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HENEY GEOEGE PLIMMEE, 1856-1918. 



Henry George Plimmer was born in 1856, and was the son of a doctor 

 enjoying a good practice in Wiltshire. He always believed that it was from 

 his father that he inherited his love of music, but the country doctor did not 

 transmit to his son that love of sport of all kinds which was so firmly 

 implanted in himself, and unfortunately helped to account for the circumstance 

 that on his death, which occurred when the boy was about nine years of age, 

 he left his family with but slender resources. It was owing to this that 

 young Plimmer entered business in 1870, being engaged as a clerk in a 

 company with which his maternal uncle was concerned. These do not seem 

 to have been very happy days, for the youth was dissatisfied with his outlook 

 ^ind prospects, and felt he was destined for other things. His musical talent, 

 which grew with his growth, was developing rapidly at this period, and he 

 used to tell of the joy with which he had access to the church organ, and of 

 the musical festivals at Birmingham and elsewhere that he attended. He 

 was also already laying the foundations of that wide knowledge of literature 

 which distinguished him in after life, and he numbered Euskin among his 

 ■correspondents even at that time. 



He finally determined to abandon a business career and to enter the 

 medical profession, and his chance came as the result of a letter to 

 Dr. J. H. Galton, a man who had formerly been, for several years, his father's 

 assistant. In 1878 he came to London as an " unqualified assistant " to 

 Dr. Galton, and thus got his foot on the lower rungs of the medical ladder. 



The work was hard, but he had plenty of grit, and by dint of strenuous 

 exertions on his own part he became qualified in 1882 as L.S.A. and in 

 1883 as M.E.C.S. 



In the meantime he had not neglected his other opportunities. He had 

 acquired a good knowledge of French and German, and had already visited 

 both Germany and Belgium. In 1885 he entered into partnership with 

 Drs. Turner and Galton, but in 1892 he retired from practice in order that 

 he might devote himself to Bacteriology and kindred research. In October, 

 1892, he published an account of some admirable observations he had made 

 on Cancer, and first described those cell inclusions which have come to be 

 known as " Plimmer's bodies." These researches brought him into immediate 

 contact with Armand Euffer, who suggested that they should work together 

 in the laboratories of the College of Surgeons and Physicians. To this 

 proposal Plimmer agreed, and their association continued almost till 1894, 

 when Plimmer was appointed as Pathologist to the Cancer Hospital. The 

 friendship between the two men lasted until the death of Euffer, who 

 perislied at sea during the war. A felicitous tribute to Euffer 's memory and 

 work appeared in 'Nature' (1917), written by his friend, who was himself so 

 soon to pass away. 



In 1898 he became Bacteriologist to St. Mary's Hospital, and in the next 

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