Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T04:36:23.950Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Golden Age of parasitology-1875–1925: the Scottish contributions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

FRANCIS E. G. COX*
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WCIE 7HT, UK
*
*Corresponding author: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WCIE 7HT, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

Summary

The period 1875–1925 was remarkable in the history of parasitology partly because of the number of significant discoveries made, especially the elucidation of important life cycles, and partly because of the achievements of the clinicians and scientists who made these discoveries. What is remarkable is that so many of these individuals were Scots. Preeminent in this pantheon was Patrick Manson, who not only discovered the mosquito transmission of filarial worms but was instrumental in directly encouraging others to make significant discoveries in the fields of malaria, Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis), onchocerciasis, loiasis and schistosomiasis and, indirectly, sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis. This chapter describes and discusses the contributions made by Douglas Argyll-Robertson, Donald Blacklock, David Bruce, David Cunningham, Robert Leiper, William Leishman, George Low, Patrick Manson, Muriel Robertson and Ronald Ross together with short biographical notes.

Type
Special Issue Review
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anonymous (1993). Milestones in parasitology. Parasitology Today 9, 347.Google Scholar
Argyll-Robertson, D. M. (1895). Case of Filaria loa in which the parasite was removed from under the conjunctiva. Transactions of the Ophthalmological Society 15 137167.Google Scholar
Bancroft, T. L. (1899). On the metamorphosis of the young form of Filaria bancrofti (Cobb) (Filaria sanguinis hominis, Lewis; Filaria nocturna, Manson) in the body of Culex ciliaris Linn. The house mosquito of Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 33, 4862.Google Scholar
Bastianelli, G., Bignami, A. P. and Grassi, B. (1898). Coltivazione delle semilune malariche dell'uomo nell’ Anopheles claviger Fabr.. Atti delle Accademia Nazionele de Lincei 7, 313317.Google Scholar
Bastianelli, G. and Bignami, A. P. (1900). Malaria and mosquitoes. Lancet 1, 7983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bilharz, T. (1853). Fernere Mittheilngen über Distoma haematobium . Zeitschrift für Wissenschlaftliche Zoologie, 4, 454456.Google Scholar
Bishop, A. and Miles, A. (1974). Muriel Robertson 1883–1973. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 20, 316347.Google Scholar
Blacklock, B. (1926). The development of Onchocerca volvulus in Simulium damnosum . Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 20, 148.Google Scholar
Blevins, S. M. and Bronze, M. S. (2010). Robert Koch and the golden age of bacteriology. International Journal of Infectious Diseases 14, 744751.Google Scholar
Borovsky, PF. (1898). [On Sarov Ukcer, In Russian]. Voenno-Med Zhurnal, St Petersburg 76, 255258. [English translation in Hoare (1938). Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 32, 67–92].Google Scholar
Bruce, D. (1895). Preliminary Report on the Tsetse Fly Disease or Nagana in Zululand. Bennett and David, Durban, South Africa.Google Scholar
Bruce, D. (1915). Croonian Lectures. British Medical Journal i, 10731078.Google Scholar
Bynum, W. F. (2004). Ross, Sir Ronald (1857–1932). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Bynum, W. F. and Overy, C. (1998). The Beast in the Mosquito. The Correspondence of Ronald Ross and Patrick Manson, Rodopi, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandra, S. and Caulton, E. (1999). David Douglas Cunningham (1843–1914). A biographical profile. Aeriobilogia 15, 255258.Google Scholar
Chernin, J. (1983). Sir Patrick Manson's studies on the transmission and biology of filariasis. Reviews of Infectious Diseases 5, 148186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christophers, S. R. (2004). Bruce, Sir David (1855–1932). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Cook, G. C. (1993). George Carmichael Low. Twelfth President of the Society and underrated pioneer of tropical medicine. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 87, 355360.Google Scholar
Clarke, P. H. (2004). Robertson, Muriel (1883–1973). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Cox, F. E. G. ed. (1996). The Wellcome Trust Illustrated History of Tropical Diseases. The Wellcome Trust, London, UK.Google Scholar
Cox, F. E. G. (2002). History of human parasitology. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 15, 595612.Google Scholar
Cox, F. E. G. (2004). History of human parasitology. In Topley and Wilson's Microbiology and Microbial Infections (Parasitology), 10th Edn. (ed. Cox, F. E. G., Wakelin, D., Gillespie, S. H. and Despommier, D. D.), pp. 123. Hodder Arnold, London, UK.Google Scholar
Cunningham, D. D. (1885). On the presence of peculiar parasitic organisms in the tissue of a specimen of Delhi boil. Scientific Memoirs by Officers of the Medical and Sanitary Departments of the Government of India 1, 2131.Google Scholar
Donovan, C. (1903). On the possible occurrence of trypanosomiasis in India. British Medical Journal 2, 79.Google Scholar
D. P. (1917). David Douglas Cunningham. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 89, xvxx.Google Scholar
Dutton, J. E. (1902). Preliminary note upon a trypanosome occurring in the blood of man. Thompson Yates Laboratory Reports 4, 455468.Google Scholar
Eldridge, B. F. (1992). Patrick Manson and the discovery age of vector biology. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 8, 215220.Google Scholar
Evans, G. (1881). On the horse disease in India known as “surra” probably due to a haematozoon. Veterinary Journal 13, 110.Google Scholar
Farley, J. (2004). Leiper, Robert Thompson (1881–1969). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Fedchenko, A. P. (1870). Concerning the structure and reproduction of the Guinea Worm Filaria medinensis [translated from the Russian]. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 20 (1971), 511523.Google Scholar
Foster, W. D. (1965). A History of Parasitology. Livingstone, Edinburgh, UK.Google Scholar
Garnham, P. C. C. (1966). Malaria Parasites and other Haemosporidia. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Garnham, P. C. C. (1970). Robert Thompson Leiper 1881–1969. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 16, 385404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grove, D. I. (1990). A History of Human Helminthology. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Hamerton, A. E. (1931). Major General Sir David Bruce. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 26, 30–12.Google Scholar
Haynes, D. M. (2001). Imperial Medicine: Patrick Manson and the Conquest of Tropical Diseases. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.Google Scholar
Hoare, C. A. (1972). The Trypanosomes of Mammals. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Hoeppli, R. (1959). Parasites and Parasitic Infections in early Science and Medicine. University of Malaya Press, Singapore.Google Scholar
Laveran, A. (1880). Note sur un nouveau parasite trouvé dans le sang de plusieurs malades atteints de fièvre palustre. Bulletin de l'Académie de Médecine, Paris 9, 12351236.Google Scholar
Leiper, R. T. (1906). The influence of acid on Guinea worm larvae encysted in Cyclops. British Medical Journal i, 1920.Google Scholar
Leiper, R. T. (1913). Report to the Advisory Committee of the Tropical Diseases Research Fund Colonial Office London . Tropical Diseases Bulletin 2, 195196.Google Scholar
Leiper, R. T. (1916). On the relation between the terminal-spined and lateral-spined eggs of bilharzia. British Medical Journal i, 411.Google Scholar
Leishman, W. B. (1903). On the possibility of the occurrence of trypanosomiasis in India. British Medical Journal i, 12521254.Google Scholar
Lewis, T. R. (1872). On a haematozoon inhabiting human blood, its relation to chyluria and other diseases. 8th Annual Report of the Sanitary Commissioners of the Government of India, pp. 241266. Government Printing House, Calcutta, India.Google Scholar
Low, G. C. (1900). A recent observation on Filaria nocturna in Culex, probable mode of infection in man. British Medical Journal i, 14561457.Google Scholar
Maloy, S. and Schaecter, M. (2006). The era of microbiology: a golden phoenix. International Microbiology 9, 170.Google Scholar
Manson, P. (1878). On the development of Filaria sanguis hominis and on the mosquito considered as a nurse. Journal of the Linnean Society (Zoology) 14, 304311.Google Scholar
Manson, P. (1883). Notes on filarial disease. British Medical Journal, i, 675676.Google Scholar
Manson, P. (1893). Diseases of the skin in tropical climates. In Hygiene and Diseases of Warm Climates, (ed. Davidson, A. H.), pp. 928995. Young J. Pentland, London, UK.Google Scholar
Manson, P. (1894). On the nature and significance of crescentic and flagellated bodies in malarial blood. British Medical Journal ii, 13061308.Google Scholar
Manson, P. (1910). On the nature and origin of Calabar swellings. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 3, 244251.Google Scholar
Manson-Bahr, P. (1962). Patrick Manson: the Father of Tropical Medicine. Thomas Nelson, London, UK.Google Scholar
Massaglia, A. (1907). Des causes des crises trypanolytiques et des rechutes quiles suivent. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie, Paris 145, 687689.Google Scholar
Miyairi, K. and Suzuki, M. (1913). [On the development of Schistosoma japonicum. In Japanese]. Tokyo Iji Shinshi, No. 1836, 15.Google Scholar
Morishita, K. (1964). History of development of parasitology in Japan. In Progress in Medical Parasitology in Japan (ed. Morishia, K., Kominya, Y. and Matsubayshi, H.) p. 1. Meduguro Parasitological Museum, Tokyo, Japan.Google Scholar
Nye, E. R. and Gibson, M. E. (1997). Ronald Ross: Malariologist and Polymath: Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
O'Neill, J. (1875). On the presence of a filaria in “craw craw”. Lancet i, 265266.Google Scholar
Power, D'A. (2004). Douglas Moray Cooper Lamb Argyll-Robertson (1837–1909). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Robertson, M. (1912). Notes on the polymorphism of Trypanosoma gambiense in the blood and its relation to the exogenous cycle in Glossina palpalis . Proceedings of the Royal Society B 85, 527539.Google Scholar
Robertson, M. (1913). Notes on the life-history of Trypanosoma gambiense, with a brief reference to the cycles of Trypanosoma nanum and Trypanosoma pecorum in Glossina palpalis . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 203, 161184.Google Scholar
Rolleston, H. D. (2004). Leishman, Sir William Boog. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Ross, R. (1897). On some peculiar pigmented cells found in two mosquitoes fed on malarial blood. British Medical Journal ii, 17361788.Google Scholar
Ross, R. (1903). Notes on the bodies recently described by Leishman and Donovan. British Medical Journal ii, 1261.Google Scholar
Ross, R. and Thompson, D. (1911). A case of sleeping sickness studied by precise enumerative methods: regular periodic increase of the parasites disclosed. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 82, 411415.Google Scholar
Sergent, Ed., Sergent, Et., Parrott, L. M., Donatien, A. L. and Béguet, M. E. (1921). Transmission du clou de Biskra par le phlebotome Phlebotomus papatasi Scop. Comptes Rendus des Séances de l’ Académie des Sciences 73, 10301032.Google Scholar
Shortt, H. E. and Garnham, P. C. C. (1948). Pre-erythrocytic stages in mammalian malaria parasites. Nature (London) 161, 126.Google Scholar
Stephens, J. W. W. (1937). Manson, Sir Patrick (1844–1922). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Stephens, J. W. W. and Fantham, H. B. (1910). On the peculiar morphology of a trypanosome from a case of sleeping sickness and the possibility of its being a new species (T. rhodesiense). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 83, 2833.Google Scholar
Turkhud, D. A. (1913). Report of the Bombay Bacteriological Laboratory for the year 1912. pp. 32–36.Google Scholar
Vickerman, K. and Luckins, A. G. (1969). Localization of variable antigens in the surface coat of Trypanosoma brucei using ferritin conjugated antibody. Nature (London) 224, 11251126.Google Scholar
Warboys, M. (1993). Tropical diseases. In Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine, vol. 1 (ed. Bynum, W. F. and Porter, R.), pp. 512536, Routledge, London, UK and New York, USA.Google Scholar
Warboys, M. (2004). Low, George Carmichael (1872–1952). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Wenyon, C. M. (1926). Protozoology: A Manual for Medical Men, Veterinerians and Zoologists. Ballière, Tindall and Cox, London.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1976). Research into Major Tropical Diseases. UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Wright, J. H. (1903). Protozoa in a case of tropical ulcer. Journal of Medical Research 10, 472482.Google Scholar