George Carmichael Low FRCP: twelfth President of the Society and underrated pioneer of tropical medicine

Abstract

George Carmichael Low, like so many early pioneers of Tropical Medicine, had his origin(s) in Scotland. Following a distinguished undergraduate (and early postgraduate) career, he joined Dr Patrick Manson at the newly established London School of Tropical Medicine in 1899. His first major contribution to the speciality (in 1900) was to demonstrate filariae in the proboscis sheath of mosquitoes which had been infected with Filaria bancrofti in Australia, using a technique recently learned in Heidelberg and Vienna. Shortly afterwards, he led an expedition to the Roman Campagna; this established beyond doubt mosquito-transmission of Plasmodium vivax infection to Homo sapiens. In 1901–1902, Low undertook a demanding tour of the Caribbean where he made important contributions to the understanding of the filariases, and assisted in malaria eradication. In 1902 he led a small team (the Royal Society's first sleeping sickness expedition) to investigate the ‘negro lethargy’ which had emerged in epidemic proportions on the northern shores of Lake Victoria in East Africa. This expedition narrowly failed to establish the aetiological agent ( Trypanosoma sp.) of this disease. Following his return to London, Low became superintendent of the Albert Dock Hospital and from then onwards devoted most of his career to the London School of Tropical Medicine and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases (where he became senior physician). He wrote extensively, in addition to his clinical, teaching and administrative commitments. Perhaps Low's major contribution, however, was in establishing the Society (later Royal) of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1907, with Mr (later Sir) James Cantlie. He devoted a vast amount of time and energy to this Society, becoming the 12th President in 1929–1933. He was largely instrumental in acquiring 26 Portland Place, London (Manson House) for the Society in 1931; the newly established headquarters was officially opened by the Prince of Wales in 1932. Low was also one of the most distinguished ornithologists of his day. Although the magnitude of his contribution to tropical medicine is unquestionable, and although he did receive certain academic honours, Low did not receive a civil honour and was not accepted in the front line of pioneers of the discipline—either in his lifetime or today; the reason(s) for this remain far from clear.