Ronald Canti
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Ronald George Canti M.D. (1883 – 7 January 1936) was a British
pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
and bacteriologist known for early micro-cinematography of living cells.


Education

Born in 1883, Canti was educated at
Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...
. At
King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...
in 1911 he qualified for Membership of the
Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...
(M.R.C.S.) and Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (LRCP) and undertook the M.B. degree in 1915 proceeding to M.D. in 1919.


Career

Leaving Cambridge Canti was appointed house physician at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and embarked on his career as a
pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
. He continued as clinical pathologist there until his death, working under professor of pathology Sir Frederick Andrewes, who recognised and encouraged Canti. In 1925 Canti was included in a research group of bacteriologists invited to the Rockefeller Institute after its discovery of the influenza 'bacterium pneumosintes' in mid-1923. In issues of the ''A.S.C.C. Campaign Notes'' for 1928, and 1929 Canti was applauded for his research at the Strangeways Laboratory, Cambridge. His film's
stop-motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...
technique vividly illustrated the microscopic behavior of normal and neoplastic cells. Irradiation was shown to cause immobilisation and mitotic arrest in suspensions of cells of fowl
embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...
periosteum The periosteum is a membrane that covers the outer surface of all bones, except at the articular surfaces (i.e. the parts within a joint space) of long bones. (At the joints of long bones the bone's outer surface is lined with "articular cartila ...
(
fibroblast A fibroblast is a type of cell (biology), biological cell typically with a spindle shape that synthesizes the extracellular matrix and collagen, produces the structural framework (Stroma (tissue), stroma) for animal Tissue (biology), tissues, and ...
) and Jensen rat
sarcoma A sarcoma is a rare type of cancer that arises from cells of mesenchymal origin. Originating from mesenchymal cells means that sarcomas are cancers of connective tissues such as bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, or vascular tissues. Sarcom ...
. Canti concluded that "It would appear that the hypothesis of the selective action f irradiationon the cells of a malignant tumour, has been again substantiated by this method of direct observation.'' Canti's work augmented other scientists' investigations of mammalian cell culture; Alexis Carrel was an early pioneer in the field and used his cinematograph to study the locomotion of fibroblasts and macrophages the technique detailed in Carrel’s technical assistant, Heinz Rosenberger's methods article in ''
Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' on the use of the microcinematographic apparatus, urged investigators ‘‘who have not yet realized the great possibilities of the motion-picture camera in research laboratories’’ to take it up. In the late 1920s and early 1930s their movie-making moved beyond cell culture; American embryologist Warren Lewis published a seminal time-lapse study of developing rabbit eggs, though Canti's film predated his; Lewis visited Ronald Canti in England in 1927 to study his microcinematographic equipment, then traveled with Canti and Honor Fell to Budapest where, comprehending its impact, assembled his own apparatus the Carnegie Institute for Embryology. It took Canti six years to produce the complete film, and it involved his inventing novel apparatus;
"The trigger mechanism which determined the taking of a photograph and the changing of a photographic film was provided by a suitably modified electric clock which could be arranged to deliver electric impulses at the required intervals. A single impulse from the electric clock was led to a relay switch which closed the electric circuit actuating a small electric motor fitted with a suitable resistance in series for slow running. This motor was fitted with a worm gear and slowly revolved a drum carrying two cam wheels and four projecting arms for making mercury dip contacts. The function of the cam wheels was to pull upon wires running in a flexible spiral wire tube . . . and to actuate at a distance the two photographic shutters, the one for taking the microphotograph and the other for photographing the
lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...
"
A more candid report of his making the film appeared on the event of Canti's death;
"To record the slow growth of tissue, Dr Canti invented an apparatus that would take pictures at regular and frequent intervals. The camera was automatic, but unhappily it was not always reliable, and Dr Canti fitted an electric bell to it, which warned him whenever it failed to act. Many times during the six years that the film took to make did the bell go off in the early hours of the morning. Indeed, Mrs Canti used to have to help her husband by taking turns in attending to the camera."


Reception

Canti's film was enthusiastically received. Described as "the most outstanding portrayal of the activities of the living cells ever shown In motion pictures." the film was shown not only in Budapest but at
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...
, in America, Australia and elsewhere. Dame Honor Fell, director of the Strangeways Laboratory recalled in the 1950s that she would “never forget the sensation that his film of migration and mitosis created when he showed it” at the 1927 Tenth International Zoological Congress in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, where it was shown on several occasions. As ''Science'' journal reported on the 12th annual meeting of
American Association For The Advancement Of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
Pacific Division with the Southwestern Division and a number of participating societies, held at
Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...
, 13–16 June 1928 with five hundred attendees;
On Wednesday afternoon the remarkable motion picture showing activities of living tissues in vitro, prepared by Dr. Ronald G. Canti, of the Cancer Institute and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, was shown. The periosteum of chick embryos, an amoeba and a sarcoma of the rat were seen with varying magnifications and varying rates of 'speeding up.' The behavior of blepharoplasts and other types of cells, the growth of tissues, cell-division and immobilization upon exposure to radium were all very clearly evident The film was demonstrated by Dr. C. A. Kofoid, president of the Pacific division, who had seen it in Europe and obtained it for the meeting. So many wished to see the film a second time that it was repeated on Friday morning.
Landecker considers that despite relative current obscurity, Canti "did more to legitimise the use of movie making as an experimental tool than any of the more widely known names in early ciné-microscopy."


Early death

Canti died on 7 January 1936, aged 52, at his home The Gables in Wedderburn Road,
Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...
, survived by his four children and wife Clare Eyles whom he married in 1912, and who nursed him during his extended and fatal illness.


Publications

* * * * * * * *


References


External links

* A film demonstrating Canti's research into cell behaviour in real-time and time-lapse : ''Cells in tissue culture (normal and abnormal)'', 1927 {{DEFAULTSORT:Canti, Ronald G. British bacteriologists 1883 births 1936 deaths British pathologists British filmmakers 1927 in science