Thomas Wesley Mills (1847–1915), generally referred to as T. Wesley Mills in the scientific literature, was a Canadian physician 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 ...

who worked as a professor at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. Mills was Canada's first professional physiologist. He authored books and research articles on

comparative physiology Comparative physiology is a List of academic disciplines, subdiscipline of physiology that studies and exploits the diversity of functional characteristics of various kinds of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary physiology and environ ...

, animal behavior, and the physiology of voice production.Wallis, F. (2000). Mills, Thomas Wesley. ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography.'' After graduating from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and teaching high school for two years, Mills began medical studies at McGill in 1876 and graduated with high honors in 1878. Mills was a close associate of

William Osler Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first Residency (medicine), residency program for spec ...

, who influenced the direction of his career and introduced him to an international network of biomedical researchers. Mills traveled to London where he worked with

John Scott Burdon-Sanderson Sir John Scott Burdon-Sanderson, 1st Baronet, FRS, HFRSE D.Sc. (21 December 182823 November 1905) was an English physiologist born near Newcastle upon Tyne, and a member of a well known Northumbrian family. Biography He was born at Jesmond ...

and Edward Albert Schafer, Baltimore where he worked with H. Newell Martin 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 ...

, Strasbourg with

Felix Hoppe-Seyler Ernst Felix Immanuel Hoppe-Seyler (''né'' Felix Hoppe; 26 December 1825 – 10 August 1895) was a German physiologist and chemist, and the principal founder of the disciplines of biochemistry and molecular biology. Biography Hoppe-Seyler was b ...

and

Friedrich Goltz Friedrich Leopold Goltz (14 August 1834 – 5 May 1902) was a German physiologist and nephew of the writer Bogumil Goltz. Born in Posen (Poznań), Grand Duchy of Posen, he studied medicine at the University of Königsberg, and following two year ...

, and Berlin with

Hugo Kronecker Karl Hugo Kronecker (27 January 1839 – 6 June 1914) was a German physiologist from Liegnitz, Prussian Silesia. He was the brother of Leopold Kronecker. He studied medicine in Berlin, Heidelberg and Pisa, and received the M.D. degree in Be ...

. Mills began teaching physiology at McGill in 1884, eventually becoming the first Joseph Morley Drake Chair professor of physiology in 1891. He founded the

Society for the Study of Comparative Physiology A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

in 1885, was elected to the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

in 1890, and became president of the

Natural History Society of Montreal The Natural History Society of Montreal, which ran from 1827 to 1928, was the oldest scientific organisation in Canada, and one of the oldest in North America. Its first meeting took place on May 12, 1827. The first chair of the society was Andrew ...

in 1894.

Selected publications

''A Text-Book of Animal Physiology''
(1889)
''The Nature and Development of Animal Intelligence''
(1898)
''Voice Production in Singing and Speaking, Based on Scientific Principles''
(1913)

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, T. Wesley Canadian physiologists Canadian medical researchers University of Toronto alumni 1847 births 1915 deaths