Herbert Lindesay Watson Wemyss
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Herbert L. W. Wemyss | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1855 Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland |
| Died | February 3, 1933 (aged 77–78) |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Known for | Work on polycythaemia |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Marlborough College Edinburgh University |
Herbert Lindesay Watson Wemyss FRCPE (1855 – 3 February 1933) was a Scottish physician. Contrary to conventional understanding, where splenomegaly was understood to occur as a late finding of polycythemia vera, he reported cases of the disease in which splenomegaly preceded the onset of polycythaemia. He authored a notable paper that outlined the distinction between transient and permanent polycythaemia, extensively documented the microscopic and macroscopic characteristics of bone marrow extracted from living individuals with the disease, and in addition wrote on renal osteodystrophy.
Herbert Lindesay Watson Wemyss was born in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, in 1855.[1][2] His father was a general practitioner and his grandfather a surgeon of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.[3] He was educated at Marlborough College.[1] In 1908, after graduating in medicine from Edinburgh University he became house physician to George Alexander Gibson.[1] He spent a year abroad in Berlin.[1] He received his MD in 1910.[4] He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1914.[3]
Career
Early in the war, Wymess joined the Red Cross Society and served as a physician at Dalmeny House Hospital.[4][5] In 1917, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and was posted to Imtarfa Hospital in Malta, where he oversaw the Officers’ Section in a facility treating mainly enteric fever, dysentery, and malaria.[1][6] His contributions there were considered significant enough to keep him at Imtarfa until his demobilisation in 1919.[1]
Wemyss held positions as Assistant Physician at the Royal Infirmary, Physician at both the Royal Public Dispensary and the Deaconess Hospital, and served as Medical Adviser to the Scottish Life Assurance Company.[1]
Contrary to conventional understanding, where splenomegaly was understood to occur as a late finding of polycythemia vera, he reported cases of the disease in which splenomegaly preceded the onset of polycythaemia.[7] In addition he extensively documented the microscopic and macroscopic characteristics of bone marrow extracted from living individuals with the disease.[7] In 1911 he authored a notable paper that outlined the distinction between transient and permanent polycythaemia.[8][9] He also wrote on renal osteodystrophy, then termed renal infantilism.[10][11]