Henry Austin Martin
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.
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 and education Edit
Birth Edit
Martin was born on 23 July 1824 in London, England. His father was Henry James Martin, Esq. M. R. C. S.[1]
Martin married Francis Coffin Crosby (born 16 Nov 1825).[1] They had the following children:
- Henry Maclean (15 May 1849); 19th in descent from Edward III through maternal lineage,[2] verified member of the Sons of the American Revolution (maternal great-great-grandfather Josiah Crosby served under Colonel James Reed as a Captain in the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment)[3]
- 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)
Education Edit
Martin graduated from Harvard Medical School with an MD in 1845.[1] He received an honorary A.M. from Dartmouth.[4]
Death Edit
The family is buried in Lowell Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts.[5]
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.[1][6]
He is also the namesake of Martin's Bandage,[7][8][9] as well as Martin cartilage clamp, Martin incision, Martin vigorimeter, and Martin's Disease (periosteoarthritis of the foot from excessive walking).[10]
Martin is best known for standardizing a method of vaccine production from calves which had been used for at least a century, the technique of which was utilized by Aventis-Pasteur.[5] 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.[5] Human lymph later became illegal in the United States since it no longer provided adequate immunity, and apparently played a role in the 1905 supreme court case JACOBSON v. MASSACHUSETTS regarding compulsory vaccination.[5]
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.[5]
Later in his career, Martin was an advocate for bovine vaccines which were thought to preserve potency and mitigate risk of syphilis transmission.[5] He worked against anti-vaccination activists, and exposed fraudulent manufacturers whose vaccines were both unsafe and ineffective.[5]
Awards and honors Edit
- American Medical Association Vaccine Committee chair
- Martin's vaccine contribution will be commemorated by a historical marker at 27 Dudley Street, in the Roxbury section of Boston, where Martin lived and produced smallpox vaccine in a barn behind his house.
Publications Edit
- Scientific American, "The Cultivation of Vaccine Virus", 20 November 1880, p. 325
- Letters of Henry A. Martin[11]
- AMA vs. Henry Martin[12]
- A Few Words on "unfortunate Results of Vaccination"[13]
- 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[14]
References Edit
- ^ a b c d Crosby, Nathan (1877). A Crosby Family. Josiah Crosby, Sarah Fitch .. and Their Descendants. Stone, Huse & Company, book and job printers. p. 92.
- ^ Foster, Joseph (1887). The Royal Lineage of Our Noble and Gentle Families: Together with Their Paternal Ancestry ... Hatchards. pp. 587, 594, 595.
- ^ Society, Sons of the American Revolution California (1901). Register of the California Society of the Sons of the American Revolution: Instituted at San Francisco, California, October 22d, 1875 as Sons of Revolutionary Sires. p. 99.
- ^ University, Harvard (1915). Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University, 1636-1915. Harvard University Press. p. 608.
- ^ a b c d e f g Buder, John (14 October 2002). "Heroes of Public Health: Henry Austin Martin (1824-1884)". H-Sci-Med-Tech.
- ^ 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.
- ^ The american illustrated medical dictionary. 1917. p. 578.
- ^ Byrne, William S. (1 November 1879). "Some Practical Remarks on the Use of Martin's Bandage". 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.
- ^ "Martin, Henry A". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ Martin, Henry Austin (1991). Letters of Henry Austin Martin: The Vaccination Correspondence to Thomas Fanning Wood, 1877-1883. University of Texas at Austin.
- ^ Martin, Henry Austin (1871). 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.
- ^ Martin, Henry Austin (1880). A Few Words on "unfortunate Results of Vaccination".
- ^ Martin, Henry Austin (1857). Hahnemann and Paracelsus.