Richard Russell (doctor)
Richard Russell ( * November 26, 1687 in Reading, † December 21, 1759 in London) was a British doctor who encouraged his patients is to drink for therapeutic purposes sea water and bathe in it. The still practiced today Thalassotherapy waived, however, largely on the sea water drinking.
Early life
Richard Russell was the son of Nathaniel Russell, a surgeon and apothecary from Lewes ( Sussex ), once the owner of Ranscomb Manor in South Malling, near Lewes, was, and his wife Mary. He was the oldest of seven children, his siblings were Mary ( * 1689), John ( * 1691), Nathaniell (* 1694 ), Elizabeth (* 1695/1696 ), Hannah (* 1699), and Charity ( * 1701). Already his grandfather practiced medicine in Lewes.
Medical career
After Russell had initially acquired first medical knowledge from his father, he perfected this in Leiden with Herman Boerhaave, where he received his doctorate at December 22, 1724 with a thesis on epilepsy in children.
Lewes
Russell began in 1725 to practice as a doctor in Lewes. Evidence ( records show that Russell acquired in 1742 in Ditchling an estate of Thomas Godfrey, John Legas and Legas ' wife Judith. Between 1758 and 1760 it went over to Russell's son, William Russell, who took his mother " Kempe " last name, and it retained until 1787. Afterwards it belonged to John Ingram and Charles James Ingram. )
Brighton
1747 Russell went to Brighton, in order to implement his theories about the medicinal properties of seawater into practice. In 1750 he published his dissertation, written in Latin De Tabe Glandulari sui De Usu Aquae Marinae in Morbis Glandularum, in which he recommended the use of sea water for healing of enlarged lymph nodes. It was in 1752 probably translated as piracy by the London W. Owen titled Glandular Diseases, or a Dissertation on the Use of Sea Water in the Affections of the Glands (glandular disorders or a dissertation on the use of sea water in glandular disorders) into English. Russell recommended in particular the use of sea water near Brighton and explained that treatments were superior to those in sea water inland resorts. His ideas became widely accepted in the UK and abroad, and although it has been considerable debate about the how the use of sea water cures, denied their fundamental value just a few. 1755 Russell published his second work in acute and chronic gland diseases oeconomia natura in morbis Acutis et chronicis glandularum, which he has now ' translated and published himself under the title The Economy of Nature in Acute and Chronical Diseases of the Glands into English.
Russell's efforts to sea water therapy have contributed significantly to the rapidly growing popularity of a vacation at the lake in the second half of the 18th century, although in this case, other social movements played a role. He benefited greatly from the acquisition of the previously located in the public sector, located in the south of the village overlooking the lake site Old Steine , on which he then built Brighton's largest building. This house was home and patient accommodation at the same time. After Russell's death in 1759 to Old Steine became the center of the fashionable spa life in Brighton, it was rented by the season of mostly wealthy Seeurlauber. So here dwelt the brother of George III. , Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, 1779th On September 7, 1783 he attended the then Prince Regent and later King George IV Meanwhile, 40 -year-long, continuous funding was critical to the rapid growth of the city and its transformation from a fishing village into the modern Brighthelmston Brighton.
In February 1752 Richard Russell was elected to the Royal Society.
Today is placed at Russell House, the Royal Albion Hotel. A simple memorial plaque to Russell on a wall of the hotel explained laconically: " If you seek his monument, look around " ( If you are looking for his memorial, please go simply. ).
Funeral
Richard Russell died on a trip to London and was buried in the family vault in South Malling, a small, formerly independent village with a church dedicated to Saint Michael and today the district of Lewes. He left three daughters and two sons, none of whom exercised a medical professional.