Thomas Southwood Smith, an English physician, born at Martock, Somersetshire, Dec. 21, 1788, died in Florence, Italy, Dec. 10, 1861. He studied medicine at the university of Edinburgh, and settled in the country, but in 1820 removed to London, and was one of the founders of the " Westminster Review." His work on "The Use of the Dead to the Living," reprinted from the earlier numbers of the " Review," was instrumental in the passage by parliament of the anatomy act, which put an end to the business of "resurrection." In 1824 ho was appointed physician to the London fever hospital, and somewhat earlier to the eastern dispensary. In 1832 he was one of the commissioners to inquire into the condition of factory children, and his report led to the passage of the factory act. In 1838 ho presented to the poor-law commissioners the first of a series of reports on the "Physical Causes of Sickness and Mortality which are capable of Removal by Sanitary Regulations." This led to the appointment of a sanitary committee by the house of commons in 1810, and of the health of towns commission in 1842. Dr. Smith was appointed in 1840 a commissioner to inquire into the condition of children and young persons in the mines and factories not reached by the factory act, and his reports induced the exclusion of young children and women from mining labor.

In 1847, as one of the metropolitan sanitary commissioners, he made a report on the means requisite for the improvement of the health of the metropolis, of which the result was the public health act of 1848 and the establishment of a general board of health. On its abolition he received a pension of £300. His principal works are: "Illustrations of the Divine Government" (Glasgow, 1814; 5th ed., London, 1866); "Treatise on Fever" (1830), long a standard with the profession; and " The Philosophy of Health" (2 vols. 12mo, 1835-'7; 12th ed., 1868).