Richard Lower (medic, 1631)

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Richard Lower

Richard Lower (* 1631 in Tremeer / Bodmin near St Tudy , Cornwall ; † January 17, 1691 in London ) was an English doctor and physiologist who was one of the first to investigate whether the blood of different animals was compatible with one another.

Life

Lower studied at Westminster School , where he met John Locke , and at Oxford University (Christ Church College) with a master's degree (MA) in 1655 and a doctorate in medicine (MD) in 1665. He was a student of Thomas in Oxford Willis , with whom he undertook physiological experiments and whom he followed to London.

In February 1666 he carried out the first successful blood transfusion in two dogs. The transfusion was continued until the donor dog died, the recipient dog is said to have recovered from the procedure. In November 1667 he and Edmund King also demonstrated in front of the Royal Society to a volunteer (an eccentric theology student named Arthur Coga) the transfusion of blood from a sheep into a human. It was hoped that the transfusion would ease his temper. Coga survived (including a second transfusion) but failed in terms of psychological changes. As a result, such experiments were carried out in France and Italy, but medical and theological concerns led to the ban in France.

In 1669 he published his Tractatus de Corde , a treatise on the heart and lungs, in which he showed, among other things, that the light red color of arterial blood comes from the uptake of substances in the air (the blood changed its color after passing through the lungs). He was the first to notice the difference in venous and arterial blood. He also studied the nervous system with Willis and examined the circulation of cerebral and spinal fluid. Among other things, he refuted the assumption that was common at the time that secretions from the nose came from the brain.

On October 17, 1667, he was accepted into the Royal Society at the suggestion of Seth Ward .

After Willis' death in 1675, he had less and less time for experiments, as his medical practice kept busy. Among other things, he was the personal physician of Charles II , whom he treated in 1685 for his last, fatal illness.

Fonts (selection)

  • The method observed in transfusing the blood out of one live animal into another. In: Phil. Transact. Volume 1, 1665-1666, pp. 353-358.
  • An account of the experiment of transfusion, practiced upon a man in London. In: Phil. Transact. Volume 2, 1667, pp. 557-564.
  • English Artzney booklet . - Leipzig: Gleditsch, 1717. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
    • Th. 1. That is: The world-famous English Medici Mr. D. Loweri, and various other excellent English Medicorum in London, useful, well-established, and many years tried and well-found recipes and medicaments on many people . 6th ed. 1717
    • Th. 2. That is (1.) Ludovici Cornari Consilio and means to live in perfect health for over a hundred years . 1717
  • English Artzney booklet: di: of the world-famous English Medici Mr. D. Loweri, and various other excellent English Medicorum in London, useful, well-established and many years tried and well-found recipes and medicaments on many people . - Leipzig: Weidmann, [circa 1730]. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf

literature

  • Tubbs, R Shane; Loukas Marios, Shoja Mohammadali M, Ardalan Mohammad R, Oakes W Jerry (August 2008): Richard Lower (1631–1691) and his early contributions to cardiology. In: Int. J. Cardiol. (Netherlands) 128 (1): 17-21.
  • Barbara I. Tshisuaka: Lower, Richard. 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. 867 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ First blood transfusion in animals at user-uni-bremen.de. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 11, 2010 ; Retrieved April 6, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www-user.uni-bremen.de
  2. ^ King, Of the Experiment of Transfusion, practiced upon a Man in London , Philosophical Transactions Royal Society, December 9, 1667
personal data
SURNAME Lower, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English medic
DATE OF BIRTH 1631
PLACE OF BIRTH St Tudy , Cornwall
DATE OF DEATH January 17, 1691
Place of death London