George Frederic Still

{{Short description|English paediatrician and author}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Sir Frederic Still | image = File:Portrait of George Frederic Still Wellcome M0010755.jpg | birth_name = George Frederic Still | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1868|2|27}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1941|6|28|1868|2|27}} | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Paediatrics | workplaces = | alma_mater = | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Still's disease <br> Still's murmur | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = | spouse = | children = }} '''Sir George Frederic Still''', KCVO (27 February 1868 – 28 June 1941) was an English paediatrician who helped to establish paediatrics as a new discipline.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kutzsche |first1=S |year=2023 |title=Sir George Frederic Still (1868–1941) and his service to paediatrics and society|journal=Acta Paediatrica |volume=112|issue=6|pages= 1182–1184|doi=10.1111/apa.16713}}</ref> He was the author of five medical textbooks, and publisher of hundreds of papers. Still first described a form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis as well as the common functional Still's murmur,<ref name=Still_Stills_Murmur_1909>{{cite book|last=Still|first=George Frederick|title=Common Disorders and Diseases of Childhood|url=https://archive.org/details/b21466282|year=1909|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton|location=London|asin=B006PCYAWQ|pages=[https://archive.org/details/b21466282/page/434 434]–435}}</ref> both of which bear his name. He was also one of the first to describe ADHD.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://hekint.org/2019/01/08/sir-george-frederick-still-1868-1941-the-constant-pediatrician/|title=Sir George Frederick Still (1868–1941): The constant pediatrician – Hektoen International|date=8 January 2019}}</ref> He is frequently referred to as the "Father of British Paediatrics".

==Early life== George Still was born on 27 February 1868 in Highbury, London.<ref name="obit - Rheumatology">{{cite journal|last=Farrow|first=S. J.|title=Sir George Frederick Still (1868–1941)|journal=Rheumatology|date=June 2006|volume=45|issue=6|pages=777–78|doi=10.1093/rheumatology/kei166|pmid=16249240|doi-access=free}}</ref> He was the only boy of eight children born to George Still and Eliza Still (née Andrew).<ref name="Oxford DNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=36304|last=Piller|first=G. J.|title=Still, Sir (George) Frederic (1868–1941)}}</ref> To distinguish him from his father, the junior Still was known by his middle name Frederic.<ref name="obit - Times">{{cite news|title=Obituaries: Sir Frederic Still|newspaper=The Times|date=1 July 1941|page=7}}</ref>

Still was awarded a scholarship to attend the Merchant Taylors' School, a boys public school in London.<ref name="Oxford DNB" /> He was from a working-class family who would otherwise have not been able to afford the fees.<ref name="obit - Archives of Disease in Childhood">{{cite journal|last=Dunn|first=P. M.|date=12 April 2006|title=Sir Frederic Still (1868–1941): the father of British paediatrics|journal=Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition|volume=91|issue=4|pages=F308–F310|doi=10.1136/adc.2005.074815|pmc=2672740|pmid=16790738}}</ref> He was further awarded a scholarship to attend Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.<ref name="obit - Rheumatology" /> He matriculated in 1885 and received first-class honours in the Classical Tripos and Winchester Prizeman award during his college years.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Farrow|first=S. J.|date=6 January 2006|title=Sir George Frederick Still (1868–1941)|journal=Rheumatology|volume=45|issue=6|pages=777–778|doi=10.1093/rheumatology/kei166|pmid=16249240|issn=1462-0324|doi-access=free}}</ref> He graduated with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1888, and then entered King's College London School of Medicine, graduating in 1893.<ref name="obit - Rheumatology" /><ref name="Oxford DNB" />

==Background== thumb|Blue plaque, 28 Queen Anne Street, London

In 1897, Still published his doctoral thesis describing a form of childhood febrile arthritis today known as Still's disease. During the Goulstonian Lectures on the topic of "On Some Abnormal Physical Conditions in Children",<ref>{{Cite journal|date=26 April 1902|title=The Goulstonian Lectures ON SOME ABNORMAL PSYCHICAL CONDITIONS IN CHILDREN|journal=The Lancet|volume=159|issue=4104|pages=1163–1168|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(01)74901-X|issn=0140-6736}}</ref> Still talks about "moral control" and his lecture is based on the same symptoms that is known as ADHD now. Still's descriptions are very similar to those of ADHD, but "most of the symptoms listed by Still and described in his cases do not refer to ADHD."<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Lange|first1=Klaus W.|last2=Reichl|first2=Susanne|last3=Lange|first3=Katharina M.|last4=Tucha|first4=Lara|last5=Tucha|first5=Oliver|date=December 2010|title=The history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder|journal=ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders|volume=2|issue=4|pages=241–255|doi=10.1007/s12402-010-0045-8|issn=1866-6116|pmc=3000907|pmid=21258430}}</ref> Lange and colleagues still state how he was very influential regarding what is now ADHD, and we must give Still credit for contributing to these topics discussed today.<ref name=":1" /> Other medical terms named after him include Still's murmur and Still's rash.

During most of his adult life, Still's avocation was reading works from antiquity in their original languages. He studied the "classics" during his undergraduate training which led him to be fluent in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic.<ref name="obit - Archives of Disease in Childhood" /> His choice of profession, however, was medicine and he devoted his life to paediatrics, writing prolifically about childhood diseases and serving as Secretary of the Children's Clinical Club. Still worked at Guy's Hospital and the Hospital of Sick Children alongside James Goodhard who was his mentor.<ref name="obit - Rheumatology" /> His life was dedicated to improving afflicted children's chance at survival, and particularly patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://hekint.org/2019/01/08/sir-george-frederick-still-1868-1941-the-constant-pediatrician/|title=Sir George Frederick Still (1868–1941): The constant pediatrician – Hektoen International|date=8 January 2019}}</ref> He was knighted upon retiring in 1937.<ref name=":2" />

== Accomplishments/Publications ==

* Granted Physician to the royal household and Knight Commander of the Victorian Order by King George VI.<ref name="obit - Archives of Disease in Childhood" /> * Established the department for the diseases of childhood at Guy's Hospital in 1893.<ref name=":2" /> * Interested in the ability to prevent disability in adults by treating those in kids.<ref name=":2" /> * Taught the first class in the United Kingdom about children's diseases at King's College.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Thursfield|first=H.|date=1 September 1941|title=In Memoriam: George Frederic Still, 1868–1941|journal=Archives of Disease in Childhood|volume=16|issue=87|pages=i4–149|doi=10.1136/adc.16.87.i4|issn=0003-9888|doi-access=free|pmc=1987762}}</ref> * Invited to give Goulstonian lecture in 1902, later the Lumleian lecture (1918), and the Fitzpatrick Lectures (1928 & 1929).<ref name="obit - Archives of Disease in Childhood" /> * Disease now known as Still's was named after Still and is the disease he described in his article "''Form of Chronic Joint Disease in Children.''"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Still|first=George Frederic|date=1 February 1978|title=On a Form of Chronic Joint Disease in Children|journal=Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine|volume=132|issue=2|pages=195–200|doi=10.1001/archpedi.1978.02120270093020|pmid=21032202|issn=1072-4710|pmc=1987769}}</ref> * One of his famous books is titled "''Common Disorders and Diseases of Childhood."''<ref name="Still_Stills_Murmur_1909" />'' ''This book includes topics on breast-feeding, Rickets, intestinal worms, Jaundice in children, Pneumonia, and many more other diseases where he specifically writes about different illnesses.<ref name="Still_Stills_Murmur_1909" /> * Still was awarded the Dawson Williams Prize in 1934.<ref name="obit - Archives of Disease in Childhood" /> * He was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1937.<ref name="obit - Archives of Disease in Childhood" />

These awards boosted his credentials and made him a well-respected pediatrician.

== Organisations == Still was involved in many organisations that helped promote his work. He was the Chairman of the Medical Committee at King's, a part of the Society for Waifs and Strays, and the National Association for the Prevention of Infant Mortality for twenty years. He also helped give care to families who did not have the funds for treatments.<ref name=":3" /> Still hosted a meeting at his home with other paediatric physicians, and was the president of the British Pediatric Association.<ref name=":3" />

== Impact == Today, George Frederic Still's ideas are still being applied and accepted worldwide. Some examples of the disorders that he wrote about are Rickets, Tuberculosis, Stills disease, disorder of speech, ADHD, and many more. Thanks to Still, psychologists and physicians have now been able to expand research and be able to produce with treatment plans as well as expand his knowledge.

== Death == Frederic Still died in Salisbury at the age of 73 on 28 June 1941.<ref name="obit - Archives of Disease in Childhood" />

==References== {{reflist}} * {{cite journal|pmid=20896907|pmc=2036674|year=1897|last1=Still|first1=G. F.|last2=Garrod|first2=Archibald E.|title=On a Form of Chronic Joint Disease in Children|journal=Medico-Chirurgical Transactions|volume=80|pages=47–60.9|doi=10.1177/095952879708000106}} * {{cite journal|pmid=3513721|pmc=1001805|year=1986|last1=Hamilton|first1=E. B.|title=George Frederic Still|journal=Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases|volume=45|issue=1|pages=1–5|doi=10.1136/ard.45.1.1}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(01)74984-7|title=Some abnormal psychical conditions in children: The Goulstonian Lectures|journal=The Lancet|volume=159|issue=4102|pages=1008–1013|year=1902}}

==External links== *''[https://archive.org/stream/diseaseschildre01stilgoog#page/n6/mode/2up The Diseases of children]'' (1910), by George Frederic Still *[http://venn.csi.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?sur=&suro=c&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&tex=STL885GF&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50 George Frederic Still biographical data compiled from research sources indicated therein]{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Still, George Frederic}} Category:British paediatricians Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Category:People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Category:People from Islington (district) Category:1868 births Category:1941 deaths