Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866) was an English physician, considered one of the most prominent pathologists of his time. Hodgkin described the disease that bears his name (Hodgkin's lymphoma) in 1832. It is a malignancy that produces enlargement of lymphoid tissue, spleen, and liver, with invasion of other tissues. His greatest contribution to the teaching of pathology was his work entitled, The Morbid Anatomy of Serous and Mucous Membranes (1829) which became a classic in modern pathology. Hodgkin's work marked the beginning of times when a pathologist was actively involved in the clinical process. Hodgkin was one of the earliest defenders of preventive medicine, having published On the Means of Promoting and Preserving Health in book form in 1841. Among other early observations were the first description of acute appendicitis, of the biconcave format of red blood cells and the and the striation of muscle fibers. He contracted dysentery while in Palestine and died in 1866.