Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/188

P land and afterwards first earl of Ranfurley. On 22 Dec. 1788 he was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London, and began practice at Birmingham, where he became physician to the General Hospital in September 1792. In 1795 he published ‘A Short Account of the Nature and Properties of different kinds of Airs so far as relates to their Medicinal Use, intended as an introduction to the Pneumatic Way of Treating Diseases,’ and in 1798 ‘The Arguments in Favour of an Inflammatory Diathesis in Hydrophobia considered,’ in which he combats the then prevalent opinion of Dr. John Ferriar [q. v.] of Manchester that general inflammation and inflammation of the fauces were the chief pathological conditions in hydrophobia. Pearson expresses the opinion that the case of Dr. Christopher Nugent (d. 1775) [q. v.] was one of hysteria, and recommends the omission of bleeding in such cases, the administration of wine, and the application of caustics in regions distant from the bite. In 1799 he published ‘Observations on the Bilious Fever of 1797, 1798, and 1799,’ and in 1801 resigned his hospital appointment and settled in London, where he lived in Bloomsbury Square. He published in 1803 ‘Observations on the Epidemic Catarrhal Fever or Influenza of 1803.’ The epidemic had begun in London in February, and thence spread all over England; and this work, after a brief but lucid statement of the clinical features of the disease, discusses its treatment fully, and concludes with some interesting letters from practitioners in country districts. Pearson describes clearly the extreme mental depression which has been observed in subsequent epidemics as a frequent sequel of influenza. An epidemic of plague was raging on some of the coasts of the Mediterranean in 1804, and he published ‘Outlines of a Plan calculated to put a Stop to the Progress of the Malignant Contagion which rages on the Shores of the Mediterranean.’ Two treatises on materia medica in 1807 were his next publications: ‘Thesaurus Medicaminum,’ which reached a fourth edition in 1810, and ‘A Practical Synopsis of the materia Alimentaria and Materia Medica,’ of which a second edition appeared in 1808. In 1812 he published ‘Account of a Particular Preparation of Salted Fish,’ and in 1813 ‘A Brief Description of the Plague.’ After this he migrated to Reading, thence to Sutton Coldfield, and at last to Birmingham, where he was one of the founders of the present medical school. In 1835 he published ‘Observations on the Action of the Broom Seed in Dropsical Affections.’ He also wrote several medical articles in Rees's ‘Encyclopædia’ and in the ‘British Critic,’ and took part in the abridgment of the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ He died at Birmingham on 11 Jan. 1836, and was buried at St. Paul's Chapel there.

[Munk's Coll. of Phys. vol. ii.; works.] 

PEARSON, THOMAS HOOKE (1806–1892), general, was the son of John Pearson, advocate-general of India. He was born in June 1806, educated at Eton, and entered the army as a cornet in the 11th light dragoons on 14 March 1825. In November of that year he served at the siege of Bhurtpore under Lord Combermere; and when, owing to the scarcity of European infantry, volunteers were called for from the cavalry to take part in the assault, he was one of those who offered themselves. The arrival of an additional infantry regiment made it needless to use them, but the cavalry did good service in preventing the escape of the usurping rajah and his followers. When Lord Amherst, the governor-general, paid a visit to Runjeet Singh, Pearson accompanied him as aide-de-camp, and received a sword from the maharajah for his skill in mounting and riding a horse that was believed to be unmanageable. He obtained a troop in the 16th lancers on 16 Aug. 1831, and served with that regiment at the battle of Maharajpore, where Sir Hugh Gough defeated the Mahrattas on 29 Dec. 1843, and also in the first Sikh war. At Aliwal (28 Jan. 1846) he commanded one of the squadrons which broke through an infantry square. During the latter part of that day, and at Sobraon (10 Feb.), he was in command of the regiment; he was twice mentioned in despatches, and received a brevet majority 19 June 1846. He became major in the regiment 23 April 1847; but he saw no further service in the field, and was placed on half-pay 7 April 1848. He became lieutenant-general 1 Oct. 1877, and was then retired with the honorary rank of general. He had been made C.B. 2 June 1869, and on 4 Feb. 1879 he was given the colonelcy of the 12th lancers. He died 29 April 1892, leaving four sons and three daughters.

[Records of the 16th Lancers; Despatches of Lord Hardinge, Lord Gough, &c., pp. 89, 127; Times, 3 May 1892.] 

PEARSON, WILLIAM (1767–1847), astronomer, was born at Whitbeck in Cumberland on 23 April 1767. He came of a good old yeoman family, and appears to have been the second son of William Pearson by