Almroth Wright

Sir Almroth Edward Wright, KBE, CB (1861-1947) was a British bacteriologist and immunologist. He is best known for advancing vaccination through the use of autogenous vaccines (prepared from the bacteria harboured by the patient) and also through typhoid vaccination with typhoid bacilli killed by heat. In the 19th century, he worked with the armed forces of Britain to develop vaccines and promote immunisation.

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In 1902 he started a research department at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He developed a system of anti-typhoid inoculation and a method of measuring protective substances (opsonin) in human blood. Citing the example of the Second Boer War, during which many soldiers died from easily preventable diseases, Wright convinced the armed forces that 10 million vaccines for the troops in northern France should be produced during World War I. Among the many bacteriologists who followed in Wright's footsteps at St Mary's was Sir Alexander Fleming, who in turn later discovered lysozyme and penicillin.

Wright warned early on that antibiotics would create resistant bacteria, something that has proven an increasing danger. He made his thoughts on preventive medicine influential, stressing preventive measures. Wright's ideas have been re-asserted recently—50 years after his death—by modern researchers in articles in such periodicals as Scientific American.

He also proposed that logic be introduced as a part of medical training, but his idea was never adopted. Wright also pointed out that Pasteur and Fleming, although both excellent researchers, had not actually managed to find cures for the diseases which they had sought cures, but instead had stumbled upon cures for totally unrelated diseases.

The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage by Sir Almroth Wright M.D. F.R.S. was published in 1913, and is available on Project Gutenberg.

Wright was immortalised by George Bernard Shaw as Sir Colenso Ridgeon in the play 'The Doctor's Dilemma' written in 1906.

Works

• The Unexpurgated Case against Woman Suffrage (1913)
• Pathology and Treatment of War Wounds (1942)
• Researches in Clinical Physiology (1943)
• Studies on Immunization (2 vol., 1943–44)

References

• Worboys M. "Almroth Wright at Netley: Modern Medicine and the Military in Britain, 1892-1902". Clio Medica/The Wellcome Series in the History of Medicine 55: 77-97.
• Diggins F (March 2002). "The Life and Times of Almroth Wright (book review)". Biomedical Scientist: 274-276.

• Works by Almroth Wright at Project Gutenberg