Leonard Rogers

Sir Leonard Rogers
Sir Leonard Rogers
Born18 January 1868
Hartley House, Helston, Cornwall, England
Died16 September 1962
Royal Cornwall Infirmary, Truro, Cornwall, England
NationalityEnglish
Known forFounding the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
SpouseUna Elsie North[1]
Children3 sons[1]
AwardsCompanion of the Order of the Indian Empire (1914)[1]
Fellow of the Royal Society[2]
Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh (1929)
Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (1932)[1]
Manson Medal (1938)
Scientific career
FieldsTropical medicine

Sir Leonard Rogers KCSI CIE FRS FRCP FRCS[3][4] (18 January 1868 – 16 September 1962) was a founder member of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and its President from 1933 to 1935.[1][5]

Biography

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Rogers studied at Plymouth College and worked at St Mary’s Hospital. He qualified M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. (1891) F.R.C.S. (1892) in London.[2]

Rogers had a wide range of interests in tropical medicine, from the study of kala-azar epidemics to sea snake venoms, but is best known for pioneering the treatment of cholera with hypertonic saline, which has saved a multitude of lives. He also championed Indian chaulmoogra oil as a treatment for Hansen's disease (leprosy).[2]

Rogers was one of the pioneers in setting up the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine (CSTM) in Calcutta, India.[6][7] In 1929, Rogers was awarded the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh.

He was president of the 1919 session of the Indian Science Congress.[2]

Vivisection

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Rogers defended vivisection and criticized the arguments of the anti-vivisection movement. He authored a book, The Truth about Vivisection in 1937.[8]

He was honorary treasurer of the Research Defence Society. Rogers played a leading part in obtaining a ruling from the High Court sustained by the Appeal Court and House of Lords that anti-vivisection organizations can not be regarded as charities.[2]

Selected publications

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  • Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Haemostatic and Other Drugs on the Intravascular Coagulability of the Blood, 1895.
  • On the Influence of Variations of the Ground-Water Level on the Prevalence of Malarial Fevers, 1895.
  • Report on the Epidemic of Malarial Fever in Assam, 1897.
  • Resolution on Dr Rogers' Report on Kala Azar, 1897.
  • Fevers in the Tropics, 1908.
  • Leprosy, Bristol: J. Wright, 1925, with Ernest Muir.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Rogers, Sir Leonard (1868–1962)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35814. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c d e Boyd, J. S. K. (1963). "Leonard Rogers 1868-1962". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 9: 261–285. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1963.0014.
  3. ^ Rogers, Sir Leonard (1868–1962) - Biographical entry - Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online
  4. ^ Munks Roll Details for Leonard (Sir) Rogers, Lives of the Fellows, Royal College of Physicians
  5. ^ Sir Leonard Rogers, Happy Toil: Fifty-Five Years of Tropical Medicine (London: Frederick Muller Ltd., 1950).
  6. ^ David Arnold (2000). Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India. Cambridge University Press. p. 198. ISBN 9780521563192.
  7. ^ Uma Dasgupta (2011). Science and Modern India: An Institutional History, C. 1784–1947. Pearson Education India. p. 591. ISBN 9788131728185.
  8. ^ "The Truth about Vivisection". Nature. 141: 578. 1938.