Frank Buckland had a passion for Natural History. It
developed from his earliest years and he was encouraged in his interest by both
his mother and his father, the famous Dean of Westminster, Dr William Buckland.
Frank was always inquisitive and enthusiastic and he was a gifted communicator
on many topics in Natural History, both in articles and lectures. He is probably
best known for being a member of the Acclimation Society, a group formed with
the aim of importing, and farming, wild animals to provide food for humans. He
had a highly developed taste for zoophagy, 1 having eaten portions
of several different animals at his father’s dinner parties. 2
After leaving Winchester College, Frank became a student at
Christ Church, Oxford and, after studying Classics and Sciences, graduated with
a BA in 1848, at the second attempt. Frank was not suited to formal study and
examinations and, while at Christ Church, was more famed for his menagerie than
for his diligence. The most famous of his pets was a bear named Tiglath Pileser
(“Tig”) that was dressed in a cap and gown 2 and eventually ended up
in London Zoo 3 (without academic costume). On leaving Oxford, Frank
decided to study medicine and entered St George’s Hospital in London, writing
in July 1848: “My object in studying medicine (and may God prosper it!) is not
to gain a name, money, and high practice, but to do good to my fellow-creatures
and assist them in the hour of need”. 2 After training, he became a
surgeon in the Life Guards, but, after failing to gain a promotion, resigned to
become a full-time writer and lecturer (he had kept up both activities while in
the army), and then Fisheries Inspector.
Frank Buckland wrote these interesting paragraphs in The
Preface of the First Series of his Curiosities
of Natural History:
Without the knowledge of the
structure and physiology of the lower members of the animal kingdom, it would
be difficult rightly to understand many functions of the human economy; and
much light has been thrown upon the art of healing by the study of the lower
links in the chain of animal life.
I would wish it, therefore, to be
understood, that the following pages have not been written to the neglect of
purely professional subjects of investigation. It has been acknowledged by many
of our greatest medical men, that Natural History is the handmaid to the study
of medicine and surgery.. 4
It should be stressed that Frank Buckland was a Creationist
and his ideas on training in medicine and surgery were not influenced by thoughts
that structure and function had evolved (and, although there was discussion of
evolution at the time, the lines were written two years before Darwin published
his hugely influential ..The Origin of
Species..).
Many medical discoveries have been made, and continue to be
made, after investigations in Natural History. The development of drugs from
chemicals extracted from microorganisms (e.g. penicillin, discovered in 1928)
and plants (e.g. aspirin, first prepared in the 1850s, but with the effects of
willow bark known for millennia) are well known, and ethnobotany has been a
rich source of information. In addition, many types of animals provide
analogues for the study of systems in humans (e.g. research during the
mid-Twentieth Century on the optic nerves of the squid has provided information
on the functioning of nerve-muscle systems). Animals are also used widely as
test beds for assessing treatments and in studies of the expression of genes
that are also found in humans. However, this is moving rather far forward from
the time when Frank Buckland wrote the second paragraph quoted above and he was
also referring to research in Zoology, Anatomy and Physiology. Frank tended not
to be precise in the use of language.
Natural History covers organisms of all kinds and, in the
mid-Nineteenth Century, involved observations using microscopes and the human
eye - in situ, in cages, in
aquarium tanks, and in other forms of enclosure. This is quite different to contemporary
medical research, which seems to focus on internal mechanisms during an era
when anthropocentricity and determinism dominate our thinking. Yet the wider environment
also has an essential role to play in health and welfare.
Social and physical surroundings are important in
the incidence of diseases of many kinds. This applies not only to developing
countries, but also to the developed World, with cities like London having some
districts with large adverse effects of environment on health. 5 On
an individual scale, there are many examples of surroundings affecting health.
It is accepted that being able to pet animals has a beneficial effect on the
recovery of patients and the same is true of peaceful and beautiful natural locations.
Pharmaceutical, surgical and other investigative approaches are essential in
modern medicine, but a love of Nature may also aid healing, as it leads us away
from introspection. Appreciating the huge diversity of plants and animals, and
their inter-relationships with each other and with the environment, can also be an aid
in meditative therapies, such as mindfulness. 6
If Natural History (in its widest context) really is the handmaid to the study of
medicine and surgery, how much time is given to these aspects
of the care of patients when training today’s doctors and surgeons?
1 Lynn Barber (1980) The Heyday of Natural History 1820-1870. London, Jonathan Cape.
2 George C. Bompas (1885) Life of Frank Buckland. London, Smith, Elder & Co.
3 G. H. O. Burgess (1967) The Curious World of Frank Buckland. London, John Baker.
4 Francis T. Buckland (1857) Curiosities of Natural History. London, Richard Bentley.
5 Michael Marmot and Mai Stafford (2005) Places,
People and Socio-Economc Differences in Health. In: London’s
Environment: Prospects for a Sustainable World City (ed. Julian Hunt).
London, Imperial College Press.
6 Shamish Alidina (2010) Mindfulness for Dummies. Chichester, John Wiley.
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