Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Patrick Manson worked in China for 23 years. His interest in tropical parasites made him a pioneer in the founding of the specialty of tropical medicine. Manson earned his MD from Aberdeen Medical School in 1865. His first medical appointment, as assistant medical officer at Durham County Mental Asylum, lasted one year. Manson's older brother was working in Shanghai and persuaded him to travel.

Manson was posted to Formosa (Taiwan) as medical officer for the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs in the southwestern port of Takao (Kaohsiung). It was Manson's responsibility to inspect ships and treat crews, which gave him ample opportunity to observe tropical diseases. He kept a careful diary and described elephantiasis, leprosy (Hansen's disease) and what he thought was heart disease but later learned was beriberi.

At end of 1870, Manson was caught in between a political dispute between Japan and China and on the...