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{{short description|English physician and scientist}}
{{short description|English physician and scientist}}
{{distinguish|Thomas Edison|Tom Addison}}
{{distinguish|Thomas Edison|Tom Addison}}
{{multiple issues|
{{one source|date=March 2018}}
{{refimprove|date=March 2018}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Thomas Addison
| name = Thomas Addison
| honorific_suffix = [[Royal Medical Society|RMS]]
| honorific_suffix = [[Royal Medical Society|RMS]]
| image = ThomasAddison.jpg
| image = File:Thomas Addison2.jpg
| caption =
| caption =
| birth_date = April 1795
| birth_date = April 1795
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| children =
| children =
}}
}}
'''Thomas Addison''' (April 1795{{spaced ndash}}29 June 1860) was an English physician, chef, and scientist. He is traditionally regarded as one of the "great men" of [[Guy's Hospital]] in London.
'''Thomas Addison''' (April 1795{{spaced ndash}}29 June 1860) was an English physician and medical researcher. He is traditionally regarded as one of the "great men" of [[Guy's Hospital]] in London.


⚫
Thomas Addison began his career at Guy's Hospital in 1817, eventually becoming a full physician in 1837. He was a noted and respected lecturer and diagnostician. He experienced episodes of [[mental depression]] throughout his life, culminating in his suicide in 1860.
Thomas Addison was born in Longbenton, near Newcastle upon Tyne. Initially intended to become a lawyer, he instead pursued a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. After obtaining his degree, he moved to London and worked as a surgical resident and physician. Addison's fascination with dermatology led to his groundbreaking work in the field, particularly with regard to Addison's disease.


⚫
Addison's legacy includes the description of conditions such as [[Addison's disease]] (a degenerative disease of the adrenal glands), and [[pernicious anemia]], a hematological disorder later found to be caused by failure to absorb [[vitamin B12|vitamin B<sub>12</sub>]].
⚫
In 1817, Addison began his career at Guy's Hospital, eventually becoming a full physician in 1837. He was a brilliant lecturer and diagnostician, earning great respect within the institution. However, he experienced episodes of depression throughout his life, culminating in his suicide in 1860.

⚫
Addison's legacy includes the description of numerous diseases, many of which bear his name, such as [[Addison's disease]] (a degenerative disease of the adrenal glands), Addisonian anemia ([[pernicious anemia]]), a hematological disorder later found to be caused by failure to absorb [[vitamin B12|vitamin B<sub>12</sub>]], Addisonian crisis, and Addison-Biermer disease. His contributions to the understanding of various medical disorders have left a lasting impact on the field.


==Early years==
==Early years==
He was born in April 1795 in [[Long Benton]], then near [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], the son of Joseph Addison, who was a grocer and flour dealer there.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=159|first=N. G.|last=Coley|title=Addison, Thomas (1795–1860)}}</ref> His father's family was [[Cumbrian]], and Thomas was attached to the family house at [[Banks, Cumbria|Banks]] near [[Lanercost]], as his personal background. Joseph Addison had married Sarah Shaw, and gone into the Shaw family business.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilks |first1=Sir Samuel |last2=Bettany |first2=George Thomas |title=A Biographical History of Guy's Hospital |date=1892 |publisher=Ward, Lock, Bowden |pages=221-222 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aKBbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA221 |language=en}}</ref>
He was born in April 1795 in [[Longbenton|Long Benton]], nearby to the northeast of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], the son of Joseph Addison, who was a grocer and flour dealer there.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=159|first=N. G.|last=Coley|title=Addison, Thomas (1795–1860)}}</ref> His father's family was [[Cumbrian]], and Thomas was attached to the family house at [[Banks, Cumbria|Banks]] near [[Lanercost]], as his personal background. Joseph Addison had married Sarah Shaw, and gone into the Shaw family business.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilks |first1=Sir Samuel |last2=Bettany |first2=George Thomas |title=A Biographical History of Guy's Hospital |date=1892 |publisher=Ward, Lock, Bowden |pages=221–222 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aKBbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA221 |language=en}}</ref>


Thomas Addison attended the Long Benton parish school, run by the parish clerk, Thomas Rutter.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rutter's School School House, Longbenton {{!}} Co-Curate |url=https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/rutters-school-school-house-longbenton/ |website=co-curate.ncl.ac.uk}}</ref> He then went to the [[Royal Grammar School, Newcastle|Royal Free Grammar School]] in Newcastle, where the headmaster was Edward Moises, nephew of the noted [[Hugh Moises]].<ref>{{acad|id=MSS779E|name=Moises, Edward}}</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB|id=18892|first=S. J.|last=Skedd|title=Moises, Hugh (1722–1806)}}</ref> There he gained a good knowledge of Latin.<ref name="ODNB"/>
Thomas Addison attended the Long Benton parish school, run by the parish clerk, Thomas Rutter.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rutter's School School House, Longbenton {{!}} Co-Curate |url=https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/rutters-school-school-house-longbenton/ |website=co-curate.ncl.ac.uk}}</ref> He then went to the [[Royal Grammar School, Newcastle|Royal Free Grammar School]] in Newcastle, where the headmaster was Edward Moises, nephew of the noted [[Hugh Moises]].<ref>{{acad|id=MSS779E|name=Moises, Edward}}</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB|id=18892|first=S. J.|last=Skedd|title=Moises, Hugh (1722–1806)}}</ref> There he gained a good knowledge of Latin.<ref name="ODNB"/>


==Medical student==
==Medical student==
Addison's father wanted him to become a lawyer, but he entered the [[University of Edinburgh Medical School]] in 1812 as a medical student. He became a member of the [[Royal Medical Society]], which still runs today. In 1815, he received the degree of doctor of medicine. His thesis was on ''Dissertatio medica inauguralis quaedam de syphilide et hydrargyro complectens'' (''Concerning Syphilis and Mercury'').
Addison entered the [[University of Edinburgh Medical School]] in 1812 as a medical student, turning down an offer from his father to make him a paying resident student of [[John Thomson (physician)|John Thomson]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lonsdale |first1=Henry |title=The worthies of Cumberland|volume=IV |date=1867 |publisher=George Routledge & Sons |location=London |page=263 |url=https://archive.org/details/worthiescumberl06lonsgoog/page/n263/mode/1up}}</ref> He became a member of the [[Royal Medical Society]]. In 1815, he received the degree of MD. His thesis was on ''Dissertatio medica inauguralis quaedam de syphilide et hydrargyro complectens'' (''Concerning Syphilis and Mercury'').<ref name="ODNB"/>

There is a hiatus in the record of Addison's studies from 1815 to 1817. It has been suggested that he travelled in continental Europe.<ref name="Loriaux">{{cite book |last1=Loriaux |first1=D. Lynn |title=A Biographical History of Endocrinology |date=14 March 2016 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-20246-2 |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pkWhCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |language=en}}</ref> He enrolled as a physician pupil at [[Guy's Hospital]] in London, in 1817. Guy's Medical School recorded his entrance as follows: "Dec. 13, 1817, from Edinburgh, T. Addison, M.D., paid pounds 22-1s to be a perpetual Physician's pupil." Subsequently he became a house surgeon (surgical resident) at the [[London Lock Hospital|Lock Hospital]].<ref name="Loriaux"/> He also took a position as physician to the Universal Dispensary founded by [[John Bunnell Davis]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Royal Kalendar and Court and City Register for England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Colonies |date=1820 |publisher=Wm. H. Allen |page=332 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zOcNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA332 |language=en}}</ref>


==Physician==
Addison moved from Edinburgh to London the same year and became a house surgeon (a surgical resident) at the [[London Lock Hospital|Lock Hospital]]. Addison was also a pupil of [[Thomas Bateman (physician)|Thomas Bateman]] at the [[public dispensary]]. He began a practice in medicine while he was a physician at an open ward reception on Carey Street.
Addison obtained his licentiate from the [[Royal College of Physicians]] in 1819, where in 1838 he was elected a Fellow. He was promoted to assistant physician, with the support of [[Benjamin Harrison (hospital administrator)|Benjamin Harrison]], in January 1824 and in 1827 he was appointed lecturer of [[materia medica]].<ref name="ODNB"/> In 1849, he was President of the [[Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society]].


As well, Addison worked under [[Thomas Bateman (physician)|Thomas Bateman]], a [[dermatologist]], at the General or Public Dispensary on [[Carey Street]], [[Holborn]]. He was there for eight years and developed a special interest in skin diseases, and a reputation in the area.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Loriaux |first1=D. Lynn |title=A Biographical History of Endocrinology |date=14 March 2016 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-20246-2 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pkWhCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA83 |language=en}}</ref> He bought a house in [[Hatton Garden]] in 1819, and from that time had a private practice.<ref name="ODNB"/>
Thanks to his teachers, Addison became fascinated by diseases of the skin ([[dermatology]]). This fascination, which lasted the rest of his life, led him to be the first to describe the changes in skin pigmentation typical of what is now called [[Addison's disease]].


⚫
In 1837, Addison became joint lecturer with [[Richard Bright (physician)|Richard Bright]] on practical medicine, and a full physician at Guy's Hospital. When Bright retired from the lectureship in 1840, Addison became sole lecturer. He held this position until about 1854–55.<ref name="ODNB"/>
==Guy's Hospital==
[[File:Thomas Addison2.jpg|thumb|255px|Thomas Addison]]
Addison enrolled as a physician pupil at Guy's Hospital in 1817. Guy's Medical School recorded his entrance as follows: "Dec. 13, 1817, from Edinburgh, T. Addison, M.D., paid pounds 22-1s to be a perpetual Physician's pupil." Addison obtained his licentiate from the [[Royal College of Physicians]] in 1819 and some years later was elected a fellow of the College. He was promoted to assistant physician on 14 January 1824 and in 1827 he was appointed lecturer of [[materia medica]].


Excelling as a diagnostician and lecturer, Addison was diffident. He had a reputation at Guy's, where he concentrated on his students and patients, but was little known outside the hospital, and had few private patients.<ref name="ODNB"/>
⚫
In 1835, Addison was joint lecturer with [[Richard Bright (physician)|Richard Bright]] on practical medicine, and in 1837, he became a full physician at Guy's Hospital. When Bright retired from the lectureship in 1840, Addison became sole lecturer. He held this position until about 1854–55. He attracted a large number of medical students to his lectures, at a time when students quested in London for good teaching.


==Depression, death and memorial==
Thomas Addison excelled as a diagnostician, but, a shy and taciturn man, had only a small practice. He had influence at Guy's, concentrating on his students and patients.
⚫
Thomas Addison suffered from episodes of [[clinical depression]] at the end of his life.<ref name="ODNB"/> In 1860 he wrote to his medical students as follows: "A considerable breakdown in my health has scared me from the anxieties, responsibilities, and excitement of my profession." Three months later, on 29 June 1860, he committed [[suicide]]. The day after his death, the ''[[Brighton Herald]]'' recorded that:


<blockquote>"Dr Addison, formerly a physician to Guy's Hospital, committed suicide by jumping down the area (i.e. the space between the front of the house and the street) of 15 Wellington Villas, where he had for some time been residing, under the care of two attendants, having before attempted self-destruction."</blockquote>
⚫
==Death==
⚫
Thomas Addison suffered from many episodes of marked [[clinical depression|depression]]. It seems certain that depression contributed to his retirement in 1860. He wrote then to his medical students as follows: "A considerable breakdown in my health has scared me from the anxieties, responsibilities, and excitement of my profession; whether temporarily or permanently cannot yet be determined but, whatever may be the issue, be assured that nothing was better calculated to soothe me than the kind interest manifested by the pupils of Guy's Hospital during the many trying years devoted to that institution."


⚫
Addison was buried in the churchyard of [[Lanercost Priory]] in [[Cumberland]].<ref name="ODNB"/> Guy's Hospital had a bust made of him, named a hall of the new part of the hospital for him, and perpetuated his memory with a marble wall table in the chapel.
Three months later, on 29 June 1860, he committed [[suicide]]. The day after his death, the ''[[Brighton Herald]]'' recorded that: {{cquote|"Dr Addison, formerly a physician to Guy's Hospital, committed suicide by jumping down the area (i.e. the space between the front of the house and the street) of 15 Wellington Villas, where he had for some time been residing, under the care of two attendants, having before attempted self-destruction. He was 72 years of age <nowiki>{{sic}}</nowiki>, and laboured under the form of [[insanity]] called [[melancholia]], resulting from overwork of the brain. He was walking in the garden with his attendants, when he was summoned into dinner. He made as if towards the front door, but suddenly threw himself over a dwarf-wall into the area – a distance of nine feet – and, falling on his head, the frontal bone was fractured, and death resulted at 1' o'clock yesterday morning."}}


==Research==
⚫
He was buried in the churchyard of [[Lanercost Priory]] in [[Cumbria]]. The hospital had a bust made of him, named a hall of the new part of the hospital for him, and perpetuated his memory with a marble wall table in the chapel.
In researching [[pernicious anemia]], Addison in 1849 came across the changed "bronzed" appearance of the [[adrenal glands]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kronenberg |first1=Henry M. |title=Williams Textbook of Endocrinology E-Book |date=30 November 2007 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-1-4377-2181-2 |page=446 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stcoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA446 |language=en}}</ref> What is now called Addison's disease, sometimes called bronze skin disease, is the progressive destruction of the glands, resulting in [[adrenocortical hormone]] deficiency. Addison described this condition in his 1855 publication: ''On the Constitutional and Local Effects of Disease of the Suprarenal Capsules.''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rosenthal |first1=Moriz |last2=Putzel |first2=Leopold |title=A Clinical Treatise on the Diseases of the Nervous System |date=1879 |publisher=Wood |page=538 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nN8VAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA538 |language=en}}</ref> The function of the glands, known as suprarenal capsules, was at that time unknown. After Addison's work, it was concluded that they were essential to life.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Huth |first1=Edward J. |last2=Murray |first2=T. J. |title=Medicine in Quotations: Views of Health and Disease Through the Ages |date=2006 |publisher=ACP Press |isbn=978-1-930513-67-9 |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3cM8jVGr4qEC&pg=PA6 |language=en}}</ref> An [[Addisonian crisis]] (or Addison's crisis) is an acute, life-threatening crisis caused by Addison's disease.


Pernicious anemia as described in 1849 by Addison is now also known as Addison-Biermer disease. It is a type of [[megaloblastic anemia]], in which a lack of [[intrinsic factor]] causes absorption of [[vitamin B12|vitamin B<sub>12</sub>]] to be impaired. It is caused by a lack of [[parietal cell]]s in the stomach.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lakshmanaswamy |first1=Aruchamy |title=Clinical Pediatrics: History Taking and Case Discussions |date=2022 |publisher=Wolters Kluwer India Pvt Ltd |isbn=978-93-90612-45-1 |page=623 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_UlVEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA623 |language=en}}</ref>
==Diseases Addison described==
Addison is known today for describing a remarkably wide range of diseases. His name has entered into the annals of medicine and is part of the name of a number of medical disorders, including:


In 1829, Addison published a study of the actions of [[poison]]s.<ref>''An essay on the operation of poisonous agents upon the living body'' ([https://archive.org/stream/b21473195#page/n3/mode/2up online])</ref> He gave one of the first adequate accounts of [[appendicitis]], in 1839.<ref name="ODNB"/> In the classification of skin diseases by morphology, and their diagnosis, he was a follower of [[Robert Willan]] and his own teacher Thomas Bateman.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Scott |title=Skin Disease and the History of Dermatology: Order out of Chaos |date=15 September 2022 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-000-64401-2 |page=339 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rR9-EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT339 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Addison's disease]], sometimes called bronze skin disease, is the progressive destruction of the [[adrenal glands]] with the result being deficiency of secretion of [[adrenocortical hormones]]. Addison described this condition in his 1855 publication: ''On the Constitutional and Local Effects of Disease of the Suprarenal Capsules.''
* [[Addisonian crisis]] (or '''Addison's crisis''') – an acute, life-threatening crisis caused by Addison's disease
* [[Addisonism]] – a set of symptoms resembling Addison's disease, but not due to Addison's disease, that is, not due to any disease of the adrenal glands
* Addisonian anemia or Addison-Biermer disease – now synonymous with [[pernicious anemia]] which involves vitamin B<sub>12</sub> deficiency, described first in 1849
*[[Addison-Schilder syndrome]] is a [[metabolic disorder]] combining the characteristics of Addison’s disease (bronze skin disease) and [[cerebral sclerosis]], also known as [[adrenoleukodystrophy]].


⚫
==Works==
Addison gave one of the first adequate accounts of [[appendicitis]]. In 1829, he published a valuable study of the actions of [[poison]]s.<ref>''An essay on the operation of poisonous agents upon the living body'' ([https://archive.org/stream/b21473195#page/n3/mode/2up online])</ref>
* [https://archive.org/details/acollectionpubl00wilkgoog ''A Collection of the published writings of the late Thomas Addison, M.D.''] 1868, edited by Thomas Mee Daldy and Samuel Wilks
He also made seminal contributions to the recognition and understanding of many other diseases, including;
* [[Alibert's disease I]] – a skin disease characterized by pinkish patches, bordered by a purplish halo
* [[Allgrove's syndrome]] – a [[congenital defect]] in [[lacrimation]]
* [[Rayer's disease]] – a disorder characterized by depigmented patches of skin, jaundice, and enlargement of the [[liver]] and [[spleen]]


==Family==
==Family==
In 1847 Addison married at Lanercost Priory Elizabeth Catherine Hauxwell, a widow, with two children from her first marriage.<ref name="ODNB"/> His stepdaughter Sarah married in 1863 the Rev. Thomas Dodgson, a Durham University graduate.<ref>{{cite news |title=Births, Deaths and Marriages |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000242/18630812/037/0003 |work=Newcastle Journal |date=12 August 1863|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Edinburgh |first1=Peter Bell |title=Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1865: Being a Biographical and Statistical Book of Reference for Facts Relating to the Clergy and the Church |date=1865 |publisher=Horace Cox |isbn=978-1-871538-21-2 |page=180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dxLXqgHunigC&pg=PA180 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1847 Addison married at Lanercost Priory Elizabeth Catherine Hanxwell, a widow, with two children from her first marriage.<ref name="ODNB"/>


==References==
==References==
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* [http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=exact&CISOOP2=all&CISOFIELD1=creato&CISOBOX1=Addison%2C+Thomas%2C+1793-1860&CISOROOT=/jmrbr Addison's digitized works in the Iowa Digital Library]
* [http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=exact&CISOOP2=all&CISOFIELD1=creato&CISOBOX1=Addison%2C+Thomas%2C+1793-1860&CISOROOT=/jmrbr Addison's digitized works in the Iowa Digital Library]
* {{DNB Cite|wstitle=Addison, Thomas|volume=1}}
* {{DNB Cite|wstitle=Addison, Thomas|volume=1}}
* {{cite book | author = Thomas Addison | title = On The Constitutional And Local Effects Of Disease Of The Supra-Renal Capsules | year = 1855 | url = http://www.wehner.org/addison/x1.htm | publisher = Samuel Highley | location = London}}
* {{cite book | author = Thomas Addison | title = On The Constitutional And Local Effects Of Disease Of The Supra-Renal Capsules | year = 1855 | url = http://www.wehner.org/addison/x1.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20021228014635/http://wehner.org/addison/x1.htm | url-status = usurped | archive-date = 28 December 2002 | publisher = Samuel Highley | location = London}}
⚫
* [http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=a7f81b4e-6e19-4e05-b340-a646440d941d Epitaph] and gravestone at Lanercost Priory.
* {{cite web | author=Charles Douglas Wehner | title=Curriculum Vitae | url=http://www.wehner.org/addison/cv/ | accessdate=11 June 2006}} – includes Biography
⚫
*[http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=a7f81b4e-6e19-4e05-b340-a646440d941d Epitaph] and gravestone at Lanercost Priory.


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

Latest revision as of 20:44, 9 October 2024

Not to be confused with Thomas Edison or Tom Addison.

Thomas Addison
RMS
BornApril 1795
Longbenton, Northumberland, England
Died29 June 1860 (1860-06-30) (aged 65)
Brighton, Sussex, England
Resting placeLanercost Priory
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
OccupationPhysician
Known forAddison's Disease, Pernicious anemia
Signature

Thomas Addison (April 1795 – 29 June 1860) was an English physician and medical researcher. He is traditionally regarded as one of the "great men" of Guy's Hospital in London.

Thomas Addison began his career at Guy's Hospital in 1817, eventually becoming a full physician in 1837. He was a noted and respected lecturer and diagnostician. He experienced episodes of mental depression throughout his life, culminating in his suicide in 1860.

Addison's legacy includes the description of conditions such as Addison's disease (a degenerative disease of the adrenal glands), and pernicious anemia, a hematological disorder later found to be caused by failure to absorb vitamin B12.

Early years

[edit]

He was born in April 1795 in Long Benton, nearby to the northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne, the son of Joseph Addison, who was a grocer and flour dealer there.[1] His father's family was Cumbrian, and Thomas was attached to the family house at Banks near Lanercost, as his personal background. Joseph Addison had married Sarah Shaw, and gone into the Shaw family business.[2]

Thomas Addison attended the Long Benton parish school, run by the parish clerk, Thomas Rutter.[3] He then went to the Royal Free Grammar School in Newcastle, where the headmaster was Edward Moises, nephew of the noted Hugh Moises.[4][5] There he gained a good knowledge of Latin.[1]

Medical student

[edit]

Addison entered the University of Edinburgh Medical School in 1812 as a medical student, turning down an offer from his father to make him a paying resident student of John Thomson.[6] He became a member of the Royal Medical Society. In 1815, he received the degree of MD. His thesis was on Dissertatio medica inauguralis quaedam de syphilide et hydrargyro complectens (Concerning Syphilis and Mercury).[1]

There is a hiatus in the record of Addison's studies from 1815 to 1817. It has been suggested that he travelled in continental Europe.[7] He enrolled as a physician pupil at Guy's Hospital in London, in 1817. Guy's Medical School recorded his entrance as follows: "Dec. 13, 1817, from Edinburgh, T. Addison, M.D., paid pounds 22-1s to be a perpetual Physician's pupil." Subsequently he became a house surgeon (surgical resident) at the Lock Hospital.[7] He also took a position as physician to the Universal Dispensary founded by John Bunnell Davis.[8]

Physician

[edit]

Addison obtained his licentiate from the Royal College of Physicians in 1819, where in 1838 he was elected a Fellow. He was promoted to assistant physician, with the support of Benjamin Harrison, in January 1824 and in 1827 he was appointed lecturer of materia medica.[1] In 1849, he was President of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society.

As well, Addison worked under Thomas Bateman, a dermatologist, at the General or Public Dispensary on Carey Street, Holborn. He was there for eight years and developed a special interest in skin diseases, and a reputation in the area.[1][9] He bought a house in Hatton Garden in 1819, and from that time had a private practice.[1]

In 1837, Addison became joint lecturer with Richard Bright on practical medicine, and a full physician at Guy's Hospital. When Bright retired from the lectureship in 1840, Addison became sole lecturer. He held this position until about 1854–55.[1]

Excelling as a diagnostician and lecturer, Addison was diffident. He had a reputation at Guy's, where he concentrated on his students and patients, but was little known outside the hospital, and had few private patients.[1]

Depression, death and memorial

[edit]

Thomas Addison suffered from episodes of clinical depression at the end of his life.[1] In 1860 he wrote to his medical students as follows: "A considerable breakdown in my health has scared me from the anxieties, responsibilities, and excitement of my profession." Three months later, on 29 June 1860, he committed suicide. The day after his death, the Brighton Herald recorded that:

"Dr Addison, formerly a physician to Guy's Hospital, committed suicide by jumping down the area (i.e. the space between the front of the house and the street) of 15 Wellington Villas, where he had for some time been residing, under the care of two attendants, having before attempted self-destruction."

Addison was buried in the churchyard of Lanercost Priory in Cumberland.[1] Guy's Hospital had a bust made of him, named a hall of the new part of the hospital for him, and perpetuated his memory with a marble wall table in the chapel.

Research

[edit]

In researching pernicious anemia, Addison in 1849 came across the changed "bronzed" appearance of the adrenal glands.[10] What is now called Addison's disease, sometimes called bronze skin disease, is the progressive destruction of the glands, resulting in adrenocortical hormone deficiency. Addison described this condition in his 1855 publication: On the Constitutional and Local Effects of Disease of the Suprarenal Capsules.[11] The function of the glands, known as suprarenal capsules, was at that time unknown. After Addison's work, it was concluded that they were essential to life.[12] An Addisonian crisis (or Addison's crisis) is an acute, life-threatening crisis caused by Addison's disease.

Pernicious anemia as described in 1849 by Addison is now also known as Addison-Biermer disease. It is a type of megaloblastic anemia, in which a lack of intrinsic factor causes absorption of vitamin B12 to be impaired. It is caused by a lack of parietal cells in the stomach.[13]

In 1829, Addison published a study of the actions of poisons.[14] He gave one of the first adequate accounts of appendicitis, in 1839.[1] In the classification of skin diseases by morphology, and their diagnosis, he was a follower of Robert Willan and his own teacher Thomas Bateman.[15]

Works

[edit]

Family

[edit]

In 1847 Addison married at Lanercost Priory Elizabeth Catherine Hauxwell, a widow, with two children from her first marriage.[1] His stepdaughter Sarah married in 1863 the Rev. Thomas Dodgson, a Durham University graduate.[16][17]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Coley, N. G. "Addison, Thomas (1795–1860)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/159. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Wilks, Sir Samuel; Bettany, George Thomas (1892). A Biographical History of Guy's Hospital. Ward, Lock, Bowden. pp. 221–222.
  3. ^ "Rutter's School School House, Longbenton | Co-Curate". co-curate.ncl.ac.uk.
  4. ^ "Moises, Edward (MSS779E)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  5. ^ Skedd, S. J. "Moises, Hugh (1722–1806)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18892. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ Lonsdale, Henry (1867). The worthies of Cumberland. Vol. IV. London: George Routledge & Sons. p. 263.
  7. ^ a b Loriaux, D. Lynn (14 March 2016). A Biographical History of Endocrinology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-119-20246-2.
  8. ^ The Royal Kalendar and Court and City Register for England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Colonies. Wm. H. Allen. 1820. p. 332.
  9. ^ Loriaux, D. Lynn (14 March 2016). A Biographical History of Endocrinology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-119-20246-2.
  10. ^ Kronenberg, Henry M. (30 November 2007). Williams Textbook of Endocrinology E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 446. ISBN 978-1-4377-2181-2.
  11. ^ Rosenthal, Moriz; Putzel, Leopold (1879). A Clinical Treatise on the Diseases of the Nervous System. Wood. p. 538.
  12. ^ Huth, Edward J.; Murray, T. J. (2006). Medicine in Quotations: Views of Health and Disease Through the Ages. ACP Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-930513-67-9.
  13. ^ Lakshmanaswamy, Aruchamy (2022). Clinical Pediatrics: History Taking and Case Discussions. Wolters Kluwer India Pvt Ltd. p. 623. ISBN 978-93-90612-45-1.
  14. ^ An essay on the operation of poisonous agents upon the living body (online)
  15. ^ Jackson, Scott (15 September 2022). Skin Disease and the History of Dermatology: Order out of Chaos. CRC Press. p. 339. ISBN 978-1-000-64401-2.
  16. ^ "Births, Deaths and Marriages". Newcastle Journal. 12 August 1863. p. 3.
  17. ^ Edinburgh, Peter Bell (1865). Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1865: Being a Biographical and Statistical Book of Reference for Facts Relating to the Clergy and the Church. Horace Cox. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-871538-21-2.

Further reading

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