Thomas John MacLagan (1838 – 20 March 1903) was a Scottish medical doctor and pharmacologist from Perthshire who pioneered the clinical use of thermometers and the use of salicin as an anti-inflammatory and treatment for rheumatism.[1][2]
Thomas John MacLagan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1838 Scone, Perthshire |
| Died | 20 March 1903 London |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Education | University of Edinburgh |
| Occupation | Doctor |
| Known for | Pioneering clinical use of thermometers; Use of salicin |
Personal life
editMacLagan was born in Scone, Perthshire in 1838. He married Isabella Scudamore, from Kent, in 1869. Between the years of 1870 and 1880 they had four children, three sons and a daughter.[3]
Education
editHe attended Glasgow University at the age of 15, to study humanities before going on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh.[3] He graduated from there with an MD in 1860, entitled 'On Oxaluria'.[4] He then spent two years in Europe, visiting medical schools in Paris, Vienna and Munich, where he learned French and German.[5]
Medical career
editOn his return to Britain MacLagan spent a brief period as resident medical officer at a dispensary in Jersey before returning to Scotland to take up a post in Dundee.[3] He was medical superintendent at Dundee Royal Infirmary from 1864 to 1866, during which time he had to cope with several major fever epidemics of typhus, typhoid, cholera and smallpox and became noted for pioneering the clinical use of thermometers.[6]
He carried out research into the effect of salicin, an extract from willow bark and a known anti-rheumatic treatment.[7] This work was followed by Carl Thiersch, and in 1874 salicylic acid was synthesised, the active ingredient in Aspirin.
He later established a practice in London, having been encouraged to move there by former patients the Earl and Countess of Southesk, and treated patients such as Thomas Carlyle and the royal family. At the time of his death in 1903, it was said that he "deserves a niche in the Temple of Fame as one of the great benefactors of the human race."
Maclagan's original microscope is in the collection of the Tayside Medical History Museum.[8][9]
Death
editMacLagan died in London on 20 March 1903 of stomach cancer at the age of 65.[10]
References
edit- ^ Stewart, William K.; Fleming, L. W. (1 October 1987). "Perthshire Pioneer of Anti-Inflammatory Agents". Scottish Medical Journal. 32 (5): 141–146. doi:10.1177/003693308703200508. ISSN 0036-9330. PMID 3327165. S2CID 42556251.
- ^ Snead, Mary Woodruff (1 May 1958). "T. J. Maclagan and the Treatment of Rheumatic Fever with Salicin". Archives of Internal Medicine. 101 (5): 997–1004. doi:10.1001/archinte.1958.00260170153016. ISSN 0003-9926. PMID 13519939.
- ^ a b c Doyle, Derek (20 March 2012). "Thomas John MacLagan (1838–1903)". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 105 (3): 131–136. doi:10.1258/jrsm.2012.12k006. ISSN 0141-0768. PMC 3308649. PMID 22434813.
- ^ Maclagan, Thomas John (1860). "Oxaluria".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Buchanan, W. Watson (2002). "The Treatment of Acute Rheumatism by Salicin, by T.J. Maclagan – The Lancet, 1876" (PDF). The Journal of Rheumatology. 29, 6: 1321–1323.
- ^ Maclagan, T. J. (10 January 1868). "Thermometrical Observations". Edinburgh Medical Journal. 13 (7): 601–625. ISSN 0367-1038. PMC 5000043.
- ^ "Maclagan T (1876)". The James Lind Library. 26 May 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- ^ Thomas Maclagan on the Local Pioneers webpage of the Tayside Medical History Museum Archived 8 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ University of Dundee : External Relations : Press Office
- ^ Group, British Medical Journal Publishing (28 March 1903). "THOMAS JOHN MACLAGAN, M.D.Edin". Br Med J. 1 (2204): 766. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.2204.766. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2513285.
{{cite journal}}:|last=has generic name (help)
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