W. A. Potts

William Alexander Potts
Born	Rugby 1 May 1866
Died	23 July 1939 (1939-07-24) (aged 73) Edgbaston
Occupation(s)	Pharmacologist, medical writer

William Alexander Potts (1 May 1866 – 23 July 1939) M.D., M.R.C.S. was a British pharmacologist, physician and medical writer.

Potts was born at Rugby on 1 May 1866.^[1] He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge and University of Edinburgh. He graduated M.B. in 1895 and M.D. with honours in 1898.^[1]

Potts began his scientific career at East Riding Mental Hospital and later went into general practice where he remained for twenty years.^[2] He was resident medical officer at East Riding Mental Hospital, resident surgeon to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and resident physician to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.^[1] He was appointed chief medical investigator for the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-minded in 1906. Potts was active in promoting the passage of the Mental Deficiency Act 1913.^[1]

He was a medical adviser to Birmingham Mental Deficiency Committee and assisted the police courts with cases of mental deficiency. He was a medical adviser to the Royal Albert Institution.^[2] Potts was assistant lecturer in pharmacology at the University of Birmingham. Potts co-authored Mentally Deficient Children: Their Treatment and Training with G. E. Shuttleworth. The book was positively reviewed and went through many editions.^[3][4][5]

Potts died in Edgbaston.^[1]

Selected publications

• The Advantages of a Purin-Free Diet (1905)
• Notes on Purin-Free Diets (1906)
• The Feeding of Young Children (1906)
• A Purin-Free Dietary (1908)
• Mentally Deficient Children: Their Treatment and Training (1916)
• The Mentally Defective and the Unstable Brought Before the Courts (1920)
• Crime and Delinquency (1929)
• Mental Deficiency and Venereal Disease (1933)

References

1. "W. A. Potts, M.A., M.D.". The British Medical Journal. 2 (4099): 257. 1939. JSTOR 20304333.
2. "Dr. W. A. Potts" (PDF). Nature. 144 (3641): 275. 1939. doi:10.1038/144275b0.
3. W. F. B. (1916). "Mentally Deficient Children: Their Treatment and Training". Nature. 97 (2442): 499–500. doi:10.1038/097499b0. S2CID 3966915.
4. "Reviewed Work: Mentally Deficient Children, Their Treatment And Training by G. E. Shuttleworth, W. A. Potts". The British Medical Journal. 2 (3222): 603. 1922.
5. Gould, Miriam C. (1922). "Mentally Deficient Children: Their Treatment and Training". American Journal of Public Health. 12 (9): 781–782. doi:10.2105/AJPH.12.9.781. S2CID 6674727.