May 31, 1960

Esther Margaret Killick (3 May 3, 1902 to May 31, 1960), was a physiologist whose research often focused on carbon monoxide. In the 1930s, according to her Oxford DNB article, Killick pursued this interest:

In 1929, while attached to the department of physiology at Leeds University, Killick became a physiological investigator to the Safety in Mines Research Board. Carbon monoxide, a colourless, odourless gas found in coal mines, is lethal for miners in unventilated spaces. Her appointment stimulated a lifelong investigation of the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning on blood and respiration. Her first paper concerned a related problem, the effect of increased inspiratory resistance—as would be experienced using a mask or breathing apparatus—on the pattern of breathing. In 1935 she became a lecturer in industrial medicine and hygiene in the University of Birmingham. It was here that ‘she gassed herself for science’ (Birmingham Gazette, 27 Aug 1941) by entering a sealed box for several hours at weekly intervals to expose herself to low levels of carbon monoxide. The results of the blood tests she had continually carried out on herself and one other subject during each experiment were published in papers in 1936 and 1948; they also contained an alarming account of loss of consciousness when the oxygen level in the lungs fell too low. Even when the inhalation of carbon monoxide was less traumatic Killick suffered nausea and persistent headaches, and her major review of carbon monoxide anoxaemia (published in Physiological Reviews, 20, 1940, 313–44) shows that she was well aware of the potential danger of sudden death. She demonstrated acclimatization lasting for many months, exemplified by a lessening of unpleasant symptoms and a reduced blood level of carbon monoxide for a given level of that inhaled. She was, however, an incessant cigarette smoker, which may have given her some degree of acclimatization to carbon monoxide before the experiments began. The human experiments were extended by studies on mice and cats to analyse processes accompanying the acclimatization.

On 28 July 1938 Killick married the distinguished physiologist Arthur St George Joseph McCarthy Huggett, (b. 1896/7), a widower, who was professor of physiology at St Mary's Hospital medical school. Killick moved to London and in 1939 became a lecturer in applied physiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Their daughters, Margaret and Jean, were born in 1940 and 1945. In 1941 Killick was appointed to the Sophia Jex-Blake chair of physiology at the London School of Medicine for Women (which in 1947 became the Royal Free Hospital school of medicine). She was evacuated to Exeter with the preclinical school from 1941 to 1943, at which time it returned to London, only to be damaged by a V2 bomb in 1945, .... Killick remained at the Royal Free Hospital medical school for the rest of her life, and helped to expand and redevelop the department after the war. She wrote an impassioned article on co-education in medicine in 1946, pointing out that equal opportunities for women involved not only their education, but also their equal claim to jobs, earning capacity, and professional renown........

In spite of teaching, examining, and administration, Killick continued her research. In 1959 she extended previous investigations on the treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning. Resuscitation attempts were made on dogs that were unconscious from excess carbon monoxide by ventilating them with different gas mixtures. A mixture of 95 per cent oxygen with 5 per cent carbon dioxide proved the most effective in displacing carbon monoxide from the blood because the carbon dioxide stimulated better ventilation than air or oxygen. Her published work consists of several original research papers, a review, and letters concerning medical education and remuneration of medically qualified teachers.

Killick's hobbies included alpine climbing and gardening. A slim, bird-like woman, she seemed reserved and detached to strangers but her colleagues experienced her warmth and vitality and her many acts of kindness. She died .... following a cerebral haemorrhage.

Though I am uncertain if she preferred her first or middle name before her professional use of her maiden name, it is clear that Killick did original and important research.