I was glad to see that Jeff Davies omitted the hyphen that Dr Bence
Jones has acquired over the years!
Brian Payne
Jeffrey Davies wrote:
> Dear Gordon,
> The convention appears to be that the eponym is not apostrophised when
> it is preceded by the definite (and probably the indefinite) article
> e.g., the Berthelot reaction may be observed using Berthelot's reagent.
> Bence Jones' protein (uncommon in the macroglobulinaemia of
> Waldenstrom) was first observed by a GP (I cannot find a copy of the
> referral letter) who followed the advice of Richard Bright by boiling
> his patient's urine in a silver spoon by means of a candle to test for
> "albuminous substances". He was surprised when the precipitate
> redissolved on cooling and referred the patient to BJ who published
> the case.
> Bright published his papers from 1830 and the earliest reference to
> Bright's disease (so far) is an 1859 obituary, so it must have been
> current even earlier.
> I haven't read the Lynne Truss book yet - perhaps she will elucidate
> further.
> Regards,
> Jeff Davies
>
>
> >>> "gordon.challand" <[log in to unmask]> 01/13/04 05:03pm >>>
> Dear John
> It's I think a purely a matter of convention to apostrophise first
> describers of a medical condition. In analytical chemistry we usually use
> the opposite but equally valid convention: the Jaffe reaction; the
> Bolton-Hunter reagent (but I have heard people using 'Jaffe's reaction').
> The origin may be based etymologically on the fact that in chemistry, the
> author describes something he has invented, whereas in medicine the author
> is usually describing a subject he has observed. Has anyone out there any
> idea of when Bright's disease, or Bence-Jones's protein (altho' in my
> chemical analogy this should perhaps be called 'the Bence-Jones protein')
> was first described as such?
> Best wishes
> Gordon
>
> ------ACB discussion List Information--------
> This is an open discussion list for the academic and clinical
> community working in clinical biochemistry.
> Please note, archived messages are public and can be viewed
> via the internet. Views expressed are those of the individual and
> they are responsible for all message content.
>
> ACB Web Site
> http://www.acb.org.uk
> List Archives
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html
> List Instructions (How to leave etc.)
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/
> ------ACB discussion List Information-------- This is an open
> discussion list for the academic and clinical community working in
> clinical biochemistry. Please note, archived messages are public and
> can be viewed via the internet. Views expressed are those of the
> individual and they are responsible for all message content.
>
> ACB Web Site http://www.acb.org.uk List Archives
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html List
> Instructions (How to leave etc.) http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/
>
------ACB discussion List Information--------
This is an open discussion list for the academic and clinical
community working in clinical biochemistry.
Please note, archived messages are public and can be viewed
via the internet. Views expressed are those of the individual and
they are responsible for all message content.
ACB Web Site
http://www.acb.org.uk
List Archives
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html
List Instructions (How to leave etc.)
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/
|