Arthur Hill Hassall

Arthur Hill Hassall

Arthur Hill Hassall (1817 - 1894) British physician, best known for his work on food adulteration and other aspects of public health and sanitation. He also studied botany, and his book on freshwater algae and microscopic observations on water bought into public prominence the need for water reform. He suffered from tuberculosis and throughout his life increasingly sought warmer climates as an aid to cure. He established the National Cottage Hospital sanatorium for treatment of consumptive diseases of the chest. Hassall's corpuscles (spherical eosinophilic bodies in the medulla of the thymus) and Hassall-Henle bodies (small excrescences in the periphery of the Descemet's membrane of the cornea) are both named after him. His work on food adulteration with the help of Thomas Wakely (founder of influential medical journal The Lancet) was instrumental in bringing about much needed reform in food safety.