Alfred Baring Garrod

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Alfred Baring Garrod

Sir Alfred Baring Garrod (born May 13, 1819 in Ipswich , † December 28, 1907 in London ) was an English doctor , scientist and university professor. He made decisive contributions in the field of joint diseases ; So he discovered the cause of gout and coined the term " rheumatoid arthritis ". He taught at University College and King's College in London and was a member of the Royal Society .

Life

education

Alfred Baring Garrod was born in Ipswich in 1819 to Sarah and Robert Garrod, a businessman . He began his medical training at the local Ipswich Hospital , but later moved to the University College Hospital in London . His teacher, Charles Scudamore (1779–1849), suffered from gout himself, published articles on the disease and brought Garrod closer to her for the first time. There he completed his Bachelor of Medicine (MB) in 1842 and the Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 1842, each with distinction. He was also awarded the Galen Medal (named after Galenos ) by the Society of Apothecaries (Association of Pharmacists) for his knowledge in the field of botany . He started his first job in the clinical chemistry department at University College Hospital, where he first came into contact with the pathological properties of body fluids . He later gave first lectures at the Aldersgate School and worked as a senior physician at West London Hospital .

Scientific achievement

On February 8, 1848, Garrod gave a public lecture in which he presented one of his greatest scientific achievements for the first time. He showed that patients with gout have increased uric acid levels in their blood . He was also able to differentiate gout directly from other joint diseases that are similar in their appearance. According to today's assessment, Garrod found values ​​in the normal range of 279 μmol / l, but it can be assumed that the test he chose with murexide failed to detect significant amounts of uric acid. At that time he was already working as a senior physician at the University College Hospital, where he devoted himself to research and teaching, and in 1851 was appointed "Professor of Therapy and Clinical Medicine". Garrod later demonstrated that lower concentrations of uric acid also occur physiologically in the blood. In 1854, he also developed a "string test" (Engl .: thread test ) for the diagnosis of gout. A linen thread was placed in blood mixed with acetic acid for several days . The thread could then be examined for urate, the salt of uric acid, using a polarizing microscope . In 1858 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in view of his previous scientific achievements , but his most important contribution to the study of joint diseases was not to follow until 1859. In that year, Garrod defined the term " rheumatoid arthritis " and thus rejected various terms in use at the time such as "rheumatic gout", "chronic rheumatism" or "rheumalgia", as their use and definition were unclear. Garrod's classification and designation is the scientific standard to this day.

Honor and death

In 1860 Garrod was elected chairman of the Medical Society of London . In 1863 he left University College and followed the call to King's College , where he continued to work as a doctor and professor. After he retired in 1874 and continued his private practice, he was still active there as a consultant. In 1887 he was in the equestrian levied and 1890 for Physician Extraordinary to Queen Victoria (specialist personal physician of Queen Victoria appointed). In 1891 he was awarded the first of the newly created Moxon Medals by the Royal College of Physicians for his services to clinical medicine. He died on December 28, 1907 in his daughter's house.

For the most part, Garrod's achievements received the deserved importance and recognition long after his death. It was not until 1960 that urate crystals were discovered in synovial fluid and thus the evidence for Garrod's thesis that gout is caused by an increased uric acid level. In the French spa town of Aix-les-Bains , a street is named after him today.

family

Garrod married Elizabeth Ann Colchester in 1845. With her he had four sons and two daughters, most notably Archibald (physician) and Alfred Henry (zoologist) following their father's scientific example. His wife died in 1891.

Fonts (selection)

  • Observations on the blood and urine of gout, rheumatism and Bright's disease. In: Medical Surgical Transactions, Volume 31, p. 83.
  • Treatise on nature and treatment of gout and rheumatic gout. Walton and Maberly, London 1859.
  • A treatise on gout and rheumatic gout (rheumatoid arthritis). Longman Green, London 1876.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Vinay R Joshi, Vivek B. Poojary: Sir Alfred Baring Garrod. In: Journal of The Association of Physicians of India, Volume 62, pp. 73-74, full text as PDF file (516 kB).
  2. ^ A b c d e f g G. D. Storey: Alfred Baring Garrod (1819–1907). In: Rheumatology , Volume 40, Number 10, pp. 1189-1190, doi: 10.1093 / rheumatology / 40.10.1189 .
  3. ↑ Barbara I. Tshisuaka: Scudamore, Sir Charles. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1312.
  4. ^ Charles Scudamore: Observations on the use of colchicum autumnale in the treatment of gout. London 1825.
  5. ↑ a b c W.Keitel: The High Priest of gout - Sir Alfred baring Garrod (1819 to 1907). In: Zeitschrift für Rheumatologie, Springer Medizin Verlag , Berlin, Volume 68, Number 10, pp. 851-856, doi: 10.1007 / s00393-009-0541-4 .
  6. ↑ a b Obituary - Sir Alfred Barring Garrod. In: British Medical Journal , Volume 1, 1908, pp. 58-59, doi: 10.1136 / bmj.1.2453.58 .
personal data
SURNAME Garrod, Alfred Baring
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English doctor and scientist
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Ipswich , UK
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1907
Place of death London , UK