Benjamin Babington

Biography

• Born on March 5, 1794 in Guy’s Hospital, London, son of William Babington (1756–1833), then resident apothecary and subsequently physician at Guy’s Hospital.
• Educated at Charterhouse School; served as a midshipman in the Royal Navy at Copenhagen and Walcheren before studying at the East India College, Haileybury.
• 1812 — Appointed to the East India Company’s civil service in the Madras Presidency. Developed expertise in Sanskrit and Tamil literature.
• 1819 — Returned to England following ill health and commenced medical training at Guy’s Hospital and Pembroke College, Cambridge.
• 1825 — Graduated MB, University of Cambridge.
• 1828 — Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) on 20 March.
• 1829 — Presented the glottiscope to the Hunterian Society of London on 18 March.
• 1830 — Graduated MD, University of Cambridge; elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) in 1831.
• 1837–1840 — Assistant physician at Guy’s Hospital, appointed in preference to Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866).
• 1840–1855 — Physician at Guy’s Hospital, working alongside Richard Bright and Thomas Addison. Also physician to the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb.
• 1841 — Croonian Lecturer, Royal College of Physicians.
• 1850–1864 — Founding president of the Epidemiological Society of London, promoting the systematic investigation and prevention of epidemic diseases.
• 1861–1863 — President of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London.
• 1864 — Described an epidemic exanthem he termed rubeola notha (false measles).
• 1865 — Published an account of hereditary epistaxis affecting five consecutive generations of one family.
• Died on April 8, 1866 at Hanover Square, London, aged 72, following illness involving the urinary tract and kidneys.

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Key medical contributions

Glottiscope (1829)

Babington presented an instrument for indirect examination of the larynx to the Hunterian Society on 18 March 1829. His glottiscope combined a small laryngeal mirror with a tongue depressor, allowing reflected sunlight to illuminate and visualise structures otherwise inaccessible to direct inspection.

Dr. Benjamin Babington submitted to the meeting an ingenious instrument for the examination of parts within the fauces not admitting of inspection by unaided sight It consisted of an oblong piece of looking-glass set in silver-wire, with a long shank. The reflecting portion is placed against the palate whilst the tongue is held down by a spatula, when the epiglottis and upper part of the larynx become visible in the glass. A strong light is required, and the instrument should be dipped in water so as to have a film of the fluid upon it when used, or the halitus of the breath renders it cloudy. The doctor proposed to call it the glottiscope.

Hunterian Society, 1829

The original report described visualisation of the epiglottis and upper larynx, but did not document observation of the vocal cords. Subsequent modifications simplified the instrument by eliminating the tongue depressor.

Babington’s contribution preceded Manuel García’s observations of the functioning vocal cords (1855) by 26 years. The distinction between invention of the instrument, physiological observation and adoption into clinical practice remains central to the history of laryngoscopy.

Priority of publication has long been the established touchstone, by which the disputed claims of inventors have been tested. Tried by this criterion, Babington must be regarded as the inventor of the laryngoscope

Mackenzie 1865:13

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Rubeola notha (1864)

On May 2, 1864, Babington presented observations of an epidemic eruptive illness resembling measles but occurring in patients with previous measles infection. He proposed the term rubeola notha (false measles). His observations contributed to nineteenth-century efforts to distinguish rubella from measles and other exanthematous diseases.

From the general resemblance of this eruptive epidemic to rubeola I, would propose to designate it Rubeola notha, or bastard measles

Babington 1864

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Hereditary epistaxis (1865)

Babington described severe recurrent epistaxis affecting five generations of one family, demonstrating hereditary transmission through multiple branches.

Thus epistaxis, violent and habitual, has been observed in five consecutive generations, and for the last three generations in two branches. I have myself at different times attended Mrs. K-, her two daughters, and her grandson, and in all the haemorrhage was on more than one occasion so violent as to necessitate the operation of plugging ; and in the cases of the daughters and grandson to give rise to the apprehension of a fatal result. 

Babington, 1865

Although he did not describe the characteristic telangiectases, his report is recognised as an early contribution to the clinical history of hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (Rendu–Osler–Weber disease).

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Blood chemistry and haematology

Babington investigated the composition and coagulation of blood, introducing the term liquor sanguinis for its fluid component. His experimental work contributed to the developing understanding of fibrin formation, serum and plasma, and he assisted Richard Bright and John Bostock in biochemical investigations of renal disease.

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Epidemiology and public health

As founding president of the Epidemiological Society of London in 1850, Babington advocated systematic investigation of epidemic diseases, supported by statistical analysis, comparative observations and the collection of reliable clinical data.

His work included investigations of cholera outbreaks in the Black Sea and Baltic fleets, vaccination policy, morbidity among the poor and the prevention of venereal disease. He recognised the importance of broad population-based evidence and the limitations of conclusions drawn from incomplete observations.

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Major Publications

• Beschi CJ. A grammar of the high dialect of the Tamil language, termed Shen-Tamil. Translated by Babington. 1822
• Babington BG. Paramaratakuruvin katai; The adventures of the Gooroo Paramartan; a tale in the Tamul language accompanied by a translation and vocabulary, together with an analysis of the first story. Translated by Babington 1822
• Babington BG. Glottiscope. London Medical Gazette 1829; 3: 555
• Babington BG. An account of the concrete oil existing as a constituent principle of healthy blood. 1830
• Babington BG. Some considerations with respect to the blood : founded on one or two very simple experiments on that fluid. 1831
• Babington BG. Cases of small-pox, which occurred in the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb: with an account of the re-vaccination of all the children in that establishment. 1836
• Babington BG. Experiments and observations on albuminous fluids. 1837
• Babington BG. On chorea. 1841
• Hecker JFC. The epidemics of the middle ages. Translated by Babington. 1844
• Feuchtersleben EF von. The principles of medical psychology. Translated, revised and edited by Babington. 1847
• Babington BG. Epidemiological Society, for the Investigation of Epidemic Diseases. 1850
• Babington BG. Passing thoughts in sonnet stanzas: with other poems, original and translated. 1854
• Babington BG. Report on the cholera which visited Her Majesty’s Black Sea Fleet in the autumn of 1854. 1855
• Babington BG. Specification of Benjamin Guy Babington : protecting the throat, chest, and mouth from atmospheric influences. No. 582, 2 March 1860. London
• Babington BG. The statistics of disease among the pauper population of England and Wales. 1864
• Babington BG. Hereditary epistaxis. Lancet 1865; 86(2195): 362-363 [Rendu-Osler-Weber disease]
• Babington BG. Rubeola notha. Half-yearly abstract of the medical sciences. 1865; 41: 292-294

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References

Biography

• Milroy G. Memoir of Benjamin Guy Babington MD, FRS, etc. Transactions of the Epidemiological Society of London 1867; 2: 471–76.
• Wilson TG. Benjamin Guy Babington, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S., 1794-1866. J Laryngol Otol. 1953 Feb;67(2):90-7.
• Wilson TG. Benjamin Guy Babington. Arch Otolaryngol. 1966 Jan;83(1):72-6.
• Rosenfeld L. Thomas Hodgkin and Benjamin Guy Babington: friendly rivals and career parallels. Bull N Y Acad Med. 1986 Nov;62(9):910-7.
• Evans A. Benjamin Guy Babington: founding president of the London Epidemiological Society. Int J Epidemiol. 2001 Apr;30(2):226-30.
• Biography: Benjamin Guy Babington. Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Munk’s Roll: Volume IV: 3.
• Bibliography. Babington, B. G. (Benjamin Guy). WorldCat Identities

Eponymous terms

• Garcia M. Physiological observations on the human voice. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. 1855; 7: 399-410
• Mackenzie M. History of the laryngoscope. In: The use of the laryngoscope in diseases of the throat: with an appendix on rhinoscopy. 1865: 1-33
• Wells WA. Inventor of the laryngoscope; Benjamin Guy Babington. Laryngoscope. 1946; 56: 443-54.
• Harrison D. Benjamin Guy Babington and his mirror. J Laryngol Otol. 1998 Mar;112(3):235-42.