151

OBITUARY.

John Wichenford Washbourn, C.M.G.

By the death of Dr. Washbourn, on June 20th, 1902, our Society sustained a most grievous loss. At the time of his death he was one of the General Secretaries, which office he had held since 1898. He contributed more than one

paper to our Transactions, and frequently took part in our discussions. Of the many societies of which he was a fellow or member there were none in which he took a deeper interest than the Epidemiological ; being a

thoroughly trained and equipped bacteriologist, as well as an experienced and acute clinician with a special know- ledge of infectious diseases, he was particularly attracted by all questions relating to the origin and spread of epi- demic disorders. He was born at Gloucester on June 22nd, 1863, and

came of a family, the Washbourns of Wichenford and

Washbourne, in the counties of Worcester and Gloucester, whose pedigrees can be traced back to the fourteenth

century. He was educated at King's College, Gloucester. On leaving school in 1880, he entered Guy's Hospital, where his career as a student was exceptionally brilliant, chief among his many successes being the Exhibition in Organic Chemistry and the Scholarship in Medicine at the London University. He graduated M.B., B.S. in 1886, M.D. in 1887, took the F.R.C.S. in 1888, and was elected F.R.C.P. in 1894. Soon after becoming qualified Washbourn spent some

time under Professor Gruber in Vienna and Professor von

Baumgarten in Konigsberg, chiefly in the study of bacteri- ology. He was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at Guy's in 1888, and Assistant Physician in 1890, when he also became joint Lecturer on Physiology, Demonstrator of Bacteriology, and Physician in Charge of the Electrical Department. A few years later, when the Lectureship on Bacteriology was established, he was appointed Lecturer. In 1889 he was elected Assistant Physician, and in 1892 Physician, to the London Fever Hospital. Subsequently he became full Physician to Guy's Hospital.

152 OBITUARY.

In February, 1900, he went to South Africa as Con-

sulting Physician to the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, which was just then being organised. For his services he was created a C.M.G., and in 1901 was gazetted Con- sulting Physician to His Majesty's Forces in South Africa. He returned to England in July of that year, and pre- sided over the section of Pathology and Bacteriology at the Cheltenham meeting of the British Medical Association. During the winter he employed most of his spare time in the preparation of the Croonian Lectures on Acute Pneumonia, which he was to have delivered before the Royal College of Physicians. But in March he was attacked with in-

fluenza, to which for many years past he had been subject. This illness was followed by pleurisy with effusion, which unhappily proved to be of tuberculous origin. He died at

Tunbridge Wells on June 22nd, within two days of com- pleting his thirty-ninth year.

Although a man of wide knowledge and experience in general medicine, Washbourn's chief interest centred in the study of infectious diseases, for which his bacteriological training and his position at the London Fever Hospital eminently fitted him. Most of his work was done in this field. The Medical School at Guy's is largely indebted to him for the admirable Bacteriological Department that exists there now ; and it was on his initiative that bacterjo- logy was added to the medical curriculum by the College of Physicians. His most important research work was done in connection with the diplococcus pneumonia, espe- cially in respect to its varieties and the methods by which their virulence may be estimated. In 1897 he published an account of an anti-pneumococcic serum which he was the first to prepare, and which it was ever his wish and hope might eventually be made of certain therapeutic value. How bacteriology may aid the study of epidemics is

admirably shown by his report on the memorable epidemic of typhoid fever at Maidstone in 1897. He was called in

to advise the local authorities, and his bacteriological examination of the various sources of the water-supply indicated the pollution of a certain one. On his recom-

mendation this source was cut off, and the epidemic soon ceased. In the enquiry held subsequently by the Local Government Board, the Inspectors accepted his views as correct, in spite of strong and adverse expert evidence.

Washbourn also published, both alone and jointly, many papers on bacteriological and clinical subjects, of which the most important were upon diphtheria and its treatment;

OBITUARY. 153

infectious sarcomata in dogs; and dysentery and enteric fever in South Africa. He was the joint author of a text- book on infectious diseases.

Though still young in years at the time of his death, Washbourn had yet fully justified the expectations that were formed of him when he was still an undergraduate by his teachers and fellow-students. Perhaps his chief characteristic was tenacity of purpose. If he made up his mind to accomplish any particular design, he was not to be swerved from his purpose, but took the most direct path towards it that was consistent with honesty and fairness. At the same time he could, when necessary, exercise unlimited patience, and always took an infinite amount of pains. Being, as regards scientific work, of an extremely sceptical turn of mind, the experimental results of himself and his pupils were repeatedly and minutely tested; con- sequently, his work is characterised by a stability and thoroughness which is sadly wanting in much of the so- called scientific work of the present day. Enthusiastic in all his undertakings, he had the precious gift of being able to inspire those with whom he was brought in contact with some of his own enthusiasm. Hence he was an admirable teacher. For honest work he always gave full credit, and if a friend or pupil materially helped him in any production, he always insisted on its being put forward in their joint names. He was a fluent, lucid, and, when occasion served, a witty speaker. In outward appearance he seemed to be considerably older than he was. His intellect was keen; his judgment accurate, though, when necessary, quickly formed. Perhaps it was the combina- tion of all these qualities that accounted for the wonderful power, which he certainly possessed, of inspiring confidence and of quickly making his personality felt by those around him. The writer will never forget an occasion when this trait was particularly evident. A medical man had been summoned before a magistrate by a local health authority for failing to notify a case of infectious disease, his failure so to do having given rise to disastrous results. His defence was that he had honestly made an error in

diagnosis. This defence was good enough, but the un- fortunate practitioner himself did his best to discredit it by the extremely bad manner in which he gave his evi- dence. He could not give even his own counsel, a well- known and able barrister, a straightforward answer; and all the facts, though favourable to himself, had to be dragged from him. A stranger listening to the proceed-

N, s.?VOL. XXI. M

154 OBITUARY.

ings would have thought that the man was a hostile witness under cross-examination. The magistrate was evidently against him, and was taking copious notes ; nor

did his attitude appear to be affected by two or three medical witnesses who spoke for the defendant. But

Washbourn, who was called to show that the error in

diagnosis might honestly, though easily, have been made, had hardly been in the witness-box two minutes before it became quite clear that the magistrate's mind was under- going a complete change. He shut up his note-book, made a remark or two to the effect that it was not necessary to

pursue the matter further, and within a few minutes of Washbourn's appearance dismissed the case.

In private life Washbourn had a host of friends, by whom his advice was frequently sought?by no means always on professional questions?and never in vain, for he was always kind and sympathetic. He was fond of outdoor sports, though he had but little leisure during recent years to give to them. He was a great favourite with the students at Guy's, in whose work and amuse- ments he took a hearty interest. He married in 1893, but his wife died a year later after childbirth, and he remained a widower. His child, a daughter, survives him. He has gone, gone ere his prime, with his work in our

Society, as elsewhere, unfinished. In many places, by many friends, he is missed and mourned; yet nowhere more than by those of us who have been accustomed to meet him at the various gatherings of the Epidemiological Society.

E. W. G.