Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 2070

PATRICK MANSON (1844-1922) Tropical diseases. William Wood 1898 xvi, 607 pp., 2 col. plates (front.), 88 illus. 18.4 cm.

Manson is considered by many authorities to be the father of tropical medicine. He was born at Aberdeenshire, Scotland and studied medicine at Aberdeen where he received his medical degree in 1866. Soon thereafter he went to Formosa to become medical officer to the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs. Manson was to spend the next twenty-three years in the Far East where he gained wide experience in treating tropical diseases and made a number of valuable contributions to the field. In addition to his medical duties, Manson carried out many studies of Filaria, Sparganum, Schistosoma, Trypanosoma, Trichophyton, and the malaria parasites. It was these investigations that led him to conclude that many diseases were transmitted by insects. Manson discovered Paragonimus westermani, described tinea nigra and tinea imbricata, and is perhaps best known for his role in identifying the common tropical mosquito, Culex fatigans, as the intermediate host for Filaria. He played a major role in establishing the Hong Kong Medical College in 1887 and in 1899 founded the London School of Tropical Medicine. Manson first published this work at London in 1898 and it appeared in the United States later that same year. He intended the book to be primarily an introduction to tropical medicine and made certain that it was small enough to survive the vagaries of travel and the tropics. The book became immensely popular, was widely used as a text, and in 1987 was in its nineteenth edition.

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 2266 (London ed., 1898); Waller 6224 (London ed.)

Gift of William B. Bean, M.D