George Henry Falkiner Nuttall FRS (5 July 1862 – 16 December 1937) was an American-British

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology -- a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learning about bacteria, ...

who contributed much to the knowledge of

parasites Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

and of insect carriers of diseases. He made significant innovative discoveries in

immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

, about life under aseptic conditions, in blood chemistry, and about diseases transmitted by

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

, especially

ticks Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by ...

. He carried out investigations into the distribution of Anopheline

mosquitoes Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning "gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "litt ...

in England in relation to the previous prevalence of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

there. With William Welch he identified the organism responsible for causing

gas gangrene Gas gangrene (also known as clostridial myonecrosis and myonecrosis) is a bacterial infection that produces tissue gas in gangrene. This deadly form of gangrene usually is caused by '' Clostridium perfringens'' bacteria. About 1,000 cases of gas ...

Life

Nuttall was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, the second of three sons and two daughters of Robert Kennedy Nuttall, a British doctor who had migrated to San Francisco in 1850, and Magdalena, daughter of John Parrott of San Francisco. In 1865 the family moved to Europe. The children were educated in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. As a result, Nuttall spoke German, French, Italian and Spanish, which was extremely useful in his later career. Nuttall returned to the United States in 1878, obtaining his M.D. degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1884. He then travelled with some of his family to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

for a year. His sister Zelia became a noted

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

of early Mexican cultures. After a short period working at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

under H. Newell Martin, he went to

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

in 1886 working with

Carl Flügge Carl Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Flügge (12 September 1847 – 10 December 1923) was a German bacteriologist and hygienist. His finding that pathogens were present in expiratory droplets, the eponymous Flügge droplets, laid ground for the concept ...

and others. His research in Göttingen included studies on mechanisms of immunity. He received his PhD in zoology in 1890. After a year travelling he returned to Baltimore, working under

William H. Welch William Henry Welch (April 8, 1850 – April 30, 1934) was an American physician, pathologist, bacteriologist, and medical-school administrator. He was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.tubercle bacillus and identified the bacillus responsible for

, now known as

Clostridium perfringens ''Clostridium perfringens'' (formerly known as ''C. welchii'', or ''Bacillus welchii'') is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming pathogenic bacterium of the genus ''Clostridium''. ''C. perfringens'' is ever-present in nature an ...

Nuttall's Microscopic Thermostat Bowhill 1899 37

From 1892 to 1899 Nuttall was in Germany once more, first in Göttingen, then in Berlin, where he worked at the Hygienic Institute (hygienischen Institut). In 1893 He published ''Hygienic Measures in Relation to Infectious Diseases'', a book dealing with cleanliness, disinfection anf fumigation in medical practice. He married Paula von Oertzen-Kittendorf in 1895. Working with

Hans Thierfelder Hans Thierfelder (22 February 1858 – 11 November 1930) was a German biochemist and professor at the University of Tübingen. He studied lipids and phospholipids and was involved in isolating cerebrone, the first glycolipid in 1900. Thierfelder w ...

he developed methods for rearing guinea pigs under aseptic conditions, with no gut bacteria. This work laid the foundation for the field of Gnotobiosis, the study of organisms with known micro-organism populations. In 1895 he designed a microscopic thermostat for maintaining biological materials under studiy at a constant temperature. This was used for many years. During this period his interest in the role of insects in transmission of disease developed, which would continue to be a major topic of research. In May 1899 Nuttall travelled to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

at the invitation of

Clifford Allbutt Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt (20 July 183622 February 1925) was an English physician best known for his role as president of the British Medical Association 1920, for inventing the clinical thermometer, and for supporting Sir William Osler in fo ...

, Regius Professor of Physic at the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, and gave a series of lectures in bacteriology. In 1900 he was appointed university lecturer in bacteriology and preventive medicine, and would be based in Cambridge for the rest of his life. He founded and edited th
''Journal of Hygiene''
the first volume being published in 1901. His research at this period was in two main areas, studies of blood, in particular immune reactions, and studies on transmission of disease by arthropods, in particular mosquitoes and malaria with

Arthur Shipley Sir Arthur Everett Shipley GBE FRS (10 March 1861 – 22 September 1927) was an English zoologist and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Biography Shipley was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey on 10 March 1861. He was brought up in ...

. In 1904 Nuttall and Shipley were both elected

Fellows 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 knowledge, including mathemati ...

. In the same year he and

Patrick Manson Sir Patrick Manson (3 October 1844 – 9 April 1922) was a Scottish physician who made important discoveries in parasitology, and was a founder of the field of tropical medicine. He graduated from University of Aberdeen with degrees in Master ...

established in Cambridge the first Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, which continued until 1933. In 1906 he was elected the first

Quick Professor of Biology The Quick Professorship of Biology is one of the senior professorships in biology at the University of Cambridge. Frederick James Quick (1836–1902), a prosperous coffee merchant and senior partner in the London coffee-firm ''Quick, Reek and Jame ...

at Cambridge, a chair established for the study of

protozoology Protozoology is the study of protozoa, the "animal-like" (i.e., motile and heterotrophic) protists. The Protozoa are considered to be a subkingdom of Protista. They are free-living organisms that are found in almost every habitat. All humans have pr ...

. He built a substantial team within the Quick Laboratory working on many areas of parasitology. A major topic was

piroplasmosis Babesiosis or piroplasmosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with a eukaryotic parasite in the order Piroplasmida, typically a ''Babesia'' or '' Theileria'', in the phylum Apicomplexa. Human babesiosis transmission via ...

and related malaria-like parasites transmitted by

, mainly in dogs, but also in other animals including humans. The number of published papers on parasitology was steadily increasing, and in 1908 Nuttall founded the journal ''

Parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it fo ...

'', initially as a supplement to the Journal of Hygiene, but soon as a separate journal. Cox (2009) argues that the founding of the journal was a key event in the development of parasitology as a discipline in its own right. In the same year Nuttall co-edited an important book on the bacteriology of diphtheria with Graham-Smith. Also in 1908 he was elected a felllow of

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he began to investigate

lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...

. This began in response to the practical problems with lice in the troops, but developed over the next few years into research on their biology and role in disease. In 1919 Nuttall appealed for funds to create an Institute for Parasitical Research in Cambridge.

Percy Molteno Percy Alport Molteno (12 September 1861 – 19 September 1937) was an Edinburgh-born South African lawyer, company director, politician and philanthropist who was a British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member ...

and his wife donated the sum of £30,000 for this purpose. The

Molteno Institute for Research in Parasitology The Molteno Institute for Research in Parasitology was a biological research institute in the University of Cambridge, UK, situated on the Downing Site and founded in response to an appeal by the Quick Professor by a $150 000 gift from Mr & Mrs ...

was opened in 1921 with Nuttall as its first director. The Quick Department was transferred to the Molteno Institute. His writings include some 150 articles in professional journals. After the establishment of the Molteno Institute, Nuttall became increasingly occupied with administration and fundraising, and published few papers. His wife Paula died in 1922. One publication from this period is a biographical note on German scientists of an earlier generation who he had known. He resigned the Quick Professorshipin 1931, and became Emeritus Professor of Biology. He died suddenly in December 1937, and was survived by two sons, George and Winfred, and a daughter Carmelita. His ashes were buried in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Mechanisms of Immunity

In the early 1880s, Metchnikoff had observed

phagocytosis Phagocytosis () is the process by which a cell uses its plasma membrane to engulf a large particle (≥ 0.5 μm), giving rise to an internal compartment called the phagosome. It is one type of endocytosis. A cell that performs phagocytosis is ...

of bacteria and other foreign matter by animal cells including leucocytes in mammals, and proposed that this was the mechanism by which animals protect themselves against infection. This idea was controversial at the time.

Josef von Fodor Josef von Fodor de Galánta ( hu, galántai Fodor József; 16 July 1843 – 19 March 1901) was a Hungarian professor of hygiene at the University of Buda-Pesth and pioneer of public health. Early life and education Birth Josef von Fodor was ...

had shown an apppparent germicidal action of blood against anthrax bacilli, but critics suggested that the bacilli were being entrapped by clotting rather than destroyed. Nuttall, carried out a series of experiments with defibrinated blood from various species, and clearly established the germicidal action of blood in the absence of clotting, and also that the germicidal action was lost after the blood was heated to 55 °C. These results formed the basis of the humoral theory of immunity, as opposed to the cellular theory of Metchnikoff, and also stimulated the work that led to the development of

antitoxin An antitoxin is an antibody with the ability to neutralize a specific toxin. Antitoxins are produced by certain animals, plants, and bacteria in response to toxin exposure. Although they are most effective in neutralizing toxins, they can also ...

therapy, particularly for diphtheria and tetanus. Initially the humoral and cellular theories were seen as rival explanations of immunity, but it soon became clear that processes of both kinds occur and complement one another.

Phylogenetic relationships

Darwin's theory of

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

- descent with modification - provided a theoretical basis for classification in biology, species within a

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

sharing a more or less recent

common ancestor Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. All living beings are in fact descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal comm ...

. For nearly half a century, the only criteria for classification remained morphological, as had been the case with pre-evolutionary systems such as that of

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

. Classification based on morphology has two main limitations: difficulty in dealing with

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

where similar forms arise in species that are not closely related; and an inability to provide a quantitative measure of relatedness. The precipitin reaction was first described by Rudolf Kraus in 1897, an insoluble product being formed in an

antigen-antibody interaction Antigen-antibody interaction, or antigen-antibody reaction, is a specific chemical interaction between antibodies produced by B cells of the white blood cells and antigens during immune reaction. The antigens and antibodies combine by a process ca ...

. The reaction was at first thought to be specific, but it was soon found that while the protein used to generate the antibody gave the strongest reaction, related proteins could give lesser reactions. This finding was developed by Nuttall into a quantitative method in which the amount of precipitate was measured. Using serum from a wide variety of animals he was able to show that the degree of immune reaction between species indicated the relationship between them. In a major work ''Blood immunity and blood relationship'' Nuttall and his colleagues presented the data from over 16,000 tests with serum from a wide range of animal species, both vertebrate and invertebrate. This work was the starting point for the field of

molecular evolution Molecular evolution is the process of change in the sequence composition of cellular molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins across generations. The field of molecular evolution uses principles of evolutionary biology and population genetics ...

Arthropods as disease vectors

The Structure and Biology of Anopheles Nuttall 1901d 39

In 1900 Nuttall and Austen published a book reviewing the evidence for transmission of disease by

Insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

Arachnids Arachnida () is a Class (biology), class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, came ...

and

Myriapods Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. The fossil record of myriapods reaches back into the late Silurian, a ...

, which included a discussion of the mosquito theory of malaria.

Malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

had formerly been common in England, but few if any cases still occurred in 1900. Nuttall and colleagues carried out a survey of the distribution of the ''Anopheles'' mosquito in England, showing a concentration in the areas where malaria (ague) had previously been prevalent. The study suffered from the limitation of not distinguishing between the various species of mosquito, but its presentation, including maps, was one of the first of its kind. Nuttall and Shipley subsequently published a series of papers in ''The Journal of Hygiene'' on the structure and biology of ''Anopheles'' (1901–1903), which represented the most detailed study on the topic up to that time. Piroplasma canis life cycle Nuttall 1907 29

Piroplasma canis life cycle Nuttall 1907 29

Canine piroplasmosis Plate IX Nuttall 1905 14 15 cropped to show single corpuscle with four parasites

Nuttall began working on ticks and tick-transmitted diseases in 1904. His first studies were with canine piroplasmosis. Piroplasmosis, or babesiosis, unknown in Britain, is a malaria-like disease caused by a

protozoan Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris. Histo ...

parasite. At one stage in its life-cycle the parasite is pyriform (pear-shaped), hence the name piroplasmosis. It affects a wide variety of wild and domestic animals. Human cases occur, but are uncommon.

Smith Smith may refer to: People * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland ** List of people wi ...

and Kilborne identified the parasite in Texas cattle fever, and established that it was transmitted by ticks, the first proven case of arthropod disease transmission. In a series of papers published with Graham-Smith in ''The Journal of Hygiene'' (1904–1907) Nuttall described the nature of the disease and the multiplication of the parasite in the blood of dogs. Subsequent work with Seymour Hadwen led to the discovery that

trypan blue Trypan blue is an azo dye. It is a direct dye for cotton textiles. In biosciences, it is used as a vital stain to selectively colour dead tissues or cells blue. Live cells or tissues with intact cell membranes are not coloured. Since cells a ...

was an effective treatment both in dogs and cattle. This was a finding of great economic importance, and trypan blue became the standard treatment for piroplasmosis/babesiosis for many years. Haemaphysalis punctata Plate XIII Nuttall 1908 33 34

Haemaphysalis punctata Plate XIII Nuttall 1908 33 34

Nuttall made extensive studies on ticks in collaboration with

Cecil Warburton Cecil Warburton (6 February 1854 – 7 October 1958) was a British zoologist, arachnologist and acarologist who worked at the Royal Agricultural Society and specialized on ticks of medical and veterinary importance. Warburton was born at Salford, ...

L.E. Robinson and F.W. Cooper. This led to numerous papers and an exhaustive monograph that appeared in three parts between 1908 and 1915. The publications, mostly in the journal ''Parasitology'' cover the anatomy, biology and classification of ticks, as well as observations on the diseases they transmit, including "tick paralysis". In the course of this work, Nuttall accumulated a very large collection of ticks from many parts of the world. The collection is now in the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

. Another arthropod, that became increasingly important during

was the louse. Nuttall, carried out a series of studies that, as with many of his other researches, combined a theoretical and zoological approach with practical concerns.

Parasites named for him

* Nuttallia — this name was given to a genus of piroplasms. However the name was found to be pre-occupied by a genus of North American bivalves and the generic name now used for the piroplasms is ''

Babesia ''Babesia'', also called ''Nuttallia'', is an apicomplexan parasite that infects red blood cells and is transmitted by ticks. Originally discovered by the Romanian bacteriologist Victor Babeș in 1888, over 100 species of ''Babesia'' have since ...

''. * Nuttalliellidae — Tick family found in southern Africa The family has a single species, '' Nuttalliella namaqua''.

Life

Mechanisms of Immunity

Phylogenetic relationships

Arthropods as disease vectors

Parasites named for him

References

Further reading