Richard Lower (physician)

Richard Lower
Richard Lower
Born	1631 St Tudy, Cornwall, England
Died	17 January 1691 London, England
Nationality	British
Fields	medicine
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Richard Lower (1631 – 17 January 1691) was an English physician who heavily influenced the development of medical science. He is most remembered for his works on transfusion and the function of the cardiopulmonary system (Tractatus de Corde).

Lower was born in St Tudy, Cornwall and studied at Westminster School where he met John Locke, and Oxford, where he met Thomas Willis, founder of the Royal Society. He followed Willis to London, where he carried out research, some in partnership with Robert Hooke. His major work, Tractatus de Corde (1669) was concerned with the workings of the heart and lungs, and he experimented with blood transfusion, thus becoming the first scientist ever to perform a blood transfusion.

Lower also formed part of an informal research team, performing laboratory experiments at the University of Oxford during the Interregnum.

Richard Lower was a pioneer in seventeenth century medicine because of his studies in experimental physiology. His observations about the circulation and transfusion of blood led to some of the most significant discoveries in the history of medicine. He is still regarded as one of Oxford's finest doctors.

Lower studied at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he earned an M.A. in 1655 and an M.D. in 1665. Lower was a medical student under Thomas Willis (Professor of Natural Philosophy from 1660 to 1675) and then collaborated with him to investigate the nervous system. Simultaneously, Lower began his own research on the heart. He traced the circulation of blood as it passes through the lungs and learned that it changes when exposed to air. Lower was the first to observe the difference in arterial and venous blood.

Lower showed it was possible for blood to be transfused from animal to animal and from animal to man intravenously, a xenotransfusion. In November 1667, Lower worked with Sir Edmund King, another student of Willis, to transfuse sheep's blood into a man who was mentally ill. Lower was interested in advancing science but also believed the man could be helped, either by the infusion of fresh blood or by the removal of old blood. It was difficult to find people who would agree to be transfused, but an eccentric scholar, Arthur Coga, consented and the procedure was carried out by Lower and King before the Royal Society on 23 November 1667. Transfusion gathered some popularity in France and Italy, but medical and theological debates arose, resulting in transfusion being prohibited in France.

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