Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Dr Richard Bright — Father of Medical Renal Disease

2009; American Medical Association; Volume: 133; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5858/133.9.1365

1543-2165

Robert H. Young,

Medical History and Research

To the Editor.—In the special section on renal pathology in the February 2009 issue of the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine appeared a very meritorious coverage of the topic, although I will admit medical renal disease is not one of my areas of interest. As the reader will know, our knowledge of medical renal disease dates back to the seminal contributions of Dr Richard Bright and I thought those interested in history might enjoy a few brief remarks about someone who was truly not only a great physician but also, from all we can glean these many years later, a wonderful person. Dr Bright was featured in the “Portrait in History” series of the Archives in 2000,1 and I encourage interested readers to look at that good review of his career, which supplements the comments made here.Dr Bright is of course known as one of the “great men of Guy's,” along with Dr Thomas Hodgkin and Dr Thomas Addison. I think it fair comment that, sadly, Dr Bright's name is not as well known as the names of these other legendary figures if only, in significant part, because the eponyms honoring their contributions have fortunately remained, whereas the designation “Bright's disease” has faded from most medical texts because of the tendency of many contemporary writers to consider eponyms negatively, an opinion which I regret inasmuch as eponyms honor many greats of medicine.Dr Bright was born into more prosperous circumstances than either Dr Hodgkin or Dr Addison, but certainly he repaid to the world any of his good fortune in being born into a family of significant means. Dr Bright and his immediate ancestors were from Bristol in the southwest of England, a particularly prosperous city at that time, in part because of the seafaring tradition and the exploration of North America and other parts of the world that was taking place then. Dr Bright was an exceedingly well-rounded person with interests in languages, mathematics, botany, and geology among others. In 1810, when he was a young man of 21, he went on an expedition to Iceland and conducted significant geologic studies as part of that expedition. Later, he traveled extensively in Europe and his book entitled “Travels From Vienna, Through Lower Hungary, With Some Remarks on the State of Vienna During Congress in the Year 1814” was published in 1818 and was considered an outstanding book of its type. It may be purchased today, but unfortunately, at great cost as I have found out! A more modest investment will obtain, for anyone interested, an excellent biography of Dr Bright by a descendant, Pamela Bright, which was published by Bodley Head in 1983 and entitled “Dr. Richard Bright.” Dr Bright was appointed full physician to Guy's Hospital (London, England) in 1824 and it was during the following years that his major work on medical renal disease was carried out. His observations were first reported in 1827. Dr Bright was a great physician and the demands of patient care ultimately affected his opportunity to do original work. Although a clinician, like many great physicians of that era—and, for that matter, in subsequent times—he had a major interest in pathology as this quote from the biography about him indicates: “[P]athology was to absorb him completely. Every organ that was put before him he examined and investigated in meticulous detail.” 2I hope these brief remarks may stimulate some to learn more about this wonderful investigator, and certainly I hope it causes us all to reflect on his remarkable career and what he brought to our knowledge of disease, primarily renal disease, but even to some other areas.