Allbutt, Sir Thomas Clifford

Allbutt, Sir Thomas Clifford

(born July 20, 1836, Dewsbury, Yorkshire, Eng.—died Feb. 22, 1925, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire) English physician. He introduced the modern clinical thermometer (the thermometer had previously been a foot-long instrument that required 20 minutes to register temperature) and outlined the use of the ophthalmoscope to inspect the interior of the eye. He demonstrated the aortic origin of angina pectoris. His investigations improved treatment of arterial diseases and resulted in, among other works, Diseases of the Arteries (1915). His chief publication was Systems of Medicine (8 vol., 1896–99).