Marshall Hall (physiologist)
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Marshall Hall FRS (18 February 1790 – 11 August 1857) was an English physician, physiologist and early
neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...
. His name is attached to the theory of
reflex arc A reflex arc is a neural pathway that controls a reflex. In vertebrates, most sensory neurons do not pass directly into the brain, but synapse in the spinal cord. This allows for faster reflex actions to occur by activating spinal motor neurons w ...
mediated by the
spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the sp ...
, to a method of resuscitation of
drowned Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer as ...
people, and to the elucidation of function of
capillary A capillary is a small blood vessel from 5 to 10 micrometres (μm) in diameter. Capillaries are composed of only the tunica intima, consisting of a thin wall of simple squamous endothelial cells. They are the smallest blood vessels in the bod ...
vessels.


Biography

Hall was born on 18 February 1790 at Basford, near
Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
, England, where his father, Robert Hall, was a cotton manufacturer. He was a brother of the inventor Samuel Hall. Having attended the Rev. J. Blanchard's academy at Nottingham, he entered a chemists shop at
Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...
, and in 1809 began to study medicine at
Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...
. In 1811 he was elected senior president of the
Royal Medical Society The Royal Medical Society (RMS) is a society run by students at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, Scotland. It claims to be the oldest medical society in the United Kingdom although this claim is also made by the earlier London-based ...
; the following year he took the M.D. degree, and was immediately appointed resident house physician to the
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...
. This appointment he resigned after two years, when he visited Paris and its medical schools, and, on a walking tour, those also of
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
and
Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...
. In 1817, when he settled at Nottingham, he published his ''Diagnosis'', and in 1818 he wrote the ''Mimoses'', a work on the affections denominated bilious, nervous, &c. The next year he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 1825 he became physician to the Nottingham general hospital. In 1826 he removed to London, and in the following year he published his ''Commentaries on the More Important Diseases of Females''. In 1835 (Principles of Investigation in Physiology), he outlined five principles to govern
animal experimentation Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...
. #An experiment should never be performed if the necessary information could be obtained by observations #No experiment should be performed without a clearly defined and obtainable, objective #Scientists should be well-informed about the work of their predecessors and peers to avoid unnecessary repetition of an experiment #Justifiable experiments should be carried out with the least possible infliction of suffering (often through the use of lower, less sentient animals) #Every experiment should be performed under circumstances that would provide the clearest possible results, thereby diminishing the need for repetition of experiments. In 1836 he issued his ''Observations on Blood-letting Founded on Researches on the Morbid and Curative Effects of Loss of Blood'', denouncing the widespread practice of
bloodletting Bloodletting (or blood-letting) is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily flu ...
, which was acknowledged by the medical profession to be of vast practical value, and in 1831 his ''Experimental Essay on the Circulation of the Blood in the Capillary Vessels'', in which he was the first to show that the
capillaries A capillary is a small blood vessel from 5 to 10 micrometres (μm) in diameter. Capillaries are composed of only the tunica intima, consisting of a thin wall of simple squamous endothelial cells. They are the smallest blood vessels in the body: ...
are intermediate channels between the
arteries An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pu ...
and the
veins Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated b ...
and put the blood in contact with
biological tissue In biology, tissue is a biological organizational level between cells and a complete organ. A tissue is an ensemble of similar cells and their extracellular matrix from the same origin that together carry out a specific function. Organs are th ...
s. In the following year he read before the Royal Society a paper ''On the Inverse Ratio which Subsists between Respiration and Irritability in the Animal Kingdom''. His most important work in physiology was concerned with the theory of
reflex action In biology, a reflex, or reflex action, is an involuntary, unplanned sequence or action and nearly instantaneous response to a stimulus. Reflexes are found with varying levels of complexity in organisms with a nervous system. A reflex occurs ...
, embodied in a paper ''On the Reflex Function of the Medulla Oblongata and the Medulla Spinalis'' (1833), which was supplemented in 1837 by another ''On the True Spinal Marrow, and the Excito-motor System of Nerves''. In this theory, he stated that the
spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the sp ...
is comprised by a chain of units that functions as an independent
reflex arc A reflex arc is a neural pathway that controls a reflex. In vertebrates, most sensory neurons do not pass directly into the brain, but synapse in the spinal cord. This allows for faster reflex actions to occur by activating spinal motor neurons w ...
s, and their activity integrates sensory and
motor nerve A motor nerve is a nerve that transmits motor signals from the central nervous system (CNS) to the muscles of the body. This is different from the motor neuron, which includes a cell body and branching of dendrites, while the nerve is made up of ...
s at the segment of the spinal cord from which these nerves originate. He proposed in addition that those arcs are interconnected and interacting in the production of coordinated movement. The reflex function excited great attention on the continent of Europe, though in England some of his papers were refused publication by the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
. Hall thus became the authority on the multiform deranged states of health referable to an abnormal condition of the
nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes ...
, and he gained a large practice. Hall also published books on neurological diseases including stroke (apoplexy) and epilepsy. In ''Asphyxia, its Rationale and its Remedy'' (1856), Hall developed a technique for preventing victims of drowning by freeing their
respiratory The respiratory system (also respiratory apparatus, ventilatory system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants. The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies gre ...
airway The respiratory tract is the subdivision of the respiratory system involved with the process of respiration in mammals. The respiratory tract is lined with respiratory epithelium as respiratory mucosa. Air is breathed in through the nose to ...
and by providing immediate
ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Ventilator, a m ...
, as the initial steps in resuscitation. He was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1853. He died at Brighton of a throat infection, aggravated by lecturing, on 11 August 1857 and was buried in Nottingham. One of his grandsons was the musician Marshall Hall. ;)


Religious views

Hall was a devout Christian who believed in the
divinity of Christ In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...
. A collection of his religious thoughts on his journals and letters was collected by his widow in the biographical book ''Memoirs of Marshall Hall, by his widow''. There, he is quoted speaking about Christ: In his treatise ''On the diseases and derangements of the nervous system'' (1841), he evoked the design argument, stating about the physiological activity of the body:


Abolitionism

Hall was also an
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...
. When he travelled to the United States, in his later years, he was shocked by what he saw, and was shocked at how slavery was sanctioned in the States. An admirer of
William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
, he wrote ''The two-fold slavery of the United States; with a project of self-emancipation'' (1854), where he denounced the slave system and spoke about "a second slavery" of
racial prejudice Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
. He set then his opinion on slavery, stating: In his book, he proposed as project of emancipation that African-American people continue to produce cotton, sugar and rice, but to freely help and prosper themselves. On the same religious grounds, he questioned the permission of polygamy in the US and insisted that imposing the slavery system and denying marriage to black people was a
sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
which caused a "deprivation of education, of holy marriage, of parental rights".: He believed that every slaveholder had a "guilt of sin against God, and of sin against his fellow-man"Hall, Charlotte; Hall, Marshall (1861). ''Memoirs of Marshall Hall, by his widow''. London : R. Bentley. p. 322 and insisted that there was no credible hypothesis to rationally support white supremacy, stating:


Notes


References

* * *


External links


Trauma resuscitation

Marshall Hall's ''The principles of diagnosis'' (New York, 1839)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Marshall 1790 births 1857 deaths People from Basford, Nottinghamshire British physiologists British neuroscientists History of neuroscience Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society English Christians British abolitionists Christian abolitionists