Richard Bright

RCP fellow Richard Bright (1789–1858) was the first physician to associate the symptoms of nephritis – including dropsy (oedema) and albumin in the urine (albuminuria) – with what he called the ‘derangement’ of the kidneys when examined post-mortem. He gave his name to Bright’s disease, a historical description of kidney diseases now known as acute or chronic nephritis.

Portrait of Richard Bright, (1789-1858) by Frederick Richard Say, 1860
Portrait of Richard Bright, (1789-1858) by Frederick Richard Say, 1860

‘The kidneys were completely granulated throughout: externally the surface rough and uneven; internally all traces of the natural organization [sic] nearly gone, except in tubular parts, which were of a light and more pink colour than usual.

In this case we have a very well marked example of a granulated condition of the kidneys, connected with the secretion of coagulable urine’

Reports of medical cases selected with a view of illustrating the symptoms and cure of diseases by a reference to morbid anatomy, Richard Bright, published London, 1827
Reports of medical cases selected with a view of illustrating the symptoms and cure of diseases by a reference to morbid anatomy, Richard Bright, published London, 1827

Bright studied medicine in Edinburgh and London, and he worked at the Lock Hospital before he took up a post at Guy’s Hospital in 1820. He was a lecturer in the theory and practice of medicine at the newly medical school, and took his students onto the wards to obtain specimens from patients for examination and analysis.

Bright published his findings on kidney disease and other conditions in 1827 in his Reports of medical cases selected with a view of illustrating the symptoms and cure of diseases by a reference to morbid anatomy.  In his Reports, Bright presented case histories of patients at Guy’s Hospital accompanied by notes on the treatments administered and illustrations of organs examined post mortem.

Before Bright’s career in medicine was settled, he travelled in Europe. In 1810 he accompanied his friend Henry Holland on Sir George Steuart Mackenzie’s geological research trip to Iceland, where he collected botanical specimens. Between 1814 and 1818 he toured the continent, travelling through the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Hungary.  On his return, he published his Travels from Vienna through lower Hungary, illustrated with a series of engraved illustrations based on his own sketches.

Travels from Vienna through lower Hungary, with some remarks on the State of Vienna during the Congress in the year 1814, Richard Bright, published Edinburgh, 1818
Travels from Vienna through lower Hungary, with some remarks on the State of Vienna during the Congress in the year 1814, Richard Bright, published Edinburgh, 1818

Bright applied the same investigative efforts in his travel writing as he would later do in his medical research. In the preface to the Travels he wrote:

‘It has been the object of the author, in the following work, to lay before his readers the information he has collected respecting the state of a country but little examined by Englishmen, because place beyond the usual circuit of the traveller’s observation.’

Katie Birkwood, rare books and special collections librarian

Richard Bright’s works are available to view by appointment in the RCP Library.

Date
by
Katie Birkwood ,
Rare books and special collections librarian

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