Henry Bence Jones: The Best Chemical Doctor in London

HENRY BENCE JONES: THE BEST CHEMICAL DOCTOR IN LONDON FRANK W. PUTNAM* Let no year pass without doing something original in natural science as applied to medicine.—H. Bence Jones. Some men are more remembered for the eponyms to which their names are attached than for their real accomplishments. This is true of Henry Bence Jones (1813—1873) whose name was known to generations of medical students only because of Bence Jones protein, the protein excreted in the urine by patients with multiple myeloma and virtually pathognomonic of this disease. Yet, today even the eponym is fading and is being replaced by the term light chain to signify that the protein is related to the light chains of immunoglobulins and antibodies. The discovery of this protein and the controversy about naming it are described elsewhere [I]. In his day the eponym was apparently not used, and his discovery or first report of this protein meant so little to him that he did not mention it in his brief autobiography [2], nor was it referred to in his obituary either in Lancet [3] or in Medical Times and Gazette [4]. The first use of the eponym that I have found was in German by Fleischer, in 1880, who referred to the "sogenannten BenceJones'schen Eiweisskörper" [5]. The term sogenannten (so-called) didn't necessarily indicate disparagement, for at that time little was known about the chemical nature of proteins. Even in the first decade of this century, authors still referred to it as Bence Jones albumenose or Bence Jones Many individuals and institutions provided the author with research materials or access to archives. Special thanks are due to: the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London; the Burroughs Wellcome Fund; A. Rupert Hall, The Wellcome Trust; Mrs. Irene M. McCabe, The Royal Institution; Cambridge University Library; Sir Gordon Wolstenholme, Royal College of Physicians; Hugh Anderson, St. George's Hospital; and Mark A. Bence-Jones, Glenville, County Cork, Ireland. *Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405.© 1993 by The University of Chicago. AU rights reserved. 0031-5982/93/3604-0830$01.00 Perspectives in Biology andMedicine, 36, 4 ¦ Summer 1993 | 565 proteid because of this uncertainty. In his time Bence Jones was not known for his protein, but rather as a prominent physician, a celebrated chemist, and an advocate of the application of science to medicine and of better health care. Indeed, Florence Nightingale called him "the best chemical doctor in London" [6]. Whether to use the name Bence Jones (as is done here) or to put a hyphen in the name, i.e., Bence-Jones, or to refer only to Jones as he is often referenced, has always been a problem for writers. In fact, he was born December 31, 1813, at Thorington Hall, Yoxford, Suffolk, with the surname Jones, the son of Lt. Col. William Jones originally of Cork, Ireland, and Matilda Sparrow (Bence after 1804), the daughter of Rev. Bence Bence of Thorington Hall, Suffolk. The latter was named Bence Sparrow but by royal sign-manual took the name and arms of Bence in lieu of his patronymic Sparrow [2]. The Bence lineage was honorable and was related to the Winthrops of colonial America, including John Winthrop, the first governor of Connecticut, and also to the Bowdoins, including James Bowdoin, the first president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences [7]. The records at Harrow list the son of William Jones and Matilda Sparrow Bence as "Jones, Henry Bence"; at Cambridge he is listed as "Jones [post Bence-Jones], Henry Bence." In the literature and letters of his time, he is referred to as Dr. Bence Jones, without the hyphen. His publications are under the name H. Bence Jones, and that is how he signed his letters. It appears that his sons adopted the hyphen. In Burke's Irish Family Records, there is a subsection under Jones entitled Bence-Jones that is written by the great-great-nephew of Henry Bence Jones, Mark Adayre Bence-Jones [7], whom I interviewed. The hyphen is used throughout, as it was by the descendants of Henry Bence Jones. Henry Bence Jones, M.A., M.D. (Cantab.), Hon. D...