Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/419

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sure. He was sent home to give evidence at a court-martial, and settled in London on half-pay in January 1813 as tutor to the sons of his old friend Hamilton. He studied at the Westminster Hospital, was house-pupil with Sir Anthony Carlisle, and then attended the private lectures of Tuthill, Taunton, and Joshua Brookes. During 1813 Granville translated many Peninsular bulletins for distribution in Italy to excite a rising against the French, which were republished in ‘L'Italico,’ a journal which he conducted in London. In 1814 Granville went with Hamilton to the Paris congress, and thence to Milan with despatches, revisiting his father. He travelled through Italy, meeting many eminent men, and promoting the movement for independence. After being improperly arrested by the Austrians he returned through Geneva with a warning, neglected by the government, of Napoleon's probable escape from Elba. He brought to London the earliest specimen of iodine, then recently isolated by Gay-Lussac. In the autumn Granville undertook the lectureship on chemistry at the Windmill Street medical school, and permanently lost the sense of smell by an accident with chlorine gas. The school broke up in 1815, the treasurer absconded, and Granville was not paid for his lectures. During the early part of 1815 he introduced to the Duke of Sussex a deputation from the provisional government at Milan, offering him the Italian crown.

In September 1815 Granville materially assisted Canova in his mission to Paris to procure the restoration of the Italian art treasures. In gratitude Canova presented him with a genuine portrait of the anatomist, Vesalius, by Titian. By the advice of Sir Walter Farquhar [q. v.] Granville spent most of 1816–17 in Paris, at La Maternité, in order to qualify himself as an accoucheur. He also studied under Cuvier, Gay-Lussac, Jussieu, Haüy, Majendie, and Orfila, working eighteen hours a day. He prepared an (unpublished) ‘History of Science in France during the Revolution.’ He deposited the drawings made for the work with the Institute of British Architects. In 1817 he was elected F.R.S., and in 1818 he settled in practice at Savile Row, became physician accoucheur to the Westminster General Dispensary, and soon gained considerable practice. He gave important evidence in support of the quarantine laws before two parliamentary committees, edited the ‘Medical Intelligencer’ (started in 1820), and for two years the ‘London Medical and Physical Journal,’ introduced the use of prussic acid in small doses in irritative chest affections, and vigorously defended himself against some strictures of Professor Brande. His general medical practice consequently increased greatly. He established a West-end infirmary (really a dispensary) for sick children, and in fifteen years registered the cases of twenty-five thousand children. He took an active part in 1825 in promoting the requirement of a knowledge of midwifery by the medical corporations from candidates. In 1826–7 he was a candidate for the professorship of midwifery at the new university of London, when Brougham is said to have suppressed his testimonials in the interests of Mrs. Brougham's physician. Granville's return was to dedicate his ‘Catechism of Health’ to Brougham. In 1827 he made a journey to St. Petersburg with the Count and Countess Woronzow, the incidents of which he recounted in two bulky volumes; his absence being prolonged a few days beyond the prescribed time he was peremptorily struck off the navy half-pay list. He was secretary of the visitors of the Royal Institution for twenty years (1832–52), and introduced important reforms in its management. He criticised the constitution of the Royal Society in pamphlets (1830 and 1836), mentioned below, and though he gave much offence helped to secure reforms in the mode of electing fellows and publishing papers. In 1831 he published a ‘Catechism of Health,’ with simple rules for avoiding cholera, of which four editions were published in one month. He was elected president of the Westminster Medical Society in 1829, and his presidency was notable for the exhaustive discussion of the Gardner peerage case (Medical Gazette, 12 Dec. 1829). He was also an active member and vice-president of the British Medical Association. He advocated in 1836–7 the adoption of Martin's plan for purifying the Thames, and collected information in many parts of Europe upon the disposal of sewage. His report was published at Lord Euston's expense. In 1837 he published ‘The Spas of Germany,’ and in 1841 ‘The Spas of England and Sea-bathing Places.’ These were followed by several other works on similar subjects. His last medical work of importance (on counter-irritation) appeared in 1838. From 1840 to 1868 he regularly spent three months in every year at Kissingen, the repute of which is largely due to him.

Granville, whose family was connected with the Bonapartes in Corsica (as afterwards shown in Joseph Bonaparte's first volume of ‘Memoirs’ in 1853), was the confidential friend of the ex-king Joseph from 1832 to his death, and was present at some historic interviews between Joseph and his