Jackson J
Name: Jackson, James, Jnr
ACHIEVEMENTS:
Diagnosis of chest diseases
NICKNAME/ALIAS:
None
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: 15 January 1810, Boston, MA
DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH AND AGE AT DEATH:
27 March 1834, Boston, MA. Aged 24
DISCIPLINE: Physician
FIELD: Medicine
LANGUAGE: English
PARENTS:
Father: James Jackson
Mother: Elizabeth Cabot
SIBLINGS: ?
SPOUSE: None
CHILDREN: None
EDUCATION:
Harvard College
Harvard Medical School
MAJOR WORK:
"Cases of Cholera Collected at Paris, in the Month of April, 1832, in the
Wards of MM Andral and Louis, at the Hospital La Pitie" (1832)
LIFE AND TIMES:
Jackson's father was an eminent medical professor at Harvard and the founder of Massachusetts General Hospital. It was taken for granted that Jackson would follow in his father's footsteps. He graduated from Harvard College in 1828 and remained within his father's sphere of influence while studying at the Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General.
In 1831, he went to Europe where he spent most of the time in Paris, drawn there by the reputation of Louis* and his colleagues who were using new methods of clinical and pathological diagnosis. Jackson studied under Louis at the hospital of La Pitie as well as observing dissections and ward practice at other big Parisian hospitals. Together with Gerhard* he took private lessons in the use of the stethoscope from Louis and became a disciple of Louis's methods.
In particular, he admired Louis's 'numerical’ method: a system of collecting and analyzing a large amount of clinical and post mortem data in order to establish new pathological laws. Jackson was one of the founder members of the Society of Medical Observation in Paris. Louis was president of the society, whose members met to discuss their clinical and pathological discoveries.
The society became a meeting point for American medical students in Paris like Shattuck* who later did much to promote Louis's ideas in America. In late March 1832 an epidemic of cholera broke out in Paris.
Louis urged Jackson to take this opportunity for research and Jackson disobeyed his father's order to move to London for the sake of his health and immersed himself in studying cholera patients at La Pitie and attending the post-mortems of those who died. By now Jackson was filled with the ideals of pure medical research, an aim encouraged by Louis (to whom Jackson referred as his "second father").
His own father, however, was concerned that Jackson was being drawn away from practising medicine. Jackson went to London at the end of April 1832 and spent six months in Britain writing up his observations of the cholera epidemic, "Cases of Cholera Collected at Paris " (1832). He was not at all impressed with the state of medicine in England and in October he returned to Paris.
For the next seven months he happily applied himself to pure research. Louis wrote to Jackson's father suggesting that Jackson stay in Paris for five years during which time he could pursue his medical research. When Jackson Snr refused to accept this, Louis wrote again, this time proposing that Jackson undertake medical research in Boston for a few years and then take up medical practice.
Jackson snr responded by demanding that his son return home. There were no opportunities for a career in pure medical research in America and Jackson snr was anxious that his son's no doubt brilliant career as a medical practitioner would be jeopardised by further delay.
In July 1833 Jackson left Paris and soon after he arrived back in America he became seriously ill with gastro-enteritis. He appeared to recover and began to help William Gerhard in translating some of Louis's work. Jackson did all he could to promote Louis' ideas and influenced many younger medical men in training such as Holmes*.
In February 1834 Jackson received his medical doctorate from Harvard and began taking observations at Massachusetts General Hospital. Even his father was impressed by the way clinical and pathological findings validated Louis’ early work on fevers, and he became as keen as his son to introduce Louis' method in America.
In his short time as a researcher Jackson had already discovered an important diagnostic symptom when he noted the significance of the sound made on exhalation by a patient with incipient pulmonary tuberculosis. He is also recognised as the discoverer of the hereditary factor in emphysema.
However, Jackson realised that he was not going to be able to make pure medical research a full-time occupation and on 5 March 1834 he announced in the local newspaper the opening of his own medical practice. On the same day he became ill. He diagnosed himself as having typhus fever and died.
ASSESSMENT: One of the forerunners of American scientific medical research.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None
ONELINER: James Jackson, American medical pioneer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
American National Biography
Jackson, James, A Memoir of James Jackson, Jr., MD, I R Butts, Boston, 1835.