Harry Brookes Allen
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n pathologist
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
.
Education
Harry Brookes Allen was born at Geelong, VictoriaGeelong, Victoria
Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia, south-west of the state capital; Melbourne. It is the second most populated city in Victoria and the fifth most populated non-capital city in Australia...
, the son of Thomas Watts Allen. He was educated at Flinders School, Geelong, and in 1869–70 at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, located in South Yarra and Caulfield, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
. At the matriculation examination in 1870 he won the exhibitions in classics, mathematics, English and French. At the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
he topped the class in every year of his course, and graduated M.B. in 1876, M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
in 1878, and B.S. in 1879.
Career
In 1876 Allen was appointed demonstrator in anatomyAnatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
, in 1882 he became lecturer in anatomy and pathology, and from the beginning of 1883 was professor in these subjects. He was also pathologist at the Melbourne Hospital
Royal Melbourne Hospital
The Royal Melbourne Hospital , located in Parkville, Victoria an inner suburb of Melbourne is one of Australia’s leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research...
. He was editor of the Medical Journal of Australia 1879–83, pressure of work obliged him to give up this office.
As a result of strong representations the government of Victoria had provided the funds for a building for the medical school, and Allen was asked to collaborate with the government architects in preparing the plans. He also succeeded in having the collection of pathological specimens at the Melbourne Hospital transferred to the university, and thus began the pathological museum to which he was henceforth to give much time. It eventually became a great collection that was invaluable in connexion with the teaching of the subject.
In 1883 Allen was appointed to the Central Board of Health, for which he drew up a set of by-laws for the use of local health authorities, and he did valuable work in connexion with an inquiry into tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
, and also in connexion with freezing chambers for the frozen meat trade, then in its infancy.
In 1886 Allen became dean of the faculty of medicine and succeeded in bringing in an amended curriculum for the medical course. In 1888 he was made president of the royal commission appointed to inquire into the sanitary state of Melbourne; typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
was then common and the commission's report included the recommendation that a water-borne sewerage system should be adopted. This however was not commenced for some years.
Allen was appointed president of the intercolonial rabbit commission in 1889 at the age of 35, but his reputation was already spreading beyond Victoria. In the same year he was general secretary of the intercolonial medical congress, held at Melbourne. His next important work was the obtaining of recognition of Melbourne medical degrees in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. The university petitioned the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
and Allen was sent to England in 1890 to support the petition. He succeeded in satisfying the general medical council that the Melbourne curriculum was among the best in existence and the recognition was granted. In 1891 he married Ada Mason, daughter of Henry Mason
Henry Mason
Henry Mason was one of the co-founders of the American piano manufacturer Mason and Hamlin.He was the son of American church music composer Lowell Mason, and the brother of composer William Mason.-Notes:...
.
Allen was elected to the university council in 1898, the first professor to be a member. He was a most valuable member, constant in attendance and interested in the welfare of every department. Dr Charles James Martin
Charles James Martin
Charles James Martin, FRS, FRCS was a British scientist who did seminal work on protein denaturation, nutrition, snake toxins and other medical topics...
who was subsequently to have a distinguished career in Europe had been appointed lecturer in physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
in 1894 and Allen encouraged him in every way, eventually recommending that he should be given the title of acting professor. Martin resigned in 1903 to become director of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Dr William Alexander Osborne was appointed to take his place in 1904 as professor of physiology and in 1906 Dr Richard James Arthur Berry was appointed to the chair of anatomy, Allen taking the title of professor of pathology. A well-equipped laboratory of bacteriology
Microbiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
had been established, and Allen could now feel that he had a medical school in which he could take some pride. Although apparently wrapped up in his department, he was able to spare time to do valuable work outside it.
There were two medical societies in Melbourne at the time, the Medical Society of Victoria (of which Allen was honorary secretary 1879–87), and the Victorian branch of the British Medical Association
British Medical Association
The British Medical Association is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association’s headquarters are located in BMA House,...
; in 1906 Allen succeeded in healing the breach between them. In the same year there was a strong difference of opinion as to whether the proposed Institute of Tropical Medicine should be established at Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
or Townsville, Queensland
Townsville, Queensland
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...
. A committee was formed with Allen as chairman. Anderson Stuart, a man of much personality, was in favour of Sydney, but Allen succeeded in persuading him to withdraw his opposition.
In 1908 Allen was elected president of the Australasian medical congress held in Melbourne, an honour he highly valued. In 1912 he visited Europe and represented his university at the congress of universities of the empire and at the bicentenary of the medical school of Trinity College
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, Dublin. He was everywhere recognized as a pathologist of the highest standing. Allen was given the honorary degree of LL.D. by the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
in 1912, and was knighted in in the New Year honours of 1914. This was also the jubilee year of the medical school at Melbourne and the opportunity was taken of presenting an excellent portrait of Allen by E. Phillips Fox
E. Phillips Fox
- Education :Fox was born on 12 March 1865 to Alexander Fox and Rosetta Phillips at 12 Victoria Parade in Fitzroy, Melbourne, into a legal family whose firm, DLA Phillips Fox, still exists. He studied art at the National Gallery School in Melbourne from 1878 until 1886 under G. F...
to the university, the cost of which was subscribed by its medical graduates. The portrait was destroyed by fire in 1952, but a replica was hung in the pathology department.
A report of the various proceedings was published in 1914, University of Melbourne Medical School Jubilee. To this Allen contributed the opening chapter "A History of the Medical School".
With the coming of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Allen quickly realized that his students would do more valuable work by remaining and completing their courses than by enlisting as combatants. He himself worked at great pressure and possibly laid the seeds of his later break-down. In 1919 he published Pathology. Notes of Lectures and Demonstrations, a volume of nearly 500 pages.
Late life and legacy
Allen drafted a new medical curriculum in 1921, which was adopted, but he fell ill in 1923, and though he recovered temporarily, a serious cerebral haemorrhage so incapacitated him that he was obliged to give up his chair. He died at Melbourne on 28 March 1926, survived by his wife, Ada, and three daughters. One of his daughters, Mary Allen, became well-known in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a painter and lecturer on art. An elder brother, George Thomas Allen, C.M.G., held a distinguished position in the Commonwealth public service.
Allen lived primarily for his work but was also interested in literature and in art. He was not without vanity, lacked humour, and made comparatively few close friends; but there was an immense earnestness in his character, and a constant striving for the best, which commanded respect. He had untiring energy, great powers of organization, and a remarkable memory. His post-mortem demonstrations were models of their kind; he was ambidextrous and showed absolute control of the materials, complete knowledge, and had a burning desire that the students should understand everything that could be learned from the particular subject. His lectures were concise and orderly, consistently keeping a very high level of instruction, and his department was run with tact and efficiency. When he first became a lecturer he shouldered everything that came his way and gradually became the guiding force in the department. George Britton Halford
George Britton Halford
George Britton Halford was an English-born anatomist and physiologist, founder of the first medical school in Australia, University of Melbourne School of Medicine.- Background :...
had laid the foundations, and considering his manifold duties had done remarkable work, but it fell to Allen to develop a really great medical school at Melbourne. Another of his monuments is The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research which, as the memorial plate to Allen at the Royal Melbourne Hospital
Royal Melbourne Hospital
The Royal Melbourne Hospital , located in Parkville, Victoria an inner suburb of Melbourne is one of Australia’s leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research...
states, owes its origin to his inspiration.