Henry Austin Martin (23 July 1824 – 7 December 1884) was an English-born American physician known for introducing the method of production and use of smallpox vaccine lymph from calves. He was the first American physician to experiment successfully with a vaccine for the bovine virus.[1]
Henry Austin Martin | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 23, 1824 |
| Died | December 7, 1884 (aged 60) |
| Alma mater | Harvard Medical School |
| Known for | Smallpox vaccine |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Public health |
Early life edit
Martin was born on 23 July 1824 in London, England. His father was Henry James Martin, Esq. M. R. C. S.[2]
Martin graduated from Harvard Medical School with an MD in 1845.[2]
Career edit
Martin was a staff surgeon with the U. S. Vols and a Brevet Lieutenant Colonel "for gallant and meritorious services" in a wartime campaign.[2][3]
Martin is best known for standardizing a method of vaccine production from calves that had been used for at least a century, the technique of which was utilized by Aventis-Pasteur.[4] The vaccine was thought to have saved Boston from a potentially catastrophic 1873 epidemic, but he was widely criticized by medical peers and the general public.[4] Human lymph later became illegal in the United States since it no longer provided adequate immunity, and played a role in the 1905 Supreme Court case JACOBSON v. MASSACHUSETTS regarding compulsory vaccination.[4]
Vaccinia virus, a member of the poxvirus family, affected rodents and is believed to have become extinct in the late 1800s. It is a critical component of the modern smallpox vaccine. Survival of the vaccinia is credited to Martin, sons Francis and Stephen, and Martin's lineage of pupils who preserved the virus in a laboratory setting.[4]
Later in his career, Martin was an advocate for bovine vaccines which were thought to preserve potency and mitigate the risk of syphilis transmission.[4] He worked against anti-vaccination activists, and exposed fraudulent manufacturers whose vaccines were both unsafe and ineffective.[4]
He was the Vaccine Committee chair for the American Medical Association.
Personal life edit
Martin married Francis Coffin Crosby (born 16 Nov 1825). They had the following children:
- Henry Maclean (15 May 1849);
- Stephen Crosby, MD (17 September 1850)
- Austin Agnew, AB, LLB (3 November 1851)
- Frances Moody (3 April 1855; 17 Mar 1857)
- Francis Coffin, AB, MD (22 Mar 1858)
The family is buried in Lowell Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Awards and honors edit
- He is the namesake of Martin's Bandage, as well as Martin's cartilage clamp, Martin incision, Martin vigorimeter, and Martin's Disease (periosteoarthritis of the foot from excessive walking).[5][6][7][8]
- He received an honorary A.M. from Dartmouth.[9]
- Martin's vaccine contribution was commemorated by a historical marker at 27 Dudley Street, in the Roxbury section of Boston
- In 1991, John Joseph Buder's dissertation at the University of Texas was Letters of Henry Austin Martin: The Vaccination Correspondence to Thomas Fanning Wood, 1877-1883.
Selected publications edit
- Hahnemann and Paracelsus. On Some Ancient Medical Delusions, and Their Connection with Errors Still Existing. An Address Delivered Before the Norfolk District Medical Society, November 11, 1857[10]
- The American Medical Association Vs. Henry A. Martin, M.D., Member of Said Association, and Late Chairman of Its Committee on Vaccination. Rand, Avery, & Fryf, 1871.
- "The India-Rubber Bandage For Ulcers And Other Diseases Of The Legs". The British Medical Journal vol. 2, no. 930 (1878): 624–626.
- “The Solid Rubber Bandage.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 937, 1878, pp. 874–874.
- A Few Words on "unfortunate Results of Vaccination".1880.[11]
References edit
- ^ "The Cultivation of Vaccine Virus", Scientific American, vol. 43, no. 21 (November 20, 1880) p. 325. via Google Books.
- ^ a b c Crosby, Nathan (1877). A Crosby Family. Josiah Crosby, Sarah Fitch .. and Their Descendants. Stone, Huse & Company, book and job printers. p. 92.
- ^ College, Dartmouth (1880). General Catalogue of Dartmouth College and the Associated Institutions: Including the Officers of Government and Instruction, Graduates and All Others Who Have Received Honorary Degrees. Dartmouth Press. p. 167.
- ^ a b c d e f Buder, John (14 October 2002). "Heroes of Public Health: Henry Austin Martin (1824-1884)". H-Sci-Med-Tech.
- ^ "Martin, Henry A". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ The american illustrated medical dictionary. 1917. p. 578.
- ^ Byrne, William S. (1 November 1879). "Some Practical Remarks on the Use of Martin's Bandage" (PDF). The Lancet. 114 (2931): 645–646. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)48064-6.
- ^ Martin, Henry A. (1878). "The India-Rubber Bandage For Ulcers And Other Diseases Of The Legs". The British Medical Journal. 2 (930): 624–626. ISSN 0007-1447. JSTOR 25248422.
- ^ University, Harvard (1915). Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University, 1636-1915. Harvard University Press. p. 608.
- ^ Martin, Henry Austin (1857). Hahnemann and Paracelsus.
- ^ Martin, Henry Austin (1880). A Few Words on "unfortunate Results of Vaccination" – via Google Books.