Patrick Manson
Encyclopedia
Sir Patrick Manson was a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 who made important discoveries in parasitology
Parasitology
Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life...

 and was the founder of the tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....

 field.

He was a son of John Manson and Elizabeth Livingstone Blaikie. He was born at Oldmeldrum eighteen miles north of Aberdeen. His father was manager of the local branch of the British Linen Bank and Laird of Fingask, while his mother was reported to be a distant relation of David Livingstone. He was the second son of a family of three boys and four girls. He obtained the Bachelor of 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....

 at the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...

 in 1865, his Master of Surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

 in 1866 and his Medical Doctorate and Doctor of Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 in 1866.
Manson traveled to Formosa (Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

) in 1866 as a medical officer to the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, where he started a lifelong career in the research of tropical medicine. After 5 years in Formosa (Taiwan), he transferred to Amoy, on the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 coast where he worked for another 13 years. Between 1883 and 1889 he practised medicine in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

.

He spent his early years researching Filaria (a small worm that causes elephantiasis
Elephantiasis
Elephantiasis is a disease that is characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, especially in the legs and male genitals. In some cases the disease can cause certain body parts, such as the scrotum, to swell to the size of a softball or basketball. It is caused by...

). Manson focused his time on searching for Filaria in blood taken from his patients. From this he began to work out the life cycle of Filaria and through painstaking observation discovered that the worms were only present in the blood during the night and were absent during the day. He used to conduct experiments on his gardener, Hin Lo, who was infected with the Filaria. He would get mosquitoes to feed on his blood while he slept and then dissect the mosquitoes filled with Hin Lo's blood. “I shall not easily forget the first mosquito I dissected. I tore off its abdomen and succeeded in expressing the blood the stomach contained. Placing this under the microscope, I was gratified to find that, so far from killing the Filaria, the digestive juices of the mosquito seemed to have stimulated it to fresh activity.” Manson observed that the Filaria only developed as far as an embryo within the human blood and that the mosquito must have a role in the life cycle of the Filaria. Through these early experiments he started to hypothesise about the role of mosquitoes and the spread of disease. Out of this arose the mosquito-malaria theory, which suggested that the agent that causes malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

 was also spread by a mosquito. This discovery was one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the time. Under the constant supervision of Manson, Sir Ronald Ross
Ronald Ross
Sir Ronald Ross KCB FRS was a British doctor who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for his work on malaria. He was the first Indian-born person to win a Nobel Prize...

 described the full life cycle of the plasmodium inside the female mosquito. Manson's theory was finally proved by Ross in 1898, who later won the Nobel Prize in 1902 for this discovery. Manson also demonstrated a new species of Schistosoma (Bilharzia) known as Schistosoma mansoni
Schistosoma mansoni
Schistosoma mansoni is a significant parasite of humans, a trematode that is one of the major agents of the disease schistosomiasis. The schistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma mansoni is intestinal schistosomiasis....

.

He was the first to import cows from his native Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 and thus establish a dairy farm in Pok Fu Lam
Pok Fu Lam
Pok Fu Lam or Pokfulam is a residential area on Hong Kong Island, at the western end of the Southern District.Pok Fu Lam is a valley between Victoria Peak and Mount Kellet, around Telegraph Bay....

 in 1885 and the company Dairy Farm in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

. He was the founder of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
The Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese was the first college in Hong Kong to fully adopt and accept Western medical science practices...

, where Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...

 was one of his first pupils. In 1896, through his contacts at the Foreign Office, Manson managed to secure the release of Sun after he had been kidnapped in London by Chinese officials. Sun went on to become the first President of the Republic of China. In 1911 Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
The Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese was the first college in Hong Kong to fully adopt and accept Western medical science practices...

 became the University of Hong Kong. He returned to London in 1889 and in 1897 Manson was appointed as Chief Medical Officer to the Colonial Office. It was here that he used his influence to push for the foundation of a School of Tropical Medicine at the Albert Dock Seamen's Hospital
Albert Dock Seamen's Hospital
The Albert Dock Seamen's Hospital was a hospital provided by the Seamen's Hospital Society for the care of ex-members of the Merchant navy, the fishing fleets and their dependents....

. The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a constituent college of the federal University of London, specialising in public health and tropical medicine...

 was opened on 2nd October 1899. He retired from the Colonial Office
Colonial Office
Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department* Office of Insular Affairs - the American government agency* Reichskolonialamt - the German Colonial Office...

 in 1912.

Honours and Awards

  • He was elected to 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"...

     in 1900.
  • He was knighted KCMG in 1903 and GCMG in 1912.
  • He was awarded the Fothergill medal
    Medical Society of London
    The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies in the United Kingdom ....

     in 1902.
  • He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Oxford
    University of Oxford
    The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

     in 1904.
  • He became the first president of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
    Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
    The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene was founded in 1907 by Sir James Cantlie and George Carmichael Low. Sir Patrick Manson, the Society's first President is generally acknowledged as the father of tropical medicine. He passed the presidency on to the Nobel laureate Sir Ronald Ross ,...

     in 1907.


Family

Manson married in 1876 Henrietta Isabella Thurbun, with whom he had three sons and one daughter. His daughter married Philip Heinrich Bahr, one of Manson's pupils at the London School of Tropical medicine. Sir Philip Manson-Bahr CMG DSO MD FRCP (Lond) became a leader in the field of tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....

 in his own right. In 1995 Manson's grandson, Dr (Philip Edmund) Clinton Manson-Bahr won the Manson medal which is awarded triennially. It is the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine's highest mark of distinction for contributions to tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....

.

Publications

  • Manson's Tropical Diseases : a Manual of the Diseases of Warm Climates (1898);
  • Lectures on Tropical Diseases (1905);
  • Diet in the Diseases of Hot Climates (1908), with Charles Wilberforce Daniels (1862-1927).

External links

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