William Heberden the Elder
William Heberden (1710-1801) was an English physician
Heberden’s major text Commentarii de morborum historia et curatione, was a collation of his pocket-book notes made at the patients bedside. First published in Latin in 1802 with English translation by William Heberden the younger, in 1806
Considered to be the father of rheumatology, the first physician to distinguish between osteoarthritis and gout
Biography
- Born 13 August 1710 in London, England
- 1724 – St John’s College, Cambridge (MA 1732; MD 1739)
- 1746 – FRCP Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
- 1748 – FRS Fellow of the Royal Society
- 1766 – Recommended to the College of Physicians the first design of the Medical Transactions to ‘collect together such observations as might have occurred to any of their body, and were likely to illustrate the history or cure of diseases‘
- 1767 – Birth of his son Dr William Heberden the Younger (1767-1845) (Physician in Ordinary to the Queen (1806) and to George III (1809).)
- 1778 – Member of the Paris Royal Society of Medicine
- Died 17 May 1801
Medical Eponyms
Heberden nodes (Digitorum nodi; or de nodis digitorum)
What are those little hard knobs, about the size of a small pea, which are frequently seen upon the fingers, particularly a little below the top, near the joint? They have no connexion with the gout, being found in persons who never had it; they continue for life; and being hardly ever attended with pain, or disposed to become sores, are rather unsightly, than inconvenient, though they must be some little hindrance to the free use of the fingers
Medical Attributions
Angina pectoris
Heberden was the first to describe angina pectoris in substantial detail, characterize it as a disease entity, and name it. [1772; 2: 59-67]
There is a disorder of the breast marked with strong and peculiar symptoms, considerable for the kind of danger belonging to it, and not extremely rare, of which I do not recollect any mention among medical authors, which deserves to be mentioned more at length. The seat of it, and sense of strangling, and anxiety with which it is attended, may make it not improperly be called angina pectoris.
They who are afflicted with it, are seized while they are walking, (more especially if it be up hill, and soon after eating) with a painful and most disagreeable sensation in the breast, which seems as if it would extinguish life, if it were to increase or to continue; but the moment they stand still, all this uneasiness vanishes
Heberden 1772
Henoch-Schönlein Purpura
First described Henoch-Schönlein Purpura in his bedside notes as Purpurae Maculae (or De purpureis maculis). he described a case of a 4 year old boy with all four hallmarks of HSP: gastrointestinal involvement, kidney involvement, arthritis, and purpura. Initially known as Heberden-Willan disease
Chicken pox
Heberden provided a description of the differential between chicken pox and small pox
Fun Facts
Shortly after William Heberden published his original description of the clinical features of angina pectoris in 1772, he received an intriguing letter from an unnamed physician who suffered from the disease.
The case of “Dr. Anonymous” is significant as the earliest account of ischaemic heart disease associated with cardiac arrhythmias. This astute observer not only predicted his own sudden death, but also offered his body in the benevolent hope that autopsy correlation would contribute to the understanding of the cause of angina pectoris.
The letter and the autopsy were recorded in medical Transactions [1785; 3: 1-11.]
Major Publications
- Heberden W. On the Chicken-pox. Medical Transactions of the Royal College of Physicians of London. 1768; 1: 427-436.
- Heberden W. Some account of a disorder of the breast. Medical Transactions of the Royal College of Physicians of London 1772; 2: 59-67. [Angina Pectoris]
- Heberden W. A letter to Dr. Heberden, concerning the angina pectoris: and Dr. Heberden’s account of the dissection of one, who had been troubled with that disorder. Medical Transactions of the Royal College of Physicians of London 1785; 3: 1-11.
- Heberden W. Commentarii de morborum historia et curatione. 1802
- Heberden W. Commentaries on the history and cure of diseases. 1806
References
Biography
Eponymous terms
- Kligfield P. The frustrated benevolence of “Dr. Anonymous”. Am J Cardiol. 1981 Jan;47(1):185-7. [PMID 7006370]
- Bendiner E. William Heberden: father of observation. Hosp Pract. 1991;26,103–106,109,113–6.
- Jay V. The legacy of William Heberden. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2000 Dec;124(12):1750-1. [PMID 11100049]
- Lian TY, Lim KKT. The legacy of William Heberden the Elder (1710–1801). Rheumatology 2004;43:664–665
- Heberden E. William Heberden the elder (1710–801): aspects of his London practice. Med Hist 1986;30:303–21. [PMC1139652]
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