Henry Gray Barbour (28 March 1886 – 23 September 1943) was an American

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

and

pharmacologist Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between ...

who served as a professor of

pharmacology Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...

and

toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating ex ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. He studied water exchange and metabolism associated with thermal control. He devised a standard technique for measuring the specific gravity of blood plasma. He found that heavy water decelerated metabolic activities in animals. Barbour was born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, to Reverend John Barbour, professor of theology and his wife Annie Gray. He went to Hartford Public High School before receiving an A.B. from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

(1906) and a medical degree from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

(1910). He married Lilla, daughter of nutrition specialist Professor Russell H. Chittenden in 1906. Barbour worked as a pathology fellow before studying in Freiburg in 1911 and then at Vienna with Hans Horst Meyer. He returned to the US and joined Yale University in 1912. He moved to McGill University in 1921 and then moved to the University of Louisville in 1923. He helped the US war effort with studies on poison gases in association with the US Bureau of Mines. He authored a book, "''Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology''" (1932). Barbour studied temperature maintenance and water balance. Another of his experimental findings was on the effect of heavy water on animal metabolism, which he found that replacing more than a fifth of the body water resulted in a reduction in metabolic activity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbour, Henry Gray American physiologists 1886 births 1943 deaths Johns Hopkins University alumni