Biography

English physician, chemist and naturalist who was born at Teddington, studied in Dublin and then practiced in London (1845-). After qualifying at the University of London, Hassall became a physician at the Royal Free Hospital in London (1851). Subsequently he moved his practice to the Isle of Wight where he bacame founder and consulting physician to the Royal National Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest at Ventnor. Specialising in hygiene and public health, Hassall became a public analyst and his work on falsification of food led to a Parliamentary Act; he also published the first English textbook on microscopical anatomy. Latterly, Hassall spent periods living abroad at San Remo in Italy, publishing on the area from a medical perspective, and it was there that he died. Hassal's herbarium, containing 883 specimens including the types of his work on British freshwater algae was presented to BM by his widow in 1894. Additional material sent to K was transferred to BM (c. 1961) under the terms of the Morton Agreement. The cyanophyte genus Hassallia Berk. is named in his honour.

Biography

English physician, chemist and naturalist who was born at Teddington, studied in Dublin and then practiced in London (1845-). After qualifying at the University of London, Hassall became a physician at the Royal Free Hospital in London (1851). Subsequently he moved his practice to the Isle of Wight where he bacame founder and consulting physician to the Royal National Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest at Ventnor. Specialising in hygiene and public health, Hassall became a public analyst and his work on falsification of food led to a Parliamentary Act; he also published the first English textbook on microscopical anatomy. Latterly, Hassall spent periods living abroad at San Remo in Italy, publishing on the area from a medical perspective, and it was there that he died. Hassal's herbarium, containing 883 specimens including the types of his work on British freshwater algae was presented to BM by his widow in 1894. Additional material sent to K was transferred to BM (c. 1961) under the terms of the Morton Agreement. The cyanophyte genus Hassallia Berk. is named in his honour.