Richard Morton (1637-1698) was an English physician who was the first to state that tubercles were always present in the tuberculosis disease of the lungs. In Morton's time, this wasting disease was termed consumption, or by its Greek name of phthisis. Recognition of the many possible symptoms of this infection belonging to a single disease was not until the 1820s and it was J.L. Schönlein in 1839 who introduced the term we use to this day of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (commonly shortened to TB) is an infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system (meningitis), lymphatic system, circulatory system (Miliary tuberculosis), genitourinary system, bones and joints. ... Johann Lukas Schönlein (1793-1864) was a German professor of medicine, born in Bamberg. ... Tuberculosis (commonly shortened to TB) is an infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system (meningitis), lymphatic system, circulatory system (Miliary tuberculosis), genitourinary system, bones and joints. ...

He was born in Worcestershire and, having trained at Oxford's Magdalen Hall, elected to enter the Church, becoming Vicar of Kinver in Staffordshire. With his refusal to acquiesce to the Act of Uniformity 1662 following the Restoration of Charles II, he was forced to resign. His whereabouts for the following eight years are unclear, although he probably travelled to Holland. He reappeared in 1670 when, on the sponsorship of the Prince of Orange, he was awarded doctorate of medicine by Oxford University. Worcestershire (pronounced ; abbreviated Worcs) is a county located in the West Midlands region of central England. ... Magdalen College (pronounced maudlin) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... The Act of Uniformity was an Act of the Parliament of England, 14 Charles II c. ... King Charles II The English Restoration or simply Restoration was an episode in the history of Great Britain beginning in 1660 when the monarchy was restored under King Charles II after the English Civil War. ... Charles II or The Merry Monarch (29 May 1630–6 February 1685) was the King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland from 30 January 1649 (de jure) or 29 May 1660 (de facto) until his death. ... // The Principality of Orange The title originally referred to the sovereign principality of Orange in the valley of Rhone in southern France, which was a property of the House of Orange (and from 1544 of the House of Orange-Nassau). ...

His landmark paper Phthisiologia, seu exercitationes de Phthisi tribus libris comprehensae was published in Latin in 1689, with an English translation appearing in 1720. Its significance is partly due to the disease receiving little study by other doctors of the time as well as it being a major cause of death; accounting for over 18% all deaths in the City of London in 1700.

Medicine of that time was deferential to the ideas of Galen and so Morton undertandably mistook tubercles for being caused by glandular degenerations; mycobacterium tuberculosis not being identified until 1882 by Robert Koch. Claudius Galenus of Pergamum (129-200 AD), better known in English as Galen, was an ancient Greek physician. ... Robert Koch For the American lobbyist, see Bobby Koch. ...

References

• R R Trail (April 1970). "Richard Morton (1637-1698)". Med Hist 14 (2): 166–174.
• (2001). Léon Charles Albert Calmette. Who Named It.
• Keers RY. "Richard Morton (1637-98) and his Phthisiologia". Thorax 37 (1): 26-31.