John Berry Haycraft

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(bapt. 15 March 1857 – 30 December 1922) was a British physician and professor in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

who carried out important medical research. Mason Science College

Biography

John Haycraft was born in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, in 1857, the son of actuary John Berry Haycraft. His younger brother was Sir Thomas Haycraft, a judge in the

British Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

. He received his medical education at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, where he gained an MD on the history, development, and function of the carapace of the chelonia and also a DSc in public health in 1888. He worked for a time in Ludwig's laboratory in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. In 1880, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were

Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait (28 April 18314 July 1901) was a Scottish Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook ''Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he ...

, William Rutherford, Sir William Turner, and Sir Thomas Richard Fraser. In 1881, he was appointed chair of physiology at Mason College (which later became the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

). He taught in Birmingham and attracted many students to the city. During his years in Birmingham and Edinburgh, Haycraft had been actively engaged in research and published papers on the

coagulation Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a thrombus, blood clot. It results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The process of co ...

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

and in 1884, he discovered that the

leech Leeches are segmented parasitism, parasitic or Predation, predatory worms that comprise the Class (biology), subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the Oligochaeta, oligochaetes, which include the earthwor ...

secreted a powerful

anticoagulant An anticoagulant, commonly known as a blood thinner, is a chemical substance that prevents or reduces the coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some occur naturally in blood-eating animals, such as leeches and mosquitoes, which ...

, which he named

hirudin Hirudin is a naturally occurring peptide in the salivary glands of blood-sucking leeches (such as ''Hirudo medicinalis'') that has a blood anticoagulant property. This is essential for the leeches' habit of feeding on blood, since it keeps a h ...

, although it was not isolated until the 1950s, nor its structure fully determined until 1976. Haycraft returned to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1892 and was appointed a research

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

of the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...

. In 1893, he was appointed chair of physiology at University College, Cardiff, where he worked until retirement in 1920. Haycraft died three years later. He died in

Royston, Hertfordshire Royston is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Hertfordshire, District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England. It is situated on the Prime meridian (Greenwich), Greenwich Meridian, which brush ...

on 30 December 1922. He married Lily Charlotte Isabel Lillie Stacpoole, sister of Henry De Vere Stacpoole. John Stacpoole Haycraft was his grandson.

Books and articles published

* "Upon the Cause of the Striation of Voluntary Muscular Tissue", ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (1854-1905)''. 1 January 1880, 31:360–379 * "A New Hypothesis concerning Vision", ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (1854-1905)''. 1 January 1893, 54:272–274 * "On the Action of a Secretion Obtained from the Medicinal Leech on the Coagulation of the Blood", ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (1854-1905)'', 1 January 1883, 36:478–487 * ''Darwinism and Race Progress'', London: Scribner, 1895. (Previously published in ''The Lancet''.) * ''The Human Body. A Physiology Reader for Schools'', London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1902.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haycraft, John Berry 1857 births 1923 deaths People from Lewes Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British physiologists Academics of the University of Birmingham