Thomas Spencer Cobbold. 
1828—1886. 
(Portrait-plate XX.) 
By GEORGE H. F. NUTTALL, F.R.S. 
Thomas Spencer Cobbold was born at Ipswich, Suffolk, on 28 May, 1828, 
and died 20 March, 1886, at Maida Hill, London; he lies buried in Paddington 
Cemetery, Willesden, London, N.W. 
After being apprenticed to Cross, the Surgeon of Norwich, he went to 
Edinburgh, where he worked under John Goodsir and Edward Forbes and 
took his M.D. in 1851, being subsequently appointed Curator of the Anatomical 
Museum, where he worked on comparative anatomy. In 1858 he removed to 
London and became Lecturer in Botany, Zoology and Comparative Anatomy 
at Middlesex Hospital Medical School, where he for a time gave instruction 
on parasitic diseases, devoting himself thereafter chiefly to the study of 
helminths. In 1865 he began to practise medicine and continued to do so for 
a period of about ten years whilst keeping his hold on science. He lectured 
on helminthology at the Royal Veterinary College until within some months 
of his death. In 1868 he became Swiney Professor of Geology at the British 
Museum and held the post for five years. He was a hard worker, a good writer 
and teacher, sociable and musically gifted, having a remarkable voice. He was 
elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1864 and honorary member of various 
learned societies abroad, in recognition of his excellent original work. 
Cobbold published about five hundred memoirs and papers on a variety of 
subjects. His work on helminthology, both systematic and experimental, was 
important and survives as a monument to his originality and industry. From 
the classified list of 108 papers given by Brumpt, it is seen that 41 relate to 
helminthology in general, 29 to Nematodes, 22 to Trematodes and 16 to 
Cestodes. The bibliography of Cobbold’s publications given by Stiles and Hassall 
{vide infra), starts with a paper published in 1855, wherein Cobbold describes 
Fasciola gigantica. His well-known book, Entozoa, an Introduction to the Study 
of Helminthology , with Reference more particularly to the Internal Parasites of 
Man (xxvi + 480 pp., 82 figs., 21 pis., 8°), appeared in 1864. His Entozoa: 
being a Supplement , etc. (to the foregoing), appeared as a quarto in 1869, and 
his treatise, Parasites , was published in 1879. This work contains a most note¬ 
worthy introduction and it sums up Cobbold’s knowledge of parasitology at 
that date. His last publication appeared in 1886 {Trans. Linnean Soc.). 
I he appi eciations and biographical notices of Cobbold which appeared 
during his life and after 1 i is death bear testimony to the high esteem in which 
he was held by his contemporaries both for his personality and as a man of 
science. 
