Thomas Morison Legge
Sir Thomas Morison Legge CBE[1] (6 January 1863 – 7 May 1932) was a British physician who served as medical inspector to improve industrial hygiene.[2]
Life
[edit]Legge was born in Hong Kong, the son of Scottish Chinese-language scholar James Legge and his second wife, Hannah Mary Johnstone. He was educated at Magdalen College School.
Legge matriculated at the University of Oxford in 1882 as a non-college student. He graduated B.A. at Trinity College, Oxford in 1886.[3] He became a medical student at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, and graduated M.B. and B.Ch. in 1890, D.Ph. at Cambridge in 1893, and M.D. at Oxford in 1894.[4]
Appointed in 1898, Legge was the first Medical Inspector of Factories and Workshops in the United Kingdom.[5][6][7] He resigned the post on 29 November 1926.[4]
Awards and honours
[edit]Legge was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1918 and knighted in the 1925 New Year Honours.[8] He was awarded the Bisset Hawkins Medal of the Royal College of Physicians in 1923.[4]
Work
[edit]Legge's work was especially concerned with anthrax and lead poisoning.[9]
Legge's axioms,[10] which he expounded in 1929,[11] are "famous".[12] They include the following:
- Unless and until the employer has done everything — and everything means a good deal — the workman can do next to nothing to protect himself although he is naturally willing enough to do his share.
- If you can bring an influence to bear external to the workman (i.e. one over which he can exercise no control), you will be successful; and if you can't or don't, you won't.
- Practically all industrial lead poisoning is due to the inhalation of dust and fumes; and if you stop their inhalation you will stop the poisoning.
- All workmen should be told something of the danger of the materials they come into contact with and not be left to find it out for themselves — sometimes at the cost of their lives.[13][14]
References
[edit]- "Thomas Morison Legge (1863-1932): the first medical factory inspector". Retrieved 16 June 2015.
- ^ "Legge, Sir Thomas Morison", Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2015; online edition, Oxford University Press, April 2014.
- ^ "Obituary: Sir Thomas Legge – Work for Industrial Hygiene". The Times. 9 May 1932. p. 9.
- ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ a b c Bartrip, P. W. J. "Legge, Sir Thomas Morison (1863–1932)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49286. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Thomas Morison Legge (1863–1932): The First Medical Factory Inspector. 2004. Journal of Medical Biography. Volume 12. Page 209. Sage Journals PubMed
- ^ London Gazette. 1898. Page 4773. Google Books.
- ^ Gleanings and Memoranda: A Monthly Record of Political Events and Current Political Literature. 1898. Volume 11. Page 143. Google Books.
- ^ Edinburgh Gazette. 2 January 1925. p 2.
- ^ "Thomas Legge" in Memoirs and Proceedings. Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. 1946. Volumes 87-89. Google Books.
- ^ Antony John Essex-Cater. A Synopsis of Public Health and Social Medicine. Wright. 1967. Page 316. Google Books
- ^ Proceedings of the XIVth International Congress of Occupational Health. 1964. Page 228. Google Books: [1][2][3].
- ^ Benjamin Frank Miller. The Complete Medical Guide. Simon and Schuster. 1967. Page 145. Google Books.
- ^ Thomas Morrison Legge. "Thirty Years' Experience of Industrial Maladies". Shaw Lectures. Royal Society of Arts. February 1929. Chemical News and Journal of Industrial Science. 1929. Volumes 139-140. Page 169. Google Books.
- ^ Thomas Morison Legge. Lessons learnt from Industrial Gases and Fumes. Institute of Chemistry. 1930. Page 6. Google Books.
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