Golding Bird
Encyclopedia
Golding Bird was a British medical doctor and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
of London. Bird became a great authority on kidney diseases and published a comprehensive paper on urinary deposits. He was also notable for his work in the collateral sciences (related non-medical sciences), especially the use of electricity in medicine and electrochemistry
. He lectured at Guy's Hospital
, London, a well-known teaching hospital usually referred to simply as Guy's and he published a popular textbook on science for medical students.
Bird developed an interest in chemistry while still a child, largely through self-study, and was advanced enough to deliver lectures to his fellow pupils at school. He later applied this knowledge to medicine and did much research on the chemistry of urine and of kidney stones. He was the first to describe oxaluria, a condition which leads to a particular kind of stone being formed.
Bird was innovative in the field of the medical use of electricity, designing much of his own equipment. In his time, electrical treatment had acquired a bad name in the medical profession through its widespread use by quack practitioners. Bird made efforts to oppose this quackery and was instrumental in bringing medical electrotherapy
into the mainstream. Bird was quick to adopt new instruments of all kinds; he invented the single-cell Daniell cell
and made important discoveries in electrometallurgy
with it. He was not only innovative in the electrical field: he also designed a flexible stethoscope
and was the first to publish a description of such an instrument.
Bird held strong Christian convictions. In his view, Christian study and prayer were just as important to medical students as their academic studies. He endeavoured to promote Christianity amongst medical students and encouraged other professionals to do likewise. To this end, Bird was responsible for the founding of the Christian Medical Association but it did not become active until after his death.
on 9 December 1814 to a father (also named Golding Bird), who had been an officer in the Inland Revenue
in Ireland, and an Irish mother, Marrianne. In character the son was precocious and ambitious but childhood rheumatic fever
and endocarditis
left him with poor posture and lifelong frail health. He received a classical education
when he was sent with his brother, Frederic, to stay with a clergyman in Wallingford where he developed a lifelong habit of self-study. From the age of twelve he was educated at a private school in London, which was not very interested in science and gave only a classical education. Bird, who seems to have been far ahead of his teachers in science, gave lectures in chemistry and botany to his fellow pupils. He had four younger siblings, of whom his brother Frederic also became a physician and published on botany.
Golding Bird served his apprenticeship
with the apothecary
William Pretty in Burton Crescent, London 1829–1833 and was licensed to practise by Apothecaries' Hall (the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries
) in 1836. He received this licence without examination due to the reputation he had gained as a student at Guy's. He became a medical student at Guy's in 1832 (while still also working at his apprenticeship) where he was influenced by Thomas Addison
, who recognised his talents early on. Bird was an ambitious and very capable student. He became a Fellow of the Senior Physical Society early on (for which a thesis was required); he received prizes for medicine
, obstetrics
, and ophthalmic surgery at Guy's and the silver medal for botany at Apothecaries' Hall. Around 1839 to 1840 he worked on breast disease at Guy's as an assistant to Sir Astley Cooper
.
Bird graduated from the University of St Andrews
with an MD
in 1838, and an MA
in 1840. As St Andrews required no residence or examination for the MD, Bird obtained his degree by submitting testimonials from qualified colleagues, which was common practice at the time. Once qualified in 1838, at the age of 23, he entered general practice with a surgery at 44 Seymour Street, Euston Square, London, but was not at first successful because of his youth. However, that same year he became physician to the Finsbury Dispensary
and held that post for five years. By 1842 he had an income from his private practice of one thousand pounds per year. Adjusted for inflation this amounts to a spending power of about £ now. He became a Licentiate
of the Royal College of Physicians
in 1840, and a Fellow
in 1845.
Bird lectured on natural philosophy
, medical botany and urinary pathology from 1836 to 1853 at Guy's. He lectured on materia medica
at Guy's from 1843 to 1853 and at the Royal College of Physicians from 1847 to 1849. He also lectured at the Aldersgate School of Medicine. Throughout his career Bird published extensively, not only on medical matters, but also on electrical science and chemistry.Below are a selection of journal articles by Golding Bird or reporting his work:
Bird was the first head of the electricity
and galvanism
department at Guy's in 1836 under the supervision of Addison, since Bird did not graduate until 1838. In 1843 he was appointed assistant physician at Guy's, a position he had lobbied hard for, and in October that year he was put in charge of the children's outpatients ward. The children, like his electrotherapy patients, were largely poor relief
cases who could not afford to pay for medical treatment and were much used for training of medical students. It was generally accepted at this time that poor relief cases could be used for experimental treatment and their permission was not required. Bird published a series of reports in the hospital journal on diseases of children based on case studies from this work.
Bird married Mary Ann Brett in 1842 and moved from his family home at Wilmington Square, Clerkenwell
to 19 Myddleton Square. The couple produced two daughters and three sons. Bird's second son, Cuthbert Hilton Golding-Bird (1848–1939), became a notable surgeon.
Bird was a member of the Linnaean
and Geological
Societies, and a Fellow of the Royal Society
of London. He was also a member of the London Electrical Society founded by William Sturgeon
and others. This body was very unlike the elite scholarly institutions, it was more along the lines of a craft guild with a penchant for spectacular demonstrations. Nevertheless, it had some notable members and new machines and apparatus were regularly discussed and demonstrated. Bird was also a Freemason
from 1841 and was the Worshipful Master of the St Paul's lodge in 1850. He left the Freemasons in 1853.
Bird was vain in character with a tendency to self-promotion and his driving ambition occasionally led him into conflict with others. There were a number of very public disputes in the pages of the medical journals of the time, including the dispute with the Pulvermacher Company and a dispute over the development of the stethoscope. However, when dealing with his patients he was said to show them his undivided attention and a complete commitment to their welfare.
He was diagnosed with heart disease by his brother in 1848 or 1849 and was forced to stop work. By 1850, however, he was again working as hard as ever and had extended his practice so much that he needed to move to a larger house in Russell Square. But in 1851 acute rheumatism
caused Bird to take an extended holiday with his wife Mary in Tenby
where he pursued the investigation in the field of botany, marine fauna, and cave life as pastimes. These long summer breaks were repeated in 1852 and 1853 at Torquay
and Tenby. Even on holiday his fame caused him to be pestered with many requests for consultations. In 1853 he purchased an estate, St Cuthbert, for his retirement in Tunbridge Wells
but it first needed some work and he was not able to leave London until June 1854. In the meantime he continued to see patients, but only in his house, despite seriously deteriorating health. He died 27 October 1854 at St Cuthbert from a urinary tract infection and, ironically for one who had studied them so much, suffering from kidney stone
s. The young age of 39 was perhaps ultimately due to a combination of lifelong frail health and overwork, certainly Bird himself believed that this was so. He is buried in Woodbury Park Cemetery, Tunbridge Wells. After his death Mary instituted the Golding Bird Gold Medal and Scholarship for sanitary science, later named the Golding Bird gold medal and scholarship for bacteriology, which is awarded at Guy's teaching hospital.
By the time Golding Bird was a medical student at Guy's, the hospital already had a tradition for studying physics and chemistry as they related to medicine. Bird followed this tradition and was particularly influenced by the work of William Prout
an expert in chemical physiology. Bird became well known for his knowledge of chemistry. An early example, in 1832, was his comments on a paper on the copper sulphate test for arsenic poisoning
, delivered by his future brother-in-law R. H. Brett to the Pupils' Physical Society. Bird criticised the test's positive result when a green precipitate is formed, and claimed that the test was not conclusive because precipitates other than copper arsenite can produce the same green colour.
Bird did not limit himself to challenging his brother-in-law. In 1834 Bird and Brett published a paper on the analysis of blood serum and urine in which they argued against some work by Prout. Prout had said (in 1819) that the pink sediment in urine was due to the presence of ammonium purpurate but Bird's tests failed to verify this. Even though Bird was still only a student and Prout held great authority, Prout felt it necessary to reply to the challenge. Bird later (1843) tried, but failed, to identify the pink compound, but convinced that it was a new chemical, gave it the name purpurine. This name did not stick, however, and the compound became known as uroerythrin from the work of Franz Simon. The structure of this compound was not finally identified until 1975.
Astley Cooper, recognising Bird's abilities in the field of chemistry, asked Bird around 1839 to make a contribution to his book on breast disease. Bird wrote a piece on the chemistry of milk and the book was published in 1840. Although the book is primarily about human anatomy, it includes a chapter on comparative anatomy covering several species. For this Bird carried out an analysis of the milk of the porpoise and a dog bitch. Also in 1839, Bird published his own book (Elements of Natural Philosophy), a textbook on physics aimed at medical students. Bird felt that existing texts were too mathematical for medical students and largely omitted this kind of material altogether in favour of clear explanations. The book proved popular and remained in print for thirty years, although some of the mathematical shortcomings were made good in the fourth edition by Charles Brooke
.
and galvanism
under the supervision of Addison. While this was not the first hospital to employ electrotherapy, it was still considered very much experimental. Previous hospital uses had either been short-lived or based around the whim of a single surgeon such as John Birch at St Thomas' Hospital
. At Guy's, the treatment was part of the hospital system and became notable amongst the public; so much so that Guy's was parodied for its use of electricity in the New Frankenstein satirical magazine.
In his electrotherapy, Bird used both electrochemical and electrostatic machines (and later also electromagnetic induction
machines) to treat a very wide range of conditions, for example, some forms of chorea. Treatments included peripheral nerve stimulation, electrical muscle stimulation
and electric shock therapy. Bird also used his invention, the electric moxa, to heal skin ulcers.
that electricity and galvanism were the same thing in all essentials. Bird realised this, but continued to divide his apparatus into electrical machines, which (according to him) delivered a high voltage at low current, and galvanic apparatus, which delivered a high current at low voltage. The galvanic equipment available to Bird included electrochemical cell
s such as the voltaic pile
and the Daniell cell
, a variant of which Bird devised himself. Also part of the standard equipment were induction coil
s which, together with an interrupter circuit, were used with one of the electrochemical cells to deliver an electric shock. The electrical machines (as opposed to galvanic apparatus) available at this time were friction operated electrostatic generator
s consisting of either a rotating glass disc or cylinder on which silk flaps were allowed to drag as the glass rotated. These machines had to be hand turned during treatment, but it was possible to store small amounts of static electricity
in Leyden jar
s for later use.
By 1849 generators based on Faraday's law of induction
had become advanced enough to replace both types of machine and Bird was recommending them in his lectures. Galvanic cells suffered from the inconvenience of having to deal with the electrolyte
acids in the surgery and the possibility of spillages; electrostatic generators required a great deal of skill and attention to keep them working successfully. Electro-magnetic machines, on the other hand, have neither of these drawbacks; the only criticism levelled by Bird was that the cheaper machines could only deliver an alternating current
. For medical use, particularly when treating a problem with nerves, a uni-directional current of a particular polarity was often required. This required the machine to have split-rings
or similar mechanisms although alternating current machines were, according to Bird, suitable for cases of amenorrhœa.
This issue of the direction of the current required from the machines was connected with the direction electric current was thought to flow in nerves in the human or animal body. For motor functions for instance, the flow was taken as being from the centre towards the muscles at the extremities, and consequently artificial stimulation by the use of electricity needed to be in the same direction. For sensory nerves the opposite applied; flow was from the extremity to the centre, and the positive electrode would be applied to the extremity. This principle was demonstrated by Bird in an experiment with a living frog. A supply of frogs was usually to hand through their use in the frog galvanoscope. The electromagnetic galvanometer
was available at this time but frog's legs were still used by Bird because of their much greater sensitivity to small currents. In the experiment, the frog's leg was completely severed from its body except for the sciatic nerve
and electric current then applied from the body to the leg. The result was convulsions of the leg as the muscle was stimulated. Reversing the current, however, produced no movement of the muscle, merely croaks of pain from the frog. Bird, in his lectures, also describes many experiments with a similar aim on human sensory organs. In one experiment by Grapengiesser for instance, electric current is passed through the subject's head from ear to ear causing a sound to be hallucinated. The ear connected to the positive terminal hears a louder sound than that connected to the negative.
Bird designed his own interrupter
circuit for delivering shocks to patients from a voltaic cell through an induction coil. Previously, the interrupter had been a mechanical device requiring the physician to manually turn a cog wheel, or else employ an assistant to do this. Bird wished to free his hands to better apply the electricity to the required part of the patient. His interrupter worked automatically by magnetic induction at a reasonably fast rate. The faster the interrupter switches, the more frequently an electric shock is delivered to the patient and the aim is to make this as high as possible.
Bird's interrupter had the medically disadvantageous feature that current was supplied in opposite directions during the make and break operations. Treatment often required that current was supplied in one specified direction only. Bird produced a uni-directional interrupter using a mechanism we would now call split-rings. This design suffered from the disadvantage that automatic operation was lost and the interrupter had to once again be hand-cranked. Nevertheless, this arrangement remained a cheaper option than electromagnetic generators for some time.
, usually the positive one, of an electrostatic machine. The patient's skin became charged as if he or she were in a "bath of electricity". A second class of treatment could be performed while the patient was in the electric bath. This consisted of bringing a negative electrode close to the patient, usually around the spine, causing sparks to be produced between the electrode and the patient. Electrodes of various shapes were available for different medical purposes and place of application on the body. Treatment was applied in several sessions of around five minutes, often causing skin eruptions. The third class of treatment was electric shock therapy in which an electric shock was delivered from a galvanic battery (later electromagnetic generators) via an induction coil to greatly increase the voltage. It was also possible to deliver electric shocks from the stored charge in a Leyden jar but this was a much feebler shock.
Electric stimulation treatment was used to treat nervous disorders where the nervous system was unable to stimulate a required glandular secretion or muscle activity. It had previously been successfully used to treat some forms of asthma. Bird used his apparatus to treat Sydenham's chorea
(St Vitus's Dance) and other forms of spasm
, some forms of paralysis (although the treatment was of no use where nerves had been physically damaged), opiate
overdose (since it kept the patient awake), bringing on menstruation
where this had failed, and hysteria
, a supposed disease of women. Paralysed bladder function in young girls was attributed to the now archaic condition of hysteria. This was treated with an application of a strong electric current between the sacrum
and the pubis
. Although the treatment worked, in that it caused the bladder to empty, Bird suspected that in many cases it did so more through fear and pain than any therapeutic property of electricity.
Electric shock treatment had become fashionable amongst the public but often was not favoured by physicians except as a last resort. This led to many inappropriate treatments and fraudulent practitioners were widespread. Quack practitioners claimed the treatment as a cure for almost anything, regardless of its effectiveness, but could nevertheless make large sums of money from the practice. Bird, however, continued to stand by the treatment when properly administered. He convinced an initially sceptical Addison of its merits, and the first publication (in 1837) describing the work of the electrifying unit was authored by Addison, not Bird, although Bird is clearly, and rightly, credited by Addison. Having the paper authored by Addison did a great deal to gain acceptability of a still suspicious medical fraternity. Addison held great authority, whereas Bird at this stage was an unknown. Bird's 1841 paper in Guy's Hospital Reports contained an impressively long list of successful case studies. In 1847 he brought the subject fully into the realm of materia medica when he delivered the annual lecture to the Royal College of Physicians on this subject. Bird tirelessly spoke out against the numerous quack practitioners, in one case he exposed railway telegraph operators who were claiming to be medical electricians, but had no medical training at all. In this way Bird was largely responsible for the rehabilitation of electrical treatment amongst medical practitioners. His work, with Addison's support, together with the increasing ease of using the machines as the technology progressed, brought the treatment into wider use in the medical profession.
technique of moxibustion
but the electric moxa is not intended for acupuncture use. Bird was probably influenced in his choice of name by the introduction of electroacupuncture
, in which the acupuncture needles are augmented with an electric current, just a couple of decades earlier in France. The electric moxa was used to produce a suppurating sore on the skin of the patient to treat some inflammatory and congested conditions by the technique of counter-irritation
. Prior to the electric moxa, the sore was created by much more painful instruments such as the cautery or even burning charcoal. Bird's design was based on a modification of an existing instrument used to apply local electrical treatment for hemiplegia
. The electric moxa consisted of a silver and a zinc electrode connected together by copper wire. Two small blisters were produced on the skin to which the two electrodes were then connected and held in place for a few days. Electricity is generated by electrolytic action with body fluids. The blister under the silver electrode heals up, but the one under the zinc electrode produces the required suppurating sore.
The healing of the blister under the silver electrode was of no importance for a counter-irritation procedure, however, it suggested to Bird that the electric moxa might be used for treating obstinate leg ulcers. This was a common complaint in Bird's time amongst the working classes, and hospitals were unable to admit for treatment the majority of cases that presented. The moxa was thus an advantage in that sufferers could be treated as outpatients. The silver electrode of the moxa was applied to the ulcer to be healed, while the zinc electrode was applied a few inches away to a patch of surface where the upper layer of skin had been cut away. The whole apparatus was then bandaged in place as before. The technique was successfully applied by others on Birds recommendation. It was later discovered by Thomas Wells
that damaging the skin under the zinc plate was unnecessary. Wells merely moistened the skin with vinegar before application of the zinc electrode.
. Pulvermacher's main market for these devices was the very quack practitioners that Bird so detested, but it did actually work as a generator. Bird was given a sample of this machine in 1851 and was impressed enough with it that he gave Pulvermacher a testimonial stating that the machine was a useful source of electricity. Bird thought that it could be used by physicians as a portable device. Electrically, the machine worked like a voltaic pile, but was constructed differently. It consisted of a number of wooden dowel
s each with a bifilar winding
of copper and zinc coils. Each winding was connected to the next dowel by means of metal hooks and eyes which also provided the electrical connection. The electrolyte was provided by soaking the dowels in vinegar.
Naively, Bird appears to have expected Pulvermacher not to use this testimonial in his advertising. When Pulvermacher's company did exactly that Bird came in for some criticism for unprofessional behaviour, although there was never any suggestion that Bird benefited financially in any way and Bird stated in his defence that the testimonial was only ever intended as a letter of introduction to physicians in Edinburgh. Bird was particularly upset that Pulvermacher's company had used quotes from Bird's publications about the benefits of electrical treatment, and misrepresented them as if Bird had said they were the benefits of Pulvermacher's product. Bird also criticised the Pulvermacher claim that the chain could be wrapped around an affected limb for medical treatment. Although the flexible nature of its design lent itself to wrapping, Bird said that it would be next to useless in this configuration for medical application of electricity. The patient's body would provide a conductive path across each cell
thus, according to Bird, preventing the device from building up a medically useful voltage at its terminals.
and repeated the experiments of Antoine César Becquerel
, Edmund Davy
and others to extract metals in this way. He was particularly interested in the possibility of detecting low levels of heavy metal poisons with this technique, pioneered by Davy. Bird also studied the properties of albumen under electrolysis, finding that the albumen coagulated at the anode
due to the production of hydrochloric acid
there. He was able to correct an earlier erroneous conclusion by W. T. Brande that high electric current caused coagulation at the cathode
also. Bird showed that this was entirely due to fluid flows caused by the strong electric field.
The formation of copper plates on the cathode were noticed in the Daniell cell shortly after its invention in 1836. Bird began a thorough investigation of this phenomenon the following year in 1837. Using solutions of sodium chloride
, potassium chloride
and ammonium chloride
, He succeeded in coating a mercury cathode with sodium
, potassium
and ammonium
respectively, producing amalgams
of each of these. Not only chloride
s were used; beryllium
, aluminium
and silicon
were obtained from the salts and oxide
s of these elements.
As mentioned earlier, Bird, in 1837, constructed his own version of the Daniell cell. Originally, the Daniell cell held the two solutions (copper sulphate and zinc sulphate) in two separate, but linked, containers, an arrangement described as two half-cells. The novel feature of Bird's cell was that the two solutions were in the same vessel, but kept separate by a barrier of plaster of Paris, a common material found in hospitals for setting bone fracture
s. Plaster of paris being porous allows ion
s to cross the barrier while preventing the solutions from mixing. This arrangement is an example of a single-cell Daniell cell and Bird's invention was the first of this kind. Bird's cell was the basis for the later development of the porous pot cell, invented in 1839 by John Dancer.Morus, pp. 177–183
Watt and Philip, pp. 90–92
Bird's experiments with this cell were of some importance to the new discipline of electrometallurgy
. A surprising result was the deposition of copper on and within the plaster without any contact with the metal electrodes. On breaking apart the plaster it was found that veins of copper were formed running right through it. So surprising was this result of Bird's, that it was at first disbelieved by electrochemical researchers, including Michael Faraday
. Deposition of copper, and other metals, had been previously noted, but always previously it had been metal on metal electrode. Bird's experiments sometimes get him credit for being the founder of the important industrial field of electrometallurgy
. However, Bird himself never made practical use of this discovery, nor did he carry out any work in the field of metallurgy as such. Some of Bird's contemporaries with interests in electrometallurgy wished to bestow the credit on Bird in order to discredit the commercial claims of their rivals.
Bird thought that there was a connection between the functioning of the nervous system and the processes seen in electrolysis at very low steady currents. He was aware that the currents in both were of the same order. To Bird, if such a connection existed it made electrochemistry
an important subject to study for purely biological reasons.
content of cheap candles. These were stearin
candles with white arsenic added which made them burn brighter than ordinary candles. The combination of cheapness and brightness made them popular with the public. The investigation was conducted by the Westminster Medical Society, a student society of Westminster Hospital, and was led by John Snow
, later to become famous for his public health investigations. Snow had previously investigated arsenic poisoning when himself and several fellow students were taken badly ill after a new process for preserving cadaver
s was introduced by Snow. The new process involved injecting arsenic into the blood vessels of the corpse. Snow found that the arsenic became airborne due to chemical reactions with the decomposing corpse and it was in this way that it was ingested. Bird's part in the candle investigation was to analyse the arsenic content of the candles, which he found to have been greatly increased of late by the manufacturers. Bird also confirmed by experiment that the arsenic became airborne when the candles were burnt. The investigators exposed various species of animal and bird to the candles in controlled conditions. The animals all survived but the birds died. Bird investigated the bird deaths and analysed the bodies, finding small amounts of arsenic. No arsenic was found on the feathers, however, indicating that poisoning was not by way of breathing airborne arsenic since arsenic in the air would be expected to adhere to the feathers. However, Bird found that large amounts of arsenic were in the bird's drinking water indicating that this was the route of poisoning.
since 1776 it was not, at first, recognised that carbon monoxide poisoning
was the mechanism of death and injury from stoves burning carbonaceous
fuels. A coroner's inquest into the death of a nightwatchman, James Trickey, in 1838 who had spent all night by a new type of charcoal burning stove in St Michael, Cornhill
concluded that the poison involved was carbonic acid (that is, carbon dioxide
) rather than carbon monoxide. Both Golding Bird and John Snow gave evidence to the inquest supporting poisoning by carbonic acid. Bird himself started to suffer ill effects while he was collecting air samples from the floor near the stove. However, the makers of the stove, Harper and Joyce, produced a string of their own expert witnesses at the inquest who convinced the jury to decide that death was caused by apoplexy
with "impure air" being only a contributing factor. Amongst the unscientific claims made at the inquest by Harper and Joyce were that carbonic gas would rise to the ceiling (it is actually heavier than air and would lie in a layer close to the floor just where Trickey's sleeping head would rest according to Bird) and that "deleterious vapour" from the coffins in the vaults had risen into the church. After the inquest Joyce threatened to sue a journal which continued to criticise the stove for its lack of ventilation. In a subsequent clarification, Bird made it clear that any stove burning carbonaceous fuel was dangerous if it did not have a chimney or other means of ventilation. Ironically, Trickey had only been placed in the church in the first place at Harper's suggestion. Harper was looking for favourable reports of the new stoves performance which Trickey, had he lived, was expected to give.
Bird read a paper to the Senior Physical Society in 1839 in which he tests the effects of poisoning by carbonaceous fumes on sparrows. This paper was of some importance and resulted in Bird giving his views to the British Association (where he acted as one of the secretaries to the chemical section in Birmingham) that same year. Bird also presented the paper at the Westminster Medical School where Snow took a special interest in it. Snow, up to then, had believed, along with many others, that carbonic acid acted merely by excluding oxygen
. The experiments of Bird and others convinced him that it was deleterious in its own right but he still did not ascribe to the view held by Bird that it was an active poison. Also in 1839, Bird published a comprehensive paper in Guy's Hospital Reports, complete with many case histories, in which he documents the state of knowledge. He realised that at least some cases of poisoning from stoves were not due to carbonic acid, some other agent was involved, but he had still not identified the unknown substance as carbon monoxide
.
, including the chemistry of both urine
and kidney stone
s and soon became a recognised expert. A large proportion of his effort was taken up with this work and his writings on urinary sediments and kidney stones was the most advanced in the field at the time. His work followed on from, and was much influenced by, that of Alexander Marcet and William Prout
. Marcet was also a physician at Guy's; Prout held no position at Guy's, but was connected and well known there. For instance, when Marcet discovered a new constituent of kidney stones, xanthic oxide, he sent the substance to Prout for analysis. Prout was himself the discoverer of a new substance in 1822; a constituent of urine which he named melanic acid
due to it turning black on contact with the air.
Bird studied and categorised the collection of stones at Guy's particularly concentrating on the nuclei crystal structures since stone formation followed once there was a nucleus to form on. He considered study of the chemistry of the nuclei to be the most important aspect of stone formation. Bird identified many species of stone, classed by the chemistry of the nucleus, but determined that they all fell within two overall groups; organic stones caused by a misfunctioning bodily process, and excessive inorganic salts causing sediment on which the stone could nucleate. Bird was the first to describe, in 1842, the condition oxaluria, sometimes called Bird's disease, caused by an excess of oxalate of lime in the urine. This is the second most common cause of stones, the first being uric acid
and its ammonium salt. There are several others such as ammonium oxalate
. In his great work Urinary Deposits Bird devotes much space to the identification of chemicals in urine by microscopic examination of the appearance of crystals in the urine. Bird shows how the appearance of crystals of the same chemical can vary greatly under differing conditions and especially how the appearance changes with disease. Urinary Deposits became a standard text on the subject; there were five editions of the book between 1844 and 1857. Bird added in the fourth edition a recommendation to wash out the bladder in cases of alkaline urine. This was in consequence of an experiment by Snow which showed that fresh urine slowly dripped into stale urine caused it to become alkaline. Alkaline urine was known to Bird to encourage phosphate precipitation and the consequent encrustation and stone formation. The last edition was updated after Bird's death by Edmund Lloyd Birkett.
Bird was the first to recognise that urinary casts are a diagnostic indication of Bright's disease
. Casts were first discovered by Henry Bence Jones
. They are microscopic cylinders of Tamm-Horsfall protein
which have been precipitated out in the kidneys and then released into the urine.
which was supposed to govern the chemical processes within the body. For this reason it was held that formation of organic compounds could only take place within living organisms where the vital force could come into play. This belief was known to be false ever since Friedrich Wöhler
succeeded in synthesising urea
from inorganic precursors in 1828. Despite this counter-example, the vital force continued to be invoked to explain organic chemistry in Bird's time. Sometime in the middle of the 19th century a new way of thinking started to take shape especially amongst younger physicians fueled by rapid advances in the understanding of chemistry. For the first time, it became possible to identify specific chemical reactions with specific organs of the body and trace the effects through the various functional relations of the organs and the exchanges between them.
Counted amongst these younger radicals were Golding Bird and John Snow. Counted amongst the old school was William Addison
(a different person from Bird's superior at Guy's). Addison disliked the modern reliance on laboratory and theoretical results favoured by the new generation and challenged Richard Bright
(of Bright's disease) when he suggested that the source of the problem in edema
was the kidneys. Addison preferred to believe that the condition was caused by intemperance or some other external cause and that since the whole body had been disrupted it could not be localised to a specific organ. Addison further challenged Bright's student, Snow, when in 1839 he suggested from case studies and laboratory analysis that edema was associated with an increase in albumin in the blood. Addison dismissed this as a mere epiphenomenon
. Bird disagreed with Snow over Snow's proposed treatment, but his arguments against Snow clearly show him to be on the radical side of the fence and were completely devoid of any whole-body arguments. Snow had found that the proportion of urea in the urine of his patients was low and concluded from this that urea was accumulating in the blood. Snow thus proposed bloodletting
as a treatment to counter this. Bird disputed that increasing urea in the blood was the cause of kidney disease and the effectiveness of this treatment citing the results of François Magendie
who had injected urea into the blood, apparently with no ill effects. It is not clear whether or not Bird accepted Snow's reasoning that urea must be accumulating, or was merely accepting it arguendo
; he had disputed this very point while a student in 1833 with another of Bright's students, George Rees.
Justus von Liebig
is another figure of some importance for the new thinking, although his position in some respects is ambiguous. He explained chemical processes in the body with addition and subtraction of simple molecules from a larger organic molecule. Bird followed Liebig's scheme in his own work but even the materialistic
Liebig continued to invoke the vital force for processes inside living animal bodies. This seems to have been based on a belief that the entire living animal is required for these chemical processes to take place. Bird is responsible, at least in part, for moving this kind of thinking on by showing that specific chemistry is related to specific organs in the body rather than the whole animal. Bird challenged some of Liebig's conclusions concerning animal chemistry; for instance, Bird showed that Liebig's prediction that the ratio of uric acid to urea depended on the level of activity of a species (or individual) was false. Bird also felt that it was not enough to simply count atoms as Liebig did, but an explanation of why the atoms recombined in that particular way rather than any other was also required. Bird made some attempts to provide this explanation by invoking the electric force, rather than the vital force, based on his own experiments in electrolysis.
and was the first to publish, in 1840, a description of such an instrument. Bird mentions in his paper an instrument already in use by other physicians (Drs. Clendinning and Stroud) which he describes as the snake ear trumpet
but thought that this device was of little utility. The form of Bird's invention is similar to the now ubiquitous modern stethoscope excepting that it has only one earpiece. An ill-tempered exchange of letters occurred in the London Medical Gazette between another physician, John Burne, and Bird. Burne claimed that he also used the same instrument as Clendinning and Stroud and was offended that Bird had not mentioned him (Burne) in his paper. Burne, who worked at the Westminster Hospital
, pointed with suspicion to the fact that Bird's brother, Frederic, also worked at the same establishment. A somewhat bemused Bird pointed out that in his original paper he had already made clear he claimed no credit for this earlier instrument. It has been suggested that part of Bird's motivation for inventing his flexible stethoscope was that his severe rheumatism caused him difficulty in leaning over patients when using a rigid stethoscope and the flexible stethoscope greatly eased this problem.
, a friend of Bird's, after the latter's death. Brooke made good many of the mathematical omissions of Bird. Brooke continued editing editions of the book and in the sixth edition of 1867 he thoroughly updated it. The book was well received and was praised by reviewers for its clarity.
The Literary Gazette, for instance, thought that the book "...teaches us the elements of the entire circle of natural philosophy in the clearest and most perspicuous manner..." The reviewer recommended that the book was suitable not just for students and not just the young; the volume, it said, "...ought to be in the hands of every individual who desires to taste the pleasures of divine philosophy, and obtain a competent knowledge of that creation in which they live..."
Medical journals, on the other hand, were not quite so unrestrained in their praise. The Provincial Medical and Surgical, for instance, in its review of the second edition, thought that it was "a good and concise elementary treatise...presenting in a readable and intelligible form, a great mass of information not to be found in any other single treatise..." However the Provincial had a few technical nitpicks. Amongst these was the complaint that there was no description of the construction of the stethoscope. The Provincial reviewer thought that the book was particularly suitable for students who had no previous instruction in physics. The sections on magnetism, electricity and light were particularly recommended.
In their review of the 6th edition, Popular Science Review noted that the author was now named as Brooke and observed that he had now made the book his own. The reviewers looked back with nostalgia to the book they knew as "the Golding Bird" when they were students. They note with approval the many newly included descriptions of the latest technology such as the dynamo
s of Henry Wilde
and Werner von Siemens, and the spectroscope of Browning.
The scope of the book was wide-ranging, covering much of the physics then known. The 1839 first edition included statics
, dynamics
, gravitation
, mechanics
, hydrostatics, pneumatics
, hydrodynamics, acoustics
, magnetism
, electricity
, atmospheric electricity
, electrodynamics, thermoelectricity, bioelectricity, light
, optics
, and polarized light. In the 1843 second edition Bird expanded the material on electrolysis
into its own chapter, reworked the polarized light material, added two chapters on thermotics (thermodynamics
– a major omission from the first edition), and a chapter on the new technology of photography
. Later editions also included a chapter on electric telegraphy. Brooke was still expanding the book for the sixth and final edition. New material included the magnetic properties of iron in ships and spectrum analysis
.
For several years prior to 1853 student prayer meetings had been held in some of the London hospitals, particularly St Thomas'. Bird aimed to mould this movement into a formal association, an ambition which was to crystallise as the Christian Medical Association. In this Bird was heavily influenced by the Medical Missionary Society of John Hutton Balfour
at Edinburgh University. Bird aimed to form a national body with a chapter in each teaching hospital; a prototype student group was already in existence at Guy's. Bird was strongly opposed by some sections of the medical profession who felt that students should concentrate on their studies. Amongst the more inventive insults hurled at Bird were "saponaceous piety" and being a Mawworm. This opposition continued after the formation of the Association. The constitution for the new Christian Medical Association was agreed at Bird's home on 17 December 1853 in a meeting of medical and surgical teachers and others. This constitution was based on a draft prepared by the Guy's student group. Bird died before the inaugural public meeting of the Association in November 1854 at Exeter Hall
.
Bird was quick to defend the virtuousness of students. In November 1853, in a reply to a letter from a student in the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal complaining of lack of moral care from his superiors, Bird attacked the prevalent public view that students were "guilty of every kind of open vice and moral depravity". Bird laid much of the blame for this public opinion on the caricatures of students in the writings of Charles Dickens
. Bird goes on to say that the behaviour and character of students had greatly improved over the preceding ten years (implying, of course, that in earlier times their behaviour had not been quite so exemplary). Bird attributes this improvement in part to the greatly increased study requirements of students, but also in part to Christian influences acting on the students. He goes on to say that pious students were once ridiculed but are now respected.
Bird also frequently appeared in the transactions of the Medical Society of London
. Some examples;
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
of London. Bird became a great authority on kidney diseases and published a comprehensive paper on urinary deposits. He was also notable for his work in the collateral sciences (related non-medical sciences), especially the use of electricity in medicine and electrochemistry
Electrochemistry
Electrochemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies chemical reactions which take place in a solution at the interface of an electron conductor and an ionic conductor , and which involve electron transfer between the electrode and the electrolyte or species in solution.If a chemical reaction is...
. He lectured at Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...
, London, a well-known teaching hospital usually referred to simply as Guy's and he published a popular textbook on science for medical students.
Bird developed an interest in chemistry while still a child, largely through self-study, and was advanced enough to deliver lectures to his fellow pupils at school. He later applied this knowledge to medicine and did much research on the chemistry of urine and of kidney stones. He was the first to describe oxaluria, a condition which leads to a particular kind of stone being formed.
Bird was innovative in the field of the medical use of electricity, designing much of his own equipment. In his time, electrical treatment had acquired a bad name in the medical profession through its widespread use by quack practitioners. Bird made efforts to oppose this quackery and was instrumental in bringing medical electrotherapy
Electrotherapy
Electrotherapy is the use of electrical energy as a medical treatment In medicine, the term electrotherapy can apply to a variety of treatments, including the use of electrical devices such as deep brain stimulators for neurological disease. The term has also been applied specifically to the use of...
into the mainstream. Bird was quick to adopt new instruments of all kinds; he invented the single-cell Daniell cell
Daniell cell
The Daniell cell was invented in 1836 by John Frederic Daniell, a British chemist and meteorologist, and consisted of a copper pot filled with a copper sulfate solution, in which was immersed an unglazed earthenware container filled with sulfuric acid and a zinc electrode...
and made important discoveries in electrometallurgy
Electrometallurgy
Electrometallurgy is the field concerned with the processes of metal electrodeposition. There are five categories of these processes:* electrowinning, the extraction of metal from ores* electrorefining, the purification of metals...
with it. He was not only innovative in the electrical field: he also designed a flexible stethoscope
Stethoscope
The stethoscope is an acoustic medical device for auscultation, or listening to the internal sounds of an animal body. It is often used to listen to lung and heart sounds. It is also used to listen to intestines and blood flow in arteries and veins...
and was the first to publish a description of such an instrument.
Bird held strong Christian convictions. In his view, Christian study and prayer were just as important to medical students as their academic studies. He endeavoured to promote Christianity amongst medical students and encouraged other professionals to do likewise. To this end, Bird was responsible for the founding of the Christian Medical Association but it did not become active until after his death.
Life and career
Bird was born in Downham, Norfolk, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on 9 December 1814 to a father (also named Golding Bird), who had been an officer in the Inland Revenue
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...
in Ireland, and an Irish mother, Marrianne. In character the son was precocious and ambitious but childhood rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that occurs following a Streptococcus pyogenes infection, such as strep throat or scarlet fever. Believed to be caused by antibody cross-reactivity that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain, the illness typically develops two to three weeks after...
and endocarditis
Endocarditis
Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. It usually involves the heart valves . Other structures that may be involved include the interventricular septum, the chordae tendineae, the mural endocardium, or even on intracardiac devices...
left him with poor posture and lifelong frail health. He received a classical education
Classical education movement
The Classical education movement advocates a form of education based in the traditions of Western culture, with a particular focus on education as understood and taught in the Middle Ages. The curricula and pedagogy of classical education was first developed during the Middle Ages by Martianus...
when he was sent with his brother, Frederic, to stay with a clergyman in Wallingford where he developed a lifelong habit of self-study. From the age of twelve he was educated at a private school in London, which was not very interested in science and gave only a classical education. Bird, who seems to have been far ahead of his teachers in science, gave lectures in chemistry and botany to his fellow pupils. He had four younger siblings, of whom his brother Frederic also became a physician and published on botany.
Golding Bird served his apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
with the apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
William Pretty in Burton Crescent, London 1829–1833 and was licensed to practise by Apothecaries' Hall (the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries
The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Originally, apothecaries were members of the Grocers' Company and before this members of the Guild of Pepperers formed in London in 1180...
) in 1836. He received this licence without examination due to the reputation he had gained as a student at Guy's. He became a medical student at Guy's in 1832 (while still also working at his apprenticeship) where he was influenced by Thomas Addison
Thomas Addison
Thomas Addison was a renowned 19th-century English physician and scientist. He is traditionally regarded as one of the "great men" of Guy's Hospital in London....
, who recognised his talents early on. Bird was an ambitious and very capable student. He became a Fellow of the Senior Physical Society early on (for which a thesis was required); he received prizes for medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, obstetrics
Obstetrics
Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...
, and ophthalmic surgery at Guy's and the silver medal for botany at Apothecaries' Hall. Around 1839 to 1840 he worked on breast disease at Guy's as an assistant to Sir Astley Cooper
Astley Cooper
Sir Astley Paston Cooper, 1st Baronet was an English surgeon and anatomist, who made historical contributions to otology, vascular surgery, the anatomy and pathology of the mammary glands and testicles, and the pathology and surgery of hernia.-Life:Cooper was born at Brooke Hall in Brooke, Norfolk...
.
Bird graduated from the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
with an MD
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
in 1838, and an MA
Master of Arts (Scotland)
A Master of Arts in Scotland can refer to an undergraduate academic degree in humanities and social sciences awarded by the ancient universities of Scotland – the University of St Andrews, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh, while the University of...
in 1840. As St Andrews required no residence or examination for the MD, Bird obtained his degree by submitting testimonials from qualified colleagues, which was common practice at the time. Once qualified in 1838, at the age of 23, he entered general practice with a surgery at 44 Seymour Street, Euston Square, London, but was not at first successful because of his youth. However, that same year he became physician to the Finsbury Dispensary
Finsbury Dispensary
The Finsbury Dispensary was a charitable dispensary dispensing medical treatment to the poor in Finsbury, London. It was founded in 1780 by a quaker, one George Friend. It operated from various premises during its existence in the 19th century, notably, between 1819 and 1838 it occupied a large,...
and held that post for five years. By 1842 he had an income from his private practice of one thousand pounds per year. Adjusted for inflation this amounts to a spending power of about £ now. He became a Licentiate
Licentiate
Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a licence. The term may derive from the Latin licentia docendi, meaning permission to teach. The term may also derive from the Latin licentia ad practicandum, which signified someone who held a certificate of competence to...
of the Royal College of Physicians
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
in 1840, and a Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
in 1845.
Bird lectured on natural philosophy
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
, medical botany and urinary pathology from 1836 to 1853 at Guy's. He lectured on materia medica
Materia medica
Materia medica is a Latin medical term for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing . The term 'materia medica' derived from the title of a work by the Ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century AD, De materia medica libre...
at Guy's from 1843 to 1853 and at the Royal College of Physicians from 1847 to 1849. He also lectured at the Aldersgate School of Medicine. Throughout his career Bird published extensively, not only on medical matters, but also on electrical science and chemistry.Below are a selection of journal articles by Golding Bird or reporting his work:
Bird was the first head of the electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
and galvanism
Galvanism
In biology, galvanism is the contraction of a muscle that is stimulated by an electric current. In physics and chemistry, it is the induction of electrical current from a chemical reaction, typically between two chemicals with differing electronegativities....
department at Guy's in 1836 under the supervision of Addison, since Bird did not graduate until 1838. In 1843 he was appointed assistant physician at Guy's, a position he had lobbied hard for, and in October that year he was put in charge of the children's outpatients ward. The children, like his electrotherapy patients, were largely poor relief
Poor relief
Poor Relief refers to any actions taken by either governmental or ecclesiastical bodies to relieve poverty experienced by a population. More specifically, the term poor relief is often used to discuss how European countries dealt with poverty from the time just around the end of the medieval era to...
cases who could not afford to pay for medical treatment and were much used for training of medical students. It was generally accepted at this time that poor relief cases could be used for experimental treatment and their permission was not required. Bird published a series of reports in the hospital journal on diseases of children based on case studies from this work.
Bird married Mary Ann Brett in 1842 and moved from his family home at Wilmington Square, Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
to 19 Myddleton Square. The couple produced two daughters and three sons. Bird's second son, Cuthbert Hilton Golding-Bird (1848–1939), became a notable surgeon.
Bird was a member of the Linnaean
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
and Geological
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"...
Societies, and a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
of London. He was also a member of the London Electrical Society founded by William Sturgeon
William Sturgeon
William Sturgeon was an English physicist and inventor who made the first electromagnets, and invented the first practical English electric motor.-Early Life :...
and others. This body was very unlike the elite scholarly institutions, it was more along the lines of a craft guild with a penchant for spectacular demonstrations. Nevertheless, it had some notable members and new machines and apparatus were regularly discussed and demonstrated. Bird was also a Freemason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
from 1841 and was the Worshipful Master of the St Paul's lodge in 1850. He left the Freemasons in 1853.
Bird was vain in character with a tendency to self-promotion and his driving ambition occasionally led him into conflict with others. There were a number of very public disputes in the pages of the medical journals of the time, including the dispute with the Pulvermacher Company and a dispute over the development of the stethoscope. However, when dealing with his patients he was said to show them his undivided attention and a complete commitment to their welfare.
He was diagnosed with heart disease by his brother in 1848 or 1849 and was forced to stop work. By 1850, however, he was again working as hard as ever and had extended his practice so much that he needed to move to a larger house in Russell Square. But in 1851 acute rheumatism
Rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...
caused Bird to take an extended holiday with his wife Mary in Tenby
Tenby
Tenby is a walled seaside town in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, lying on Carmarthen Bay.Notable features of Tenby include of sandy beaches; the 13th century medieval town walls, including the Five Arches barbican gatehouse ; 15th century St...
where he pursued the investigation in the field of botany, marine fauna, and cave life as pastimes. These long summer breaks were repeated in 1852 and 1853 at Torquay
Torquay
Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...
and Tenby. Even on holiday his fame caused him to be pestered with many requests for consultations. In 1853 he purchased an estate, St Cuthbert, for his retirement in Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...
but it first needed some work and he was not able to leave London until June 1854. In the meantime he continued to see patients, but only in his house, despite seriously deteriorating health. He died 27 October 1854 at St Cuthbert from a urinary tract infection and, ironically for one who had studied them so much, suffering from kidney stone
Kidney stone
A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
s. The young age of 39 was perhaps ultimately due to a combination of lifelong frail health and overwork, certainly Bird himself believed that this was so. He is buried in Woodbury Park Cemetery, Tunbridge Wells. After his death Mary instituted the Golding Bird Gold Medal and Scholarship for sanitary science, later named the Golding Bird gold medal and scholarship for bacteriology, which is awarded at Guy's teaching hospital.
Collateral sciences
The collateral sciences are those sciences which have an important role in medicine, but which do not form part of medicine themselves. The sciences most often falling into this category are physics, chemistry, and botany (because botany is a rich source of drugs and poisons). Until the end of the first half of the 19th century, it was rare for chemical analysis to be used in medical diagnosis, even hostility to the idea existed in some quarters. Most of the work in this area at this time was carried out by researchers associated with Guy's.By the time Golding Bird was a medical student at Guy's, the hospital already had a tradition for studying physics and chemistry as they related to medicine. Bird followed this tradition and was particularly influenced by the work of William Prout
William Prout
William Prout FRS was an English chemist, physician, and natural theologian. He is remembered today mainly for what is called Prout's hypothesis.-Biography:...
an expert in chemical physiology. Bird became well known for his knowledge of chemistry. An early example, in 1832, was his comments on a paper on the copper sulphate test for arsenic poisoning
Arsenic poisoning
Arsenic poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the element arsenic in the body. Arsenic interferes with cellular longevity by allosteric inhibition of an essential metabolic enzyme...
, delivered by his future brother-in-law R. H. Brett to the Pupils' Physical Society. Bird criticised the test's positive result when a green precipitate is formed, and claimed that the test was not conclusive because precipitates other than copper arsenite can produce the same green colour.
Bird did not limit himself to challenging his brother-in-law. In 1834 Bird and Brett published a paper on the analysis of blood serum and urine in which they argued against some work by Prout. Prout had said (in 1819) that the pink sediment in urine was due to the presence of ammonium purpurate but Bird's tests failed to verify this. Even though Bird was still only a student and Prout held great authority, Prout felt it necessary to reply to the challenge. Bird later (1843) tried, but failed, to identify the pink compound, but convinced that it was a new chemical, gave it the name purpurine. This name did not stick, however, and the compound became known as uroerythrin from the work of Franz Simon. The structure of this compound was not finally identified until 1975.
Astley Cooper, recognising Bird's abilities in the field of chemistry, asked Bird around 1839 to make a contribution to his book on breast disease. Bird wrote a piece on the chemistry of milk and the book was published in 1840. Although the book is primarily about human anatomy, it includes a chapter on comparative anatomy covering several species. For this Bird carried out an analysis of the milk of the porpoise and a dog bitch. Also in 1839, Bird published his own book (Elements of Natural Philosophy), a textbook on physics aimed at medical students. Bird felt that existing texts were too mathematical for medical students and largely omitted this kind of material altogether in favour of clear explanations. The book proved popular and remained in print for thirty years, although some of the mathematical shortcomings were made good in the fourth edition by Charles Brooke
Charles Brooke (surgeon)
Charles Brooke FRS was an English surgeon and inventor.-Surgical career:Brooke, son of the well-known mineralogist, Henry James Brooke, was born 30 June 1804. His early education was carried on at Chiswick, under Dr. Turner. After this he was entered at Rugby School in 1819 and St John's College,...
.
Electricity
In 1836 Bird was put in charge of the newly formed department of electricityElectricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
and galvanism
Galvanism
In biology, galvanism is the contraction of a muscle that is stimulated by an electric current. In physics and chemistry, it is the induction of electrical current from a chemical reaction, typically between two chemicals with differing electronegativities....
under the supervision of Addison. While this was not the first hospital to employ electrotherapy, it was still considered very much experimental. Previous hospital uses had either been short-lived or based around the whim of a single surgeon such as John Birch at St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS hospital in London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It has provided health care freely or under charitable auspices since the 12th century and was originally located in Southwark.St Thomas' Hospital is accessible...
. At Guy's, the treatment was part of the hospital system and became notable amongst the public; so much so that Guy's was parodied for its use of electricity in the New Frankenstein satirical magazine.
In his electrotherapy, Bird used both electrochemical and electrostatic machines (and later also electromagnetic induction
Electromagnetic induction
Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electric current across a conductor moving through a magnetic field. It underlies the operation of generators, transformers, induction motors, electric motors, synchronous motors, and solenoids....
machines) to treat a very wide range of conditions, for example, some forms of chorea. Treatments included peripheral nerve stimulation, electrical muscle stimulation
Electrical muscle stimulation
Electrical muscle stimulation , also known as neuromuscular electrical stimulation or electromyostimulation, is the elicitation of muscle contraction using electric impulses...
and electric shock therapy. Bird also used his invention, the electric moxa, to heal skin ulcers.
Electrical equipment
It was already clear from the work of Michael FaradayMichael Faraday
Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
that electricity and galvanism were the same thing in all essentials. Bird realised this, but continued to divide his apparatus into electrical machines, which (according to him) delivered a high voltage at low current, and galvanic apparatus, which delivered a high current at low voltage. The galvanic equipment available to Bird included electrochemical cell
Electrochemical cell
An electrochemical cell is a device capable of either deriving electrical energy from chemical reactions, or facilitating chemical reactions through the introduction of electrical energy. A common example of an electrochemical cell is a standard 1.5-volt "battery"...
s such as the voltaic pile
Voltaic pile
A voltaic pile is a set of individual Galvanic cells placed in series. The voltaic pile, invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800, was the first electric battery...
and the Daniell cell
Daniell cell
The Daniell cell was invented in 1836 by John Frederic Daniell, a British chemist and meteorologist, and consisted of a copper pot filled with a copper sulfate solution, in which was immersed an unglazed earthenware container filled with sulfuric acid and a zinc electrode...
, a variant of which Bird devised himself. Also part of the standard equipment were induction coil
Induction coil
An induction coil or "spark coil" is a type of disruptive discharge coil. It is a type of electrical transformer used to produce high-voltage pulses from a low-voltage direct current supply...
s which, together with an interrupter circuit, were used with one of the electrochemical cells to deliver an electric shock. The electrical machines (as opposed to galvanic apparatus) available at this time were friction operated electrostatic generator
Electrostatic generator
An electrostatic generator, or electrostatic machine, is a mechanical device that produces static electricity, or electricity at high voltage and low continuous current...
s consisting of either a rotating glass disc or cylinder on which silk flaps were allowed to drag as the glass rotated. These machines had to be hand turned during treatment, but it was possible to store small amounts of static electricity
Static electricity
Static electricity refers to the build-up of electric charge on the surface of objects. The static charges remain on an object until they either bleed off to ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge. Static electricity can be contrasted with current electricity, which can be delivered...
in Leyden jar
Leyden jar
A Leyden jar, or Leiden jar, is a device that "stores" static electricity between two electrodes on the inside and outside of a jar. It was invented independently by German cleric Ewald Georg von Kleist on 11 October 1745 and by Dutch scientist Pieter van Musschenbroek of Leiden in 1745–1746. The...
s for later use.
By 1849 generators based on Faraday's law of induction
Faraday's law of induction
Faraday's law of induction dates from the 1830s, and is a basic law of electromagnetism relating to the operating principles of transformers, inductors, and many types of electrical motors and generators...
had become advanced enough to replace both types of machine and Bird was recommending them in his lectures. Galvanic cells suffered from the inconvenience of having to deal with the electrolyte
Electrolyte
In chemistry, an electrolyte is any substance containing free ions that make the substance electrically conductive. The most typical electrolyte is an ionic solution, but molten electrolytes and solid electrolytes are also possible....
acids in the surgery and the possibility of spillages; electrostatic generators required a great deal of skill and attention to keep them working successfully. Electro-magnetic machines, on the other hand, have neither of these drawbacks; the only criticism levelled by Bird was that the cheaper machines could only deliver an alternating current
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
. For medical use, particularly when treating a problem with nerves, a uni-directional current of a particular polarity was often required. This required the machine to have split-rings
Commutator (electric)
A commutator is a rotary electrical switch in certain types of electric motors or electrical generators that periodically reverses the current direction between the rotor and the external circuit. In a motor, it applies power to the best location on the rotor, and in a generator, picks off power...
or similar mechanisms although alternating current machines were, according to Bird, suitable for cases of amenorrhœa.
This issue of the direction of the current required from the machines was connected with the direction electric current was thought to flow in nerves in the human or animal body. For motor functions for instance, the flow was taken as being from the centre towards the muscles at the extremities, and consequently artificial stimulation by the use of electricity needed to be in the same direction. For sensory nerves the opposite applied; flow was from the extremity to the centre, and the positive electrode would be applied to the extremity. This principle was demonstrated by Bird in an experiment with a living frog. A supply of frogs was usually to hand through their use in the frog galvanoscope. The electromagnetic galvanometer
Galvanometer
A galvanometer is a type of ammeter: an instrument for detecting and measuring electric current. It is an analog electromechanical transducer that produces a rotary deflection of some type of pointer in response to electric current flowing through its coil in a magnetic field. .Galvanometers were...
was available at this time but frog's legs were still used by Bird because of their much greater sensitivity to small currents. In the experiment, the frog's leg was completely severed from its body except for the sciatic nerve
Sciatic nerve
The sciatic nerve is a large nerve fiber in humans and other animals. It begins in the lower back and runs through the buttock and down the lower limb...
and electric current then applied from the body to the leg. The result was convulsions of the leg as the muscle was stimulated. Reversing the current, however, produced no movement of the muscle, merely croaks of pain from the frog. Bird, in his lectures, also describes many experiments with a similar aim on human sensory organs. In one experiment by Grapengiesser for instance, electric current is passed through the subject's head from ear to ear causing a sound to be hallucinated. The ear connected to the positive terminal hears a louder sound than that connected to the negative.
Bird designed his own interrupter
Interrupter
An interrupter in electrical engineering is a device used to interrupt the flow of a steady direct current for the purpose of converting a steady electric field into a changing one...
circuit for delivering shocks to patients from a voltaic cell through an induction coil. Previously, the interrupter had been a mechanical device requiring the physician to manually turn a cog wheel, or else employ an assistant to do this. Bird wished to free his hands to better apply the electricity to the required part of the patient. His interrupter worked automatically by magnetic induction at a reasonably fast rate. The faster the interrupter switches, the more frequently an electric shock is delivered to the patient and the aim is to make this as high as possible.
Bird's interrupter had the medically disadvantageous feature that current was supplied in opposite directions during the make and break operations. Treatment often required that current was supplied in one specified direction only. Bird produced a uni-directional interrupter using a mechanism we would now call split-rings. This design suffered from the disadvantage that automatic operation was lost and the interrupter had to once again be hand-cranked. Nevertheless, this arrangement remained a cheaper option than electromagnetic generators for some time.
Treatments
There were three classes of electrical treatment in use. One form of electrotherapy was the electric bath. This consisted of sitting the patient on an insulated stool with glass legs and connecting the patient to one electrodeElectrode
An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit...
, usually the positive one, of an electrostatic machine. The patient's skin became charged as if he or she were in a "bath of electricity". A second class of treatment could be performed while the patient was in the electric bath. This consisted of bringing a negative electrode close to the patient, usually around the spine, causing sparks to be produced between the electrode and the patient. Electrodes of various shapes were available for different medical purposes and place of application on the body. Treatment was applied in several sessions of around five minutes, often causing skin eruptions. The third class of treatment was electric shock therapy in which an electric shock was delivered from a galvanic battery (later electromagnetic generators) via an induction coil to greatly increase the voltage. It was also possible to deliver electric shocks from the stored charge in a Leyden jar but this was a much feebler shock.
Electric stimulation treatment was used to treat nervous disorders where the nervous system was unable to stimulate a required glandular secretion or muscle activity. It had previously been successfully used to treat some forms of asthma. Bird used his apparatus to treat Sydenham's chorea
Sydenham's chorea
Sydenham's chorea or chorea minor is a disease characterized by rapid, uncoordinated jerking movements affecting primarily the face, feet and hands. Sydenham's chorea results from childhood infection with Group A beta-hemolytic Streptococci and is reported to occur in 20-30% of patients with...
(St Vitus's Dance) and other forms of spasm
Spasm
In medicine a spasm is a sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ, or a similarly sudden contraction of an orifice. It is sometimes accompanied by a sudden burst of pain, but is usually harmless and ceases after a few minutes...
, some forms of paralysis (although the treatment was of no use where nerves had been physically damaged), opiate
Opiate
In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic opioid alkaloids found as natural products in the opium poppy plant.-Overview:Opiates are so named because they are constituents or derivatives of constituents found in opium, which is processed from the latex sap of the opium poppy,...
overdose (since it kept the patient awake), bringing on menstruation
Menstruation
Menstruation is the shedding of the uterine lining . It occurs on a regular basis in sexually reproductive-age females of certain mammal species. This article focuses on human menstruation.-Overview:...
where this had failed, and hysteria
Hysteria
Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...
, a supposed disease of women. Paralysed bladder function in young girls was attributed to the now archaic condition of hysteria. This was treated with an application of a strong electric current between the sacrum
Sacrum
In vertebrate anatomy the sacrum is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine and at the upper and back part of the pelvic cavity, where it is inserted like a wedge between the two hip bones. Its upper part connects with the last lumbar vertebra, and bottom part with the coccyx...
and the pubis
Mons pubis
In human anatomy or in mammals in general, the mons pubis , also known as the mons veneris or simply the mons, is the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone of adult females, anterior to the pubic symphysis...
. Although the treatment worked, in that it caused the bladder to empty, Bird suspected that in many cases it did so more through fear and pain than any therapeutic property of electricity.
Electric shock treatment had become fashionable amongst the public but often was not favoured by physicians except as a last resort. This led to many inappropriate treatments and fraudulent practitioners were widespread. Quack practitioners claimed the treatment as a cure for almost anything, regardless of its effectiveness, but could nevertheless make large sums of money from the practice. Bird, however, continued to stand by the treatment when properly administered. He convinced an initially sceptical Addison of its merits, and the first publication (in 1837) describing the work of the electrifying unit was authored by Addison, not Bird, although Bird is clearly, and rightly, credited by Addison. Having the paper authored by Addison did a great deal to gain acceptability of a still suspicious medical fraternity. Addison held great authority, whereas Bird at this stage was an unknown. Bird's 1841 paper in Guy's Hospital Reports contained an impressively long list of successful case studies. In 1847 he brought the subject fully into the realm of materia medica when he delivered the annual lecture to the Royal College of Physicians on this subject. Bird tirelessly spoke out against the numerous quack practitioners, in one case he exposed railway telegraph operators who were claiming to be medical electricians, but had no medical training at all. In this way Bird was largely responsible for the rehabilitation of electrical treatment amongst medical practitioners. His work, with Addison's support, together with the increasing ease of using the machines as the technology progressed, brought the treatment into wider use in the medical profession.
The electric moxa
Bird is the inventor of the electric moxa, which he created in 1843. The name moxa is a reference to the acupunctureAcupuncture
Acupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body....
technique of moxibustion
Moxibustion
Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy using moxa, or mugwort herb. It plays an important role in the traditional medical systems of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, and Mongolia. Suppliers usually age the mugwort and grind it up to a fluff; practitioners burn the fluff or...
but the electric moxa is not intended for acupuncture use. Bird was probably influenced in his choice of name by the introduction of electroacupuncture
Electroacupuncture
Electroacupuncture is a form of acupuncture where a small electric current is passed between pairs of acupuncture needles. Another term is Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation ....
, in which the acupuncture needles are augmented with an electric current, just a couple of decades earlier in France. The electric moxa was used to produce a suppurating sore on the skin of the patient to treat some inflammatory and congested conditions by the technique of counter-irritation
Counterirritant
A counterirritant is a substance which creates inflammation in one location with the goal of lessening the inflammation in another location. They can be used as antipruritics. This strategy falls into the more general category of counterstimulation....
. Prior to the electric moxa, the sore was created by much more painful instruments such as the cautery or even burning charcoal. Bird's design was based on a modification of an existing instrument used to apply local electrical treatment for hemiplegia
Hemiplegia
Hemiplegia /he.mə.pliː.dʒiə/ is total paralysis of the arm, leg, and trunk on the same side of the body. Hemiplegia is more severe than hemiparesis, wherein one half of the body has less marked weakness....
. The electric moxa consisted of a silver and a zinc electrode connected together by copper wire. Two small blisters were produced on the skin to which the two electrodes were then connected and held in place for a few days. Electricity is generated by electrolytic action with body fluids. The blister under the silver electrode heals up, but the one under the zinc electrode produces the required suppurating sore.
The healing of the blister under the silver electrode was of no importance for a counter-irritation procedure, however, it suggested to Bird that the electric moxa might be used for treating obstinate leg ulcers. This was a common complaint in Bird's time amongst the working classes, and hospitals were unable to admit for treatment the majority of cases that presented. The moxa was thus an advantage in that sufferers could be treated as outpatients. The silver electrode of the moxa was applied to the ulcer to be healed, while the zinc electrode was applied a few inches away to a patch of surface where the upper layer of skin had been cut away. The whole apparatus was then bandaged in place as before. The technique was successfully applied by others on Birds recommendation. It was later discovered by Thomas Wells
Thomas Spencer Wells
Sir Thomas Spencer Wells, 1st Baronet was surgeon to Queen Victoria, a medical professor and president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.-Early life:...
that damaging the skin under the zinc plate was unnecessary. Wells merely moistened the skin with vinegar before application of the zinc electrode.
Controversy
There was some controversy over Bird's endorsement of a machine invented by one I. L. Pulvermacher that became known as Pulvermacher's chainPulvermacher's chain
The Pulvermacher chain, or in full as it was sold the Pulvermacher hydro-electric chain, was a type of voltaic battery sold in the second half of the 19th century for medical applications...
. Pulvermacher's main market for these devices was the very quack practitioners that Bird so detested, but it did actually work as a generator. Bird was given a sample of this machine in 1851 and was impressed enough with it that he gave Pulvermacher a testimonial stating that the machine was a useful source of electricity. Bird thought that it could be used by physicians as a portable device. Electrically, the machine worked like a voltaic pile, but was constructed differently. It consisted of a number of wooden dowel
Dowel
A dowel is a solid cylindrical rod, usually made of wood, plastic or metal. In its original manufactured form, dowel is called dowel rod.Dowel rod is employed in numerous, diverse applications. It is used to form axles in toys, as detents on gymnastics grips, as knitting needles, as structural...
s each with a bifilar winding
Bifilar coil
A bifilar coil is an electromagnetic coil that contains two closely spaced, parallel windings. In engineering, the word bifilar describes wire which is made of two filaments or strands. It is commonly used to denote special types of winding wire for transformers. Wire can be purchased in bifilar...
of copper and zinc coils. Each winding was connected to the next dowel by means of metal hooks and eyes which also provided the electrical connection. The electrolyte was provided by soaking the dowels in vinegar.
Naively, Bird appears to have expected Pulvermacher not to use this testimonial in his advertising. When Pulvermacher's company did exactly that Bird came in for some criticism for unprofessional behaviour, although there was never any suggestion that Bird benefited financially in any way and Bird stated in his defence that the testimonial was only ever intended as a letter of introduction to physicians in Edinburgh. Bird was particularly upset that Pulvermacher's company had used quotes from Bird's publications about the benefits of electrical treatment, and misrepresented them as if Bird had said they were the benefits of Pulvermacher's product. Bird also criticised the Pulvermacher claim that the chain could be wrapped around an affected limb for medical treatment. Although the flexible nature of its design lent itself to wrapping, Bird said that it would be next to useless in this configuration for medical application of electricity. The patient's body would provide a conductive path across each cell
Electrochemical cell
An electrochemical cell is a device capable of either deriving electrical energy from chemical reactions, or facilitating chemical reactions through the introduction of electrical energy. A common example of an electrochemical cell is a standard 1.5-volt "battery"...
thus, according to Bird, preventing the device from building up a medically useful voltage at its terminals.
Electrochemistry
Bird used his position as head of the department of electricity and galvanism to further his research efforts and to aid teaching his students. Bird was interested in electrolysisElectrolysis
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...
and repeated the experiments of Antoine César Becquerel
Antoine César Becquerel
Antoine César Becquerel was a French scientist and a pioneer in the study of electric and luminescent phenomena.He was born at Châtillon sur LoCrea...
, Edmund Davy
Edmund Davy
Edmund Davy FRS was a professor of Chemistry at the Royal Cork Institution from 1813 and professor of chemistry at the Royal Dublin Society from 1826. He discovered acetylene, as it was later named by Marcellin Berthelot...
and others to extract metals in this way. He was particularly interested in the possibility of detecting low levels of heavy metal poisons with this technique, pioneered by Davy. Bird also studied the properties of albumen under electrolysis, finding that the albumen coagulated at the anode
Anode
An anode is an electrode through which electric current flows into a polarized electrical device. Mnemonic: ACID ....
due to the production of hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....
there. He was able to correct an earlier erroneous conclusion by W. T. Brande that high electric current caused coagulation at the cathode
Cathode
A cathode is an electrode through which electric current flows out of a polarized electrical device. Mnemonic: CCD .Cathode polarity is not always negative...
also. Bird showed that this was entirely due to fluid flows caused by the strong electric field.
The formation of copper plates on the cathode were noticed in the Daniell cell shortly after its invention in 1836. Bird began a thorough investigation of this phenomenon the following year in 1837. Using solutions of sodium chloride
Sodium chloride
Sodium chloride, also known as salt, common salt, table salt or halite, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms...
, potassium chloride
Potassium chloride
The chemical compound potassium chloride is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. In its pure state, it is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance, with a crystal structure that cleaves easily in three directions. Potassium chloride crystals are...
and ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride NH4Cl is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4Cl. It is a white crystalline salt that is highly soluble in water. Solutions of ammonium chloride are mildly acidic. Sal ammoniac is a name of natural, mineralogical form of ammonium chloride...
, He succeeded in coating a mercury cathode with sodium
Sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...
, potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
and ammonium
Ammonium
The ammonium cation is a positively charged polyatomic cation with the chemical formula NH. It is formed by the protonation of ammonia...
respectively, producing amalgams
Amalgam (chemistry)
An amalgam is a substance formed by the reaction of mercury with another metal. Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, notable exceptions being iron and platinum. Silver-mercury amalgams are important in dentistry, and gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore.The...
of each of these. Not only chloride
Chloride
The chloride ion is formed when the element chlorine, a halogen, picks up one electron to form an anion Cl−. The salts of hydrochloric acid HCl contain chloride ions and can also be called chlorides. The chloride ion, and its salts such as sodium chloride, are very soluble in water...
s were used; beryllium
Beryllium
Beryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl...
, aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
and silicon
Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...
were obtained from the salts and oxide
Oxide
An oxide is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom in its chemical formula. Metal oxides typically contain an anion of oxygen in the oxidation state of −2....
s of these elements.
As mentioned earlier, Bird, in 1837, constructed his own version of the Daniell cell. Originally, the Daniell cell held the two solutions (copper sulphate and zinc sulphate) in two separate, but linked, containers, an arrangement described as two half-cells. The novel feature of Bird's cell was that the two solutions were in the same vessel, but kept separate by a barrier of plaster of Paris, a common material found in hospitals for setting bone fracture
Bone fracture
A bone fracture is a medical condition in which there is a break in the continuity of the bone...
s. Plaster of paris being porous allows ion
Ion
An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...
s to cross the barrier while preventing the solutions from mixing. This arrangement is an example of a single-cell Daniell cell and Bird's invention was the first of this kind. Bird's cell was the basis for the later development of the porous pot cell, invented in 1839 by John Dancer.Morus, pp. 177–183
Watt and Philip, pp. 90–92
Bird's experiments with this cell were of some importance to the new discipline of electrometallurgy
Electrometallurgy
Electrometallurgy is the field concerned with the processes of metal electrodeposition. There are five categories of these processes:* electrowinning, the extraction of metal from ores* electrorefining, the purification of metals...
. A surprising result was the deposition of copper on and within the plaster without any contact with the metal electrodes. On breaking apart the plaster it was found that veins of copper were formed running right through it. So surprising was this result of Bird's, that it was at first disbelieved by electrochemical researchers, including Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
. Deposition of copper, and other metals, had been previously noted, but always previously it had been metal on metal electrode. Bird's experiments sometimes get him credit for being the founder of the important industrial field of electrometallurgy
Electrometallurgy
Electrometallurgy is the field concerned with the processes of metal electrodeposition. There are five categories of these processes:* electrowinning, the extraction of metal from ores* electrorefining, the purification of metals...
. However, Bird himself never made practical use of this discovery, nor did he carry out any work in the field of metallurgy as such. Some of Bird's contemporaries with interests in electrometallurgy wished to bestow the credit on Bird in order to discredit the commercial claims of their rivals.
Bird thought that there was a connection between the functioning of the nervous system and the processes seen in electrolysis at very low steady currents. He was aware that the currents in both were of the same order. To Bird, if such a connection existed it made electrochemistry
Electrochemistry
Electrochemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies chemical reactions which take place in a solution at the interface of an electron conductor and an ionic conductor , and which involve electron transfer between the electrode and the electrolyte or species in solution.If a chemical reaction is...
an important subject to study for purely biological reasons.
Arsenic poisoning
In 1837 Bird took part in an investigation of the dangers posed by the arsenicArsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
content of cheap candles. These were stearin
Stearin
Stearin , or tristearin, or glyceryl tristearate is a triglyceride, a glyceryl ester of stearic acid, derived from animal fats created as a byproduct of processing beef. It can also be found in tropical plants such as palm. It is used as tallow in the manufacture of candles and soap. In the...
candles with white arsenic added which made them burn brighter than ordinary candles. The combination of cheapness and brightness made them popular with the public. The investigation was conducted by the Westminster Medical Society, a student society of Westminster Hospital, and was led by John Snow
John Snow (physician)
John Snow was an English physician and a leader in the adoption of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered to be one of the fathers of epidemiology, because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in Soho, England, in 1854.-Early life and education:Snow was born 15 March...
, later to become famous for his public health investigations. Snow had previously investigated arsenic poisoning when himself and several fellow students were taken badly ill after a new process for preserving cadaver
Cadaver
A cadaver is a dead human body.Cadaver may also refer to:* Cadaver tomb, tomb featuring an effigy in the form of a decomposing body* Cadaver , a video game* cadaver A command-line WebDAV client for Unix....
s was introduced by Snow. The new process involved injecting arsenic into the blood vessels of the corpse. Snow found that the arsenic became airborne due to chemical reactions with the decomposing corpse and it was in this way that it was ingested. Bird's part in the candle investigation was to analyse the arsenic content of the candles, which he found to have been greatly increased of late by the manufacturers. Bird also confirmed by experiment that the arsenic became airborne when the candles were burnt. The investigators exposed various species of animal and bird to the candles in controlled conditions. The animals all survived but the birds died. Bird investigated the bird deaths and analysed the bodies, finding small amounts of arsenic. No arsenic was found on the feathers, however, indicating that poisoning was not by way of breathing airborne arsenic since arsenic in the air would be expected to adhere to the feathers. However, Bird found that large amounts of arsenic were in the bird's drinking water indicating that this was the route of poisoning.
Carbon monoxide
Although it had been possible to prepare carbon monoxideCarbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
since 1776 it was not, at first, recognised that carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of carbon monoxide . Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect...
was the mechanism of death and injury from stoves burning carbonaceous
Carbonaceous
Carbonaceous is the defining attribute of a substance rich in carbon. Particularly, carbonaceous hydrocarbons are very unsaturated, high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons, having an elevated carbon:hydrogen ratio....
fuels. A coroner's inquest into the death of a nightwatchman, James Trickey, in 1838 who had spent all night by a new type of charcoal burning stove in St Michael, Cornhill
St Michael, Cornhill
St Michael, Cornhill is a medieval parish church in the City of London with pre-Norman Conquest parochial foundation. The medieval structure was lost in the Great Fire of London and the current church was designed by Sir Christopher Wren between 1670-1677....
concluded that the poison involved was carbonic acid (that is, carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
) rather than carbon monoxide. Both Golding Bird and John Snow gave evidence to the inquest supporting poisoning by carbonic acid. Bird himself started to suffer ill effects while he was collecting air samples from the floor near the stove. However, the makers of the stove, Harper and Joyce, produced a string of their own expert witnesses at the inquest who convinced the jury to decide that death was caused by apoplexy
Apoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
with "impure air" being only a contributing factor. Amongst the unscientific claims made at the inquest by Harper and Joyce were that carbonic gas would rise to the ceiling (it is actually heavier than air and would lie in a layer close to the floor just where Trickey's sleeping head would rest according to Bird) and that "deleterious vapour" from the coffins in the vaults had risen into the church. After the inquest Joyce threatened to sue a journal which continued to criticise the stove for its lack of ventilation. In a subsequent clarification, Bird made it clear that any stove burning carbonaceous fuel was dangerous if it did not have a chimney or other means of ventilation. Ironically, Trickey had only been placed in the church in the first place at Harper's suggestion. Harper was looking for favourable reports of the new stoves performance which Trickey, had he lived, was expected to give.
Bird read a paper to the Senior Physical Society in 1839 in which he tests the effects of poisoning by carbonaceous fumes on sparrows. This paper was of some importance and resulted in Bird giving his views to the British Association (where he acted as one of the secretaries to the chemical section in Birmingham) that same year. Bird also presented the paper at the Westminster Medical School where Snow took a special interest in it. Snow, up to then, had believed, along with many others, that carbonic acid acted merely by excluding oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
. The experiments of Bird and others convinced him that it was deleterious in its own right but he still did not ascribe to the view held by Bird that it was an active poison. Also in 1839, Bird published a comprehensive paper in Guy's Hospital Reports, complete with many case histories, in which he documents the state of knowledge. He realised that at least some cases of poisoning from stoves were not due to carbonic acid, some other agent was involved, but he had still not identified the unknown substance as carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
.
Urology
Bird did a great deal of research in the field of urologyUrology
Urology is the medical and surgical specialty that focuses on the urinary tracts of males and females, and on the reproductive system of males. Medical professionals specializing in the field of urology are called urologists and are trained to diagnose, treat, and manage patients with urological...
, including the chemistry of both urine
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
and kidney stone
Kidney stone
A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
s and soon became a recognised expert. A large proportion of his effort was taken up with this work and his writings on urinary sediments and kidney stones was the most advanced in the field at the time. His work followed on from, and was much influenced by, that of Alexander Marcet and William Prout
William Prout
William Prout FRS was an English chemist, physician, and natural theologian. He is remembered today mainly for what is called Prout's hypothesis.-Biography:...
. Marcet was also a physician at Guy's; Prout held no position at Guy's, but was connected and well known there. For instance, when Marcet discovered a new constituent of kidney stones, xanthic oxide, he sent the substance to Prout for analysis. Prout was himself the discoverer of a new substance in 1822; a constituent of urine which he named melanic acid
Melanic acid
Homogentisic acid is a phenolic acid found in Arbutus unedo honey. It is also present in the bacterial plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv...
due to it turning black on contact with the air.
Bird studied and categorised the collection of stones at Guy's particularly concentrating on the nuclei crystal structures since stone formation followed once there was a nucleus to form on. He considered study of the chemistry of the nuclei to be the most important aspect of stone formation. Bird identified many species of stone, classed by the chemistry of the nucleus, but determined that they all fell within two overall groups; organic stones caused by a misfunctioning bodily process, and excessive inorganic salts causing sediment on which the stone could nucleate. Bird was the first to describe, in 1842, the condition oxaluria, sometimes called Bird's disease, caused by an excess of oxalate of lime in the urine. This is the second most common cause of stones, the first being uric acid
Uric acid
Uric acid is a heterocyclic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen with the formula C5H4N4O3. It forms ions and salts known as urates and acid urates such as ammonium acid urate. Uric acid is created when the body breaks down purine nucleotides. High blood concentrations of uric acid...
and its ammonium salt. There are several others such as ammonium oxalate
Ammonium oxalate
Ammonium oxalate, C2H8N2O4, is an oxalate salt with ammonia. It is a constituent of some types of kidney stone. Found also in guano....
. In his great work Urinary Deposits Bird devotes much space to the identification of chemicals in urine by microscopic examination of the appearance of crystals in the urine. Bird shows how the appearance of crystals of the same chemical can vary greatly under differing conditions and especially how the appearance changes with disease. Urinary Deposits became a standard text on the subject; there were five editions of the book between 1844 and 1857. Bird added in the fourth edition a recommendation to wash out the bladder in cases of alkaline urine. This was in consequence of an experiment by Snow which showed that fresh urine slowly dripped into stale urine caused it to become alkaline. Alkaline urine was known to Bird to encourage phosphate precipitation and the consequent encrustation and stone formation. The last edition was updated after Bird's death by Edmund Lloyd Birkett.
Bird was the first to recognise that urinary casts are a diagnostic indication of Bright's disease
Bright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
. Casts were first discovered by Henry Bence Jones
Henry Bence Jones
Henry Bence Jones was an English physician and chemist.- Biography :He was born at Thorington Hall, Yoxley, Suffolk, the son of Lieutenant Colonel William Jones, an officer in the 5th Dragoon Guards, and Matilda Bence...
. They are microscopic cylinders of Tamm-Horsfall protein
Tamm-Horsfall protein
The Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein also known as uromodulin is a glycoprotein that in humans is encoded by the UMOD gene. Up to 150 mg/dl of uromodulin may be excreted in the urine, making it the most abundant protein in normal urine.- Gene :...
which have been precipitated out in the kidneys and then released into the urine.
Vitalism
A prevalent idea in the 18th and early-19th centuries was that illness was a result of the condition of the whole body. The environment and the activity of the patient thus played a large part in any treatment. The epitomy of this kind of thinking was the concept of the vital forceVitalism
Vitalism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is#a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle distinct from biochemical reactions...
which was supposed to govern the chemical processes within the body. For this reason it was held that formation of organic compounds could only take place within living organisms where the vital force could come into play. This belief was known to be false ever since Friedrich Wöhler
Friedrich Wöhler
Friedrich Wöhler was a German chemist, best known for his synthesis of urea, but also the first to isolate several chemical elements.-Biography:He was born in Eschersheim, which belonged to aau...
succeeded in synthesising urea
Urea
Urea or carbamide is an organic compound with the chemical formula CO2. The molecule has two —NH2 groups joined by a carbonyl functional group....
from inorganic precursors in 1828. Despite this counter-example, the vital force continued to be invoked to explain organic chemistry in Bird's time. Sometime in the middle of the 19th century a new way of thinking started to take shape especially amongst younger physicians fueled by rapid advances in the understanding of chemistry. For the first time, it became possible to identify specific chemical reactions with specific organs of the body and trace the effects through the various functional relations of the organs and the exchanges between them.
Counted amongst these younger radicals were Golding Bird and John Snow. Counted amongst the old school was William Addison
William Addison (physician)
William Addison FRS was a British physician.He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society on 29 January 1846.He studied hematology....
(a different person from Bird's superior at Guy's). Addison disliked the modern reliance on laboratory and theoretical results favoured by the new generation and challenged Richard Bright
Richard Bright (physician)
Richard Bright was an English physician and early pioneer in the research of kidney disease.He was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, the third son of Sarah and Richard Bright Sr., a wealthy merchant and banker. Bright Sr. shared his interest in science with his son,encouraging him to consider it...
(of Bright's disease) when he suggested that the source of the problem in edema
Edema
Edema or oedema ; both words from the Greek , oídēma "swelling"), formerly known as dropsy or hydropsy, is an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin or in one or more cavities of the body that produces swelling...
was the kidneys. Addison preferred to believe that the condition was caused by intemperance or some other external cause and that since the whole body had been disrupted it could not be localised to a specific organ. Addison further challenged Bright's student, Snow, when in 1839 he suggested from case studies and laboratory analysis that edema was associated with an increase in albumin in the blood. Addison dismissed this as a mere epiphenomenon
Epiphenomenon
An epiphenomenon is a secondary phenomenon that occurs alongside or in parallel to a primary phenomenon.-Medicine:...
. Bird disagreed with Snow over Snow's proposed treatment, but his arguments against Snow clearly show him to be on the radical side of the fence and were completely devoid of any whole-body arguments. Snow had found that the proportion of urea in the urine of his patients was low and concluded from this that urea was accumulating in the blood. Snow thus proposed bloodletting
Bloodletting
Bloodletting is the withdrawal of often little quantities of blood from a patient to cure or prevent illness and disease. Bloodletting was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily fluid were considered to be "humors" the proper balance of which maintained health...
as a treatment to counter this. Bird disputed that increasing urea in the blood was the cause of kidney disease and the effectiveness of this treatment citing the results of François Magendie
François Magendie
François Magendie was a French physiologist, considered a pioneer of experimental physiology. He is known for describing the foramen of Magendie. There is also a Magendie sign, a downward and inward rotation of the eye due to a lesion in the cerebellum...
who had injected urea into the blood, apparently with no ill effects. It is not clear whether or not Bird accepted Snow's reasoning that urea must be accumulating, or was merely accepting it arguendo
Arguendo
Arguendo is a Latin legal term meaning for the sake of argument. The phrase "assuming, arguendo, that ..." is used in courtroom settings and academic legal settings to designate provisional and unendorsed assumptions that will be made at the beginning of an argument in order to explore their...
; he had disputed this very point while a student in 1833 with another of Bright's students, George Rees.
Justus von Liebig
Justus von Liebig
Justus von Liebig was a German chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and worked on the organization of organic chemistry. As a professor, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the...
is another figure of some importance for the new thinking, although his position in some respects is ambiguous. He explained chemical processes in the body with addition and subtraction of simple molecules from a larger organic molecule. Bird followed Liebig's scheme in his own work but even the materialistic
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
Liebig continued to invoke the vital force for processes inside living animal bodies. This seems to have been based on a belief that the entire living animal is required for these chemical processes to take place. Bird is responsible, at least in part, for moving this kind of thinking on by showing that specific chemistry is related to specific organs in the body rather than the whole animal. Bird challenged some of Liebig's conclusions concerning animal chemistry; for instance, Bird showed that Liebig's prediction that the ratio of uric acid to urea depended on the level of activity of a species (or individual) was false. Bird also felt that it was not enough to simply count atoms as Liebig did, but an explanation of why the atoms recombined in that particular way rather than any other was also required. Bird made some attempts to provide this explanation by invoking the electric force, rather than the vital force, based on his own experiments in electrolysis.
Flexible stethoscope
Bird designed and used a flexible tube stethoscopeStethoscope
The stethoscope is an acoustic medical device for auscultation, or listening to the internal sounds of an animal body. It is often used to listen to lung and heart sounds. It is also used to listen to intestines and blood flow in arteries and veins...
and was the first to publish, in 1840, a description of such an instrument. Bird mentions in his paper an instrument already in use by other physicians (Drs. Clendinning and Stroud) which he describes as the snake ear trumpet
Ear trumpet
Ear trumpets are tubular or funnel-shaped devices which collect sound waves and lead them into the ear. This results in a strengthening of the sound energy impact to the eardrum and thus a better hearing for a reduced or decreased hearing individual....
but thought that this device was of little utility. The form of Bird's invention is similar to the now ubiquitous modern stethoscope excepting that it has only one earpiece. An ill-tempered exchange of letters occurred in the London Medical Gazette between another physician, John Burne, and Bird. Burne claimed that he also used the same instrument as Clendinning and Stroud and was offended that Bird had not mentioned him (Burne) in his paper. Burne, who worked at the Westminster Hospital
Westminster Hospital
Westminster Hospital was a hospital in London, England, founded in 1719. In 1834 a medical school attached to the hospital was formally founded....
, pointed with suspicion to the fact that Bird's brother, Frederic, also worked at the same establishment. A somewhat bemused Bird pointed out that in his original paper he had already made clear he claimed no credit for this earlier instrument. It has been suggested that part of Bird's motivation for inventing his flexible stethoscope was that his severe rheumatism caused him difficulty in leaning over patients when using a rigid stethoscope and the flexible stethoscope greatly eased this problem.
Elements of Natural Philosophy
When Bird took up lecturing science at Guy's, he could not find a textbook suitable for his medical students. He needed a book that went into some detail of physics and chemistry but which medical students would not find overwhelmingly mathematical. Bird, with reluctance, undertook to write such a book himself, based on his 1837–1838 lectures, and the result was Elements of Natural Philosophy, first published in 1839. It proved to be spectacularly popular, even beyond its intended audience of medical students, and went through six editions. Reprints were still being produced more than 30 years later in 1868. The fourth edition was edited by Charles BrookeCharles Brooke (surgeon)
Charles Brooke FRS was an English surgeon and inventor.-Surgical career:Brooke, son of the well-known mineralogist, Henry James Brooke, was born 30 June 1804. His early education was carried on at Chiswick, under Dr. Turner. After this he was entered at Rugby School in 1819 and St John's College,...
, a friend of Bird's, after the latter's death. Brooke made good many of the mathematical omissions of Bird. Brooke continued editing editions of the book and in the sixth edition of 1867 he thoroughly updated it. The book was well received and was praised by reviewers for its clarity.
The Literary Gazette, for instance, thought that the book "...teaches us the elements of the entire circle of natural philosophy in the clearest and most perspicuous manner..." The reviewer recommended that the book was suitable not just for students and not just the young; the volume, it said, "...ought to be in the hands of every individual who desires to taste the pleasures of divine philosophy, and obtain a competent knowledge of that creation in which they live..."
Medical journals, on the other hand, were not quite so unrestrained in their praise. The Provincial Medical and Surgical, for instance, in its review of the second edition, thought that it was "a good and concise elementary treatise...presenting in a readable and intelligible form, a great mass of information not to be found in any other single treatise..." However the Provincial had a few technical nitpicks. Amongst these was the complaint that there was no description of the construction of the stethoscope. The Provincial reviewer thought that the book was particularly suitable for students who had no previous instruction in physics. The sections on magnetism, electricity and light were particularly recommended.
In their review of the 6th edition, Popular Science Review noted that the author was now named as Brooke and observed that he had now made the book his own. The reviewers looked back with nostalgia to the book they knew as "the Golding Bird" when they were students. They note with approval the many newly included descriptions of the latest technology such as the dynamo
Dynamo
- Engineering :* Dynamo, a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator* Dynamo theory, a theory relating to magnetic fields of celestial bodies* Solar dynamo, the physical process that generates the Sun's magnetic field- Software :...
s of Henry Wilde
Henry Wilde (engineer)
Henry Wilde was a wealthy individual from Manchester, England who used his self-made fortune to indulge his interest in electrical engineering. He invented the dynamo-electric machine, or self-energising dynamo, an invention for which Werner von Siemens is more usually credited and, in fact,...
and Werner von Siemens, and the spectroscope of Browning.
The scope of the book was wide-ranging, covering much of the physics then known. The 1839 first edition included statics
Statics
Statics is the branch of mechanics concerned with the analysis of loads on physical systems in static equilibrium, that is, in a state where the relative positions of subsystems do not vary over time, or where components and structures are at a constant velocity...
, dynamics
Dynamics (mechanics)
In the field of physics, the study of the causes of motion and changes in motion is dynamics. In other words the study of forces and why objects are in motion. Dynamics includes the study of the effect of torques on motion...
, gravitation
Gravitation
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
, mechanics
Mechanics
Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....
, hydrostatics, pneumatics
Pneumatics
Pneumatics is a branch of technology, which deals with the study and application of use of pressurized gas to effect mechanical motion.Pneumatic systems are extensively used in industry, where factories are commonly plumbed with compressed air or compressed inert gases...
, hydrodynamics, acoustics
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
, magnetism
Magnetism
Magnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...
, electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
, atmospheric electricity
Atmospheric electricity
Atmospheric electricity is the regular diurnal variations of the Earth's atmospheric electromagnetic network . The Earth's surface, the ionosphere, and the atmosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit...
, electrodynamics, thermoelectricity, bioelectricity, light
Light
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
, optics
Optics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
, and polarized light. In the 1843 second edition Bird expanded the material on electrolysis
Electrolysis
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...
into its own chapter, reworked the polarized light material, added two chapters on thermotics (thermodynamics
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...
– a major omission from the first edition), and a chapter on the new technology of photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
. Later editions also included a chapter on electric telegraphy. Brooke was still expanding the book for the sixth and final edition. New material included the magnetic properties of iron in ships and spectrum analysis
Spectrum analysis
Spectrum, also known as emission spectrochemical analysis, is the original scientific method of charting and analyzing the chemical properties of matter and gases by looking at the bands in their optical spectrum...
.
Christian works
Bird was a committed Christian throughout his life. Despite his extremely busy professional life, he meticulously observed the Sabbath and saw to the Christian education of his children. Bird showed generosity to the poor, offering treatment to them at his house every morning before going about his professional schedule. After it became clear that the remainder of his life was going to be very limited, he devoted all his time to his religion. It was a great ambition of Bird's to promote Christian teachings and Bible reading amongst medical students. From 1853 Bird organised a series of religious meetings amongst medical professionals in London. The aim was to encourage physicians and surgeons to exert a religious influence over their students.For several years prior to 1853 student prayer meetings had been held in some of the London hospitals, particularly St Thomas'. Bird aimed to mould this movement into a formal association, an ambition which was to crystallise as the Christian Medical Association. In this Bird was heavily influenced by the Medical Missionary Society of John Hutton Balfour
John Hutton Balfour
John Hutton Balfour was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to Edinburgh University and also becoming Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Her Majesty's Botanist in Scotland in 1845...
at Edinburgh University. Bird aimed to form a national body with a chapter in each teaching hospital; a prototype student group was already in existence at Guy's. Bird was strongly opposed by some sections of the medical profession who felt that students should concentrate on their studies. Amongst the more inventive insults hurled at Bird were "saponaceous piety" and being a Mawworm. This opposition continued after the formation of the Association. The constitution for the new Christian Medical Association was agreed at Bird's home on 17 December 1853 in a meeting of medical and surgical teachers and others. This constitution was based on a draft prepared by the Guy's student group. Bird died before the inaugural public meeting of the Association in November 1854 at Exeter Hall
Exeter Hall
Exeter Hall was a hall on the north side of The Strand, London, England. It was erected between 1829 and 1831 on the site of Exeter Exchange, to designs by John Peter Gandy, the brother of the visionary architect Joseph Michael Gandy...
.
Bird was quick to defend the virtuousness of students. In November 1853, in a reply to a letter from a student in the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal complaining of lack of moral care from his superiors, Bird attacked the prevalent public view that students were "guilty of every kind of open vice and moral depravity". Bird laid much of the blame for this public opinion on the caricatures of students in the writings of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
. Bird goes on to say that the behaviour and character of students had greatly improved over the preceding ten years (implying, of course, that in earlier times their behaviour had not been quite so exemplary). Bird attributes this improvement in part to the greatly increased study requirements of students, but also in part to Christian influences acting on the students. He goes on to say that pious students were once ridiculed but are now respected.
Works
- Elements of Natural Philosophy; being an experimental introduction to the study of the physical sciences (John Churchill, London, 1839)
- Lectures on Electricity and Galvanism, in their physiological and therapeutical relations, delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, in March 1847 (Wilson & Ogilvy, London, 1847)
- Lectures on the Influence of Researches in Organic Chemistry on Therapeutics, especially in relation to the depuration of the blood, delivered at the Royal College of Physicians (Wilson & Ogilvy, London, 1848)
- Urinary Deposits, their diagnosis, pathology and therapeutical indications (John Churchill, London, 1844)
Journal articles
- Bird's first publication of his modification of the Daniell cell, Report of the Seventh Meeting of the British Society for the Advancement of Science, vol.6 (1837), p. 45, London: J. Murray, 1838.
- "Observations on induced electric currents, with a description of a magnetic contact-breaker", Philosophical Magazine, pp. 18–22, no.71, vol.12, January 1838.
- "Observations on the existence of saline combinations in an organized state, in vegetable matter", The Magazine of Natural History, pp. 74–78, vol.2, February 1838.
- "Observations on indirect chemical analysis", Philosophical Magazine, pp. 229–232, no.74, vol.12, March 1838.
- "Experimental researches on the nature and properties of albumen", Philosophical Magazine, pp. 15–22, no.79, vol.12, July 1838.
- "Observations on some peculiar properties acquired by plates of platina, which have been used as electrodes of a voltaic battery", Philosophical Magazine, pp. 379–386, no.83, vol.12, November 1838.
- "Mucous and purulent secretions", Guy's Hospital Reports, pp. 35–59, vol.3, 1838.
- http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hdg4AAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA56&dq=%22Notice+respecting+the+artificial+formation+of+a+basic+chloride+of+copper+by+voltaic+influence%22&hl=en&ei=FtuNTf2EAdGwhAeZxd27Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Notice%20respecting%20the%20artificial%20formation%20of%20a%20basic%20chloride%20of%20copper%20by%20voltaic%20influence%22&f=true"Notice respecting the artificial formation of a basic chloride of copper by voltaic influence"], Report of the Eighth Meeting of the British Society for the Advancement of Science, vol.7 (1838), pp. 56–57, London: J. Murray, 1839.
- http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hdg4AAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA57&dq=%22Notice+respecting+the+deposition+of+metallic+copper+from+its+solutions+by+slow+voltaic+action%22&hl=en&ei=T9-NTd7zCMuBhQeJ1JC8Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Notice%20respecting%20the%20deposition%20of%20metallic%20copper%20from%20its%20solutions%20by%20slow%20voltaic%20action%22&f=true"Notice respecting the deposition of metallic copper from is solutions by slow voltaic action at a point equidistant from the metallic surfaces"], Report of the Eighth Meeting of the British Society for the Advancement of Science, vol.7 (1838), pp. 57–59, London: J. Murray, 1839.
- "Observations on some of the products of nitric acid on alcohol", Philosophical Magazine, 1838.
- "Observation on poisoning by the vapours of burning charcoal and coals", Guy's Hospital Reports, vol.4, pp. 75–105, 1839.
- "Advantages presented by the employment of a stethoscope with a flexible tube", London Medical Gazette, vol.1, pp. 440–412, 11 December 1840.
- "Report on the value of electricity, as a remedial agent in the treatment of diseases", Guy's Hospital Reports, vol.6, pp. 84–120, 1841.
- "Fatty urine", The Medical Times, p. 175, no.223, vol.9, 30 December 1843.
- "Treatment of uric acid gravel by phosphate of soda", Medical Gazette, p. 689, 23 August 1844.
- "Infantile syphylis", Guy's Hospital Reports, p. 130, April 1845.
- "Treatment of disease by moist air", Medical Gazette, p. 999, 3 October 1845.
- "The nature of the green alvine evacuations of children", The Medical Times, pp. 74–75, no.317, vol.13, 18 October 1845.
- "Treatment of disease by moist air", The Medical Times, p. 228, no.325, vol.13, 13 December 1845.
- "Diseases of children", Guy's Hospital Reports, pp. 108–141, series 2, vol.3, 1845.
- "Acetate of lead in diarrhoea", The Medical Times, p. 465, no.337, vol.13, 14 March 1846.
- "Case of excessive secretion of the ammonio-magnesium phosphate by the kidneys, with long continued vomiting", The Medical Times, pp. 522–523, no.340, vol.13, 4 April 1846.
- "Case of internal strangulation of intestine relieved by operation", from Transactions of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society, with John Hilton, London:Richard Kinder, 1847.
Bird also frequently appeared in the transactions of the Medical Society of London
Medical Society of London
The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies in the United Kingdom ....
. Some examples;
- "Transactions of the Medical Society of London, Oct 16", The Medical Times, pp. 39–40, no.213, vol.9, 21 October 1843. Report on the poisoning of a watch enameller by arsenic vapour.
- "Transactions of the Medical Society of London, Jan 15 1844", The Medical Times, pp. 271–274, no.227, vol.9, 27 January 1844. Report on a case of a child with inflammatory croup.