Obituary. 35^ 



tions carried out for the first time in this country, and described in the 

 Lancet of 1883. Another early publication was on " Quinsy and 

 Rheumatism," pubUshed in the British Medical Journal of 1886. 

 Even in his busy days of practice he was continually occupied with 

 histological preparations. The specimens demonstrated perfectly the 

 exact structure of each organ. This was the beginning of the histological 

 skill of his later years. An article deahng with the histology of the 

 cell, protoplasm, etc., was written for the first edition of Hazell's 

 " Encyclopaedia." 



He was particularly interested in the histology of cancer; his fir^t 

 paper dealing with the subject appeared in 1892, entitled, "Note on the 

 Parasitic Protozoa lately found in Cancer," in the British Medical 

 Journal. Herein he described tlie inclusions called Plimmer's bodies. 

 At the same time he devised a technique which differentiated these cells 

 from the known degenerations. This was followed by two papers jointly 

 with Armand Ruffer, " Further Researches on some Parasitic Protozoa 

 found in Cancerous Tumours," in the Journal of Pathology and Bac- 

 teriology in 1893. Together they published " Sur le mode de repro- 

 duction des parasites de Cancer " in Comptes Rendus de la Societe de 

 Biolgie and the Comptes Rendus des Academies de Science. In 1894 

 there was a criticism entitled "The Rhopalocephalus Carcinomatosous," 

 published in the Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology. 



While working with Armand Ruffer at the British Institute of Pre- 

 ventive Medicine he was concerned chiefly with bacteriology. For 

 several years their, main work was on diphtheria, some of the early 

 sampler of diphtheria anti-toxin being produced by them. In the autumn 

 of 1894, together with Blaxall, he gave a magnificent demonstration of 

 nearly all the known bacteria at the meeting of the British Medical 

 Association at Bristol. For those days it was really a grand show. 



Though continually occupied with the problem of cancer, very few 

 papers were published on the subject, but several reviews were written, 

 namely, " On the Microscopical Diagnosis of Benign and Malignant 

 Growths of the Cervix Uteri " in the British Gynecological Journal, 

 1895 ; " J^tiology and Histology of Cancer" in the Practitioner, 1899. 

 In 1898 he wrote " A Critical Summary of Ehrlich's Recent Work on 

 Toxins and Anti-toxins " in the Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology. 



In 1899, whilst at St. Mary's Hospital, he isolated a yeast from a 

 cancer which was ulcerating, then from others. They showed great 

 similarity to some of the cell inclusions, and the fact that they caused 

 tumours in animals lead to the hope that here was the long-looked-for 

 cause of cancer. It was a disappointment, as although they were found 

 in several cancers, they did not produce genuine cancers in animals, and 

 were no doubt accidental infections. Their association with cancer, as 

 shown by his work and that of Sanfelice, Roucali and others, was interest- 

 ing. These results were published in the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Society under the title, " Preliminary Note u'pon certain Organisms 

 Isolated from Cancer and their Pathogenic Effects upon Animals." 

 There was also an article in Nature, " Pathogenic Organisms of Cancer," 

 and a short paper in the Centraiblatt fiir Bakteriologie on the same 

 subject. 



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