Dr. Thomas Addison 1795-1860: Agitating the Whole Medical World

Dr. Thomas Addison 1795-1860: Agitating the Whole Medical World

Dr. Thomas Addison (1795-1860): Agitating the Whole Medical World presents Dr. Addison's life story, considers his reception during his lifetime, and recognizes his profound contributions to modern medicine. Dr. Addison weathered five years of scorching criticism from peers for asserting that the adrenal glands were essential to life and that diseased adrenal glands could darken a white person's skin to mulatto hues. History validated his discoveries, which led other investigators to isolate and identify epinephrine, the adrenocortical steroids, and even vitamin B12. DR. THOMAS ADDISON (1795–1860) Agitating the Whole Medical World By Margaret R. O'Leary iUniverse LLC Copyright © 2013 Margaret R. O'Leary, MD All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4917-0770-8 Contents Preface, ix, Prologue, xiii, Chapter One: Boyhood in North East England, 1795–1801, 1, Chapter Two: Formal Education in North East England, 1801–1812, 17, Chapter Three: University of Edinburgh Medical School, 1812–1815, 33, Chapter Four: London Lock Hospital and Carey Street Public Dispensary, 1815–1823, 47, Chapter Five: Guy's Hospital, 1824–1829, 75, Chapter Six: Guy's Hospital, 1830–1839, 91, Chapter Seven: Guy's Hospital, 1840–1848, 127, Chapter Eight: Guy's Hospital, 1849–1855, 141, Chapter Nine: On Disease of the Suprarenal Capsules, 1855–1859, 157, Chapter Ten: Addison's Final Year of Life, 1859–1860, 197, Chapter Eleven: Adjusting to Addison's Death, 1861–1865, 207, Chapter Twelve: What Addison Wrought: The History of Addison's Disease, 1866–circa 1950, 217, Chapter Thirteen: What Addison Wrought: The History of Addison's Anemia, 1855–circa 1970, 237, Chapter Fourteen: An Addisonian Teaching Case: John F. Kennedy, 265, Bibliography, 277, Index, 297, About the Author, 333, CHAPTER 1 Boyhood in Northeast England, 1795–1801 Thomas Addison was born in early October of 1795 in the livingquarters in the two-story brick building of his parents' grocery storein Long Benton village, Northumberland, Northeast England. TheReverend John Squarey Clapp (1757–1830), vicar of Benton parish,christened infant Thomas on October 11, 1795. Benton parish (alsoknown as Benton Long parish or Long Benton parish) was an Anglicanparish in the Church of England's diocese of Durham. At the timeof Thomas's christening, George III of the United Kingdom (1738–1820,reigned 1760–1820) ruled his kingdom and President GeorgeWashington (1732–1799, served 1789–1797) governed the fledglingUnited States of America. Thomas's parents were Joseph Addison (1756–1823) and Sarah Shaw(1760–1841). They married on February 21, 1793, in Benton parishchurch at the ages of thirty-eight and thirty-four, respectively. ReverendClapp may have conducted the marriage ceremony. Sarah Shaw was thedaughter of a Long Benton village grocer who died not long before sheand Joseph wed. "The marriage was of mutual advantage to both andproved to be the turn in Joseph's fortunes," because "through it he came tobe a person of some importance in the village," wrote Charles M. Brooks. Thomas had only one older brother and no sisters. His brother Johnwas christened by the Reverend Clapp on April 13, 1794. Joseph andSarah were members of the Benton parish church, which had undergoneextensive rebuilding and a rededication to Saint Bartholomew onNovember 2, 1791. Responsibility for the church's upkeep belonged tothe master and fellows of Balliol College (founded in 1263) in Oxford,England. In the year 1339/1340 AD, Philip Somervyll of Wykenore, inthe county of Staff ord, had granted the parish church and some lands toBalliol College. The church stands in a valley about two furlongs (one-fourthmile) north of Long Benton village. "This inconvenient site istraditionally said to have been chosen to accommodate the inhabitantsof Killingworth, or perhaps it was impossible to obtain a buryingground in the village, in consequence of the rock approaching so nearthe surface," noted John Besley in the Desultory Notices of the Churchand Vicarage of Long Benton published in 1883. In 1792, Joseph Addison, Sarah Shaw, and other parishioners ofBenton parish (population then about fifty-five hundred souls) welcomedReverend Clapp as their new vicar. Clapp's patron was Balliol College.Clapp was born in Bickleigh near Newton St. Cyres, Devon, in SouthWest England; earned baccalaureate and masters degrees at Balliol Collegein Oxford; and was a Latin master at Lostwithiel Grammar School inLostwithiel, Cornwall, among other positions, before moving to LongBenton village to serve as vicar. In 1794, he returned briefly to Cornwallto wed twenty-four-year-old Susan Stukes Hoblyn (1770–1858) of EastNewlyn. He brought her back to Benton parish to live in the amplevicarage (about one acre for the house and the garden) in Long Bentonvillage. By 1800, they had produced two sons (John Charles, 1795, andWilliam Murray, 1798) and two daughters (Eleanor Murray, 1796, andAnn Jane, 1800). The Addison a