British HomceopathicJournal
January 1992, Vol. 81, pp. 59~i0
Dudgeonma conventional view
BERNARD LEARY, MRCGP, FFHOM
Robert Ellis Dudgeon is known to most hom0eo-
paths as the doctor who translated Hahnemann
and gave the lectures that are published in that
red covered book. Many have not actually read
them. Yet in his time he was one of the great men
of hom~eopathy; in his own words 'my contri-
butions to hommopathic literature are too
numerous to mention, '1 and he should certainly
rank alongside Hughes if not above him. He has
the distinction of being, apart from Hahnemann,
the only hommopath mentioned in the medical
history books.
Dudgeon was born in 1820. He followed a
usual path to qualification in the Scotland of the
time, qualifying as a surgeon when nineteen and
then going to Vienna to study medicine. He was
a fellow student of Drysdale, Russell and Fisher,
but they were studying hommopathy and he was
on the conventional course. After qualification
he set up in practice in Liverpool. Here he met
Drysdale again and the latter persuaded him to
translate some articles on hom0eopathy from
German into English. It was not long before
Dudgeon was a convert and he went back to
Vienna to learn the new system. He returned to
Liverpool in 1845 and the following year became
editor of the British Journal of Hom~eopathy
which he remained until its demise in 1884.
Dudgeon, although a dedicated hommopath,
was like Hughes, a man who did not regard him-
self as being divorced from the main stream of
medicine. In 1879 he made his own contribution
to science by modifying the Marey sphygmo-
graph. The study of the heart had been limited
until the nineteenth century because of the lack
of any means of examination or measurement.
Even the pulse could not be counted properly
until the watch with the second hand was inven-
ted. Then came the stethoscope which allowed
the sounds and murmurs to be differentiated,
but variations of rhythm were still a problem.
There was a need for a method of recording and
the ECG was still a long way off.
The first attempt to demonstrate the forces of
the circulation had been made by Stephen Hales
59
in the eighteenth century when he canalized the
femoral artery of a horse and measured the
blood pressure using a column of water. A cen-
tury later Poiseuille conducted similar experi-
ments using a mercury column. Such work was
obviously limited in its scope. The first instru-
ment to work with unbroken skin was the sphyg-
mograph of Karl Vierordt, devised in 1855. This
was a large instrument, some five feet long and
requiring heavy weights to stabilize the record-
ing arm. Its readings were inaccurate, so a new
machine was devised by Etienne Marey of Paris
who was later to become involved with
cinematography.
The Marey sphygmograph was made of brass
and fixed to the wrist with a bandage. A n ivory
plate rested on the radial artery and a series of
levers and springs led to a moving strip of glazed
paper on which the pulse was recorded. Pressure
on the artery was regulated by an adjusting
screw. This instrument was still clumsy and many
modifications were introduced, some by Marey
himself, but with it he was able to demonstrate
that the pulse wave was asymmetrical and that
there was a dichrotic notch in the descending
wave.
Dudgeon was obviously of an inventive frame
of mind. He devised, for example, a pair of spec-
tacles for use under water. His sphygmograph
was compact, measuring only two and a half by
two inches and weighing four ounces; it could be
carried in the pocket in its leather case. His main
modification was to substitute a light compound
lever with a gravity action for the simple lever
and side writing pen in the Marey machine.
No doubt he originally intended to produce an
instrument which would be a working tool in the
surgery, but although the Dudgeon sphygmo-
graph became the most popular machine in all
the catalogues it found its place principally in
physiology. Sir Thomas Lewis recommended it
for its 'considerable delicacy and accuracy'.2 But
it had little use in clinical work. Sir William
Broadbent wrote that the readings~of its tracings
can only be safely undertaken by one conversant
60
with t h e use of the s p h y g m o g r a p h a n d the
vagaries t h e r e o f , a n d if any special result is
exPected or wished for, a n enthusiastic investi-
gator can o b t a i n it a n d may, w i t h o u t t h e least
conscious i n t e n t i o n , twist facts in t h e desired
direction. 3 It was b e t t e r for the clinician to leave
i n s t r u m e n t s a l o n e a n d c o n c e n t r a t e o n feeling t h e
pulse with t h e fingers.
D u d g e o n seems to h a v e b e e n c o n t e n t with
this.
I believed I could contrive a better instrument. A
young watch maker's apprentice from the Black
Forest about this time came to London; I asked him
to make a sphygmograph under my directions; after
several failures we at last succeeded and the pocket
sphygmograph which bears my name was the result.
At first the allopathic authorities, disliking its origin,
damned it with faint praise, such as a 'pretty loy' but
not to be compared with the instrument of Marey
and so forth. But it is now generally acknowledged
to be the best; and most of the recent writers of text-
books of physiology and pathology describe and
figure my sphygmograph and no other and seem
quite satisfied that the pulse tracings it makes are
reliable and accurate. 4
Such a n o p i n i o n was confirmed by Sir J a m e s
M a c k e n z i e w h o used it for his early w o r k a n d
f o u n d it t h e h a n d i e s t a n d m o s t useful' .5 B u t the
i n f o r m a t i o n t h a t it could give was limited. M a c k -
Address for correspondence
Dr Bernard Leary
Windyeroft
Brimington
Chesterfield
Derbyshire $43 l AX
British Horn~eopathic Journal
enzie t h e r e f o r e devised a similar m a c h i n e to
r e c o r d t h e jugular a n d radial pulses simulta-
neously. It was a cross b e t w e e n t h e M a r e y a n d
t h e D u d g e o n i n s t r u m e n t s . This was the poly-
g r a p h which was l a t e r modified again to r e c o r d
in ink.
P e r h a p s D u d g e o n himself realized t h e limi-
tations of his i n v e n t i o n . H e does n o t s e e m to
h a v e c o n t r i b u t e d to t h e physiological literature.
All t h a t r e m a i n s are s o m e s p h y g m o g r a p h s in the
W e l l c o m e M u s e u m a n d t h e occasional m e n t i o n
of his n a m e in the history books. H e was, of
course, ageing. H o w e v e r , h e c o n t i n u e d for a
f u r t h e r t w e n t y years, writing o n every conceiv-
able subject r e l e v a n t to homoeopathy as well as
presiding at various congresses. His c o n t r i b u t i o n
to British a n d i n d e e d i n t e r n a t i o n a l h o m ~ e o p a t h y
was e n o r m o u s . H e deserves a h i g h e r place in o u r
r e g a r d t h a n is n o r m a l l y given him.
References
1 Wynne TH. The Dudgeon Cup. B Horn J 1949; 39: 216.
2 Lewis T. The interpretation of sphygmographictracings and
of tracings produced by compressing the brachial artery.
Practitioner 1907; 39: 207.
3 Broadbent W. The Pulse, p 33, London: Cassell 1890.
4 Wynne TH. Ibid.
5 Lawrence C. The Dudgeon Sphygmograph and its descend-
ants. Med Hist 1979; 23: 100.