BAYLISS, SIR WILLIAM MADDOCK English physiologist, only son of Moses Bayliss, iron manufac turer, was born at Wolverhampton, 1866. In 188i he entered University college, London, as a medical student, but preferring the pursuit of science to the practice of medicine, in 1885 he went to Oxford and continued to study physiology under his former teacher, Burdon Sanderson. In 1888 he returned to Lon don and worked in the physiological laboratories of University college, where he carried on his researches for 35 years. Freed by circumstances from the necessity of earning a livelihood he was able to devote himself entirely to scientific discovery.
Bayliss was one of the most distinguished physiologists of his generation. His researches covered a wide range and resulted in valuable discoveries, the more important being those on the electromotive phenomena associated with the heart's action, the nervous mechanisms controlling the activities of the viscera and of the circulation to the various parts of the body, the application of recently acquired knowledge of surface phenomena to physi ology and the discovery, in conjunction with Starling, of "secre tin," the hormone which excites the pancreas to secrete its diges tive juice when food is passing into the duodenum. During the World War he experimentally investigated the nature of wound shock and devised methods for treatment which were widely and successfully used and saved many lives. Bayliss' original con tributions to science appeared in the scientific journals devoted to physiology and biochemistry between the years 1890-1924. His Principles of General Physiology, published in 1914, had a world-wide influence and was regarded as the best exposition of the foundations of modern physiology. Bayliss' pre-eminence as a discoverer was suitably recognized by learned societies at home and abroad. In 1919 he received from the Royal Society the Copley Medal, the highest honour for philosophical researches, last given to a physiologist in 1739. He was knighted in 1922.