LEWIS
,
TIMOTHY RICHARDS
(
1841
-
1886
),
surgeon, pathologist, and pioneer in tropical medicine
;
b. at
Hafod
,
Llan-gan, Carms.
,
31 Oct. 1841
, the eldest child of
William
Lewis
and
Britania
(
Richards
)
, his wife. He was brought up in the parish of
Crinow, Pembs.
, and received his early education at
Narberth National School
and at the grammar school kept in that town by
Joseph
and
William Edward
Morris
. He was apprenticed at the
age of 15 to a
Narberth
pharmacist
, but after four years he went to
London
to a
pharmacist
at
Streatham
. From there he joined the dispensary of the
German hospital
at
Dalston
, where he was able to learn
German
and to begin his
medical studies
. Attending classes at
University College
,
1863-6
, he was at the end of the period awarded the
Fellowes silver medal
. He graduated
M.B.
(with distinction) and
C.M.
in
1867
. The following year he was placed first on entering and leaving the
Army Medical School
at
Netley
. In
1868
it was decided to send the two best pupils of the
Medical School
to
examine German scientific theories on the causes of cholera
and to put them to the test in
India
. Thus
T. R.
Lewis
and
David Douglas
Cunningham
went to
India
in
Jan. 1869
, after spending some months in
Germany
. For over five years they investigated problems concerning
cholera
, and the results of their labours were published in the
Annual Reports of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India
. In
1874
they were both appointed
special assistants to the Sanitary Commissioner
,
Dr.
James McNabb
Cuningham
, and the field of their inquiry was enlarged to include
leprosy
and other oriental diseases. In
1870
Lewis
discovered a nematoid worm
which he named ‘
Filaria sanguinis hominis
,’ after he had observed it in the blood of one of his patients in
1872
. This was the helminth named ‘
Filaria bancrofti
’ in
1877
, but now named ‘
Wuchereria bancrofti
.’ In
1877
he
discovered a flagellate in the blood of rats
which bears his name — ’
Trypanosoma lewisi
.’ With the appointment of
David
Cunningham
to the
chair of physiology
in the
Calcutta Medical College
in
1879
, the general work of the
Sanitary department of the Indian government
fell largely upon the shoulders of
T. R.
Lewis
, who continued
special investigations into the pathology of enteric fever and Indian jail diets
. He left
India
in
Jan. 1883
to take up an
assistant professorship in pathology
at
Netley
, but he retained close contact with the
Indian Government
, acting as its
representative at international conferences on medical and sanitary problems
. In
1884-5
he was again called to resume his
researches into the causes of cholera
, and to examine the theory of
Robert
Koch
, who had discovered the ‘
commabacillus
.’ He was
secretary to the committee of scientists appointed to investigate the theory
. The weight of evidence at the time was found to be against the reception of
Koch
's theory, but
Lewis
continued to examine the problem. In
April 1886
his name was recommended for election to a Fellowship of the
Royal Society
, but before the election he had fallen a
victim to one of the microbes
which he had so assiduously pursued. He d.
7 May 1886
, and was buried at
Netley
. He had m.,
8 Oct. 1879
,
Emily Frances
(
1860
-
1920
), daughter of
James
Brown
of
Lewisham
. His reports are classics in
bacteriology
. A memorial volume (
In Memoriam
) was published in
1888
. His manuscripts are at the
National Library
(
N.L.W. MSS. 14381-401
).
Bibliography:
-
The National Library of Wales Journal
, iii, 65-8.
Author:
Evan David Jones, F.S.A., (1903-87), Aberystwyth
