Wright

WRIGHT Almroth (Sir Almroth Edward Wright, born 1861), noted English bacteriologist; studied at Dublin University, then worked at Leipzig, Strasbourg, and Marburg universities. In 1889 he received the title of lecturer in Sydney, from 1893 to 1902 he was professor at the Royal Army Medical College in Netley, then professor of experimental pathology at London University. At the same time he headed the Pathology Institute of St. Mary's Hospital. Member of many British and foreign scientific societies. The main works of W. relate to the study of the protective properties of blood serum and vaccination of the body against infections. In 1903-1904, together with Douglas, he studied the phenomena of phagocytosis in connection with blood serum. His experiments showed that there is a special substance in the blood that favors phagocytosis, acting not through leukocytes, but directly on bacteria. It is fixed by bacteria and facilitates their destruction by phagocytes. This substance was named by Wright opsonin (see). On the basis of these experiments, W. proposed a new method for treating infections, in particular staphylococcal diseases, by making vaccines from bacteria taken from the patient himself. Thus, he laid the foundation of autovaccinotherapy, which for some time became widespread in the therapy of some infectious diseases. The principal works of W. are as follows: "A short treatise on antityphoid inoculation" (L., 1904); "Principles of microscopy" (L., 1906); "Studies on immunisation" (L., 1909); "Nouveaux principes d'immunisation, appliques a la therapeutique vaccinante" (Annales de l'Institut Pasteur, v. XXXVII, No. 2, 1923).