Richard Morton (physician) facts for kids
Richard Morton (born 1637, died 1698) was an English doctor. He was the first to say that small bumps, called tubercles, were always found in the lungs of people with a serious illness. Today, we call this illness tuberculosis.
In Morton's time, people called this sickness consumption or phthisis. It was a disease that made people very weak and thin. Doctors didn't fully understand it until the 1820s. Later, in 1839, a doctor named J.L. Schönlein gave it the name "tuberculosis".
About Richard Morton's Life
Richard Morton was born in Worcestershire, England. He studied at Magdalen Hall in Oxford. After his studies, he chose to become a church leader. He became the Vicar of Kinver in Staffordshire.
However, in 1662, a new law called the Act of Uniformity 1662 was passed. This law required church leaders to follow certain rules. Morton refused to agree to these rules. Because of this, he had to leave his job in the church.
For the next eight years, no one is sure where he was. He might have traveled to Holland. In 1670, he returned and earned a special medical degree from Oxford University.
His Important Medical Work
Richard Morton wrote a very important book in 1689. Its original Latin title was Phthisiologia, seu exercitationes de phthisi, tribus libris comprehensæ. Totumque opus variis historiis illustratum. An English version came out in 1694.
This book was important for several reasons:
- Doctors at the time didn't study "consumption" (tuberculosis) much. Yet, it was a major cause of death. For example, in 1700, it caused over 18% of all deaths in the City of London.
- Morton's book also contained the first known medical descriptions of a condition now called Anorexia Nervosa. This is a serious eating disorder that makes people lose a lot of weight.
In Morton's era, doctors often followed the old ideas of Galen, a famous ancient physician. So, Morton thought that the "tubercles" in the lungs were caused by problems with glands. He didn't know about tiny germs. The actual germ that causes tuberculosis, called mycobacterium tuberculosis, was not found until 1882 by Robert Koch.
