Augustus Bozzi Granville FRS (born Augusto Bozzi,''What killed Dr Granville's mummy?''
Stephanie Pain,

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...

, issue 2687, 1 January 2009. 7 October 1783 – 3 March 1872) was a physician, writer, and Italian patriot. Born in Milan, he studied medicine before leaving to avoid being enlisted in

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's army. After practicing medicine in Greece, Turkey, Spain, and Portugal, he joined the

British Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

and sailed to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. There he learned English and married an Englishwoman. He later moved to London, where he practiced as a physician and writer. He is credited with carrying out the first medical autopsy on an Ancient Egyptian

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

which he described to the Royal Society of London in 1825.

Selected works

* [Augusts Bozzi Granville,
''Science Without a Head; or, The Royal Society Dissected. By One of the 687 F.R.S.---sss''.
(London: T. Ridgway, 1830). This 122 page work contributed to the debate over the decline of science in England generated by Charles Babbage. Originally published anonymously, an expanded edition with the author's name appeared in 1836 (Henry_George_Lyons, Henry Lyons,
The Royal Society 1660-1940
'' Cambridge University Press, 1944, p. 251). Reprinted 1969 by Gregg International Publisher Ltd
''A catechism of facts : or, Plain and simple rules respecting the nature, treatment, and prevention of cholera'' (1832)

''Extracts from a work on counter-irritation, its principles and practice'' (1839)

''The sumbul : a new Asiatic remedy of great power against nervous disorders, spasms of the stomach cramp, hysterical affections, paralysis of the limbs, and epilepsy'' (1859)

References

1783 births 1872 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society 19th-century Italian physicians {{Italy-bio-stub