October 27, 192 1] 



NATURE 



2^5 



degree, gained honours in the natural sciences 

 tripos. He completed his clinical studies at St. 

 Thomas's Hospital, and graduated M.D. in 1897 

 and D.Sc. in 1913. 



Those who knew Dr. Leyton best maintain that 

 some of his most valuable work was that carried 

 out in \'ienna in the winter of 1896, when, work- 

 ing in the Public Health Laboratory, he turned to 

 practical account the work of Gruber and H. E. 

 Durham by applying it to the diagnosis of typhoid 

 fever. Unfortunately, his results were not pub- 

 lished until July of the same year, and Widal, of 

 Paris, publishing in June, anticipated by one 

 month his claim to priority in the agglutination 

 test for typhoid fever. Many workers now main- 

 tain that this test should be known as the Durham- 

 Griinbaum test. As the facts are now known, 

 the nomenclature becomes a matter of compara- 

 tively slight importance. 



On his return from the Continent Dr. Levton 

 acted as demonstrator for Prof. C. S. Sherrington 

 in the physiological department of the Uni- 

 versity of Liverpool, and collaborated with 

 him on a series of researches on the brain of 

 the gorilla and the chimpanzee, the outcome of 

 which were papers on the anthropoid motor 

 cortex published in the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Society in 1901 and 1903. This work, continued, 

 forms part of the foundation on which Prof. 

 Sherrington built up his magnificent contribution 

 to our knowledge of the development and func- 

 tions of the central and peripheral nervous system. 

 For a time he also held the post of assistant 

 physician in the Hospital for Consumption, thus 

 broadening the basis of his professional knowledge. 



Investigating the cause of scarlet fever, Dr. 

 Leyton was able to show that the disease can be 

 transmitted to the anthropoid apes, and in 1904, 

 whilst lecturer in experimental medicine in the 

 L'niversity of Liverpool, he published, in the 

 British Medical Journal, an account of his experi- 

 ments under the title of " Enterica, Scarlet Fever, 

 and Measles in Anthropoids." 



Dr. Leyton was then appointed director of the 

 Liverpool Cancer Research Institution. Here 

 he commenced the publication of a series of 

 papers, of Avhich those on the etiology 

 of sarcoma, the "treatment of sarcoma," 

 and " streptothrixes from tumours " are perhaps 

 the most important. Elected to the fellowship of 

 the College of Physicians in 1902, he was selected 

 to deliver the Goulstonian lectures, and took as 

 his thesis " Theories of Immunity and their Clin- 

 ical Application." On his appointment to the 

 chair of pathology in the L'niversity of Leeds he 

 continued and extended his studies on haemolysis, 

 agglutinative action, etc., for the diagnosis of 

 enteric fever and anaphylaxis. He also under- 

 took the direction of the Clinical Pathological 

 and Bacteriological Laboratory of the Corpora- 

 tion, and organised a thoroughlv sound jfnd help- 

 ful diagnostic service. Entering fully into the 

 work of the university, he soon proved his busi- 

 ness capacity, and was made dean of the medical 

 NO. 2713. VOL. 108] 



faculty, an office in which he rendered valuable 

 service to medical education and to his university'. 

 During this period he published a "practical " 

 manual on the essentials of histology, a work still 

 popular amongst students of morbid histology. 



On the outbreak of war Dr. Leyton was ap- 

 pointed bacteriological consultant to the Northern 

 Command, and undertook a series of investiga- 

 tions on trench fever. Unfortunately, contracting 

 kidney disease, he had a cerebral haemorrhage 

 before the end of the war, and was com- 

 pelled to retire both from the service and from his 

 professorship. Taking up residence in Oxford, 

 he so far recovered that he was able to 

 engage on some historical research, and 

 later, on the death of Dr. Maiden, the director 

 of the Clinical Laboratory at Addenbrooke's Hos- 

 pital, Cambridge, in 1919, he was appointed his 

 successor, and for some time rendered valuable 

 assistance to the hospital staff. Some months 

 ago, however, he had further attacks of cerebral 

 haemorrhage, and although his wife was able to 

 relieve him by undertaking much of his work, he 

 had for some time before his death been unable 

 to work in the department. 



Dr. Leyton — a name adopted by deed poll early 

 in the war — is survived by Dr. Helen Gertrude, 

 widow of Dr. Robert S. Stewart — whom he 

 married in 1909 — and two sons. He was always 

 recognised bv his fellows as being a man of 

 marked ability and great industry and persever- 

 ance. He possessed powers of lucid and concise 

 exposition, a well-ordered, logical mind, and was 

 capable of doing good work in connection with 

 anvthing he undertook. He was direct in his 

 approach to, and incisive in his methods of deal- 

 ing with, scientific and practical problems of all 

 kinds, but he was of a shy, nervous, and even 

 retiring disposition, and, like so many men of his 

 type, he often sought shelter beneath a carapace 

 of brusqueness and cvnicism little characteristic 

 of the real man. Those who gained his friend- 

 ship were continually afforded gHmpses of the 

 real kindness and sympathy that he had for 

 friends and for those less well situated than 

 himself. 



Dr. Leyton was a trained physiologist, a skilled 

 experimentalist, and an excellent morbid -anatom- 

 ist and bacteriologist, and much of his work will 

 stand. To his old school and to others with 

 which he later became associated he was ever 

 loyal. Had he been spared to publish the results 

 of his work and wide experience his contributions 

 to the science of medicine would undoubtedly 

 have been still more numerous, and medical litera- 

 ture would have been greatly enriched. Many 

 will feel that they have lost a real friend and a 

 clear and capable teacher. G. S. W. 



Sir William G.\rforth. 



Bv the death of Sir William Garforth, in his 

 seventv-sixth year, at Snydale Hall. Pontefract, 

 the country has lost a leader of industry, a mining 



