopiniQn of statistics ias amethQd Qf ascertaining, the truth ,of a proPQsition:He" . believed the, male intellect, was iri general super~o.r to. that o.fthy female; was, stro.ngly, , , ,o.ppo.sed to. giving the vote to. wo.men, and justified this iria :lo.ng letter to. , The Times (in ,1917) and by publishing (in 1913) a, b60.k The Unexpurgated C(lse' against Woman Suffrage. He even publicly debated the question with Bernatd Shaw.' " ,I, ,'. ." , , The debate was held at se Mar)r's :Hbspital M~dical School and was the mQst interest:· /, 'iilgdebate 1 have ever heard~ Bo.thprQtagQ'nists made brilliimt spe~ches and thQugh 'Wrigbt gained the victoryofvo.tes, o.nthe wb6le,ho.nourswere easy. Reading Wright's' .. arguments at thepreseIit dayo.ne can seethat many o.fthemhave' already beenfa1sifie~L
Wrightwro.te a nUInberQfbo.o.ks and tdo.kendless tro.tibleso. that they sho.uldexpress http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ hi~ thought c1eaily .. StrangelyenQugll by coining many new terms which WQuld .expresshis ideasm:o~ec1ear1y hesQmetimes made it moredifficultfpr the ordinary reader; He justifiedthisbY'saying ",circumlo.cutiQn is everywhere a t~mporary, arid at , all times adifficult,expedient; and the use .o.f mathematicai signs as a substiiutef~r , / ' ' , " " ' . " , speech canbedefen:qed o.nly in the c::ase 'of the inarticulate classtls oftheleai:ned." This justification was made in~his reniarkab~e boo.k the Principles of Micros~opy, ,,', \,' ,publl,shed i~ 1906,in which he'ingeniouslyexplainedthevisua:lphenQm,enaconnected , with themicrQscQpe wifhQut calling to. I}isaid'either advanced mathematics or co.mplicated physics. .' , . , . . .. / In1909 he brought out his well~kno.wnStudies in/Therapeutic lritmunization which, on October 5, 2021 by cQntained an acco.unt o.f the principalwQrk which: had.been done in his labo.rato.ries during the previQus ,years. In 1906-7 he had published The Principles of Vaccine- . . . '. / ~" ,.', . ,: '. . . . .' .... -, . . Therapy .. Tpe. technique whic,h 'Wright used was. simple, ingenious, original and full· ofnea,t 'cQntrivances ;in order to' make it generally kn;Qwn he and his cQlleague,Leonard, , ".. ',' \ \. . , ,.
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, , ,'I"~ "'Sir Zachary Cope
C~lebrook published the Technique ofthe1'batCl~d C~illary Pip~tte which~~plained " each iminceuvre plainly." A se<:6ndedition<.was called for in 1921 : During the, First' --World War (in ,1915) Wr,ight pub,lished his views •on Wound Infection. In' connection ,- with this subjecthehada\contr(}v~rsywithSir Watson Cheyneinwhich Wrighfdealt -,' some hard'blows,some thought t60hard. \ ' /, ' ' -\'" Duril1g the last years ofhis life Wright thought.long and wrote sloWly and carefully , " oritheattairiment of truth. The book which he waswritingwas'notfinished, but the ~aterial was edited, aJIdpubiished,by ,his grandson. 'The titl~ was" Alethetropic Logic/' the first word being deriyedfrom two Greek words meaning "leading toJruth.'" It is not. an easy book to read,andit is/f
I length from ShakesPeani, Milton, Dante~' and ,ofmodem poets, Rudyard Kipling; guest. Protected by copyright. He onces~id that he would rather have written Romeo and Julietthan have done all the scientific work he had do~e. He' was 'very sensitive to great music buthe'$eldom went to concerts. Bern~fd Shaw meant one of the characters in The D~ctor's bilemm~ to representWright; who went to see the play but came out lialf~ay through. _'" His predominantly scientific bent made him a little scornful of theclinician~s methods. -Perhaps if he had hadaiarger clinicar'expe'rience before starting his scienti fic ,work he might have beell a littleinore le~ient. As it wa~, ~hen he failed to obtain definite experimental proof he sometimes fell back on what he termed, ", experiential" methods' of proof which; in substance, were not ~ofar from the clil1ician's ,clinical experience. Many honours Were showered uponhim, indudingthe Buchanan Medal onhe Royal Society, theyqthergillian Medal6fthe Medical Society'o(London, and ~" the_ medal of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was awardedhononlry degrees at , the Universiti~s, of Dublin, Leeds, Paris; Edinburgh, Helfast and Bu..enos Aires.
" 10.1931 he was made ah Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, an honour which http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ he very much appredat~d.', 'The following year he was made a Fello~ 'of the Royal. College of Physicians ofIreland andin .1938 tile Royal College of Physicians of London elected him a Fellow. " , . Sir A.lmroth Wright ~ill for ,everb~ known as the aj)ostleof vaccLne~tlierapy who, extended widely the principle ,fitst demonstrated, scientifically by thavwonderfttl genius Louis Pasteur. ,W;right founded and established on a secure foundation an ' -Institute of Pathology and, Research which is now' k~own by his name and by that' of - his celebrated collc~agrie aQd former pupilSir'Alexander Flemlng. On the centenary " Of his birth it iiuight.that the Royal Army;Medicai Corps sh
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\ I 136 st, 'AlmrOih Wright ColonelA. C. H.G-RAY p.RE.,M.B., M.R.C.S.; late R.A.M.C. retired, , L/:zte Director ofPathology 'Wherr I joined the Corps in 1903 typhoid inocul~tion,that is to say, the injection . under the. skin of a killed. suspension of B .. typhosus, was well under. way. It was · initiated and started by A,lmroth Wright when h~ was professor of pathology in t~e Army MediCal SchOol; Netley, from 1892 to 1902. The good wO,rk was carried on by . Leishlllan, Harvey arid others .. By the time the war,calllein i914 ~ large proportion · ofthe Army was'protected against typhoid fever. If Almroth Wright had never done" anything else, this ,alone would have brought him fame. . .' . . I was in 'charge of a" mobile laboratory" in France in the first war and used to see SirAlmroth at No. 1 Casualty Clearing Station ata phice calledChocques on the .' road to Bethune. He would come into my J~boratory and help me withblo'od cultures · in suspected "typhoid" cases. In early 1915 there wasstillqu"ite a 101 of typhoid . fever inBelgium andwe were both kept busy. So far asI remember, he did not stay in France yery long; he soon went back to England t6 do even more important work. Whenever I think of Sir Almroth Wright in connection wim the Corps, I always guest. Protected by copyright. 'aphesame time thlnkof Sir David 'Bruce. I knew Sir Almroth fairly well intho,se early days,and Sir David very well. .Both had a great deal to do with the Corps, and bothattained scientific ~minence in a high degree. Sir David"was the, older by some six years, but when one looks into things more closely, the likeness between these two men is not so obvious. Sir Almroth was a wonderful laboratory worker with unrivalled techniques, .but I would not lIke to say the same for SirDa~id: ' Lady . Bruce did all his laboratory work With great precision, and without her, in my opinion, Sir David would never have. reached so exalted a position in th~ scientific world as' he 'eventually did" SirAlmroth had a great wit and sometimes a caustic tongue, which / , he knew well how to use, and he had a host of friends, whereas, as far as I' could see, . Sir David had but few and seem~d tome quite devoid' of any sense of. humour. http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ on October 5, 2021 by J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-107-01-37 on 1 January 1961. Downloaded from guest. Protected by copyright. http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/
SIR ALMROTH WRIGHT ' K.B .E., C.B. , F.R.S. on October 5, 2021 by J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-107-01-37 on 1 January 1961. Downloaded from guest. Protected by copyright. http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/
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", Obituary i.39 / ,. Brigadier A', ',E: RICHMOND/ , . C.B.R,D.P.H.
, ARTHUR Ilichmond, who died in January iliisyear, was the last Director' of Hygie~e .' ,~t the War Office~andthefirst Director of Army Health. Thistranslation he'hi~seif engineered, as his devotion to ,the dynamic ,concept' of" positiveh,ealth" emerged' , from a professiQnallifetime ~()fpfeventive medicine~ His splendid pers(jnal;qualiti~s ' have beenextblled elsewhereH ; and'there is a danger·tliat these.nught overshad,ow " thegreat~practical ,contribution he made'towards ,the organiiation of the Army:s health. '" '" ' , ',', ' , ' , '" Heq\iallfied at St. Thomas' Ijospitai jO'1915 and served for ,the restoHhe.First ·WbddWar and.i:yea'rbeyond in the Middle East-and, Egypt; In 1921 \he obtained th~ D.P.H., thereafter being posted t() India; artdin1923he'obtairied theD.T:M. Between the wars he exhlbited acath6lic taste in' hischbsen discipline. ' With McCrombieYoung and Brendish he was a meml?er ofa,c~mmissioo set up in 1925 '" \ 5 'tostudysaodfly feyer jn PeshawaLTheir,report , which' bears his hall-mark; is a I, m~sterlystatemeot of a painstaking and pioneer-investigation. In ,1930. he .carried
, out "''Yith meticulous care and exactness",applied physiological' eJ,Cperime~ts ina , guest. Protected by copyright. . comparative trial of three types ,of stretcher ,slings6.: While Assistaillt Professor pf' "Hygiene at the-Royal Ar\nyMedicai College, Millbank,'anappointment he, assumed
in 1936" he published a survey of hl~ln,utrition7 itridan exhaustive review of carli~n, ,I . monoxide pois()ning8• Hea1so directed the, deyelopment, over two years; of the MillbankHof Air.,DiS:infestor and Drying Machine9" which was' \Videty used in,the: field until D.I);T. came' into use. ,'" , , ',',' In 1940he became Deputy Dfrectorof Hygiene to the Middle E~stForces, where " 'he remained untiU946. Here his"gteatpersonalcharm, his exceptional capacity for ' , inspiring lqyalty and enthusiasm, arid his quiet; confidence born of long. and wide ' ' .. ; 'experience; assured that' everything possible was done to maintain and enhance the •health ,of theForce.s~Th~s militaryrachievementinvolved the acceptance of personal and 'communal health'disciplines by many different alliedtr60ps h?~whom they were' sometimes n6vel ideas. Buthe and ,his staff also assumedresponsibilityfortheheafth supervision of occupied enemy countries arid of enormous indigenOUS l~bourforces; ," http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ and at .the same time th~ built upa most effiCient industrial hygiene organization to ';", ' cope with the hazards'ofa mechnizedwar. The full scope of theseco1l}mitmentsis' , admirably reviewerlby Richmond ana Gear10 and this paper is re'warding reading" Ln ith'eis already revealing his delight" abo~e all, in the~: positi~l!pictu~eof health and" vigour shown by the s()lrliers. ' ..." ., , '
------~-'--- --.~ --- ~~-.-.-.-. '.:..~ - -- --~~-- :--.'- 1 Ltlncet(1961). 1,176-177. " , 2 Brit. med. J. (1961). 1,216 and436. 3, Army Medical Services 'Magazine (1961). XIII 2, 50.
I, 4 Med.Offr. (1961); CV 42. ,', ' / on October 5, 2021 by 5 Indian J. rtled.res. (1925). 13,961-1021. 6 J; roy; Armymed.Cps. (1932). 59, 1~13: 7 ,ibid.. (1939).' 72,,361-373.- ' 8 ibid. (1939). 73, 79-95 and 145-160. ibtd. (1940); 74, 121~137., '.' ,,' 10 ibid. (l945);85~ 1~32. ' ,":...,
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140 ,'. Obituary
" In 1945 he was promoted C.B.E.and in 1946 became Director of Hygiene at the War Office. There could not have been a better maI!.in a more useful place ata more . suitable time. For now the war drive was over, it could bea period of consolidation
C.ouncil Committee on Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Vaccines.High-tribute' on October 5, 2021 by
11 . W.O. code No. 6765 (1952). 12 J. roy. Army med. Cps. (1947). 89, 274·289, 13 ibid. (1950) 94, 272-273., ' J R Army Med Corps: first published as 10.1136/jramc-107-01-37 on 1 January 1961. Downloaded from
Obituary 141 has beeh paid to his organization of the Committee's work and, particularly, of the field trials, during the 1957 Asian influenza epidemic14• He also was keenly in terested in the epidemiology of poliomyelitis, which became the subject of a further Chadwick lecture 15 in 1951; and with Bradley16 he completed a study of metereo logical conditions in relation to poliomyelitis in England and Wales for 1947 to 1952. A third interest lay in the pattern and control of Sonne dysentery in England and Wales17' 18; and in many otherfields his wisdom became known and was depended upon. But, having in some measure redressed the balance by this 'catalogue of activity, one is forced back to the realization that it was by his personality that he exerted most influence; and that he achieved his greatest successes in the hearts and minds of those who knew him. He had the humility of the truly great-tenacity without aggression, charm without ingratiation, determination without obsession, exactitude without intolerance, dignity without unfriendliness, power without a hint of corruption -above all, kindness and loyalty. Altogether a gentleman: p.H.D.B. guest. Protected by copyright.
14 Brit. med.l. (1958). 1, 161. , 15 J; roy. Army med. Cps. (1951). 97, 15-33. 16 Mon. Bull. Minist. Hlth. Lab. Serv. (1953). 12~ 2-15. 17 ibid. (1956). 15, 2-6. 18 Med. Offr. (1956). 99,175-181. http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/ on October 5, 2021 by