Benjamin Marten (c.1690–1752) was an English physician from "Theobald's Row" near Red Lyon Square,

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

, and one of several sons of a tailor. In 1720 he conjectured in ''"A New Theory of Consumptions - More Especially a Phthisis or Consumption of the Lungs"'', that

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

may be caused by ''"wonderfully minute living creatures"'' that could lead to the lesions symptomatic of the disease, thereby expressing the theory of ''

contagium vivum Contagion may refer to: Medicine * Contagious disease Social science * Emotional contagion, a tendency to feel others' emotions * Behavioral contagion, a tendency to mimic others' behavior * Law of contagion, a folk belief related to magical th ...

'' or 'living contagion'. He went on to state that ''"it may be therefore very likely that by a habitual lying in the same bed with a consumptive patient, constantly eating and drinking with him, or by very frequently conversing so nearly as to draw in part of the breath he emits from the lungs, a consumption may be caught by a sound person...I imagine that slightly conversing with consumptive patients is seldom or never sufficient to catch the disease."'' Marten's epidemiological insight was prescient. Although Leeuwenhoek had reported seeing bacteria in 1676, he had not believed that his "little animals" caused disease. In 1882

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the Vibrio ...

confirmed the agent of tuberculosis. To this day its treatment remains a challenge. Benjamin Marten probably received an MD degree from the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

in 1717. At that time degrees did not require formal courses or examinations and were routinely conferred after recommendation and on application, and on payment of a prescribed fee. Thus a notice appeared in ''"Officers and Graduates of University and King's College, Aberdeen"'' on 9 December 1717 stating that a Benjamin Marten had paid the requisite fee and had been issued with a diploma. Benjamin's brothers were the surgeon John Marten and the apothecary James Marten. He also had a sister who married a certain tailor named Spooner. Benjamin married Hannah Fisher, a

spinster ''Spinster'' is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally den ...

St Botolph Aldersgate St Botolph without Aldersgate (also known as St Botolph's, Aldersgate) is a Church of England church in London dedicated to St Botolph. It was built just outside Aldersgate; one of the gates on London's wall in the City of London. The church ...

, on 17 November 1716. The ceremony was recorded in the Marriage Register of

St Stephen Walbrook St Stephen Walbrook is a church in the City of London, part of the Church of England's Diocese of London. The present domed building was erected to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren following the destruction of its medieval predecessor in the ...

, and stated that the groom was from St Michael Bassinshaw - the 'List of London Marriage Licences' reflects a date of 13 November 1716 for the marriage.

References

External links

Timeline of TB"Tuberculosis:Pathogenesis, Protection and Control" - Barry R. Bloom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marten, Benjamin 18th-century English medical doctors 1690s births 1752 deaths