Sir Alfred Baring Garrod (3 May 1819 – 28 December 1907) was an English physician. Garrod was born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

, the son of Robert and Sarah (née Ennew) Garrod. He initially apprenticed at

Ipswich Hospital Ipswich Hospital is a large district general hospital in Heath Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It is now managed by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust which was formed on 1 July 2018 by the merging of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust w ...

, and later moved to

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lo ...

, where he earned his medical doctorate in 1843. Afterwards he was an assistant at

West London Hospital The West London Hospital was founded in 1856 as the Fulham and Hammersmith General Dispensary, which was housed in a small 6-roomed building in Queen Street, Hammersmith. It catered for acute conditions and later for geriatric, maternity, rehabili ...

and a physician at the

Aldersgate Aldersgate is a Wards of the City of London, Ward of the City of London, England, named after one of the northern City gate, gates in the London Wall which once enclosed the City. The Ward of Aldersgate is traditionally divided into Aldersga ...

Dispensary. In 1849, he was appointed full physician at University College Hospital, and in 1863 became a professor of

materia medica ''Materia medica'' ( lit.: 'medical material/substance') is a Latin term from the history of pharmacy for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medications). The term derives f ...

and

therapeutics A therapy or medical treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. Both words, ''treatment'' and ''therapy'', are often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx. As a rule, each therapy has indications an ...

King's College Hospital King's College Hospital is a major teaching hospital and major trauma centre in Denmark Hill, Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH". It is managed by ...

. In 1874, he left the hospital to become an honorary Fellow and consultant physician to the college. In 1848, Garrod had discovered an abnormal increase of

uric acid Uric acid is a heterocyclic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen with the Chemical formula, formula C5H4N4O3. It forms ions and salts known as urates and acid urates, such as ammonium acid urate. Uric acid is a product of the meta ...

in the blood of patients with

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...

, and was the first to propose

lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...

as a remedy for the disorder. He recommended lithium as a treatment for mental illness, and hypothesized that gout could be a cause of mood disorders such as mania and depression. He is also credited for coining the term "

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects synovial joint, joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and h ...

". In 1857 Garrod 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. By his ...

to the Royal College of Physicians. In 1858, he was elected a

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

. In 1860, he was elected president of the

Medical Society of London Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

. In 1883 he gave the Lumleian Lectures. In 1887 he was knighted as "Sir Alfred Baring Garrod", and in 1890 was appointed "Physician Extraordinary" to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. On his death in 1907 he was buried in the Great Northern cemetery, Southgate, Middlesex. He had married Elizabeth Ann Colchester of Ipswich; they had six children. Two of his sons were zoologist

Alfred Henry Garrod Alfred Henry Garrod FRS (May 18, 1846 – October 17, 1879) was an English vertebrate zoologist. Garrod was born in London, the eldest son of Sir Alfred Baring Garrod (1819–1907), a physician at King's College Hospital, who discove ...

(1846–1879) and physician Archibald Edward Garrod (1857–1936).

Selected writings

* "Observations on the blood and

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and many other animals. In placental mammals, urine flows from the Kidney (vertebrates), kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder and exits the urethra through the penile meatus (mal ...

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...

and

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. It was frequently accompanied ...

"; Medical Chirurgical Transactions 1848;31:83. * "The nature and treatment of gout and rheumatic gout"; London: Walton and Maberly, 1859."The nature and treatment of gout and rheumatic gout", published in 1859, by Garrod, Alfred Baring, Sir, 1819-1907
archive.org (Digitized by the Internet Archive, 2011). * "A treatise on gout and rheumatic gout (rheumatoid arthritis)"; 3rd edn. London: Longman Green, 1876.

Selected writings

References

Further reading