George Henry Falkiner Nuttall and the origins of parasitology and Parasitology

Abstract

SUMMARYBy the beginning of the twentieth century, most of the major discoveries concerning the nature and life cycles of parasites had been made and tropical medicine was beginning to establish itself as a discipline but parasitology still lacked any real cohesion or focus. This focus arrived in 1908 when George Nuttall founded a new journal, Parasitology, as a Supplement to the Journal of Hygiene in order to cater for increasing numbers of papers on protozoological, helminthological and entomological topics that were being submitted for publication to that journal, thus bringing these three subjects together under one heading and, in doing so, established the discipline of parasitology. The events leading up to and the subsequent development of the discipline are discussed.