Luther Emmett Holt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
L. Emmett Holt

Luther Emmett Holt (mostly: L. Emmett Holt ; born March 4, 1855 in Webster , New York, † January 14, 1924 in Beijing , China) was an American pediatrician and university professor. Holt was a pioneer in pediatrics , best known for his books The Care and Feeding of Children (1894) and The Diseases of Infancy and Childhood (since 1896).

life and work

Holt, the son of a well-off farmer, was born in a small town in upstate New York . He attended schools in his hometown of Webster and studied at the Collegiate Institute in Marion and at the University of Rochester , where he graduated in 1875. After further studies at the University at Buffalo and the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University , he received his doctorate in 1880.

After graduating, Holt turned to pediatrics - a specialization that had not yet been formally recognized. His jobs were initially his own pediatric practice, the New York Infant Asylum in Mount Vernon and the New York Nursery and Children's Hospital .

In 1884 Holt was involved in founding the first pediatric journal in the United States, the Archives of Pediatrics , which he published himself for many years. In 1888 he was a founding member of the American Pediatric Society, the first American organization for scientific pediatrics; twice he was elected president of this institution (1897 and 1923).

In 1889, Holt took over the management of the Babies Hospital (today: Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital ) at Columbia University, which he reorganized and made the most renowned children's hospital in the country in the following years. In order to combat the gonorrhea bacteria that are widespread in the wards , he introduced special examinations and hygiene measures there. Other hospitals soon followed suit.

In 1894, Holt published his book The Care and Feeding of Children , with which he tried to popularize his scientific insights into infant care, especially infant nutrition. The work that Holt had originally intended for the training of pediatric nurses quickly became a bestseller and remained so until Benjamin Spock ( Infant and Child Care ) campaigned in 1946 to ensure that mothers no longer follow strict "scientific" routines for their babies fed, but relied on their intuition.

Holt's multi-volume textbook Diseases of Infancy and Childhood , which began to appear in 1896, became the standard work of pediatrics for several decades. In 1901 he followed a call as professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, where he took the vacant chair of Abraham Jacobi . He stayed here until 1922.

A particular concern of Holt was the reduction of infant mortality in his adopted home New York City. Due to bacterially contaminated milk, this was particularly high. With financial support from the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research , he and William H. Park carried out a major survey of the quality of the milk sold in neighborhood stores, and in 1903 was able to prove that the majority of infant deaths were due to high levels of bacteria. The city's health authority then introduced a milk inspection system.

Holt was Treasurer and Vice President of the New York Academy and, since 1919, President of the Child Health Organization , which became the American Child Health Association in 1923 .

At the age of 68, Holt went to China in 1923 for the Rockefeller Institute, whose board he had been a member since 1891, to give lectures at the Peking Union Medical College. Shortly before his planned return, he died of a heart attack there.

Holt was married and lived with his family on a farm in Pleasantville, near New York.

Publications

  • The Care and Feeding of Children. A Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children's Nurses . New York, D. Appleton and Company 1894 ( gutenberg.org ).
  • The Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. A Textbook for the Use of Students and Practitioners of Medicine . D. Appleton and Company, New York / London 1897 ( archive.org ).

Awards

  • Honorary Doctorate from Rochester University (1902)
  • Honorary Doctorate from Columbia University (1904)
  • Honorary Doctorate from Brown University (1914)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lynn M. Barton, Joan E. Sassone, Mary Hasek Grenier: Webster . Arcadia, Charleston, SC, etc. a. 2010, ISBN 978-0-7385-7254-3 , pp. 18 .
  2. ^ A b Rose O'Keefe: Historic Genesee Country . A Guide to Its Lands and Legacies. The History Press, Charleston, SC 2010, ISBN 978-1-61423-129-5 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Dr Emmett Holt (1855–1924) and the foundation of North American paediatrics  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / fn.bmjjournals.com  
  4. ↑ Lynn Sacco: Unspeakable . Father-Daughter Incest in American History. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2009, ISBN 0-8018-9300-3 , pp. 97 f .
  5. ^ Richard A. Meckel: Save the Babies . American Public Health Reform and the Prevention of Infant Mortality, 1850-1929. Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1990, ISBN 0-472-08556-5 , pp. 122 .
  6. ^ Edwards A Parks, Howard H. Mason: Luther Emmett Holt . Pediatric Profiles. Borden Smith Veeder (1957, p. 35-41 . ; Richard A. Meckel: Save the Babies . American Public Health Reform and the Prevention of Infant Mortality, 1850-1929. Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1990, ISBN 0-472-08556-5 , pp. 88 .
personal data
SURNAME Holt, Luther Emmett
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holt, L. Emmett (more common spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pediatrician
DATE OF BIRTH March 4, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Webster (New York)
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1924
Place of death Beijing , China