John Blackall (1771-1860): failure to see the obvious in dropsical patients with coagulable urine?
Despite his success in publishing a book which was widely read and which drew attention to the fact that some cases of dropsy are associated with coagulable urine, John Blackall failed to make the link between this phenomenon and disease of the kidneys. Thus, to Richard Bright must go the credit for providing the critical understanding of the phenomenon. The single most probable reason for Bright's success and Blackall's failure was that Bright carried out post mortem examinations of almost all of his patients. In addition, Bright was ruthlessly systematic in documenting his autopsy findings, and not least was the fact that he possessed the rare talent of being objective in looking at his data, without being influenced by the preconceptions of the times.
Fine
L G
LG
Department of Medicine, University College London Medical School, UK.
English
J A
JA
D004487:Edema / Q000266:history*; D004739:England; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000266:history*