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Information about Walter Bradford Cannon

Walter Bradford Cannon (Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, October 19, 1871 – Lincoln, Massachusetts, October 19, 1945) was an American physiologist.

Biography

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He was President of the American Physiological Society from 1914 to 1916.

Family

He was married to Cornelia James Cannon, a best-selling author. Although not mountaineers, during their honeymoon the couple were the first, on July 19, 1901, to reach the summit of the unclimbed southwest peak (2657 m or 8716 ft) of Goat Mountain, between Lake McDonald and Logan Pass in what is now Glacier National Park. The peak was subsequently named Mount Cannon by the United States Geological Survey [1].

The couple had five children. One son was Dr. Bradford Cannon, a military plastic surgeon and radiation researcher. The daughters are Wilma Cannon Fairbank and Marian Cannon Schlesinger, a painter and author living in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Research

Use of salts of heavy metals in X-Rays

He was one of the first researchers to mix salts of heavy metals (including bismuth subnitrate, bismuth oxychloride, and barium sulfate) into foodstuffs in order to improve the contrast of X-ray images of the digestive tract. The barium meal is a modern derivative of this research.

Fight or flight

In 1915, he coined the term fight or flight to describe an animal's response to threats (Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage: An Account of Recent Researches into the Function of Emotional Excitement, Appleton, New York, 1915).

Homeostasis

He developed the concept of homeostasis, and popularized it in his book The Wisdom of the Body, published in 1932 by W. W. Norton, New York.

Cannon presented four tentative propositions to describe the general features of homeostasis:
  1. Constancy in an open system, such as our bodies represent, requires mechanisms that act to maintain this constancy. Cannon based this proposition on insights into the ways by which steady states such as glucose concentrations, body temperature and acid-base balance were regulated.
  2. Steady-state conditions require that any tendency toward change automatically meets with factors that resist change. An increase in blood sugar results in thirst as the body attempts to dilute the concentration of sugar in the extracellular fluid.
  3. The regulating system that determines the homeostatic state consists of a number of cooperating mechanisms acting simultaneously or successively. Blood sugar is regulated by insulin, glucagons, and other hormones that control its release from the liver or its uptake by the tissues.
  4. Homeostasis does not occur by chance, but is the result of organized self-government.

Cannon-Bard theory

He developed the theory with psychologists Philip Bard to try to explain why people feel emotions first and then act upon them.

Dry mouth

He put forward the Dry Mouth Hypothesis, stating that people get thirsty because their mouth gets dry. He did an experiment on two dogs. He cut their throats and inserted a small tube. Any water swallowed would go through their mouths and out by the tube, never reaching the stomach. He found out that these dogs would lap up the same amount of water as control dogs.

Books

  • The wisdom of the Body
  • Traumatic Shock
  • The Way Of An Investigator : A Scientist's Experiences In Medical Research
  • Autonomic Neuro-Effector Systems
  • An Account Of Recent Researches Into The Function Of Bodily Changes In Pain, Hunger, Fear, And Rage
  • A Laboratory Course In Physiology

External links and references

  • 6th APS President at the American Physiological Society
  • Walter Bradford Cannon: Experimental Physiologist, a biographical article by Edric Lescouflair, dated 2003
  • Chapter 9 of Explorers of the body, by Steven Lehrer (contains information about X ray experiments)
  • Walter Bradford Cannon: Reflections on the Man and His Contributions, International Journal of Stress Management, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1994
  • Marian Cannon Schlesinger, Snatched from oblivion: A Cambridge memoir, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979
Prairie du Chien is the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin. The population was 6,018 at the 2000 census.

Often called Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was established by French voyageurs in the late 17th century.
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October 19 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal.

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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1840s  1850s  1860s  - 1870s -  1880s  1890s  1900s
1868 1869 1870 - 1871 - 1872 1873 1874

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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Lincoln, Massachusetts
Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Massachusetts
County Middlesex
Settled 1650
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October 19 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal.

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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1910s  1920s  1930s  - 1940s -  1950s  1960s  1970s
1940 1941 1942 - 1943 - 1944 1945 1946

Year 1945 (MCMXLV
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Physiology (from Greek: φυσις, physis, “nature, origin”; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1880s  1890s  1900s  - 1910s -  1920s  1930s  1940s
1911 1912 1913 - 1914 - 1915 1916 1917

Year 1914 (MCMXIV
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1880s  1890s  1900s  - 1910s -  1920s  1930s  1940s
1913 1914 1915 - 1916 - 1917 1918 1919

Year 1916 (MCMXVI
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    correction needed (July 20; July 17 in the Eastern Church)
  • Saint Rufina, virgin, martyr [Metz, France]
  • Saint Dios, the Venerable

References

1. ^ *Holweck, F. G. A Biographical Dictionary of the Saint. St. Louis, MO: B.

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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1870s  1880s  1890s  - 1900s -  1910s  1920s  1930s
1898 1899 1900 - 1901 - 1902 1903 1904

Year 1901 (MCMI
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Location Glacier National Park (U.S.), Montana, USA
Coordinates Coordinates:

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Logan Pass (el. 6646 ft./2025 m.) is located along the Continental Divide in Glacier National Park, in the U.S. state of Montana. It the highest point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. A summer seasonal visitor center is open just east of the pass.
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Location Montana, USA
Nearest city Kalispell
Coordinates
Area 1,013,572 acres (4102 km)
Established May 11, 1910
Total visitation
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The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it.
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Bradford Cannon (December 2, 1907–December 20, 2005), the son of Dr. Walter Bradford Cannon was a pioneer in the field of reconstructive surgery, specialising in burn victims.
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Cambridge, Massachusetts

Seal
Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Massachusetts
County Middlesex
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Salt is a mineral essential for animal life, composed primarily of sodium chloride. Salt for human consumption is produced in different forms: unrefined salt (such as sea salt), refined salt (table salt), and iodized salt.
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For other uses, see Heavy metal (disambiguation).
A heavy metal is any of a number of higher atomic weight elements, which has the properties of a metallic substance at room temperature.
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3, 5
(mildly acidic oxide)
Electronegativity 2.02 (scale Pauling)
Ionization energies
(more) 1st: 703 kJmol−1
2nd: 1610 kJmol−1
3rd: 2466 kJmol−1
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Barium (IPA: /ˈbɛːɹiəm/) is a chemical element. It has the symbol Ba, and atomic number 56. Barium is a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal.
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X-rays (or Röntgen rays) are a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 PHz to 30 EHz. X-rays are primarily used for diagnostic radiography and crystallography.
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A barium meal, also known as an upper gastrointestinal series is a procedure in which radiographs of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum are taken after barium sulfate is ingested by a patient.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1880s  1890s  1900s  - 1910s -  1920s  1930s  1940s
1912 1913 1914 - 1915 - 1916 1917 1918

Year 1915 (MCMXV
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Fight or Flight may refer to:
  • Fight-or-flight response, the biological response of animals to acute stress
  • Fight or Flight, an album by the British rock band Turin Brakes
  • "Fight or Flight", a first season episode of

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Homeostasis is the property of either an open system or a closed system, especially a living organism, to regulate the state of its internal environment so as to maintain a stable, constant condition.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1900s  1910s  1920s  - 1930s -  1940s  1950s  1960s
1929 1930 1931 - 1932 - 1933 1934 1935

Year 1932 (MCMXXXII
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The Cannon-Bard theory is a psychological theory developed by psychologists Walter Cannon and Philip Bard, which suggests that people feel emotions first and then act upon them. These actions include changes in muscular tension, perspiration, etc.
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