Henry Herbert Donaldson

[[File:Henry Herbert Donaldson (1857-1938).jpg|thumb]] '''Henry Herbert Donaldson''' (12 May 1857 – 23 January 1938) was an American pioneer of neurology. One of his most influential studies was on the effect of sensory deprivation, based on the study of [[Laura Bridgman]]'s brain, on the development of the brain which resulted in the landmark work ''The Growth of the Brain'' (1895). He served as a professor of neurology at the [[Wistar Institute|Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology]] at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and was a major influence on a generation of American neurologists and was a key promoter of the use of the rat as a laboratory research model. ==Early life and education== Donaldson was born in [[Yonkers, New York]], to banker John Joseph and Louisa Goddard (McGowan) both of Irish origins.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bronk|first=Detlev W.|date=1938|title=Henry Herbert Donaldson, Ph.D., Sc.D. 1857—1938|url=http://archneurpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/archneurpsyc.1938.02270060205014|journal=Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry|language=en|volume=39|issue=6|pages=1313|doi=10.1001/archneurpsyc.1938.02270060205014|issn=0096-6754|url-access=subscription}}</ref> He was sent to study business but he showed an interest in science and after his studies at [[Phillips Academy]] he went to Yale graduating in 1879. He spent an extra year working under [[Russell Henry Chittenden|Russell H. Chittenden]] examining arsenic residues in the body. He then went to study medicine for a year but found research was more of his interest than practice.

==Career== Following this, he joined [[Johns Hopkins University]] in 1881 working under [[H. Newell Martin]] on aspects of physiology. He studied the effect of digitalin on the heart and for his PhD, he examined the neurology of the temperature sense under [[G. Stanley Hall]]. He then spent some time in Europe under [[Auguste Forel]] at Zurich, [[Theodor Meynert]] at Vienna and [[Camillo Golgi]] at Pavia. Returning to Johns Hopkins, he worked with Hall, following him to [[Clark University|Clark University, Worcester]]. Here he became an assistant professor in 1889 and began to work on the brain of Laura Bridgman which resulted in the monograph on the ''Growth of the Brain'' published in 1895.

In 1892 he suffered from an infection of the knee and had to spend some time to recover. He left Clark University following administrative problems in 1892 to join the [[University of Chicago]]. In 1905 he moved to the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology at Philadelphia and worked there until his death. Here he began to conduct experiments on rats, following his colleague [[Shinkishi Hatai]], rather than the older model organisms, frogs. This would lead to the production of the [[Laboratory rat|Wistar white rat]] as a standard for research.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lazar|first=J. Wayne|date=2018-10-02|title=Henry Herbert Donaldson's (1857–1938) contribution to an organized approach to the experimental study of the mammalian central nervous system|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0964704X.2018.1451159|journal=Journal of the History of the Neurosciences|language=en|volume=27|issue=4|pages=311–332|doi=10.1080/0964704X.2018.1451159|pmid=29652555|s2cid=4895127|issn=0964-704X|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Conklin, E.G.|year=1939|title=Biographical memoir of Henry Herbert Donaldson, 1857–1938|url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/donaldson-henry.pdf|journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=20|pages=229–243}}</ref> Donaldson was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1906 and the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1914.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Henry+H.+Donaldson&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry H. Donaldson |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001728.html |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>

He served as the 12th president of the [[American Association for Anatomy|Association of American Anatomists]] from 1915 to 1917.

==Personal life and death== Donaldson married Julia Desboro Vaux in 1884 and they [https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.88.2273.72 had two sons], John C. Donaldson and [https://www.usna.edu/Library/sca/man-findingaids/view.php?f=MS%20374 Norman V. Donaldson]. After her death in 1904, he married Emma Brace in 1907. After his death, his brain was donated to the [[American Anthropometric Society]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burrell |first1=Brian |title=The Strange Fate of Whitman's Brain |journal=Walt Whitman Quarterly Review |date=2003 |volume=20 |issue=3 |page=128 |url=https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/wwqr/pdf/anc.00891.pdf |access-date=3 January 2024}}</ref> and is currently stored at the [[Wistar Institute]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Conklin|first=Edwin G.|date=1938|title=Henry Herbert Donaldson|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1664036|journal=Science|volume=88|issue=2273|pages=72–74|doi=10.1126/science.88.2273.72|jstor=1664036|bibcode=1938Sci....88...72C|issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [[iarchive:growthofbrainstu00donauoft|The growth of the brain; a study of the nervous system in relation to education]] (1895) * [[iarchive:ratreferencetabl00dona|The rat; reference tables and data for the albino rat (Mus norvegicus albinus) and the Norway rat (Mus norvegicus)]] (1915)

{{Presidents of the American Society of Naturalists}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Henry Herbert}} [[Category:1857 births]] [[Category:1938 deaths]] [[Category:American neurologists]] [[Category:Scientists from New York (state)]] [[Category:Yale University alumni]] [[Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni]] [[Category:Members of the American Anthropometric Society]] [[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]] [[Category:Presidents of the American Society of Naturalists]]