author
Herbert Fox
1880–1942
A pioneering American pathologist, he helped bring careful laboratory science to both human medicine and the study of animal disease. His work ranged from bacteriology textbooks for nurses and students to a landmark study of illnesses in captive wild mammals and birds.
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About the author
Born in 1880 and educated at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he went on to lead Penn's William Pepper Laboratory for more than three decades, serving as its director from 1911 until 1942. During those years he worked on tuberculosis and other bacterial diseases and wrote several editions of Elementary Bacteriology and Protozoology.
He is especially remembered for comparative pathology. As pathologist to the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, he studied disease across animal species and published Disease in Captive Wild Mammals and Birds in 1923, an important early work in zoo and wildlife pathology.
He also collaborated with Alfred Stengel on A Text-Book of Pathology, showing the range of his interests from medical teaching to research. He died in 1942, leaving behind a body of work that connected laboratory medicine, pathology, and the health of animals in captivity.