British physiologist
H. Newell Martin Henry Newell Martin ,FRS (1 July 1848 – 27 October 1896) was a Britishphysiologist andvivisection activist.
He was born inNewry ,County Down , the son of Henry Martin, a Congregational minister. He was educated atUniversity College, London andChrist's College, Cambridge , where he matriculated in 1870, took the Part I Natural Sciences in 1873, and graduated B.A. in 1874. At the University of London, where he had graduated B.Sc. in 1870, he went on to become M.B. in 1871, and D.Sc. in 1872.[ 1]
Martin worked as demonstrator toMichael Foster ofTrinity College from 1870 to 1876; and was a Fellow of Christ's College for five years from 1874.[ 1] Daniel Coit Gilman ofJohns Hopkins University , on advice from Foster andThomas Huxley , hired Martin in 1876 and set up the university's Biology Department around him.[ 2] [ 3]
Martin was appointed to the university's first professorship of physiology, one of the first five full professors appointed to the Hopkins faculty. It was understood that he would be laying the foundation for a medical school:Johns Hopkins School of Medicine eventually opened in 1893.[ 4]
Having delivered theCroonian Lecture in 1883 on"The Direct Influence of Gradual Variations of Temperature upon the Rate of Beat of the Dog's Heart" , Martin was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 1885.[ 5] American Society of Naturalists in 1890.[ 6]
Martin's scientific career was curtailed around 1893, byalcoholism . He died on 27 October 1896 inBurley-in-Wharfedale , Yorkshire.[ 1]
Martin developed the first isolated mammalian heart lung preparation (described in 1881), whichErnest Henry Starling later used.[ 7] George Nuttall , at Baltimore for a year around 1885.[ 8] William Keith Brooks came the opening of theChesapeake Zoological Laboratory . It conducted its work at stations fromBeaufort, North Carolina , to theBahamas , studying marine life and interdependencies between species.[ 4]
Martin represented and spread the views of the Cambridge school of physiology around Michael Foster, which took account in a basic way of thetheory of evolution .[ 9] A Course of Practical Instruction in Elementary Biology (1875) with Thomas Huxley, a leading proponent of evolution. It was based on Huxley's annual summer course, given since 1871, of laboratory teaching for future science teachers; and concentrated on a small number of types of plants and animals.[ 10]
Biology labs were under attack by those opposed to experiments on live animals, a procedure known asvivisection . Martin defended vivisection, stating "Physiology is concerned with the phenomena going on in living things, and vital processes cannot be observed in dead bodies." He invited visitors to his lab to observe experiments.[ 4]
Selected publications [ edit ] Martin, H. Newell (November 1873)."The structure of the olfactory mucous membrane" .Journal of Anatomy and Physiology 8 (Pt 1): 39–44.1.PMC 1318999 PMID 17231007 . Huxley, T.H. ; Martin, H.N. (1875).A course of practical instruction in elementary biology Macmillan and Co. p. 290.Martin, H. Newell (January 1877)."The study and teaching of biology" .Popular Science Monthly 10 :298– 309. Retrieved11 October 2011 . Martin, H. Newell (1879)."The normal respiratory movements of the frog, and the influence upon its respiratory centre of stimulation of the optic lobes" .Stud Biol Lab Johns Hopkins University (1). Retrieved12 October 2011 . Martin, H. Newell (1881).The human body, an account of its structure and activities and the conditions of its healthy working . New York: Henry Holt and Co. Martin, H. Newell (1881)."A new method of studying the mammalian heart" .Stud Biol Lab Johns Hopkins University (2):119– 130. Retrieved10 October 2011 . Martin, H.N.; Moale, WA (1881).A handbook of vertebrate dissection Martin, H. Newell (1882)."Observations on the direct influence of variations of arterial pressure upon the rate of beat of the mammalian heart" .Stud Biol Lab Johns Hopkins University .2 :213– 233. Retrieved11 October 2011 . Martin, H. Newell (1883)."The direct influence of gradual variations of temperature upon the rate of beat of the dog's heart" .Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society .174 :663– 688.doi :10.1098/rstl.1883.0021 .hdl :2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t7pn9td9j S2CID 110481064 . Martin, H. Newell; Stevens, Lewis T. (1883)."The action of ethyl alcohol upon the dog's heart" .Stud Biol Lab Johns Hopkins University :477– 494. Retrieved11 October 2011 . Martin, H. Newell (1885).A correction of certain statements published in the 'Zoophilist' also A castigation and an appeal {{cite book }}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link )Martin, H. Newell (1884).The human body. A beginner's text-book of anatomy, physiology and hygiene 10th edition online .Martin, H. Newell (1891). "Effects of bleeding and starvation upon the proteids of the blood".Medical Record 40 :365– 366. Martin, H. Newell (1895).Physiological papers The Johns Hopkins Press . pp. 264 . In 1879, Martin marriedHetty Cary , widow of Confederate GeneralJohn Pegram .[ 11]
^a b c "Martin, Henry Newell (MRTN870HN)" .A Cambridge Alumni Database . University of Cambridge.^ Benson, Keith R. (1987)."H. Newell Martin, W. K. Brooks, and the Reformation of American Biology" .American Zoologist .27 (3): 761.doi :10.1093/icb/27.3.759 ISSN 0003-1569 .JSTOR 3883157 . ^ John C. French,A History of the University Founded by Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, 1946) ^a b c Hugh Hawkins ,Pioneer: A History of the Johns Hopkins University, 1874-1889 (Ithaca, NY, 1960)^ Martin, H Newell (1 January 1883). "The Direct Influence of Gradual Variations of Temperature upon the Rate of Beat of the Dog's Heart".Philos Trans R Soc Lond .174 . London:663– 688.doi :10.1098/rstl.1883.0021 .hdl :2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t7pn9td9j S2CID 110481064 . ^ "Past Officers of the ASN" . American Society of Naturalists. 2 January 2024. Retrieved31 May 2025 .^ Fye, W. B. (1986)."H. Newell Martin and the isolated heart preparation: The link between the frog and open heart surgery" .Circulation .73 (5):857– 64.doi :10.1161/01.cir.73.5.857 PMID 3516445 . ^ O'Connor, W. J. (1991).British Physiologists 1885-1914: A Biographical Dictionary ISBN 978-0-7190-3282-0 ^ Romano, Terrie M. "Foster, Sir Michael (1836–1907)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/33218 . (Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.) ^ Desmond, Adrian . "Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825–1895)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/14320 .(Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.) ^ "The tragedy, folly of a Baltimore Rebel's life" . The Washington Times, LLC. 28 July 2007. Retrieved13 July 2018 .
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