John Bostock MD FRS (1773-1846): Physician and Chemist in the Shadow of a Genius

Abstract

John Bostock has a reasonable claim to being one of the first chemical pathologists. Most of his work was done before that of William Prout, with whom both he and Bright were in contact. Bostock’s work was done about the same time as that of his friends and colleagues Marcet and Wollaston. Although others, notably Cruickshank, Wells and Blackall had previously studied the chemistry of normal and pathological urine, the breadth and detail of Bostock’s observations were unprecedented, and he and Wells were the first to relate findings in the urine in disease to findings in the serum. Bostock, however, was the first to realize the relationship between the diminution of urea in urine as it rose (or in his terms, appeared) in the blood, while the albumin in the blood fell as that in the urine increased.