Henry A. Martin

Henry Austin Martin (23 July 1824 – 7 December 1884) was an English-born American physician known for introducing the method of production and use of smallpox vaccine lymph from calves. He was the first American physician to experiment successfully with a vaccine for the bovine virus.

Early life Martin was born on 23 July 1824 in London, England. His father was Henry James Martin, Esq. M. R. C. S.

Martin graduated from Harvard Medical School with an MD in 1845.

Martin is best known for standardizing a method of vaccine production from calves that had been used for at least a century, the technique of which was utilized by Aventis-Pasteur. The vaccine was thought to have saved Boston from a potentially catastrophic 1873 epidemic, but he was widely criticized by medical peers and the general public. He received an honorary A.M. from Dartmouth. Martin's vaccine contribution was commemorated by a historical marker at 27 Dudley Street, in the Roxbury section of Boston In 1991, John Joseph Buder's dissertation at the University of Texas was Letters of Henry Austin Martin: The Vaccination Correspondence to Thomas Fanning Wood, 1877-1883.

Selected publications

Hahnemann and Paracelsus. On Some Ancient Medical Delusions, and Their Connection with Errors Still Existing. An Address Delivered Before the Norfolk District Medical Society, November 11, 1857 The American Medical Association Vs. Henry A. Martin, M.D., Member of Said Association, and Late Chairman of Its Committee on Vaccination. Rand, Avery, & Fryf, 1871. "The India-Rubber Bandage For Ulcers And Other Diseases Of The Legs". The British Medical Journal vol. 2, no. 930 (1878): 624–626. “The Solid Rubber Bandage.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 937, 1878, pp. 874–874. A Few Words on "unfortunate Results of Vaccination".1880.