Frederick William Pavy (29 May 1829 – 19 September 1911) was a British

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

and the discoverer of Pavy disease, a cyclic or recurrent physiologic

albuminuria Albuminuria is a pathological condition wherein the protein albumin is abnormally present in the urine. It is a type of proteinuria. Albumin is a major plasma protein (normally circulating in the blood); in healthy people, only trace amounts of i ...

Life

Family vault of Frederick William Pavy in Highgate Cemetery

Pavy was born in

Wroughton Wroughton is a large village and civil parish in northeast Wiltshire, England. It is part of the Borough of Swindon and lies along the A4361 between Swindon and Avebury; the road into Swindon crosses the M4 motorway between junctions 15 an ...

and educated at Merchant Taylors' School. He entered

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

in 1847. There he worked with Richard Bright in the study of

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied b ...

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

. He graduated as M.B. after five years from the University of London and M.D. the following year. He became Lecturer of Anatomy at Guy's in 1854 and of Physiology in 1856. In 1859 he was appointed Assistant Physician at Guy's and full Physician in 1871. He was made President of the

Pathological Society of London The Pathological Society of London was founded in 1846 for the "cultivation and promotion of Pathology by the exhibition and description of specimens, drawings, microscopic preparations, casts or models of morbid parts." Its first meeting was he ...

in 1893 and President of the

Medical and Chirurgical Society of London The Medical and Chirurgical Society of London was a learned society of physicians and surgeons which was founded in 1805 by 26 personalities in these fields who had left the Medical Society of London (founded 1773) because of disagreement with th ...

in 1900. He delivered the

Goulstonian Lectures The Goulstonian Lectures are an annual lecture series given on behalf of the Royal College of Physicians in London. They began in 1639. The lectures are named for Theodore Goulston (or Gulston, died 1632), who founded them with a bequest A beque ...

in 1862 and the

Croonian Lecture The Croonian Medal and Lecture is a prestigious award, a medal, and lecture given at the invitation of the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians. Among the papers of William Croone at his death in 1684, was a plan to endow a single l ...

in 1878 and 1894 to the Royal College of Physicians. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1863. He had married Julia Oliver in London in 1855. They had two daughter Florence Julia (1856–1902) and Maud (born 1862, predeceased her mother). Florence Pavy married Rev. Sir

Borradaile Savory Sir Borradaile Savory, 2nd Baronet (5 October 1855 – 12 September 1906) was an English clergyman and baronet. Savory was born in Charterhouse Square, London, the only child of Sir William Scovell Savory , Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victo ...

in 1881. Pavy died on the 19th September 1911 and was buried in a family vault on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Diabetes

Pavy was a leading expert in

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

, and spent almost 20 years trying to disprove

Claude Bernard Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. Historian I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term ''milieu intérieur'', and the a ...

's theory of the

glycogen Glycogen is a multibranched polysaccharide of glucose that serves as a form of energy storage in animals, fungi, and bacteria. The polysaccharide structure represents the main storage form of glucose in the body. Glycogen functions as one o ...

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, using ...

metabolic cycle. His 1862 paper "Researches on the Nature and Treatment of Diabetes" was, for many years, the definitive guide to the condition.Algeo M, ''Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk was America's Favorite Sport'', Chicago Review Press, 2014. Pavy studied carbohydrate metabolism and dietetic treatment for diabetes.Furdell, Elizabeth Lane. (2009). ''Fatal Thirst: Diabetes in Britain Until Insulin''. Brill. pp. 138-139. In 1873, Pavy authored ''A Treatise on Food and Dietetics'' which recommended almonds and nuts as bread substitutes. Pavy promoted a

low-carbohydrate diet Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet. Foods high in carbohydrates (e.g., sugar, bread, pasta) are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and protein (e.g., meat, p ...

to treat diabetes. His diet allowed all kinds of butcher's meat (except liver), cheese, eggs, fish and some green vegetables. All sugar was forbidden including all kinds of fruit, pasta and potatoes but he allowed spirits and wines that had not been sweetened.

Selected publications

''A Treatise on the Function of Digestion''
(1869)
''Researches on the Nature and Treatment of Diabetes''
(1869)
''A Treatise on Food and Dietetics''
(1874)
''The Physiology of the Carbohydrates''
(1894)
''On Carbohydrate Metabolism''
(1906)

Life

Diabetes

Selected publications

See also

References

Further reading