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MEMORIALS OF
THE FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

OF GLASGOW

PUBLISHED BY

JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, GLASGOW,
|)ubliskerB to the ambersitB.

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED, LONDON.
New York^ - - MacfHilla7i and Co.
London, - - - Sitnpkin, Ha^niltoii and Co.
Cambridge, - - JMacmillan and Bowes.
Edinburgh, ■ ■ Douglas and Foulis.

MDCCCXCVI.

.rU,t-oqi.a-.T^™ brT&E. Aiiiuui & Goiia, fe.ni « Painlmi^ .» tha p-inuoasnau at'tlic K«cully -M" i-'JiysLciuiia & Sniijtwu^. Gi^cjo-.

ETiK [PETEHJ LiWE

MEMORIALS

OF THE

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

OF GLASGOW^

1599-1850

WITH A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL
AND OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN THE WEST OF SCOTLAND

ALEXANDER DUNCAN, B.A.Lond.

SECRETARY AND LIBRARIAN OF THE FACULTY

GLASGOW

JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS

^ublishtrs to ilu ©nibttsttg

1896

115

PREFACE

The writer of even the local memorials of such a calling as that of the
healing art is at some disadvantage should he happen not to be a
member of it. On some matters his point of view is apt to be a little
different from that of the man specially initiated into the mysteries of the
craft. In the preparation of these pages the sense of this disadvantage
has often been felt by the writer, even although he has been closely
connected with the Faculty in Glasgow for over thirty years. His only
apology indeed for putting his hand to the work at all is that it seemed
a thing sooner or later to be done, and he saw no likelihood of the task
being undertaken by any of the present Fellows. In their relation to
such an undertaking the members of the medical profession generally may
be placed in two categories — those who have much professional work to
do, and those who have little. The former have rarely adequate time to
devote to work of the kind ; the latter, who are often juniors, have
seldom much taste for it.

A considerable part of this memoir was written about twenty years ago,
and a few words may be necessary to explain the circumstances under
which its preparation was undertaken, and why it only now sees the light,
at a time when many of those who interested themselves in its inception
have passed away.

In 1869 the late Dr. William Weir handed over to the Faculty a MS.

of considerable size consisting of copious extracts from the Minute Books

of the Faculty, connected by a thread of comments and reflections of his

Up own. It had not been written with any view to publication, and indeed

in the letter presenting it he expressly stated that " the printing of

PREFACE

such a large mass is out of the question." The document was how-
ever fitted to serve a useful purpose as a key to the Minute Books,
rendering their contents more available for reference, and also as a kind of
annotated digest of these records. A year or two later the writer was
requested in quite an unofficial way by the late Dr. J. G. Fleming, the
then President, to carefully look into the record books, with such aid as
Dr. Weir's MS. might afford, with a view to ascertain how far they really
contained the materials of a fairly complete, but condensed historical sketch
of the corporation. On this being done, it was found that the earliest
Minute Book (1602-81) was not only extant but readily available, a
transcription of it from the crabbed caligraphy of the original having been
made by Mr. William Hill, LL.D., Clerk of the Faculty, himself an adept
in Glasgow archaeology; that the second Minute Book (1681-1733) was
awanting, having been accidentally destroyed by fire last century, under
circumstances stated in the text ; and that from the latter part of 1733
onwards, the set of Minute Books was unbroken.

It did not require a prolonged examination to make it evident that
for anything approaching to an adequate sketch it would be necessary to
largely supplement the information in the official Records by gatherings
from outside sources. The early Minutes are often bald, and not always
self-interpreting, and for over fifty years, a sixth part of the entire period
of the Faculty's existence, they are awanting altogether. Further, the
Minute Books are concerned only with the doings of the calling as a
corporate body, and yield no information as to the personal history
of the members. To other quarters therefore it was necessary to turn ;
and the gleanings from these occasionally referred to medical affairs
or movements not directly connected with the Faculty. The notion
accordingly took shape of so enlarging the scope of the memoir as to
make it a historical sketch, imperfect though it might be, of Glasgow in its
medical aspects, instead of, as at first contemplated, strictly limiting it
to the doings of the corporate body first charged with the regulation of
the calling in the City and Western Counties.

In casting about for the materials of information outside the Faculty
Records, the most obvious and likely sources were the volumes of the
published Records of the Town Council of Glasgow, Those consulted
were — Burgh Records of the City of Glasgow, 1573-81 (Maitland Club, 1832);
Memorabilia of the City of Glasgow (i 585-1750), reprinted for private circulation

PREFACE vii

in 1868; Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, 1 573-1642
(Scottish Burgh Records Society, 1876); Extracts from the Burgh Records of
Glasgow, 1 6 3 o- 1 6 6 2 {Ibid. 1 8 8 1 ).

A search through these brought to light the points of early contact between
the Town Council and the Faculty or their members. An examination
kindly permitted by Dr. (now Sir James) Marwick, Town Clerk, was also
made of the MS. volumes of the Minutes of the Town Council from about
1 700- 1 722, chiefly with a view to elucidate the disputes within the Faculty
which resulted in the renunciation of the Letter of Deaconry by the surgeons
in 17 19 and their consequent separation from the barbers. In this way
the hiatus in the Minute Books of the Faculty was made somewhat less
serious ; and the gap was still further diminished by information afforded by
a careful examination of a number of documents, printed and manuscript, in
the possession of the Faculty. The various histories of Glasgow from M'Ure
downward were of course laid under contribution, as were other works likely
to contain local medical references, such as the Munimenta of the University,
and other publications of the Maitland Club ; whilst some of the histories of
the counties of Ayr, Dumbarton, Renfrew, etc., and those of some of their
chief towns, were occasionally of assistance in reference to medical men
outside the city.

As regards the present century, the materials made use of, as being the
most serviceable and interesting for the purpose, were nearly all obtained
from sources outside the Faculty Minutes. The voluminous printed documents
in the lawsuit raised by the Faculty against certain medical graduates, and
later in that of the University and its Masters of Surgery against the Faculty,
were examined to bring out the various points in these suits, the latter of
which may be said to have been a cause celebre. From the Records of the
Glasgow Royal Infirmary, an inspection of which was kindly permitted by
Mr. Henry Lamond, clerk of the institution, was obtained, among other
things, the information centering round the subject of Clinical Teaching in
that hospital. The sources of the materials for the sketch of the rise and
progress of the Glasgow Medical School are generally stated in the footnotes
unless they are too obvious to require definite references.

To the Faculty Clerk, Dr. William H. Hill, already mentioned, thanks are
due for some notes on the visitations of the plague in Glasgow, which were
utilized in the chapter on the early " Epidemiology " of the City ; whilst some
interesting " Notanda anent the Glasgow Poor " by the same gentleman,

viii PREFACE

which could not well be assimilated in the text, have been given in
Appendix V.

That the monograph of Dr. James Finlayson on Dr. Peter Lowe was at
hand, if not in the preparation, at least on the revision of the chapter on
that surgeon, is sufficiently obvious on the face of it ; and to other obligations
in connection with this work Dr. Finlayson has added that of placing at the
service of the publishers the portrait of the subject of his memoir reproduced
from the painting in the Faculty Hall.

The inclusion of an annotated Roll of Members did not enter into the
original plan of the book. Had the suggestion of this addition come earlier
it would have so far modified the arrangement of the materials as to preclude
the repetition of any statements or references in the "Roll" which had appeared
in the text. Under the actual circumstances some iteration could not
altogether be prevented without recasting the whole. When the name of
the wife of a member is given, it is usually taken from the list of widows
in the Records of the Widows' Fund of the Faculty. To Mr. W. Innes
Addison, of the University, acknowledgment is due for his kindness in giving
and verifying many dates of graduation in the " Roll."

On a review made of the whole materials after they were fairly well in
hand and had to a considerable extent been put into shape, it appeared to
the writer very doubtful whether the story as he had pieced it together
was one of such general interest as to make it worth giving to the public.
In view of this doubt the work was thrown aside for a good many years.
Later consideration, taking perhaps a more hopeful tinge from the views of
others, suggested that the lapse of years would probably rather help to
dissipate the materials collected than to greatly add to them ; and that the
publication of these memorials now, though it might serve no other end,
would so far be a contribution to local history. It is, however, mainly
owing to the friendly insistence of the late President of the Faculty,
Dr. David Yellowlees, and to the desire of the Fellows for its publication
as formally expressed in their Minute of 3rd June, 1895, O" hearing
a report by a small committee they had appointed to advise on this point,
that the work now sees the light.

The question of the date to which these Memorials should be brought
down was not settled without some hesitation. In fixing the middle of
the present century as the line, the dominant consideration was, that it
was obviously very undesirable to extend the limit down to a period in

PREFACE

which men now living would to any extent figure as the actors in the
transactions recorded. The date was, however, not made absolute, but only
kept in view as a landmark which might be worked up to, but not far
passed. As far as the history of the Faculty proper is concerned, the
events recorded have been kept fairly well within the limit. Indeed, it
would have been no easy task to invest with interest to the present
generation the subject matter of not a few of the Minutes of many years
anterior to the passing of the Medical Act of 1858, which practically
abolished local jurisdiction all over the country. The kaleidoscopic views
of medical politics and medical reform as exhibited in the records of the
endless negotiations, deputations, reports of committees, abortive medical
bills, and schemes to set the medical world right were no doubt of absorbing
interest to some of the fathers of the Faculty of that period. To the
present generation of the Fellows the tale would be " stale, flat, and un-
profitable."

That these Memorials are in no sense official will perhaps sufficiently
appear on the face of them. For neither statement of fact nor expression
of opinion is any one responsible except the writer. Inaccuracies and
errors of judgment will doubtless be found in the book, but the burden
of them must rest on the proper shoulders. The plan which invests the
writer with the sole personal responsibility for what he says has the com-
pensating advantage of divesting him of official trammels and leaving him
perfect freedom in the expression of his opinions, a liberty of which he
has not hesitated to avail himself

To the obligations already acknowledged here or in the body of the
work, there must be added the very great indebtedness to the three gentlemen.
Dr. James Finlayson, Dr. John Glaister, and Dr. John Lindsay Steven, who,
on the suggestion of the writer, were nominated by the Faculty to act
as a committee of consultation during the preparation of the book for
publication.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
Introductory ... i

CHAPTER II
Old Glasgow— Sanitation and Epidemiology 7

CHAPTER III
Early Glasgo\v Mediciners - 17

CHAPTER IV
Dr. Peter Lowe - - 21

CHAPTER V
The Faculty : Charter and Inauguration 39

CHAPTER VI
The Faculty in the Seventeenth Century - - 47

CHAPTER VII
The Faculty in the Seventeenth Century {continued) 58

CHAPTER VIII
The Faculty in the Seventeenth Century {contimied) 66

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER IX
The Faculty at the End of the Seventeenth Century 77

CHAPTER X
The Contest between the Surgeons and Barbers, 1700- 1722 - - - - 83

CHAPTER XI
The Faculty in the Eighteenth Century 91

CHAPTER XII
The Faculty in the Eighteenth Century {contmtied) 98

CHAPTER XIII
Glasgow Medical Men of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries - no

CHAPTER XIV
The Rise of the Glasgow Medical School 124

CHAPTER XV
The Faculty and the Medical Charities of Glasgow 136

CHAPTER XVI

The Faculty and the Medical Charities and other Institutions of

Glasgow 144

CHAPTER XVII
The Faculty in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century - - - 153

CHAPTER XVIII
A Long Lawsuit 162

CHAPTER XIX
The Glasgow Medical School {contimied) 171

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER XX PAc,^

Glasgow Medical Societies and Clubs 187

CHAPTER XXI

Early Glasgow Medical Bibliography and Journalism 199

CHAPTER XXII

The Faculty Library 211

The Names of such Worthie Persons as have Gifted Books to the

Chierurgions Librarie in Glasgow 216

APPENDICES

I. Charter by King James VI. to the Faculty of Physicians and

Surgeons of Glasgow 217

II. General Signet Letters, the Surgeons of Glasgow against the

Magistrates, and all and sundry 219

III. Letter of Deaconry 223

IV. Ratification of King James' Charter to the Faculty of Physicians

AND Surgeons of Glasgow 225

V. Notanda anent the Glasgow Poor 226

VI. Act for Regulating the Faculty 229

VII. Roll of Members, 1599-1851 232

VIII. Roll of Honorary Members and Fellows 293

INDEX 295

ILLUSTRATIONS

Dr. Peter Lowe- ------- frontispiece

PAGE

Facsimile of Minute of First Meeting, 3RD June, 1602, ----- 48
Facsimile of Signatures to Minute of 8th November, 1733, - - - - 96
Faculty Hall, 1791-1860 104

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

The history of the medical profession in Glasgow differs in one respect
from that of other medical centres of the British Islands. In London,
Edinburgh, and Dublin, physicians and surgeons were organized in different
colleges.^ In Glasgow, the practitioners of the two great branches of the
healing art were from a fairly early period united in one corporation. How
this distinction arose need not here be discussed ; but no special credit can
be claimed for the West of Scotland in having recognized thus early the
essential unity of medicine.

That this unity existed as far back as the origin of the healing art can
be traced seems beyond question. At the period of Hippocrates, and long
after, it is evident that medicine and surgery were one. By the time of
Galen, in the second century, there are indications of a beginning of the
separation of the offices of physicians and surgeons, at all events in Rome.
But it was not till all the functions of the practitioners of the art of healing
had been assumed by ecclesiastics, about the seventh century, that the way
was paved for the eventual disruption of medicine from surgery. In the
condition of society then existing this usurpation of office was by no means
an unmixed evil. If the cleric was but poorly fitted to treat disease, it must
be admitted that whatever rivals he had were, as a rule, still worse equipped
for the office than himself. The Jews, it is true, had a hereditary know-
ledge of simples and leech-craft, and some of them were learned physicians ;
but the pariah condition of this despised race injuriously affected the range
of their usefulness. Of mediciners of all kinds there was no lack. Every
country in Europe was overrun with charlatans and pretenders to medical
secrets, possessing, as a rule, very little knowledge of disease, or of the powers

^ About 1421, the physicians and surgeons of London were united in one faculty; but
the union does not appear to have lasted long. (South's Craft of Surgery, Introd. xi. ;
also 52.)

2 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

of the medicaments with which they combated it. The ecclesiastic had, at
his worst, a Httle Latin, and, at his best, could read it fluently ; and by
means of this, the common language of the literate class, he could collect
recipes and acquire useful information ; and on the Revival of Letters he
could, by the same key and by the aid of Greek, unlock the storehouse of the
ancients. For conserving and propagating knowledge the organization and
discipline of the church were also of service.

For centuries then the cleric treated all manner of diseases, internal and
external. Nor did the clerical practitioner neglect to exact his fees.
Physicking the body was often more remunerative than ministering to the
soul. The monks especially took kindly to medicine, often making long
excursions for the purpose of finding patients. At last the ecclesiastic
seems to have devoted himself to the work of preparing for and practising
his medical duties so ardently that it was alleged he was apt to forget
his prescribed religious obligations. At this open preference of physic to
divinity the church took alarm. Various edicts were issued with a view
to limit the range of their medical work; and, in 12 15, an edict of
Pope Innocent IIL debarred ecclesiastics from performing any operation
involving the shedding of blood. But the aphorism, " Ecclesia abhorret
a sanguine," expressed rather the pretext than the reason of this new
departure. Coincident with this pious horror of blood, another feeling
prompted the churchman to withdraw from the practice of surgery. The
spirit of feudalism had drawn a line, deep and sharply cut, between the
gentleman and the handicraftsman. Manual labour, from which the worker
derived his subsistence, became the badge of an inferior class. Surgery was
now regarded as simply a manual art ; its deep and essential relations to
medicine were to a large degree lost sight of

But though debarred from the practice of surgery, the churchmen saw no
valid reason why they should not share in the emoluments accruing therefrom.
They accordingly hit upon the expedient of sending a deputy in surgical
cases from among their own retainers. Of all the servants of the monastery
his special duties pointed out the barber as the most fitting substitute.
Already he had some of the training of a cunning leech. In phlebotomy
he was skilful ; and this depleting operation was universal, and, indeed,
periodically obligatory on monks. Cold applications to the shaven head
was a favourite treatment for not a few diseases ; and in the tonsure of crowns,
which in those days was a work of art regulated by canon, the monastic
barber was an adept.

The change was not, therefore, in all respects the worse for the patient.
If less cultured in mind, the barber was more cunning in hand than his
monkish masters. With his functions thus widely enlarged he emancipated
himself by degrees, and gained a position of comparative independence.
Hence there eventually arose throughout Europe, in the twelfth and

INTRODUCTORY 3

thirteenth centuries, a new class of craftsmen : men who wielded the lancet
and the knife equally with the scissors and the razor ; cunning in the
application of ointments, plasters, and baths ; blending suppleness and
humility often with inordinate conceit.

Such appears to have been the mode of evolution of that, perhaps to us
the oddest of all figures in later mediaeval society — the barber-surgeon, a
figure which did not finally disappear from Europe till the beginning of the
present century.^

By the end of the twelfth century surgery then had been divorced from
medicine over Western Europe. For the next century and a half the new
class of practitioners exercised both the arts of surgery and barbery, even
the royal surgeon being no exception.^ But as time went on forces came
into play which tended to resolve this singular conglomerate into its
original elements, though the process of resolution was often slow. Differ-
ences amongst various craftsmen in the matter of manual dexterity, of
boldness, of acquired information, and of natural fitness, pointed out some
as best adapted for the higher, and others for the lower, sphere of
handicraft work. Of the composite craft, some members evinced such a
deftness in operative surgery as to raise them above the necessity of
wielding the brush and razor. The necessities of military service in those
days of constant fighting also stimulated the formation of a grade of
surgeons superior to the ordinary barber. Later on, the traditions of the
pre-mediaeval epoch, when medicine and surgery were looked on as an
indivisible unity, must have contributed to the separation of the two crafts.
It is probable that the process of resolution would have been considerably
accelerated, at all events in the British Islands, but for the drag placed
on the natural movement of events by the conservative tendency of the
trades-guilds, or corporations.

The guilds of craftsmen appear to have been called into existence
partly for the observance of religious rites, and partly by the powerful
instinct of self-preservation. In the rude state of society the clash of con-
flicting forces was so great that it was only by union that class interests
could be effectually protected. But once originated, the utility of the
guilds for other purposes than self-defence was manifested. They formed

1 In 1801 some English assistant surgeons, on joining the Swedish navy, found that one
of the duties required of them was to shave the ship's company. On declining to undertake
this duty, they were summarily dismissed the service. In the Peninsular war, shaving was
included among the duties of the Portuguese army surgeons. (Millingen's Curiosities of
Medical Experience, 11. 13.)

2 Thus, in 1443, in a patent issued for the naturalization of Michael Belwell, surgeon
to Henry VI., he is designated "Valettus et Sirurgicus Noster." In a warrant issued to two
other surgeons of the same monarch, in 1454, named Wareyn and Marshall, amongst their
necessary duties is enumerated capitis ramra. (Rymer^s Foedera, XI. 18, 347).

4 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

what was greatly needed, a centre or bond of organization for each calling,
by means of which the common affairs of the members of the craft could
be regulated. As regards the guilds having relation to the healing art,
things shaped themselves somewhat differently in different countries. In
Paris the surgeons appear to have separated themselves from the barbers at
a much earlier period than in this country, and were incorporated into a
" Confraire," or College, in 1268. In the same century the Faculty of
Medicine of Paris, which was an academic foundation of physicians, took
its origin ; while the barbers who practised surgery formed, for a con-
siderable period, a third party.

The records of the quarrels of the first two of these bodies have formed
the theme of a good deal of literature. The barbers were at one time taken
under the wing of the surgeons, at another adopted by the physicians,
played off by the Faculte against St. Come (as the " Confrairie," or
College of Surgeons, was familiarly called), which in turn used them
to " dish " the physicians. It was a long-continued struggle on the part
of the surgeons to emancipate themselves from the thraldom of the
physicians.

In regard to the British Islands, the barbers of London appear to
have existed as a Guild in 1308, and as a Livery Guild in 1387.^ In
1462 they were incorporated not only as barbers but as surgeons by Edward
IV., under the style of " The Masters or Governors of the Mystery or
Commonality of Barbers of the City of London, using the Mystery or
Faculty of Surgery."^ But besides the barber-surgeons there existed in
London a fellowship of barbers who practised surgery only, its members
having probably been trained in camps. These two societies were con-
joined by an Act of Parliament in 1540. The barbers were incorporated
in Dublin in 1446, and in 1572^ united into a Barber-Surgeons'
Company. In Edinburgh the surgeons were incorporated by a municipal
"Seal of Cause" in 1505, this being confirmed next year by a
grant from James IV. The surgeons were formally disjoined from the
barbers in London in 1745 ' i^i Dublin the Barber-Surgeons' Company
was dissolved by a Reform Act in 1 840 ; * while in Edinburgh, as in
Glasgow, as we shall see, the formal separation of surgery from barbery
took place in 17 19. But in all these cities the actual had doubtless
preceded the formal and legal separation by many years ; barber-surgeons
had been resolved into barbers and surgeons, and the somewhat ludicrous
incongruity of the corporate union had been in most cases fully realized.

^ South, op. cit., 15, 75.

2 This title, however, seems to be obtained only by coalescing the different titles in the
Charter. (See Young's Aim. of the Barber-Surgeons, 55.)

3 Cameron's History of the Royal College of Surgeons i7i Ireland, 60.
•* Cameron, op. cit., 89.

INTRODUCTORY

In England, probably much about the same time as witnessed the
separation of surgery from medicine, there happened a fur<-her specialization
of office. Men who devoted themselves specially to the composition of
drugs and the study of the materia medica, took rank as a separate class
of apothecaries. They were incorporated in 1606, and some of them, in course
of time, began to prescribe as well as to dispense their medicines ; but it
was not till the present century that they blossomed out into a corporate
body with power to license throughout England and Wales, both as regards
the preparation and administration of drugs. The apothecary thus became
the complement to the surgeon, the two united in one person being the
general practitioner. In Scotland the case was different. The surgeon and
apothecary were not necessarily disjoined ; on the contrary, they were
usually united in the same individual, who was known officially as a
chirurgeon-apothecary, though it often happened that, either from choice
or necessity, som.e limited themselves to the duties of pharmacists only.

As regards medicine, a few words will suffice for our present purpose to
explain the course of events. Long after the cleric was debarred from the
practice of surgery, he was permitted and continued — in England under
Parliamentary enactment — to practise physic; and even so late as 15 12,
six years before the Royal College of Physicians of London was incorporated,
the Bishop of London was still placed at the head of a board, with
authority to call to his assistance four physicians for examining purposes.
But it became clear with the advance of time that the two characters of
cleric and physician would be better disjoined. On the separation being
accomplished, it was however .still recognized that the doffing of his
ecclesiastical character did not exempt the physician from the necessity of
having the liberal academic training of the best of the churchmen. The
would-be physician became thus the student of the University, from which
he took his degree. Socially he was recognized as in a different grade
from the surgeon. In feudal eyes the latter ranked as only a handi-
craftsman, the former as a gentleman. A similar distinction marked their
qualifications to practise. The surgeon's membership or master's grade
involved a license to practise within prescribed limits. The physician's
degree was an honorary academic distinction, implying general culture and
a scientific knowledge of medicine, but conditioned by no territorial
restrictions, and conferring no right to reap, or, at all events, to legally
recover, the rewards of practice. In Scotland, however, although there
had been in the sixteenth century attempts to teach medicine at St. Mary's
College, St. Andrews, and perhaps with better success at Aberdeen, there
was no proper medical faculty in any of the Universities, and virtually no
medical teaching, till the last quarter of the seventeenth century. When
the elder Scaliger visited Scotland about the middle of the sixteenth
century, he states that it did not contain more than one regular practitioner

6 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

of medicine ; but fifty years later the number had probably considerably
increased.

If now we take the end of the sixteenth century as a definite epoch
for the purpose of a rapid survey of the condition of Scotland in matters
medical, a few sentences will suffice to describe it. A few of the larger
towns had one and some of them possibly two physicians. These had
been educated abroad, generally in Italy, France, or later in the Low
Countries. Of what were in Italy and Paris called gown-surgeons — that is,
surgeons who did not "barbourize" — there were very few, and of these some,
like the physicians, had got their training or acquired their experience on
the Continent. The general practitioner of the period was the barber-surgeon ;
and there being no medical schools in the country it was necessary to go
abroad to obtain any education as a mediciner other than that of the
barber-surgeon's apprentice. Fortunately there was little difficulty in the
Scottish student finding facilities for his education on the Continent, especially
in France. The existence of a special law, which was ratified in 1599 by
Henry IV., for the naturalization of Scotchmen in France, often tempted
them even to settle in that country permanently, or for a considerable
period ; and some of them there rose to eminence. Thus Henry Blackwood,
a doctor-regent of the Paris Faculty of Medicine, attained to the dignity of
being Dean of that learned body ; while Peter Lowe, as will be seen in
another chapter (IV.), was one of the Surgeons in Ordinary of Henry IV.

In addition to the physicians, the barber-surgeons, and the barbers who
practised surgery only, all of whom may be regarded as the regularly qualified
practitioners at this period, there was a motley array of nondescripts, many
of them specialists of a kind, nearly all of them very ignorant, who swarmed
all over the country.

CHAPTER II

OLD GLASGOW— SANITATION AND EPIDEMIOLOGY

A RAPID glance at the general condition of Glasgow in the closing years
of the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries may be of
use in giving a clearer apprehension of the specially medical aspects of
the burgh.

The position of the medical profession in Glasgow during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries will not be properly appreciated unless it is borne
in mind that up to the beginning of the present century it was not a town
of great size, and in the earlier part of the period may be described as
almost insignificant. The population of the town and suburbs in the year
1600 does not appear to have much exceeded seven thousand. As regards
wealth, less than half a century earlier (1556) it seems to have held only
the eleventh place amongst the Scottish towns,^ and at the end of the
century the relative proportion would be little altered. It consisted mainly
of one considerable street — High Street — crossed at its upper end by the
line of Rotten Row on the west, and Drygate on the east ; while similarly
at its southern extremity it was intersected by the line of the Trongate
and Gallowgate ; and had extended also southward to the Clyde, probably
in a straggling way, by the line of Saltmarket and Stockwell. Numerous
narrow " wynds " branched off from both sides of the main lines. The
general style of the houses would now be reckoned mean and inconvenient.
They were mostly built of wood, the booths or shops, if sometimes of stone,
were faced with wood, the roof covering usually being of thatch. The
houses were pierced at often oddly irregular intervals by windows, nearly
always of small size. To most of the houses there were gardens at the
back. The " Hie Kirk " or Cathedral, beside it the Archbishop's palace
enclosed in its garden, the College in High Street, and near it the Blackfriars
Kirk, a noble pile of great antiquity, were amongst the principal buildings.

^ Gibson's History of Glasgow, 78.

8 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

The town was in a sense enclosed, the regular entrance being made through
various " ports " or gates ; but there was no surrounding wall. In point
of status and municipal liberty Glasgow held an inferior position to the
royal burghs. At the beginning of the seventeenth century it was still
only a bishop's burgh, owing fealty to the head of the See* or the temporal
barons who succeeded. It had not the power of nominating its own
magistrates.

But the matter of greatest medical interest is the sanitary aspect of the
city. In this respect Glasgow appears to have compared favourably with
some other Scottish towns of which we obtain glimpses ; yet the light
thrown by the Town Council Records on the condition of the burgh shows
many dark spots. Not long before the period we have named we find
that butchers killed cattle on the street, and dungsteads lay at the very doors
of the houses. It is little wonder therefore that filth diseases were common.
Leprosy also was so prevalent that at the chief courts regular lists of those
affected were delivered to the magistrates, whose duty it was to issue orders
for their seclusion. To receive the victims of this loathsome malady a
hospital had been erected on the south bank of the river in St. Ninian's croft,
somewhere near the bottom of the present Hospital Street.

Tradition concedes to Marjory Stuart, " Lady Lochow," the honour of
founding and endowing this lazar house about 1350.^ To the "poor liper
folk " in this hospital, described as "being at the south side of the bridge at
Glasgow," we find John Painter, probably the first master of the " Sang Scule,"
bequeathing the sum of 20s.^ The duty of taking cognizance of the lepers,
visiting them and making returns of their number and names to the
Michaelmas head court of the burgh devolved oddly enough on the Water
Bailie.^ It does not appear why this particular magistrate was singled out
for the disagreeable duty. Possibly it was that his name was lowest on
the list. The Clyde in those days was no doubt very different from
what it is now, but even then its waters, comparatively fresh from the
sanctifying influences of its Patron Saint, could hardly have been credited
with the healing virtues of the Jordan. The order of notice respecting
the " Lipper folks " in the Town Council Records usually is that they
are first " delatit as Liper," i.e. legally accused or informed upon as being
infected with the disease, and thereupon ordained to be visited, and if found
leprous to be " secludit of the town to the hospital at the brig end."* Not
only the Town Council but the Presbytery of Glasgow took cognizance of
the disease when occurring within their bounds.^ Thus in December, 1599,

^ M'Ure's History of Glasgow, 2nd edition, 52.

^ Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society^ Vol. i. 159.

■■'Town Council Records, ist May, 1582 ; 20th October, 1588 ; 7th October, 1589.

^Minutes of 19th Januaiy, 1573; 17th January, 1575.

•'' Maitland Club Miscellany^ Vol. i. 407.

OLD GLASGOW— SANITATION AND EPIDEMIOLOGY g

they refused to allow a man to contract marriage from his being contaminated
with leprosy.^ The dread of the disease was very great. The husband
sometimes denounced his stricken wife as the victim of the malady. An
instance of this occurs in the Presbytery Records, in which the husband who
gave in the " lamenting," or complaint, had been shortly before dealt with
by the Presbytery for marital infidelity.^

From their retreat on the south bank of the river the lepers were permitted
under certain stringent conditions to issue forth to the town for the purpose
of soliciting alms. They were at this period clad in a gown with hood,
and sleeves closed to the finger-tips. To give warning of their approach
they were provided with " clappers," which they were obliged to rattle as
they went along. A Town Council edict of 1 6 1 o ( i oth October) ordains
" that the lipper of the hospital sail gang onlie upon the calsie syde near
the gutter, and sail haife clipperis, and ane claith upon their mouth and face,
and sail stand afar of qll they resaif almous, or answer under the payne of
banischeing from the toun and hospitall." From other sources we learn that
the contagion was at that time believed to reside chiefly in their pestilential
breath. The resemblance, in some respects, of the municipal statutes regard-
ing the leper to the provisions of the Mosaic code will strike the reader.
' And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his
head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry.
Unclean, unclean."^

By the middle of the seventeenth century it is evident from the Town
Council Records that the Leper house v/as not much made use of, the order
of the magistrates being usually limited to the seclusion of the lepers in their
own houses. As late as December, 1662, however, a man was sent to the
retreat at the Brigend.^ Though not confined to any one class of the com-
munity, there is some evidence to show that the disease drew its largest
share of victims from those in humble circumstances. There is little
evidence in the Records bearing on its mode of propagation. In one case
at least two, and possibly three sisters are named as stricken with the
malady.^ Bearing in mind the size of the burgh at this time, the number
of lepers was not inconsiderable. About the end of the sixteenth century
the annual lists handed in at the Michaelmas Courts amounted usually to
about four or five; and we find that in the latter part of 1589 there
were six lepers in the hospital.^

^ MS. Copy of Presbytery Minutes^ Vol. i., Pt. ill., 141, December, 1599.
^ Ibid., Vol. I., Pt. v., 354, 381, 382, 383, 388. Maitland Club Miscellany, i. 407.
^Leviticus, chap. xiii. 45.

"^ Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, 1630- 1662, 498.
'"Ibid, 1573-1642, I, 35,91.

^Memorabilia of Glasgow, 27 ; Cleland's Statistical Facts, 1837, 22. For other references
see Journal of Cutan. Med., iv. 207 ; Proc. Philos. Soc. of Glasgow, xil. 5.

lO FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

But by the old burghers of Glasgow there was a disease more dreaded
even than leprosy. The baleful shadow of the " pest," as the Plague was
usually called, lay on all classes, rich and poor alike. If less loathsome
than leprosy, it was far more desolating in its effects. It attacked the town
several times ; but Glasgow appears to have sometimes escaped when the
plague was raging all around. In 1330 it seems to have visited the burgh,^
while the Chartulary of Glasgow shows that it appeared again in 1350, and
it returned in 1380.^ The Records of the burgh show that it visited Scotland
in 1574, and that the townsmen were on the watch, especially as regards
the eastern seaports. The " statutes " which the Town Council enacted to
avert the danger on this occasion were certainly strong and exacting ; but
they hardly deserve the sweeping encomium of Mr, John Smith, youngest,
that " Our Boards of Health at the present day, under the afflicting dispensa-
tion of cholera, have not, it is believed, ever drawn up a more judicious,
precise, and comprehensive body of instructions and orders."^ As regards
measures having reference to searching, visitation, isolation, and quarantine,
this statement is perhaps not too strong, but the only approach to measures
of sanitation was " Item, Ordanis ye sculehouss wynd, and all ye vennallis
to be simply condampnit and stekit up."^

In 1584 the burghs on the Fife coast were again under suspicion, and
men were appointed to watch the various entries to the town. The alarm had
in no way subsided by next year, a number of the burgesses leaving the town.^
In 1588 the plague ravaged Paisley, and the Glasgow authorities were in
great alarm. They had again recourse to the most energetic measures of
quarantine, and to some small extent of sanitation, completely stopping all
communication with the infected district. By these sensible measures the
danger for the time appears to have been averted. From the Records of the
Presbytery of Glasgow*" it appears that on 8th August, 1598, a fast day was
ordered " to be proponit ... for eschewing of the pest within this cuntrey."
In 1602 it is spoken of as in the town, and we learn incidentally that the
townsmen had taken to absenting themselves from church for fear of infection.

From the Records of the Presbytery '' we gather that marriages were
authorized to take place when the parties had not been proclaimed in the
parish church of Glasgow, but in Govan ; the reason being " thro' ye not
convening of ye people in yir perellous tymes of Godis jiigements, threatened
throut ye feir of ye pest."

In 1604 the old expedient of a fast of a week's duration was again
tried in face of a threatened invasion. " And y' for avoiding of God his

■• Cleland's Statistical Facts^ Appefidix, 22.

2 Gibson's History of Glasgow^ 72, 73.

^ Burgh Records of Glasgow, Maitland Club, Pref. Notice, xviii.

* Ibid., 27-30. 5 Minute, 9th October, 1585.

^Maitland Club Miscellany, Vol. I., Pt. I., 91. ''MS. Copy, Vol. I., Pt. I., 67.

OLD GLASGOW— SANITATION AND EPIDEMIOLOGY u

jugementis threatened on yis country be ye plague of pestilence for avoiding
his jugmentis qlk for ye sins of yis land he may send on ye fruitt of ye grund
qlk he has blassit in manis apperace abundatlie."^ Even the most stringent
rules of ecclesiastical discipline had to be relaxed in presence of the awful
pest. Thus in 1605'^ the Presbytery accepted as a sufficient reason for
granting baptism to an illegitimate child, instead of remitting the mother
back to be dealt with by her own presbytery, " because scho durst not resort
to Ly'gow q"" scho offendit for feir of ye pest of w^ ye bur' of Ly*gow is
pntlie (presently) visited." Next year^ we learn "Tryell being tane of the
seiknes in Archibald Muiris hous and Marioune Walker, his mother, and fund
to be the plaige," an order was given to ascertain " quha last frequentit
with hir and quhat scheraris schewr with hir " (what reapers reaped with
her). Pestiferous persons who declined to be " enclosit " were to be trans-
ported with the plague-stricken to the " Muir." Dogs and cats were to be
kept fast or hung, and strangers were to leave the town on pain of being
" enclosit " with the persons harbouring them. The Council voted " ane
hunderithe pundis of the reddiest of the taxatioune that is in his [a bailie's]
handis " for the sustenance of those on the muir.

But the most memorable epidemic of the plague was that which visited
Glasgow in 1645-46, and during that and perhaps the next two or three
years made terrible havoc amongst the townsmen. Almost from the first
the most determined efforts were made to stamp out the disease. Daily
house-to-house visitation was eventually adopted, and daily reports sent to
the magistrates of the sick.^ When the measures to arrest its progress
failed, it was resolved to have recourse to the old expedient of transporting
the infected out of the town to the muir. This muir is believed to have
comprised the waste lands of Sighthill, Seggieholm, and others in the district
to the north of the burgh. Intimation was to be made, " be touk of drum
that na manner of persone goe out to the muir quher the foull persones are
without leave of the magistratis, and to certify that those who on the
contraire schall be put out to the muir with the haill families they are in."

The prevailing terror invaded the academic precincts in High Street, the
University authorities migrating in a body to Irvine, where the Principal,
the regents, and the bursars of the College were boarded in 1645 and
part of 164.6. Local trade was almost at a standstill. Nearly all who
could leave the town appear to have done so. The burgh tollmen and
tacksmen had to beg off from the payments of their rents. " Comperit the
haill takismen of the mylne, laidells, tron, and brig, and intimat to the
Councell that in respect of the seiknes and visitatioune they could get

^Records of the Presbytery, 8th August, AIS. Copy, Vol. I., Pt. v., 97.
2/^., 17th August, Vol. I., Pt. v., 242.

'^ Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow , 20th September, 1606.
* Minute, 5th November, 1646.

12 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

naething of ther deuties." The burial of the dead was unaccompanied by
the usual rites. On I2th December, 1646, it was ordained "that ther be
na melting at lykwakes nor efter burrialls and that this be intimat by touk
of drume"

If such was the state of things in the burgh, who can imagine the
horrors of the plague-stricken banished to the bleak moor ? The time was
the depth of winter, their only shelter was " ludges made of daills and
spairs," with straw for their bedding. By 20th February, 1647, the visitation
of this miserable colony had assumed a systematic form. " James Robiesoune,
baxter, is maid choyce of to be visitour of the muire quhair the oncleane
fokes ar, and to set doune in a register all occurantes daylie anent the
infectioune, . . . and to tak notice of the graves." Frequent entries
also appear in the Treasurer's Accounts at this time ^ of disbursements for
supply of the poor on the muir, and for " coals, peitts, and strae," furnished
to them. On 17th July, the Councillors are appointed by turns for a
week to visit the muir, each selecting " an other honest man " to receive a
list of all in the muir, and to " disburse to James Robiesoune such money
as he sail requyre to sustean the puire on the muir, and to viseit the muir
tweiss or thryiss in the week," with other necessary duties of a similar kind.
Doctor Rae, possibly a physician reputed to have skill in the treatment
of the plague, is written for, but apparently does not come, and Dr. M'Cluir
is engaged, and on 26th July gets ten dollars "for bygane service to
incouradge him." From a subsequent minute it appears that John Hall,
the principal surgeon in Glasgow at that period, by arrangement with the
magistrates, gave his services to all and sundry gratuitously, being subsequently
paid by them as well for inspecting the bodies of the dead as for his care
of the living.^

Within the burgh it would appear that sanitary measures were prosecuted
with energy. There is a curious minute of loth March, 1647, in which the
bailies, with the aid of a hired man, are charged with the duty of removing
" suspect fulyie." In these days the honourable office of the magistracy was
clearly very far from a sinecure. One noteworthy result of the compulsory
removal of such large numbers of the citizens to the muir, was that the
magistrates found that they were obliged pro tempore to make payment of
their plague patients' debts.^ From some subsequent minutes we infer that
some amount of imposition had been practised by the " unclean " or their
friends. Thus on 13th March we find two men appointed to revise "the
compts debursit for lionest men the tyme they closit up for fear of infectioune."
Through the whole of the summer and autumn of 1647 the plague appears
to have been raging with virulence. As the College session drew near it

1 Minute, 29th May, 1647, etc.

2 Minutes of i8th September, 1647, and 26th August and 2nd October, 1648.
^Minute, 20th February, 1647.

OLD GLASGOW— SANITATION AND EPIDEMIOLOGY

was necessary to make some arrangement in regard to a temporary local
habitation till the plague abated. Irvine had probably been found incon-
venient on account of its distance from the city. Paisley was now selected
for the purpose, being clear of the pest, though its past reputation as a
plague-haunt was not good, and there the College authorities spent part of
the winter.^

On 22nd July, 1648, the pestilence was still on the increase; a daily
inspection of everybody in town was again arranged for ; and a proclamation
made by tuck of drum prohibiting the frequenting of taverns, or even idle
wandering through the streets. From the Town Council Records (for 1 2th
August, 1648) we learn that Glasgow was now in sore straits for money
for the maintenance of such numbers of the stricken poor. Accordingly
they agreed to call in a sum of two thousand marks, collected but not
expended some years before for a similar purpose, and now on loan to the
Earl of Wigtown. It was not till the following year that this terrible
visitation of plague appears to have come to an end in Glasgow.

In 1665, when the dreadful scourge made its memorable inroad on
London, and more than decimated the population, the Town Council Records
(3rd September) show that the people of Glasgow were alarmed and on
the watch. In the previous year even they were evidently on the alert,
the Master of Works having been ordered to repair the ports. This was
always done when they had reason to fear an outbreak, as if the magistrates
hoped to repel the impalpable infection of what with emphatic tautology
they call " the plague of pestilence " from their gates by the same measures
as they would the attack of an armed foe. The dreaded visitor, however,
did not make its appearance in Glasgow then or subsequently. Its sudden
disappearance not long after, not only from this country but from Western
Europe generally, has often been made the subject of remark, though scarcely
explained.^

It is worthy of note that the parts of the burgh which are still or
were recently the most obnoxious in a sanitary point of view, had even
in these early days acquired that unenviable notoriety as the hot-beds of
disease which has since given them a bad pre-eminence. Thus by minute
of the Town Council, 29th October, 1574, we find an order already
quoted, condemning and shutting up the Sculehouse Wynd. By a subse-
quent minute (31st October, 1588) "the Scuile Wynd, Lindsay's Port, the
Stinking Vennail," are particularized as bad localities, on the occasion of an
anticipated infection from Paisley.

During part of the period the pest was intermittently visiting the town,

^ Mackie's History of Paisley, 143. See also Mnnimetita Utiivcrsitatis Glasguetisis,
"I- 537-

^The cause of its sudden decline and extinction are discussed by Creighton {^History
of Epidemics in Britain^ w. 34, et scq.).

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

we get occasional glimpses of another plague which is generally associated
rather with moral than physical impurity. This was the "Glengore" (corrupted
from the French Grandgore, a la grande gorre, equivalent to a la grande mode),
a name by which the disease was known in Scotland alone of all the divisions
of the kingdom. As is well known the mode of introduction and rapid
propagation of this formidable affection has given rise to no small amount
of discussion and controversy amongst medical archaeologists. For our pur-
pose it is enough to say that within three years of the arrival of Columbus
at Palos from the New World, with which event the sudden outbreak of
syphilis in Southern Europe is usually associated, it had unmistakably
made its appearance in Scotland. The earliest notice of it we have is from
a minute of the Town Council of Aberdeen, dated 21st April, 1497. "The
said day it was statut and ordanit be the Alderman and Consale, for the
eschewin of the infirmitey cumm out of Tranche and Strang partis, that all
licht wemen be chargit and ordanit to decist fra thar vices and syne of
venerie, and all thar buthes and housis skalit, and thai to pass and wirk for
thar sustentacioun, vnder the payne of ane key of het yrne one thair cheekis
and banysene of the toune."^

As Sir James Simpson^ has pointed out, this Aberdeen edict has an interest
apart from its being the earliest notice of the presence of syphilis in Scotland,
Before 1500 no medical writer on the subject had even hinted that it had
any connection with the " syne of venerie." Yet, here in this northern Scottish
burgh, the astute municipal authorities had anticipated conclusions subse-
quently come to by the faculty. Six months after the Aberdeen edict the
Scottish Privy Council issued the oft-quoted " Grangore Act," which ordained
all the inhabitants of Edinburgh affected with the disease to pass out of the
town and to appear upon the sands of Leith on a stated day and hour, thence
to be conveyed by boat to the island of Inchkeith.^ In this next year, if
not earlier, the disease appears to have shown itself in Glasgow. In the
Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, 1497-98, occurs the
following entry of payment by the King (James IV.) : — '■'■Item the xxij day of
Februar giffen to the seke folk in the grangore at the tounn end of Glasgo iji-.""*

There may be other notices of the presence of the disease in Glasgow
before 1592, but we have not met with them. In that year a minute of
the Kirk Session directs " that the hous beyont the Stable Grein Port^ for
women affectit with the Glengore be looked efter." We gather from this
that the method adopted to stop the spread of the disease was the same as
had been put in force for leprosy. But this attempt at seclusion, which
had been unavailingly tried in Edinburgh by the Grandgore Act of 1497,

^ Extracts from the Council Register oj the Burgh of Aberdeen, Vol. i. 425.
^Antiquarian Essays, 1872, II. 326. ^Arnot's History of Edinburgh, 260.

■* Simpson's op. cit., ll. 310.
^This port was near the wall surrounding the Castle Garden.

OLD GLASGOW-SANITATION AND EPIDEMIOLOGY

would appear to show that the Glasgow authorities had failed to learn what
the long-headed Aberdonians had rightly inferred as to its mode of propaga-
tion almost a century earlier. That the Glasgow burghers were much
perplexed on the subject is evident from a minute of the Session of 17th
April, 1600. It states that "after the morning preaching the Session consulted
how the infection of the glengore within the city may be removed. Some sent
to the Council to deplore the infection that's in this city by the Glengore,
and some to convene again in the Blackfriars Kirk anent it, and the whole
chirurgeons and professors of medicine to be present. So much was given
to a man for bigging a lodge without the Stable Green Port to the women
that hath the glengore."^ The alarm seems rapidly to have reached the Town
Council, as we learn from the minute of 3rd May, a fortnight later. " The
provest, baillies, and counsale hes appoyntit Weddinsdye nixt efter the
preiching to convein thameselffis for taking tryall of the inhabitantis anent
the greit suspicioune of sindry persones infectit with the glengoir, quilk,
gif it be nocht preventit will endanger the haill toune, and hes ordanit the
haill chirurgiones to be warnit to that effect to compeir in the Greyfreir Kirk
and qu'haever beis warnit [and comes nocht] to pay fyve li of vnlaw." What
the result of this combined assault of the powers, ecclesiastical and civil,
may have been does not appear. More well-directed measures than quarantine
would probably be needed to banish this particular plague from the burgh.
The town's surgeon, Mr. Peter Lowe, had, four years earlier, written a book
on the disease which he had called " The Spanish Sicknes." Possibly his
large experience in treating " Spaniards and French, both men and women,
of divers temperatures, who had often been treated both in Spain, Lowe
Countries, and Fraunce," and whom, he says, he had cured " by the help
of God and my confection," may have had some effect, if not in staying the
plague, in robbing it of some of its terrors.

This brief glance at Old Glasgow, its sanitary defects and epidemiology,
will serve to show that neither as regards hygiene nor morals was it in a
very satisfactory condition. Notwithstanding the undoubted energy and zeal
of its municipal rulers, it was the frequent haunt of diseases begotten of
filth and disregard of sanitary laws ; and despite the exacting rigour of its
puritanism, and the terrors of Kirk discipline, it was not without its dark
social plague-spots. Licence of many kinds was common, from the amazingly
frequent misuse of the tongue for vilification, to that of the hands for physical
violence. The old Glaswegians were indeed a turbulent race. A burgh law,
which enacted that every booth-keeper should have in readiness within his
booth " ane halbert jak and steill bonnet for eschewing " — so the ordinance
euphemistically puts it — " sic inconvenients as may happen," ^ casts a lurid
light on the lawless condition of the populace. It was not without adequate

^Glasgow Ancient and Modern, I. 131. '^ Burgh Records^ Maitland Club, 18.

1 6 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

reason that clergymen went armed to the pulpit/ in which their great
influence was not always exerted in the cause of peace and order. The
power of the Kirk was great, and the behests of the body called the
" General Session " exacting and inquisitorial to an almost incredible degree.
Yet it must be admitted that though the ecclesiastical yoke was almost
intolerably heavy, such a power as was wielded by the Kirk was perhaps,
on a broad view, beneficial.

It need only further be said that the various craftsmen of the burgh
were associated into incorporations by charters from the Town Council,
some of them dating back to the fifteenth century and possibly earlier.
The craftsmen had suffered greatly from the long-continued civil wars, and
the Scottish court had made efforts to recruit their ranks from France,
Flanders, and other places.

For the purpose of this sketch, Glasgow at the end of the sixteenth
century may be regarded as a town of great antiquity, of no great size,
and in point of civic status inferior to several of the royal burghs around
it. It had, however, a Cathedral of great age and architectural beauty,
around which had gathered old traditions ; a University dating back to
1450, with such a well-earned reputation for good work done that Melville
could write in his Diary, " There was no place comparable to Glasgow for
guid letters during these years, for a plentiful guid cheap mercat for all
kind of languages, artes, and siences." But the University had no medical
faculty or medical chairs — except for a few years, when it could boast one
solitary professor — for more than a century after Melville wrote.

^ Thus it appears from the Records of the Presbytery for 1587 that Mr. David Wemyss,
father-in-law of Dr. Peter Lowe, being attacked on the street when coming from the church,
" in fear of his life cast his goun over his arm and drew his qtihingear in his defence.
Eventually another clergyman, the parson of Renfrew, joined in the fray, the latter also
drawing his 'quhingear.' The two clerics defeated the attacking party" (Macgeorge's Old
Glasgow^ 204).

CHAPTER III

EARLY GLASGOW MEDICINERS

There is no reason to believe that the state of the medical profession in
Glasgow in the latter part of the sixteenth century materially differed from
that already described as characteristic of Scotland generally (Chap. L)
The regular practitioners, as has been explained, consisted of a very small
number of physicians, with barber-surgeons, and also a few surgeons who
were not barbers. In all, they formed only a little band, and the encourage-
ment they received appears to have been in the same proportion. Glasgow
had then few attractions for a medical man. The royal burghs, and
especially those of them, such as Edinburgh and Stirling, favoured as royal
residences, doubtless presented better inducements for ambitious men. Hence
it happened that practitioners who had settled in Glasgow were very often
attracted elsewhere. To compensate for the scanty inducements from
ordinary practice, the civic authorities of Glasgow, like those of some other
towns, at an early period began to offer salaries or " pensions " to doctors
whom they invited to settle in the place. It does not appear when this
device was first hit upon in Glasgow. Here is a minute of the Town
Council, of 17th May, 1577: — "The prouest, baillies, and counsale under-
standand the supplicatioun gewin in be Allexander Hay, chirurgiane, quhairby
he is myndit to remane in the towne, being in redynes for serwing of the
towne in his craft and art, thairfoir for his support thai haif grantit, as be
thir presentis grantis ane yeirlie pensioun to him of ten markis money
yeirlie, to be payit be the thesaurare of the towne for the tyme, in tymes
cuming during thair willis and his guid serwice and bering, begynnand the
first payment fra the thesaurar in the threscoir sewintene yeris ; and attour
the said Allexander for serwice bigane is maid burges and freman of the
burght and citie of Glasgw, and hes gewin his aitht of fidelitie to the towne
and for obserwing of the statutis thairof, and sail paye na maner of taxt in
tyme cwming, conforme to the preuilege haid be vmquhile James Abernethie
his maister." The precaution of pensioning only ad culpani was not quite

1 8 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

unwarranted. Thus we find from the Records of the Town Council for 3rd
June, 1589, that Thomas Myln, a salaried surgeon, was brought up before
the Council for speaking " sclanderouslie of the town [calling it the] hungrie
toun of Glasgw." The irate surgeon doubtless spoke from the depths of
his experience. But the good name of the city was a point on which the
magistrates were as excessively touchy as they were on that of their own
official dignity. Heinous then was the offence and condign the punishment.
The culprit was ordained to appear at the Cross, confess his fault, and forfeit
his pension for one year, or longer if the magistrates thought fit. Small
consolation would it be to the starving surgeon to know that his confiscated
pension was to go to the improvement of the burgh — even though the
" bigging of thair calsay " (paving of the street) to which it was to be
allocated might after all conduce as much to the health of the lieges as
would the suspended surgeon's plasters and medicaments. In the seven-
teenth century the municipal authorities not only subsidized a surgeon, but
for a considerable period they also in the same way assisted a physician ;
while the city " stone cutter," a functionary to whom we shall advert in a
subsequent chapter, apparently drew his pension after those of the other two
had been stopped.

It was in 1684 that the stoppage occurred, the cause of abandoning the
practice of paying a " retaining " salary being the impecunious state of the
burgh exchequer from debt at the time.^ Provision was, however, made for
necessitous cases by the magistrates having power to employ for these any
practitioner they might select. In the exercise of their discretion the magis-
trates must have been pretty liberal in their reading of a provision intended
for the poor. Thus in August, 1685, it is recorded: "The said day ordains
the thesaurer to pay John Hall, younger, Chirurgian, the soum of fourty
pounds Scots for cureing of James Hamilton, son to vmqll James Hamilton,
wryter, of ane whyte scabbed head being ordained to be cured be the
provest." There is another entry on the same day less liable to exception.
" The same ordains the thesaurer to pay John Hall, elder, the soum of
fyfty-fyve pounds two shillings Scots, for dressing the lait Argyle, Rum-
hold, Mr. Thomas Archer, Mr. Lockhart, and ane poor Dutchman, the tyme
they wer prisoners in the tolbwoth, being all wounded."

At the end of the sixteenth century the number of surgeons practising
in the town did not probably exceed half-a-dozen, and there is only evidence
of the presence of one physician, though the plural is sometimes used. There
were, however, in addition at least two midwives, and it is presumed that the
whole of the obstetric practice of the burgh, except that of difficult cases,
was in their hands. It was not till the first half of the eighteenth century
that man-midwifery, as part of ordinary practice, became common, though
surgeons such as Guillemeau wrote on the subject. The learned Astruc

^ Glasgow Memorabilia^ 248.

EARLY GLASGOW MEDICINERS ig

could find no instance earlier than 1663.^ Where the Glasgow midwives
got their training at that time does not appear, but that their morals were
looked after by the Kirk there is evidence to prove. Thus, from the
Records of the Presbytery, 4th April, 1589, we learn that one Kate
Freland was summoned before that body, " to ass"^- for her professioun to
be ane midwyfe, qlk hes not been knawin w'in ye toun and citie of
Glasgow to ye inhabitatis yair, and to underly ye [censure ?] of ye Kirk
according to her demerites." It further appears that the special interest
of the ecclesiastical authorities in the midwives lay in the fact that under
certain circumstances they were called on to perform one of the ordinary
functions of the minister. Thus, by minute of 8th February, 1599, the
midwives are " dischargit to go to any unmarried woman, within, while
first they signify the matter to some of the ministeris in the day-licht, and
if it be in the nicht time that they take the aiths o the said woman
before they bear the bairne wha is the fayther of it, as they will be
answerable to God and the Kirk."^

This was the state of matters medical in the burgh at the end of the
sixteenth century. It was far from satisfactory. There was no authority
accredited to inquire into the fitness of any practitioner. Every man was
a law unto himself, and ignorant pretenders flourished. Things appeared
to have come to such a pass about two years before the end of the century
that the ruling powers felt that something must be done. The Kirk was
the first to move in the interests of reform. From a minute of the Session
of 14th September, 1598, it appears that body thought it right that the
University, Ministers, and Presbytery " take cognition who are within the
town that pretend to have skill in medicine and hath not the same ; that
those who have skill be retained and others rejected." A deputation was
accordingly sent to the Council to make a representation.^ The civic
authorities seem to have been a little slow to respond to the stimulus ; but
at last on April 14, 1599, we come upon the following minute of the
Council : " The provest, bailleis, and counsale, at desyre of the sessione,
ministrie, and elderis thairof, being informit of mediciners and chyrurgianes
quha dayele resortis and remanis within this towne, and ar not able to
discharge thair dewtey thairintill, in respect thai have not cunyng nor skill
to do the same, and for evading of inconuenientis that may follow thair-
upon, hes deput and assignit thir persones onderwrittin of the counsale to

^The confinement was that of Mile, de la Vali^re. To secure concealment she is
said to have called in Julian Clement, an eminent surgeon. The story goes that he was
secretly conducted to the house, where the lady lay covering her face with a hood, the king
being concealed behind the curtains. The fashion thus clandestinely begun gradually spread
over Western Europe. Witkowski (^Les Accouchemc7its a la Coitr., 188) gives another version
of the story and dates man-midwifery half a century earlier.

^Glasgow, Ancient and Modern, I. 131. ^ Ibid., I. 131.

20 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

concur and assist the ministrie, certane of the sessione, and vtheris cunyng
men of that arte, to examinat and tak tryall of all sic persounes as vsit or
sal happin to vse the said arte within this towne in tyme cumyng, and with
thair advyis and consent to tak the tryall thairof, viz. the thrie bailleis,
James Forret, Alexander Baillie, and Thomas Pettigrew, to convein with
thir persones of the ministrie, viz. the thrie ministeris, the principall, Mr.
Blais Lowery, and Mr. John Blakburne, wpon Weddinsdye nixt eftir the
preiching in the Blakfreir Kirk, and to reporte." ^

This was the first medical examining board in Glasgow, if indeed it ever
acted, for there appears no published evidence that it reported. What
might be the special qualifications of three bailies, three clergymen, the
principal, and one of the regents of the University, and the master of the
grammar school (the last three being also clergymen), to test the professional
skill of practitioners of medicine, the Records say not. Doubtless the persons
described as " vtheris cunyng men of that arte " were intended to do the
work, and that the co-operation of lay assessors occupying official positions
should throw some semblance of authority over the board thus improvised.
Whence arose this new-born zeal for medical reform? One coincidence cannot
be overlooked. This activity followed hard upon the settlement in Glasgow of
an eminent man " cunyng in that arte," Dr. Peter Lowe. The conjecture is
therefore probably not very far wrong that the quickened sense of medical
misrule in Glasgow all at once manifested on the part of the powers of Kirk
and State was mainly due to the representations and remonstrances of that
gentleman. As will be seen in the next chapter, he made at this time
a strong representation to the Scottish Court on the subject, with the result of
obtaining a royal gift accrediting him to set matters right. That charter is
prefaced by a sentence in which the existing state of things was painted in
bold colours. " Understanding the grit abuisis quhilk hes bene comitted in
time bigane und zit daylie continuis be ignorant unskillit and unlernit
personis, quha, under the collour of Chirurgeanis, abuisis the people to their
plesure, passing away but [without] tryel or punishment and thairby destroyis
infinite number of our subjectis." A formula of this kind appears in most of
the early medical charters ; but there is no reason to suppose that the picture
was overdrawn, as there is evidence that the country was over-run by ignorant
pretenders, and that lives were frequently sacrificed through their treatment.
The popular ideas in regard to medicine were deeply coloured by superstition.
The powerlessness of ordinary medicaments in the presence of disease attri-
buted to the operation of witchcraft and the powers of evil was fully recognized
long after the period under review.

Such was the condition of the medical profession in Glasgow, and generally
in the West of Scotland, on the advent of Dr. Peter Lowe from France at the
end of the sixteenth century.

^ Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow^ 1 573-1642, 192.

CHAPTER IV

DR. PETER LOWE

The following is an excerpt from the Minutes of the Town Council of
Glasgow, 17th March, 1599: —

" It is aggreit of new and contractit betuix the towne and Doctor Low
for iiij'^^' merkis money be yeir."

This minute implies a former agreement, probably a year earlier, which
would mark the arrival of Dr. Peter Lowe in Glasgow about the beginning
of 1598, though it may have been a few months before this date.

Of the date and place of his birth nothing has been ascertained. The
hypothesis discussed by Dr. James Finlayson in his admirable Memoir,^ that
he was a native of Errol,^ from his use of the title " Arellian," is probably
as wide of the mark as Astruc's half contemptuous suggestion, made from
the same premiss nearly a century and a half earlier, that Ayr was his
place of origin. The fact of his selecting Glasgow for his residence when
he returned from the Continent raises some kind of presumption that he
belonged to the West of Scotland ; but that is all that can be said. Of
his nationality he has left us in no doubt, the word " Scottishman," or
" Scotchman," being affixed by him to his name almost as often as he
has occasion to repeat it. The prefix " Mr.," which appears as part of his
signature, betokens that he was a Master of Arts ; but of what university
is not known. It is not easy to say whether his knowledge of the ancient
classical languages was scholarly ; but his writings, at all events, abound in
exact references to classical authors. His translation of the Presages of
Hippocrates may have been, and probably was, made at second hand
through the French ; and his original writings are in the vernacular. But there
can be no doubt that he was a man well educated for the time in which he

^ Account of the Life attd Works oj Maister Peter Lowe. Glasgow, 1889, 56, etc.
2 It must, however, be admitted that it was not an uncommon practice for authors to
append to their names an adjective indicating the place of birth.

22 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

lived. In the first edition of his Chirurgerie he gave a preface in Latin,
possibly to show that though he wrote in English it was not from want
of ability to use the learned tongue.

He probably left Scotland for the Continent some time after the middle
of the sixteenth century, that is, about the era of the Scottish Reformation.
In a brief autobiographical scrap in his Address, " To the Friendlie Reader,"
prefixed to the second edition of his Chirurgerie, he speaks in the style
of writers of the day, which was not usually characterized by any lack of
self-appreciation or of out-spoken expression of it. " But I impart to you
my labours, hidded secrets, and experients by me practised and dayly put
in vse, to the great comfort, ease, and delight of you, and such as haue
had occasion to vse my helpe in France, Flaunders, and elsewhere, the
space of 2 2 yeeres ; thereafter being Chirurgian maior to the Spanish Regi-
ments at Paris, 2 yeeres ; next following the French King, my Master, in
the warres 6 yeeres, where I made commoditie to practise all points and
operations of Chirurgerie." This would give thirty years for his career as a
surgeon on the Continent. The only statement in this passage which
involves a date is that relating to the Spanish regiment in Paris. The
Spaniards sent assistance to the famous Catholic League organized by the
Guise party ; and after the death of Henry III. the Spanish regiments assisted
to hold Paris in 1588-90 against Henry IV.

That this was the period of his serving as surgeon-major in the Spanish
army is confirmed by another passage in his Chirurgerie, in which, speaking
of a case of aneurism in the neck of " one of the chiefest captaines amongst
the Spaniards at Paris," in 1590, he uses the word, " I, a Chyrurgion-maior to
the regiment." ^ In another passage he speaks of himself as an eye-witness
of some of the horrors attending one of the numerous sieges which Paris
underwent during these two years. From this date, then, as an ascertained
standpoint, we can fix the period of his wanderings as a surgeon on the
Continent as beginning about 1566 and ending about 1596. During all
these thirty years France was a prey to fierce intestine religious wars. The
period included such memorable historical epochs as the Massacre of St.
Bartholomew and the Revolt of the Netherlands. There could certainly be
no period better fitted for a military surgeon finding " commoditie to practise
all points and operations " of surgery. But this little bit of autobiography
suggests one or two questions which it does not help us to resolve. One
would like to know, for example, whether the side on which the Scottish
surgeon was found is a correct indication of his religious persuasion at that
time. That he was at that period a Catholic is very probable. Pro-
fessional offices in those days of embittered religious strife would hardly
be bestowed or received independent of creed. The Reformation could have
been little more than begun in Scotland when he left his native country ;

^2nd Edition, Lib. v., cap. 41, 217.

DR. PETER LOWE 23

and it is not likely that a heretic officer would be found serving in the
ranks of the Catholic League. Even the high professional services of
Lowe's great contemporary, Ambroise Pare, who was a Protestant,^ did not
save him, it is said, from being marked for death at the Massacre of St.
Bartholomew, and, as the story goes, he only escaped by the king locking
him up all night in his wardrobe. How Dr. Lowe managed to change sides
about 1590, when he must have taken office under Henry IV., and whether
the change indicates a corresponding veering round as to his religious
persuasion, these are points on which we can only speculate.

In the army of Henri le Grand he seems to have attained some degree
of rank, though the title he assumes, " ordinary Chyrurgeon to the French
King and Navarre," was probably only an honorary military title, equivalent to
similar distinctions occasionally bestowed now on retired military medical officers
in this country. Matthias calls him ' primarius Chirurgus Castrensis";^ but this
is probably merely a free translation of Lowe's " Chyrurgeon Major." The
value which he attached to this distinction may be inferred from the fact
that he uses it in the title page of his Chirurgerie ; while of the corresponding
honours subsequently bestowed upon him by the Scottish Court he appears
to make no mention in the book.^

Before turning from Dr. Lowe's continental career, a word or two must
be said on what we would now call his professional " qualifications," using
the term in its technical sense. In the title page of the books he published
in London in 1596 and the following year, and in the headings of some
of the chapters of one of them, he calls himself Peter Lowe, Arellian. What
the meaning of this word may be is a perfect puzzle. It is sometimes
separated by a point from the title following, viz., "Doctor in the Facultie
of Chirurgerie in Paris " ; but in other places it is not so disjoined. This
last circumstance might lead to the presumption that it was an adjunct
qualifying or having reference to the " Doctor " ; but this seems disproved
by its standing alone in other places. The suggestion that it denotes his
place of birth seems the most improbable of all the conjectures made regarding
it. In the Chirurgerie it follows the word " Scotchman," or " Scottishman,"
thus reversing the natural order of connotation from the particular to the
more general. Astruc's suggestion that it possibly stood for the town of
" Ayr " is wild on the face of it, and was perhaps only half seriously made.^

^The question whether he was a Huguenot has, however, been keenly contested. See
Dechajtibre^ s Diction, de Med., 2 Ser. 21. 134.

^ Conspectus Historiae Medicorian Chronologictis, 378.

3 Dr. Finlayson, however, conjectures that these may have lapsed on the removal of the
Scottish king to London in 1603.

* " Petrus Low£e Scotus, Arellianus (quod vocabulum non satis video quid valeat, nisi
forte significet Auctorem hunc oriundum esse ex urbe Ay7'e quae caput est comitatus cog-
nominis in Scotia). . . ." (^De Morbis Venereis, editio secunda, Veneta, 1748, ll. 283.)

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Whatever the word meant, it would appear from its position, and his repeated
use of it, that it was a title which he thought would reflect credit on his
name as a surgeon ; and, in the case of a book published in London, it
seems absurd to suppose that any honour could accrue to the author from
his parading his natal connection with a town or village in Scotland. By
far the most feasible explanation is that put forward by Dr. A. Bureau,
who in 1877 was Librarian of the Paris Academy of Medicine, that by
Arellian Lowe meant Medicus Aurelianus {Orleanais), that is, medical man
trained at the School of Orleans. That Lowe's name is found in some
manuscript registers at Orleans, dated i 5 96, Dr. Dureau states from personal
inspection.^

The distinction of having been trained at a Medical School would of itself
have marked him as a gown-surgeon, and put him on a higher platform than
the barber-surgeon, and therefore was something which he could legitimately
use as a meritorious afiix to his name. This would also be in perfect keeping
with the other professional title that follows it in his books, which we shall
presently discuss. It need hardly be said that the difference in spelling
between " Arellian " and " Aurelianus " counts for little as an objection to
this theory, in view of the fluid condition of orthography even considerably
after this period. The title is dropped in the second edition of Lowe's
Chirurgerie^ published in 16 12. Possibly by that time he may have
found that the term was not understood, and he may have thought that the
dictum " omne ignotum pro magnifico " did not hold good of enigmatical
titles.2

Immediately following the title " Arellian " in his earlier memoirs, and
also used in the second edition of his Surgery, published in 16 12, is the
title, " Doctor in the Facultie of Chirurgerie in (or at) Paris." If Lowe has,
no doubt unintentionally, mystified the modern reader by using the former
title, he has also brought on himself the charge of presumption, and even
ineptitude, in the use of the latter. The hostile critic is Astruc, the eminent
French physician and writer.^ But Astruc was a very prejudiced judge on
such a point. This is evident from the fact that he practically treats the

1 " Arellian veut dire Orleanais, Peter Lowe etait medecin du College d' Orleans {medicus
Aurelianus). Je le trouve portd sur plusieurs registres manuscrits de 1596 que j'ai feuilletds
moi-meme h, Orleans. II est bon que vous sachiez que cette ancienne ecole de medecine a
regu bon nombre de medecins anglais. Done il n'y a pas de doute ^ cet egard." Letter of
Dr. Dureau, 8th March, 1877. (Finlayson's Maister Peter Lowe, 70.)

2 For a full discussion of this question the reader is referred to Dr Finlayson's Memoir.

^Petrus Lowse . . . se ipse vocat Doctorem in Facultate Chirurgias Parisiensi,
arroganter sane, ne dicam inepte, cum nulla sit Lutetije Parisiorum, fueritve unquam
Facultas Chirurgias, sed Communitas tantum Magistrorum Chirurgorum : Communitas ilia
doctores nullos creet, creaveritve olim, sed Juratos tantum magistros Chirurgiae ut in
ceteris Europae civitatibus solenne est. (Astruc, op. cil., 11. 283.)

DR. PETER LOWE 25

claim as if it were only personal on Lowe's part, and one never before
advanced. He must have known that the assumption of the title was not
the claim of a single individual, but had been urged as a right in behalf
of a body. The College of sworn Master Surgeons of Paris, the members
of which were known as " surgeons of the long robe," to distinguish them
from the barber-surgeons, who were " surgeons of the short robe," dated
back to 1226. From the name of their patron saint, near to whose church
was their hall in Paris, the fraternity was often called the College of
St. Come. We cannot, however, trace the history of this institution, and its
famous quarrels with the Faculty of Medicine. Suffice it to say, that one
of the main grounds of contention between the two bodies was the
assumption of academic status on behalf of the surgeons. Astruc can
hardly have been unaware that, as a consequence of this assumption, their
claim was put boldly forward to rank as a Faculty of Surgery co-ordinate
with the Faculty of Medicine, and for their members to be Doctors of a
Faculty as well as Maitres of the College.^ The Faculty of Medicine, on
the other hand, of which Astruc was a leading member, desired to reign
supreme in the whole domain of the profession of the healing art, of which
surgery was to be regarded in the light of a mechanical appanage. The
surgeons might attend the University lectures, but any more intimate
connection was to be disallowed. Their ranks and titles were not to be
regarded as University degrees. To these, what seemed to them overbear-
ing pretensions of the physicians, the surgeons opposed an undaunted front.
Had not their claims to academic rank been recognized by King and
Parliament ; and, as a crowning sanction, had they not received the bene-
diction of the Chancellor ? This was the view taken by at least the most
aggressive of the surgeons ; and amongst this class of them Lowe may
perhaps be ranked. Whether he would have used such a title if he had
published his book in Paris is a matter on which we can only speculate.
But it is evident he had no mind to lower the flag of his College amongst
his compatriots at home.

Having spent the best part of his life in foreign service, he had earned
a good right to come back to his native land. The return to Britain
was probably in 1596, when his six years as a surgeon to Henry IV.
would be terminated. In that year his Spanish Sicknes was published in
London, and in the following year his Chirurgerie appeared, being dated from
London, the 20th of April, 1597. The materials for these and other
works had been collected before he came to this country. As already
stated, he probably made his appearance in Glasgow about the early part
of 1598, and was engaged by the town, whether before or after his advent
in it does not appear, as salaried or pensioned surgeon. In a medical

^ " Recherches critiques et historiques sur Toiigine, sur les divers etats, et sur les progres
de la Chirurgie en France," 69, 72, 227, etc. Paris, 1744.

26 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

aspect the change from the Seine to the Clyde must have been immense.
To a person familiar with the organization of the profession under two
corporate bodies, the medical aspect of the Scottish burgh must have been
sufficiently uninviting. The state of his surroundings generally, the rudeness
of manners, society everywhere dominated by a stern ecclesiastical des-
potism, must have struck him as strange. Curiously enough, it was with
the high and mighty power of the Kirk that he appears to have come
early into collision. The following is a minute of the Presbytery of 8th
August, 1598: "The Presbeteri orderis Mr. Peter Lowe, Doctor of
Chirurgerie to be convenit before ye Sessioun, thair to asser for his etrie
on ye Piller,^ not having satisfyed ye Thesaurer of ye Kirk, and w'out
his instructions, and not behaving him on ye piller as becumes, and furder
to mak as yet two Sondayes his repetance on ye Piller, and first to
satisfie ye Thesaurer, as ye said Sessioun hes ordenit him to do." What
the original offence was which rendered him liable to ecclesiastical discipline
we are not told. It must have been trifling in its nature, otherwise the
penalty would have been different. The sin of incontinence was usually
punished by imprisonment in the Blackfriars Steeple for eight days, with
bread and water diet, followed by exposure for one day in the cockstool,
and one day in the pillar, in addition to a money fine. But even for
such sins of the flesh there was considerable inequality and partiality in
the penalties. If the offender were an ex-Provost, like the Laird of Minto,
the payment of a fine was occasionally deemed adequate.^ But in the
present instance, whatever the original peccadillo, we gather from the minute
that the Doctor had been condemned to the pillar, and further mulcted
in a compulsory contribution to the Kirk funds. Of the first part of the
punishment he had apparently made fun, and the fine remained unpaid.
Whether he ever " made his repentance, as ordanit," and, if he did, whether
on the second occasion the merry Doctor " behaved him as becumes," and
even whether, as a preliminary step, he contrived " to satisfie ye Thesaurer,"
are questions on which the defective records throw no light. Doubtless
long residence on the Continent, with so many of these years passed in
camps, had impressed on his manners a freedom which would ill accord with
rigid Presbyterian notions of decorum.

^ " The pillar was an institution more closely allied to the cutty stool than the maister
stool was. No authoritative explanation or description of what the pillar was seems to be
forthcoming. But it must have been some sort of erection inside the church, at which
the sorrowful penitent had to stand — frequently clad in sackcloth — during public worship ;
and perhaps it was designed as a punishment for a more serious class of offences than the
cutty stool. To have to stand during the protracted services of olden times must indeed
have been a tax of no ordinary kind upon the patience and physical endurance of even a
hardened sinner." (Writer in the Glasgow Herald, February, 1895.)

2 " Buttock Mail" was the fine exacted as commutation for public satisfaction in cases
of the kind.

DR. PETER LOWE

But in a few months after this incident, we find indications of his
presence in Glasgow more in keeping with his position and reputation as a
surgeon. We have already seen^ that a movement towards medical reform in
the town, originating with the Kirk Session in September, 1598, was taken
up by the municipal authorities in April, 1599, with the result that a
sort of Medical Examining Board was improvised to test the qualifications
of all who in time to come should practise within the city. That Lowe
was the man who inspired this movement cannot be doubted ; and his efforts
in the direction of rectifying abuses were not confined to the town magnates,
ecclesiastical and civil. It must have been about the same time that he
memorialized the king, James VI., on the subject. In the second edition
of his Chirurgerie, dated from Glasgow, 20th December, 161 2, he writes:
" It pleased his Sacred Majestic to heare my complaint about some fowerteene
yeeres agoe vpon certaine abusers of our Art, of diuers sorts and ranks of
people, whereof we haue good store, and all things fayling, vnthrifts and
Idle people doe commonly meddle themselues with our Art, who ordinarily
doe passe without either tryall or punishment. The matter being considered,
and the abuse waighed by his Maiestie and Honourable councell, thought
not to be tolerated, for the which I got a priuiledge vnder his highnes
priue seale, to try and examine all men upon the Art of Chirurgerie, to
discharge, and allow in the West parts of Scotland, who were worthy or
vnworthy, to professe the same."

Such was the origin of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of
Glasgow as narrated by the founder. The provisions of the charter, dated
Penult. November, 1599, will be discussed in the next chapter; but in this
we follow the personal history of Lowe. On obtaining the charter, his
first care was to advise the Town Council of the grant, in view of the fact
that on the magistrates of Glasgow would chiefly fall the duty " to assist,
fortifye, concur, and defend," as the charter bears, the body it created. The
minute of the Town Council, 9th February, 1600, is as follows : " The provest
bailleis, and counsale, viz., Thomas Muir [and eleven others] present, haueand
inspectioune and advyseand with the priuilegeis and statutes of our Souerane
Lordis letter of gift and faculte grantit to maister Petir Low, Chyrurgian,
maister Robert Hammiltoune, and William Spang, and thair successouris, pro-
fessouris of thair artes, touching the liberte of thair artes, grantit be his
Maiestie to thaime and thair Successouris, as in the said letter of gift vnder
the privey seale at lenthe beris, hes promesit to hold, haue, concur, fortifie, and
menteine thame and thair successouris and liberteis grantit to thame in the
same in all poyntis in tyme cuming : provyding that the same nor na actis
that thai salhappin to mak salbe preiudiciall nor hurtfull to the commouneweil
and liberte of the towne." ^ But notwithstanding this promptitude in obtaining

ip. 19.

^ Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, 1876, 202.

28 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

municipal ratification at the outset, no other immediate steps seem to have
been taken to properly launch the new institution. Possibly enough Lowe
was not at this time quite satisfied with the materials at hand for constituting
the " successors in office " of himself and Dr. Robert Hamilton, the grantees
named in the charter. In the meantime these two, without any other
assistance than that of William Spang, the apothecary also mentioned in
the charter, could carry its provisions into effect. In the next year the
absence of Dr. Lowe from Glasgow would prevent any steps being taken in
the matter.

In 1 60 1, Ludovick, Duke of Lennox, Lord Great Chamberlain of Scot-
land, and feudal Superior of Glasgow, was appointed special ambassador for
the Scottish king at the Court of France. To form a fitting retinue, a
number of gentlemen were asked to accompany him, and, among others, Dr.
Peter Lowe, probably as surgeon or medical officer of the embassy. The
chaplain was Rev. John Spottiswoode, parson of Calder, and two years after-
wards promoted to be Archbishop of Glasgow. It will be noted from the
subjoined minute of the Town Council that the leave of absence asked
from the Council on behalf of Dr. Lowe, as Town's Surgeon, was granted,
his salary being continued during his absence: "18 June, 1601. The
baillie and counsale present, at the special requeist and desyre of my Lorde
Duikis grace, hes licenciat and gevis licence to maister Peitir Low, chyrurgian,
to pas in company with my Lorde Duike as ambassadour appoyntit to France,
and dispensis with his absence and not remanyng of the said maister Peitir,
and that he may injoy his pensione of the towne, and that quhill the xi.
of November nixtocum, but preiudice of his contract in caice of his returnyng
or soner at the said tyme as sal happin his lordschip to returne." ^

The Duke and his cortege embarked at Leith, loth July, 1601. It
was merely an embassy of royal courtesy such as in these days was not
uncommon. From a letter written by the French king in October of that
year, we gather that the embassy remained at Court only a few days ;
though from another source it appears that Lennox did not return to Scotland
till 1604. Dr. Lowe was probably in Glasgow by the time his leave of
absence expired ; and in the following summer (1602), as will appear from
next chapter, he took steps, along with Dr. Robert Hamilton, his co-grantee
in the charter, to formally hand over the powers vested in them by the
gift to those whom they had nominated for the purpose. It is somewhat
singular that, having thus divested himself of his powers as original
grantee, he never resumed or was elected to the chief office of the body
thus constituted. But whatever the reasons may have been for this, they
did not operate as regards his accepting and filling a subordinate office.
For several years in succession he was regularly elected a " quartermaster,"
or collector of the quarterly accounts ; and when the sederunt of the meetings
'^Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, 1876, 222.

DR. PETER LOWE

is stated, he is generally found present. The last occasion on which his
name appears was on the 22nd September, 1609, when he was re-elected
quartermaster.

During the early years of the seventeenth century Dr. Lowe's position
as a surgeon must have been the best in Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
That he was looked upon in the community as a man of probity and good
social position is shown by his having been appointed, in 1604, o^^ of the
commissioners to settle a dispute which had arisen between the Merchants'
House and the Trades' House or Craftsmen. The result of the arbitration
of this commission was the Letter of Guildry, dated 6th February, 1605,
under which the Merchants' House and the City Incorporations are still
constituted. Only two other notices of him in the Town Council Records
have been printed, and probably no more exist. In the accounts for 1608
it is entered, " Gifin upone the last day of August, to Mr. Petir Lou,
chyrurgin, for his pensioun in Anno 1608, addedit be the toun to him,
conforme to ane warrand, liii^ v\s. viii^i'." Two years later we come on
a minute regarding him, dated 26th May, 1610,^ which need not be
quoted in full, but the essential part is here given. "The said James
Braidwod debursit and gaif furth the said sowme [' fourtie poundis
money '] to maister Petir Low, pairtlie for his fey and pairtlie for the
expensis maid be him in bowelling of the lard of Howstoun, lait provest ;
thairfoir the said James be this present act is dischargit of the said sowme
resauit be him as said is, and siklyke ordanis ane warrand to be direct to
Robert Hogisyard, thesaurer, vnder subscriptioun of the clerk, to ansuer
Mareoun Steward of the sowme of xxxvij li xs as for wyne and vthir
expenssis furnist and maid be hir the tyme of the said provestis bowelling."
The minute requires a word of explanation. Why it was that the defunct
Sir John Houston, late Provost of Glasgow, was not allowed to sleep with
his fathers without being subjected to the procedure of " bowelling " ; in
what that process consisted ; and why in connection therewith there was
incurred such a considerable bill for wine and other et ceteras, as if the
occasion had been something of a gaudeamus or an Irish wake — these are
points on which the minute quoted throws no light. At this period the
provosts of Glasgow were selected from the magnates of the surrounding
district, who were willing to accept the position of chief magistrate on
account of the increased consideration with which such a dignity invested
them. To the burgh, on the other hand, the arrangement was of advantage
in conferring enhanced importance and greater security ; and the Town
Council were in the habit of making acknowledgment by occasional gifts
to their chief magistrate, often apparently at great expense. The quantity
of wine, etc., in this way " propyned " to my Lord Provost and others
in respect of services rendered or expected, was something phenomenal.
^ Extracts from the Records 0/ the Burgh of Glasgow, 1876, 314.

30 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

It is to be hoped that the post-mortem attentions paid to the laird of
Houston by the Council were not by way of compounding for neglect
or inadequate appreciation of him in the way of " propynes," while living.
The process of embalming, which a prosaic town clerk has most in-
adequately designated by the term " bowelling " — albeit a term once made
use of by Dr. Lowe himself^ — seems not to have been very uncommon in
these days, especially in France and London, though in Scotland it was
not so often practised. Ambroise Pare, the famous French surgeon, devotes
a section of his Surgery to its description ; Lowe himself has a chapter on
the procedure in his Chirurgerie, and anyone reading it will see for what
purpose the wine of Marion Steward, who by the way appears to have been
the purveyor of municipal banquets of the day,^ was needed.

This curious minute appears to be the last which has been published
in the city records referring to Dr. Lowe. He must now have been a
man well advanced in years. As to the period of his death we have
conflicting testimony. At the head of his tombstone in the High Church-
yard is inscribed the year 1612, and this has usually been accepted by
local historians as the date of his death. On the other hand, the second
edition of his Ckiriirgerie bears to be dated " from my own house in
Glasgow, 20th day of December, 16 12," leaving only a margin of ten days
in which the death must apparently have occurred. From France we have
evidence which, if it could be relied upon, would fix the date with
exactitude. This is contained in the " Index Funereus Chirurgorum
Parisiensium, ab anno 13 15 ad annum 1729," being the death-roll of the
members of the Confrairy of Surgeons of Paris, which, as already stated,
was Lowe's College : " Petrus Louvet, Scotus, Medico-Chirurgus prae-
stantissimus obiit 30 Junii anni 16 17." A fact stated so definitely might
be presumed to be accurate, but there is conclusive evidence to show
that the Paris record is in error. Dr. Lowe's widow married Mr.
Walter Stirling, a Glasgow merchant. From the register of baptisms of
the Kirk Session of Glasgow it appears that the eldest son of this couple
was baptized i ith January, 161 5. It is therefore improbable that Lowe's
death happened later than 161 3, and it is possible that the year on the
tombstone is that of his death. The date in the Paris record is probably
that on which information of the death reached the College. The reputation
which he had acquired as a distinguished medical man, as a surgeon
who practically recognized the relations of surgery to medicine, is sufficiently
indicated by the term used regarding him in the entry of his death :
" medico-chirurgus prjestantissimus." The Glasgow tombstone stands
against the south wall of the High Churchyard, near the entry gate to

1 Chirurgie, 2nd edition, 367.

2 On I2th December, 1605, she is ordered to be paid for a banquet "at tlie proveistes
gudnicht quhen he past to Lundoune."

DR. PETER LOWE

the Cathedral. When or by whom it was erected we have no information.
It is the property of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow,
having come into their possession in 1834 by purchase from Rev. John
Hamilton Gray of Chesterfield, the eminent genealogist, whose family had
acquired it in consequence of some of their descendants being also de-
scendants of Dr. Lowe. The quaint inscription is still legible, though the
stone shows too evident signs of the corroding hand of time.

1612

M
P L

lOHN LOW lAMES LOW

DOCTOR PETER LOW

THE FOUNDER OF THE FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

Stay . Passenger . And . View . This . Stone

For . Under . It . Lyis . Such . A . One

Who . Cuired . Many . Whill . He . Lieved

SoE . Gracious . He . Noe . Man . Grieved

Yea . when . His . Phisicks . Force . oft . Failed

His . Plesant . Purpose . Then . Prevailed

For . OF . His . God . He . Got . The . Grace

To . Live . in . Mirth . And . Die . in . Peace

Heavin . Hes . His . Soul . His . Corps . This . Stone

Sigh . Passenger . And . soe . be . Gone

Ah Me I Gravell Am And Dust
And To The Grave Deshend I Most
O Painted Peice Of Liveing Clay
Man Be Not Proud Of Thy Short Day

In view of the fact that this tombstone was rapidly decaying, the Faculty,
in 1892, resolved to erect a bronze memorial tablet to Dr. Lowe within
the nave of the Cathedral. An appropriate design was made by Mr.
Pittendreigh Macgillivray, the eminent sculptor, then of Glasgow, now in
Edinburgh ; and the epitaph on the tombstone is reproduced under the
figured part of the tablet, which stands on the north wall of the nave,
almost opposite the south door. This memorial tablet was unveiled by
Dr. Bruce Goff, President of the Faculty, in presence of a number of the
Fellows and Glasgow citizens, on the 5th April, 1895.

32 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Dr. Lowe was married to Helen Weems (or Wemyss), daughter of the
Rev. David Weems, often called the Parson of Glasgow. He was the
first Protestant minister of the town and officiated in the Inner High
Church (Cathedral), in the nave of which the memorial to his distinguished
son-in-law now stands. The lady must have been much younger than the
Doctor, whom she survived for at least forty-six years, as we find her alive
in 1658. Dr. Lowe had a son, John, who is described in the public
records having reference to the succession of his son to his estate in 1670,
as Merchant Burgess of Glasgow.^ The name of the son is introduced by
Dr. Lowe into his Chirurgerie (2nd edition, 16 12), along with his own, as
holding a dialogue with a view to preparing the son for the Paris exam-
ination. This is, of course, a literary figment ; and it is probable that the son
never studied or qualified in surgery. But, layman though he probably was,
he was in 1636 admitted a member of the Faculty under exceptional circum-
stances. There is nothing said in the minute of his admission regarding
his being examined, or paying the usual entry fine. The record states
that the Faculty from the " respect they had to beir towards the said unqll
Mr. Peter, and the rather becaus he was the principall procurer to this
vocation of ye Letters of visitation under the Privi Scale, they hev admitit
the said John freman, who lies given his oath conforme to ordor : yis for
ye benefit of his children." It appears, however, that he did not take his
seat till 1652, when another minute records the fact; after which he attended
the meetings pretty regularly. On 26th May, 1677, James Lowe, a writer
in Edinburgh, son of this John Lowe, presented a memorial to the Faculty
" desyring that in respect of Mr. Peter Low, his grandfay"", procurer to the
Faculty of the gift grantit be King James in anno 1599 To the Chirurgians
of Glasgow, The faculty did in considera°ne yrof, and for ther respect
to him, admitt Jon low, sone to the sd Mr. Pit, and father to the supplicant,
a member of the sd faculty ffor a benefit to his children in anno 1636,
And sine the sd Jon, his father, is now deceissit. They wold be pleisit
to confer the same favor upon him. Qlk being considred by the members
of the faculty pnt togither w' the act of his fayrs admission in Junii 1636,
They for the same cause, having the same vena°ne for his grandfather,
first procurer of ther gift of visita°ne, and for the sd James his good
service doon and to be doon be him to the faculty. They heirby admittit
the sd James frieman w' them and to have the priviledg of a member of
ther faculty. Who made faith as use is." This grandson of Peter Lowe
had a son Robert, also a writer in Edinburgh, who in his turn was admitted
a freeman of the Faculty on 2nd October, 172 i. Such membership is not to
be looked upon as a mere honorary distinction. It should be more properly
regarded as being, from the member's point of view, a species of insurance.
In the event of the person thus admitted falling into poverty, or leaving

* Finlayson, op. cit., 74, 75.

DR. PETER LOWE 33

his children unprovided for, he, or they, would, in accordance with the
practice of the Faculty and other City incorporations at that period, receive
an alimentary pension. Whether, however, in these cases of admission to
the membership, the sentiment of corporate veneration^ did not somewhat
outrun the powers the Faculty possessed by charter, is a question which
does not appear to have troubled them. For three centuries the memory
of Peter Lowe has certainly been warmly cherished by the corporation which
he was the means of calling into existence.

Turning briefly to his writings the earliest, in point of time, is, —

This is a small quarto, very scarce, of forty-two pages, with a dedication
" To the Right Honourable Robert Deuorax, Earle of Essex." The author
half apologises for the somewhat equivocal compliment of dedicating to
him a treatise " far dissonant from your studies," by telling him that he
had " diuers other Bookes of Chirurgie, all of which shall be shrouded
vnder your honourable shield," and explains that he had selected him in
respect especially of his " rare martial exploits in ayding my dread
Soueraigne and Master, the most victorious King of France."

It is not necessary here to analyze the contents. The work was published
in the same year as Clowes' memoir on the same disease, which was first
issued in another form in 1579. These treatises appear to be among
the earliest on the subject written in English. The " Spanish Sicknes "
was a disease which Dr. Lowe was, as we have already seen, to encounter
in Glasgow four years after the publication of this book, under the
corrupted French name of the Glengore {Grandgore), and which seems to have
a good deal alarmed the townsfolk, lay and clerical (p. 14). The name
Dr. Lowe gives it had reference to its presumed importation from the New
World into Spain by the sailors of Columbus. In nomenclature, however, it
was associated, as Lowe points out, with several nationalities : and although
the author avers that " there are some ignorant malicious people who call
it the French Sicknes, without any cause or reason," he sometimes, in the

^The feeling broke out again in similar fashion on two occasions. See in Roll of
Members in Appendix the names of John Or, entered in 1680, and William Hastie in 1735.
What the relationship to Dr. Lowe founded on in these cases was does not appear. As
regards the rest of Lowe's descendants, one of them, Robert Lowe, W.S., Edinburgh,
the only son of James Lowe mentioned in the text, married a daughter of John Gray of
Dalmarnock and Carntyne. The issue of the marriage was a son, William Lowe, who had
valuable property in America, which he lost by the American War, and who died without
issue towards the end of last century ; and a daughter, Annabella, who died unmarried.

* C

34 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

second edition of his Chirurgerie gives it this name himself. Of his own
powers to cope with it successfully he speaks with much confidence, one
chief article of his armamentarium being " my Confection," or " my Electuary."
It has been charged against Lowe that he does not divulge the composition
of this " precious jewel " of a medicament. And this is literally true,
although at the same time, doubtless in perfectly good faith, he takes
credit to himself for revealing it, and lets it be known that its value made
this a matter of some self-sacrifice. " Wherefore albeit it be a very precious
iewell vnto me, yet for the loue that I haue to the Commonwealth I will
not hide it." The truth is, that whether on a preconceived plan of relegating
matter involving formulae to a separate collection, or for some other reason,
he is constantly in the habit of referring the reader for information to one
or other of two works of his, one The Poore Mali's Guide, and the other
the Book of the Infantment. Nevertheless, as Dr. Finlayson has pretty
conclusively shown by an analysis of these many references, as late as
1 612 the Book of the Infantment had not been published, and the
other was probably in the same condition ; and, if this were the case, it
is all but certain that they never saw the light at all. Yet the references
to these treatises are so many and various, that it strikes the reader with
amazement to be informed that they are made to non-existent works.
Granting Dr. Finlayson's conclusion to be sound, this is certainly one of
the most singular instances of references and appeals not to one but to
two literary Mrs. Harrises ^ ; and it is all the more singular that these
appeals are repeated so late as in 161 2, after a lapse of sixteen years.

Doubtless the two missing books were on the stocks at the same time
as the Spanish Sicknes and the Chirurgerie ; the two latter were launched
within a year of each other, while the other two were kept back awaiting
the day of completion which never arrived. As late as 1 6 1 2 he appears
even to have contemplated the publication of a Booke of the Plague^ a
disease he had probably encountered in Glasgow in 1602. The Poore Man's
Guide was intended to be a book of receipts and instructions for popular
use, and, had it been published, would have shown still more than did the
fact of his writing his other books in English, that he had broken with
the traditions of the old school of medical writers. The Book of the Infant-
ment has a title which sufficiently indicates its nature and contents. It
seems doubtful, however, whether an army surgeon could have had any
experience in obstetrics, especially before the days of man-midwifery. One
thing is certain, that the attempt implied in this title to naturalize in this
country the old French term " enfantment " did not succeed.

* It is somewhat droll, as regards this reference, to find Astruc playing the role of the
incredulous Betsy Prig. Speaking of The Poore Ma7i^s Guide, he says, " Qui an unquam in
lucem prodierit addubito, de cujus editione saltern nihil comperti hactenus habere potui."

- Chyrurgerie, 2nd ed., 264.

DR. PETER LOWE

But the book on which Lowe's reputation as an author mainly depends
is his general work on Surgery. The first edition — a small unpaged quarto —
bears the title : —

Copies of this edition are very scarce, only three being known to the
writer — one in the Radcliffe Library, Oxford ; another in the library of the
Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London ; and a third, recently
acquired by gift, in the library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edin-
burgh. In the second edition there are some changes in the title page : —

In the second edition the pages are xxiv. unnumbered, introductory, and
446, in addition to 9 pp. of index and 30 pp. unnumbered of the
" Presages of Hippocrates."

A third edition bears date 1634, and the fourth and last, 1654. These
two are almost reprints of the second edition, the changes made being mostly
verbal and orthographic. The dedication in the first edition is to James VI.
of Scotland ; in the second, to a Scottish west country nobleman, the Earl
of Abercorn, a copy of whose armorial bearings faces the first page of the
dedication. The first edition is in Roman type, fairly good for the period.
The other editions have the bulk of the type in black letter, the introductory
matter, the rubric, the questions, etc., being in Roman or Italian type.

The Chirurgerie, as has been stated, is not in Latin, but in English,
the use of which for a book on surgery he defends and justifies. Though
treatises on parts of surgery had already appeared in the vernacular, it may
be fairly claimed for Lowe's book that, apart from translations, it is the

36 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

earliest systematic work on the whole subject which was written in English,
or published in this country. It required some degree of courage in a
lettered surgeon to write a professional work in English at that period, and
laid him open to much hostile criticism. It had also, perhaps, the dis-
advantage of limiting the circle of his readers. Neither in idiom nor words
is the language Scots, at least to any noticeable extent. It might be
thought that, after a residence of fourteen years in Glasgow, his second
edition might have taken a Doric tinge. The book is in the form of a
dialogue — in the first edition between John Cointret, Dean of the Paris
College of Surgeons, and Peter Lowe, as his scholar ; and in the second
edition, between Peter Lowe and John Lowe, his son. The dialogue form
is, however, imperfectly adhered to, whole books being given in the ordinary
direct didactic form. It would seem as if the different parts had been
written at so long intervals that the writer often forgot the literary form
with which he started. As regards the subject matter of the work, it has
been averred by a French critic that Lowe relies more on the authority of
the ancients than on personal experience. This criticism seems hardly
justified. Faith in the infallibility of the ancient writers on medicine was
the vice of all the authors, physicians as well as surgeons, who wrote at
that time and some years later. But Lowe seems much less chargeable in
this respect than many others. Authorities he certainly does quote in
abundance ; but he is also constantly referring to personal experience, giving
the names of patients in Paris and Glasgow and clinical details. Especially
does he refer to what he has seen in the " great Hospitall of Paris," and
alludes to dissections seen in the Paris School of Surgery. He introduced
to the notice of English surgeons some improvements in operative surgery
effected by Ambroise Pare, such as the ligature of arteries. Yet in amputation
in gangrene he prefers the old method of the actual cauter>% on account
of the tenderness of the parts. His commentary on the last chapter of the
Book of Ecclesiastes is well known. This passage, he says, " requires a good
anatomist to expound." His own exegesis on this well-known chapter
introduces a few anatomical refinements which would not occur to a non-
medical commentator. Thus the " silver cord " is " the marrowe that goeth
along the backe," and in the same way the bladder, liver, nerves, etc., are
all worked in so as to render the passage almost an anatomico-pathological
description of the infirmities of age.^

^ Lowe's fancy in regard to the medical significance of this passage was expanded,
and reduced to absurdity by a later writer, who found in the passage the circulation of the
blood, in the discovery of which Harvey had thus been forestalled by King Solomon.
The book in which Dr. John Smith in all seriousness elaborates these and other notions
equally curious is entitled, " King Solomon's Portraiture of Old Age, wherein is contained
a Sacred Anatomy both of Soul and Body. Lond. 1666." (See also British Medical
Journal, 1895, I. 106.)

DR. PETER LOWE

To all the editions of the Chirurgerie is appended, with a separate title-
page, etc., his translation of the " Prognostics " of Hippocrates. The title in
the first edition is

This appears to have been the first attempt to render into an English garb
any part of the writings of the great physician of Cos. The first edition
is dedicated to " Lord Robert Sempill, Sheriff of Renfrew " ; the second and
subsequent edition to " The Reverend father in God, John, Archbishop of
Glasgow." This was the Rev. John Spottiswoode, in whose company he had
made a visit to France in 1601. As regards the translation there is internal
evidence that it was not made from the original Greek, but from a French
traduction. Dr. Finlayson has remarked on the peculiarity of his translating
the Greek larpog not as " Physician," but as " Mediciner-Chirurgian," or
" Phisitian-Chirurgian." After all, the rendering is perhaps not inaccurate,
and has its modern equivalent in the " general practitioner." Dr. Lowe
himself seems to have been regarded in this light by his brethren in Paris,
as the title " Medico-Chirurgus," added to his name in the " Index
Funereus " of the College of Surgeons, shows. It would perhaps imply
too high praise of him to conjecture that it was to some appreciation by
him of the essential unity underlying the division of the practitioners of the
healing art into two branches that, in the institution which he founded
in Glasgow, physicians and surgeons had each functions assigned to them
in one body corporate.

Turning from Peter Lowe as a surgeon and author, one would like to
be able to say something of his personal qualities. As might be expected,
however, the distance of three centuries has dimmed the outline almost to
the point of indefiniteness. Only one or two lineaments of his character
can be made out with anything like distinctness. Reading his books apart
from any knowledge of his personal history and position, one would conclude
that he had a tolerably good opinion of himself His way of speaking from
an altitude, his grandiloquent railing against quacks of all kinds, and his
mode of vaunting his successes, are apt to leave the impression on the
reader that he was fully conscious of his professional worth. But this air
of assumption is pretty much characteristic of most of those who wrote at
the period. Among the common herd of barbers practising surgery Lowe
could not but feel his own superiority; and his expression of this consciousness
is not to be reckoned as akin to arrogance. We can also make out that
the Doctor must have had some sense of wit and humour. In his surgical
writings there was little room for the display of such a trait. But it peeps

38 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

out occasionally in satirical touches, in one case even when the incident
related has a tragical ending, as in the following example. " I remember,"
he says, "in Paris in Anno 1590, there happened such a disease to a
valiaunt Captaine (my great friend Captaine Bayle, who was one of the
chiefest Captaines amongst the Spaniards at Paris) on the right side of
his cragge, for the which I, a Chyrurgion Maior to the regiment, was
sent for, and found it to bee an Aneurisnie, so not to be touched ; of the
which opinion was my good friend Andrew Scot, who was a great Prac-
ticioner at Paris for y^ time, and wel exercised in the art of Chyrurgery,
we did ordaine remedies to let [prevent] the encrease of it, which receipt
being sent to the Apothecary, who before had scene the sayd Captaine,
did thinke it no meete medicine for an Aposthume (as he tearmed it), so
presently he sent for ^ his brother, the glorious Barbor, who, seeing the
Captaine, found no difficultie, but swore with great othes that he had
charmes for al sores, and the Apothecaire swore that he had salues for
al sores, and so presently opened it with a lancet to auoide the matter as
they thought, which being done the spirrit and blood came furth with such
violence that the Captaine died presentlie." We have already seen how
he could make sport of the terrors of Kirk discipline in Glasgow, at a time
when the church's word of command or threat was far from being a
brutuni fubnen? His epitaph, which has been already quoted,^ must have
been written when the memory of the Doctor's " pleasant wit " was still
green in Glasgow. It makes more than one reference to this trait of his

character :

" Of his God he got the grace
To live in mirth."

If the sentiment is cavalier, the expression of it is puritan ; and the com-
bination may not inaptly characterize the man in his relation to his Glasgow
setting and surroundings. The quaint conceit of the kindly humorist triumph-
ing after the mediciner had been baffled may after all have a bit of truth in it —

" Yea when his phisicks force oft failed
His plesant purpose then prevailed."

For a man whose lot was cast in stern and troublous times, and latterly
among a generation not much given to mirth, to be able thus to laugh
betokened some strength and individuality of character. That he must
have wielded powerful influence is proved by his obtaining authority not
only to make a comparatively small provincial town self-governing in
matters relating to his calling, but even to make it the centre of juris-
diction in these affairs over the West of Scotland, including burghs at that
time superior in status to itself

^ Up to this the 2nd edition has been quoted. What follows is the more racy reading

of the 1st edition.

2 P. 26. 3 p, 31,

CHAPTER V

THE FACULTY: CHARTER AND INAUGURATION

It is now proposed, in the briefest possible manner, to indicate the general
scope and main provision of the charter which Dr. Lowe obtained from
James VI. ,^ to point out one or two noticeable features in its form, and
some peculiarities in the powers conferred, and to narrate the circumstances
under which the corporation was inaugurated.

Beginning with a brief preamble already referred to (Chapter iv.), in
which the anarchic condition of medical affairs in the West of Scotland is
dashed off in strong colours, the charter proceeds to confer upon " Maister
Peter Low, our Chirurgiane and Chief Chirurgiane to our dearest son the
Prince,^ with the assistance of Mr. Robert Hamiltone, professoure of medicine,
and their successouris, indwelleris of our Citie of Glasgow, . . . full
power to call . . . before thame, within the said burgh of Glasgow,
or any otheris of oure said burrowis, all personis professing or using the
said airt of Chirurgie " — the bounds of jurisdiction being defined as the
" baronie of Glasgow, Renfrew, Dumbartane, and oure sherififdomes of
Cliddisdale, Renfrew, Lanark, Kylie, Carrick, Air, and Cunninghame," to
examine them and to license them " according to the airt and knawledge
that they sal be fund wordie to exercise," to prohibit practice beyond the
license so granted ; to amerce a fine on the " contumax " of fortie pundis,
(i^3 6s. 8d.) toties quoties, recoverable by a summary process of Scotch
law known as " letters of horning," under which goods to the amount could
be seized or the person incarcerated.

" The Visitors " — the official designation of Lowe and Hamilton, and

' For copy of charter, see Appendix I.

2 Prince Henry, the heir-apparent, who died in 1612 at the age of 19, of what Dr.
Norman Moore {The Illness and Death of Henry, Prince of Wales, Lond. 1882) describes
as a typical case of typhoid fever. A curious controversy arose after his death as to the
propriety of the medical treatment.

40 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

their successors in office — were to " visit everie hurt, murtherit, poisonit, or
onie other persoun tane awa extraordinarily," and to report to the Magis-
trates. In regard to the practice of Medicine, their powers were Hmited
to inhibiting therefrom all but persons possessed of " ane testimonial of ane
famous universitie quhair medicine be taught, or at the leave of oure and
our dearest spouse chief medicinaire." Along with William Spang, an old
pharmacist in the burgh, they were to prohibit the sale of drugs which
they had not " sichtit," and of poisons, except by apothecaries charged to
take caution of the purchasers. They were to give monthly advice
gratuitously to the diseased poor, while other clauses provided for continuity
of succession, the making of bye-laws and exemption of the members from
taxation and personal service of specified kinds.

These were the main provisions of the charter, which bears date the penult
day of November, 1599.

More than two centuries after it was granted, this charter was subjected
to fierce criticism on the score of its legal validity. A Lord Chancellor
was of opinion that the powers granted involved an illegal stretch of
prerogative. It was also contended that the document conferring these
powers was not in form a charter at all. It will be observed that the
framework of the corporate structure it set up was of a simple and some-
what rudimentary character. There was an absence of elaboration about its
provisions. The successors of the original grantees were referred to, but not
defined. What the charter did — and that rather by implication than by
express provision — was to commit to the two men, in whose favour it was
granted, the power of selecting (either after or without trial) the persons
who should, along with these two, form the original members. The
corporation was not even christened, no name being given in the royal
grant. These were some of the aspects of the charter which in the present
century greatly exercised the minds of English judges in the House of
Lords. It turned out, however, that all this bewilderment arose from ignorance
of Scots law. The judges had looked at a Scottish legal document through
English spectacles.-^

Turning from the form to the substance of the charter, its comprehen-
siveness as a scheme for the regulation of medicine is its most striking
feature. The practice of medicine, surgery, and pharmacy all lay within its
scope. It instituted ex officio medico-legal examiners under obligation to
report to the authorities, thus anticipating what is now known as State
Medicine. At a time when hospitals for the treatment of diseases were
unknown in this country it provided for the gratuitous medical visitation
and treatment of the sick poor. Looking at it a little closer, another
peculiarity is observed, to which no analogy is found in any ancient charter
of a medical body in the three kingdoms. To the practitioners of medicine

* See Chap, xviil.

THE FACULTY: CHARTER AND INAUGURATION

the corporation was placed in relations different from those it held to the
craftsmen of surgery. The surgeons were to be examined and licensed ;
the physicians to be called upon to produce their University testamurs.
This was in conformity with what has already been explained in regard to
the divorce of the two great branches of the healing art originating in the
twelfth century. Medicine was recognized as a subject of academic study,
surgery as a handicraft to be learned in the same way as any other manual
art. Yet in 1599 none of the Scottish Universities had given any proper
place to the teaching of medicine. A Bull of Pope Alexander VI., in
1494, had indeed provided for a doctor of medicine lecturing in Aberdeen ;
but the University had collapsed in 1549, no attempt having been made
on its revival to resuscitate a chair of Medicine. Pope Paul III. had also
by a Bull authorized Archbishop Beaton to found a college, including
medicine, at St. Andrews, but this was altered by another Bull in 1552,
apparently before any attempt was made to carry the scheme into effect.
The only remaining Scottish University, that of Glasgow, had not even
made nominal recognition of Medicine as a subject falling within its domain.
It is perhaps too much to assume that it was contemplated by the Faculty
charter that the Scottish Universities should eventually assume their proper
relation to medicine. The " famous " Universities referred to may have been
those of the continent ; at all events, a century and a half had yet to
elapse before any of them rose to a true conception of their duty in this M
respect. As regards constitution and function, the position of the Glasgow '
Faculty was therefore unique. It was contemplated that its membership
should be equally open to physicians and surgeons. But, while as regards
the latter it had plenary powers, its legal function in reference to practi-
tioners of physic within the bounds was rather a matter of police than of
corporate authority, while the terms on which they were to be admitted as
members were left undefined.

The singularity of another provision of the charter will only attract the
notice of those familiar with the condition of society at a period when
the severity of the old feudal system had been much relaxed, but still had
a pretty powerful hold in several ways, as shown in the constitution of burghs.
The distinction between royal burghs, free as a rule to elect their own
magistrates, and barons' burghs, which did not enjoy this liberty, was marked.
Glasgow at this time was not a royal burgh ; it had been, and still virtually
was, a bishop's burgh, not possessed of the autonomy of some of its neigh-
bours. The status of the burghers, including the craftsmen, was to some
extent reflected in that of the town. Viewed in this light, the provision
in virtue of which the craftsmen in Surgery of Ayr, Renfrew, Dumbarton,
Lanark, and Rutherglen were placed in matters affecting their calling under
the jurisdiction of those of another burgh, and one of inferior standing to
some of them, is somewhat remarkable. Whether the apparently anomalous

42 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

character of such an arrangement made the early members of the Corpora-
tion cautious in beginning to carry it into effect, certain it is that for nearly
half a century the Faculty appear to have made few attempts to push their
operations into any part of the district outside Glasgow ; and, as regards
some of the burghs, it was not till the next century that they obtained any
firm foothold. Other causes, such as the unsettled state of the country, and
the weakly condition of the young corporation in Glasgow, doubtless also
contributed to this result. No similar state of matters existed in the East
of Scotland, where the jurisdiction of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons
was limited to the city, its extension over the eastern counties not taking
place till after the Revolution. Nor was there any parallel case in the sister
countries at this period. None of the London Medical Corporate bodies
exercised authority beyond a few miles outside the city ; and the juris-
diction of the Dublin barber-surgeons was equally limited. The territory
assigned to the Glasgow corporation was therefore made the most extensive
of any of the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons at that period.

The absence of any mention of the barbers in the charter is another
noteworthy feature. It has already been stated that the general practitioner
in Scotland was the barber-surgeon. Almost every person who tonsured
beards also performed phlebotomy, and a few of the simple operations of
surgery. A few surgeons there were who did not " barbourize," and it would
appear that to those of this small number who were available Dr. Lowe
contemplated to limit his selection of incorporated brethren. The experiment
was virtually new in this country. As surgeons, or in conjunction with
surgeons, the barbers were at this period incorporated in London, Edinburgh,
and Dublin. Yet here in Glasgow the barber was left out in the cold. At
the bottom of the exclusion of the craft doubtless lay Dr. Lowe's Paris
experience, and his contempt for the tonsor-surgeon. He knew what endless
trouble they had caused to the surgeons in that city ; how the supple shavers,
from being the humble dependents, had tried to vault into the position of
rivals.^ The two classes were therefore at daggers drawn in Paris, and
Dr. Lowe, in his Chirurgerie^ is unsparing in his contempt for the barber.
" Usurping the name of Chirurgion," he says, ..." they have scarce the
skill to cut a bearde, which properly pertaineth to them." Their recognition
in some form he must have seen was inevitable ; but he had apparently
resolved that, as will appear in the next chapter, it should be, not as
crafts-brethren, but dependents.

^The Faculty of Medicine, with a view to " dish" the too aspiring surgeons, had admitted
the barbers to practise all parts of surgery, exalting them to the rank of Scholars of the
University. But one rather amusing difficulty presented itself The University prelections
were in Latin, while the barbers knew no tongue but the vernacular. The difficulty was
compromised by an arrangement under which a kind of supplementary gloss or commentary
was given in French

THE FACULTY: CHARTER AND INAUGURATION 43

Assuming, as we are safe in doing, that the drafting of the charter was
the work, or at least the inspiration, of Dr. Lowe, there can be no doubt
that he did his best to shape and adapt the unpromising materials at his
disposal as closely as the circumstances would permit on the model of the
Paris institutions with which he was familiar. From the constitution of both
the Faculty of Medicine and the Confrairy of Surgeons he seems to have
taken hints for his corporation. Like the former it was to include physicians
as members, exercising a certain control as regards their practice, and per-
forming for the State certain medico-legal functions. To the constitution
of the Paris Fellowship of Surgeons the points of resemblance were more
numerous, being noticed even in matters of technical expression,^ and some
of detail. Thus the " Morantes Parisienses " of the college of St. Come con-
stitution becomes the " indwellers in Glasgow." The resemblance might be
made more obvious by placing a passage in parallel columns. Thus :

The French surgeons were ordered — To the Glasgow Faculty it was enjoined

De s'assembler tous les premiers Lundis (modernizing the spelling) — That the said

des mois de I'an, en I'eglise paroissale de visitors, with their brethren and successors,

Sanct Cosme et Sanct Damien, rue de shall convene every first Monday of ilk

La Harpe, et y demeurer depuis dix heures month at some convenient place to visit

jusqu' a douze pour visiter les pauvres and give counsel to poor diseased folks

malades et donner conseil en I'honneur gratis,
de Dieu et gratuitement.

It is not without some interest to find a practice of giving gratuitous medical
advice to the poor on a particular day of every month, originating in Paris
in the thirteenth century, transplanted to Glasgow some three hundred years
later, and there virtually surviving to the present day ,2 long after it had
perished in Paris with the body in which it took origin.

Before quoting the minute recording the inauguration of the corporation,
a word may be said as to the other two persons named in the charter
besides Mr. Peter Lowe. Mr. Robert Hamiltone, " professor of Medicine,"
that is, " practising physician," was the representative of the academic
element in the body. Of him almost nothing is known apart from the
facts of his official position in the Faculty. In 1604-5 he was associated
with Lowe and others as a commissioner to settle the dispute between the
merchants and the craftsmen. At what University he graduated either in
Arts or Medicine cannot be settled with certainty. All that can be said

^ The resemblance as regards the legal form of the two charters was pointed out in
the "Revised Case for the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow" against the
University of Glasgow, 1833, p. 5.

^For the arrangement at present in force for "visiting the poor" by the Faculty
see Chap. xvii.

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

is that during the first twenty years of the history of the Faculty he
appears to have been its most active office-bearer. He was elected Visitor
for almost every second year up to 1628, when his name finally disappears
from the records. He left behind him a son James,^ who was long a
prominent member of the body.

The name of William Spang occurs on the Records of the Town
Council in connection with his business of apothecary as early as 1574.^
He was, therefore, on the advent of Mr. Peter Lowe in Glasgow, a burgher
of old standing. He had a son of the same name and calling. The
" sichting," or inspection of drugs sold in the shops, with which duty, in
association with the visitor, he was charged in the charter, appears from the
Records to have been required for a different purpose from what is suggested
by the office to a modern reader. Whatever sins were chargeable against
the old pharmacist, sophistication, a vice of more advanced civilization,
does not appear to have been one of them. The insufficiency of his stock
was often a matter of complaint,^ and the potency of some of his preparations
frequently brought him into difficulties. Some of those used by ignorant
specialists and pretenders to secrets often cost the patient his life. The
statement in the preamble of the charter that " infinite number of our
subjects " were destroyed by these means was only a hyperbolical way of
putting an ugly fact.

The following is the minute of the first meeting held, as will be seen,
on 3rd June 1602 : —

Die tertio Junii Millesimo Sexcentisimo Secundo.

The qlk day w' in the Blackfreir Kirk ^ of Glasgow, In presence of Sir
George Elphistoune ^ of Blaithwood, Knight Provest, James Forret, Johne

^This was presumedly the son who is mentioned as present, probably when a boy,
at the first meeting after the inauguration (17th June, 1602), "The qlk day comperit Mr.
Ro*- Hamiltoune, Visitor, and the Brethren, w' his aine sone."

^ Burgh Records^ Maitland Club, 3.

^"Becaus ther ar sundrie who sells drogs w'in this brugh, and hes not sufficient
drogs," the visitors and quartermasters were charged "to visit the sufiiciensie thereof"
(Minute, 28th January, 1612.) Adulteration of drugs was not, however, unknown under the
old Roman civilization. (Puschmann, Hist, of Med. Education, 108.)

*This church was a noble pile of Gothic architecture, belonging at first to the College,
and disposed of by the University to the City. After the Reformation it had no regular
incumbent, but was used for occasional meetings, such as the one here recorded. Us steeple
appears to have been in pretty frequent occupation, being used as a place of custody for
Kirk delinquents. In 1670 the church was destroyed by lightning.

^ Sir George Elphinstone, Lord of Gorbals, Knight of Blythswood afterwards Lord
Balmerino, Lord-Chief Justice, a Privy Councillor, and an intimate of the king, was at this
time a man of consequence. Thirty years later he sustained a sad reverse of fortune, dying
bankrupt about 1634. His body, arrested for his debts, had to be interred secretly in his
own chapel. His fine mansion in Gorbals was standing in 1843.

THE FACULTY: CHARTER AND INAUGURATION

Andersoune, Will Andersoune, BailHes therof, Compeirt Mr. Peter Low and
Mr. Ro'' Hamiltoune, wha producit ane gift of our Soveragne Lord anent
ther Libertie w' the provest and baillies autoritie Interponit thereto as the
samyn at lenth beires, and maid convention w' y"" breithren, vidilicet Adam
Fleming, Mr. Ro*' Allasone, William Spang, Thomas Thomsoune, John Lowe,
and the samyn being red, the s"^ Mr. Peter and Mr. Ro'- was content of ther
aune consents, notw'standing of ther nomination of gift y' ilk yeir ance at
Mickelmes the samyn shall be lytit amongst the Brethrine, and wha be
maniest votts beis elected to remaine visitor for ane yeir yrefter and so
furth yeerly, in all tyme coming. And alse is content yt the forrsds
persons, brethren of craft presently admittit by them, shall have power
and libertie to use ther craft and calling as free as themselfs efter ther
knowlage, and that they shall not visit any of the forrsds brethren patients
being on cuir w'out ther aune consents and the patients first had and
obtained thereto. Qlk brethrene being present consents to concure, asist,
and had hand to. And therefter the sd Mr. Ro'', present visitor whill Michal-
mese, be consent of the brethrein, hes elected Ro'" Herbertsone, Notar, Clark
to them, wha hes given his oath of fideliti, and also creat George Burrell
officier quill Michelmes, and hes given his oath, & the sd brethren to
conveine all such tymes as shall be apoyntit being warnd be the officer
wnder the paines conteined in the ordinance to be set doune theranent.
The brethren hes pfitly given ther oathes, and ordained the rest and Johne
Hall to be conveined, at y' they shall concur and asist y^'w' vthers as
becomes.

Sic Subscribitur, Ro*'
Herbertson, Notarius.

This minute requires little comment. By co-optation, Lowe and Hamilton,
the persons to whom the charter was granted, admitted other five members,
and formally divested themselves of the personal advantages they had acquired
as grantees of the charter, handing over these as the common property of
the body. In this earliest minute it crops out that the perennially burning
question of one medical man poaching on another's preserves, in the way of
taking his patients, was as urgent three hundred years ago as it is at the
present day. It re-appears in several subsequent minutes, and was intro-
duced, as shall subsequently appear, in a municipal charter acquired by the
surgeons and barbers from the municipality in the middle of the century.

It will be noted that three of the members are each distinguished as
" Mr.," denoting the possession of an Arts' Degree. On this point the
successive clerks appear to have been punctilious for a couple of centuries.
Of the adopted members, Spang has been already referred to, and of the
others it need only be said here that nothing is known as to their antecedents.
The members named probably included, with two added at a meeting shortly

46 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

after, all the practitioners of medicine and surgery, as well as pharmacy, in
the burgh, except a few barbers. For a community of only 7000, this
would be a fair percentage of practitioners of the healing art. It was but
a small beginning, there being no attempt, as already stated, to work any
part of the territory assigned to them outside of Glasgow till towards the
middle of the century. The other similar medical institutions incorporated
in the British Isles were located in populous capitals. The Faculty was
launched in a comparatively small provincial town — a town, too, whose rate
of increase was then so slow that at the end of a century it had not nearly
doubled its population.^ The early records of the Faculty cannot be intelli-
gently read without constant mental reference to the exiguous surroundings
of the corporation,

^Even in 1708, after the Union, the population of Glasgow was under 13,000.

CHAPTER VI

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Of the history of the first eighty years of the institution founded by Dr.
Peter Lowe, we cannot do more than present a mere sketch. This is
indeed all that is necessary, and possibly more than may be interesting.
The present is an instance in which anything approaching to historical
fulness would prove dull and unedifying. The records of these eighty
years have been preserved, and they are certainly not devoid of a kind of
interest. But after the first freshness of archaeological zest has worn off,
they become rather dry reading. It is true that the monotony of incident
is now and again relieved by some new and odd illustration of a con-
dition of things very different from our own ; some fresh example of
modes of thinking or acting long extinct ; or, occasionally, some droll
incident related with formal gravity, and apparently without any appreciation
of its ludicrous side. In other places, the elliptical character of the record
piques the reader's curiosity. It takes for granted as known a good deal
that he does not know and can only guess at. The question on which we
hope to throw some light is this : What were the functions of a Scottish
Medical Corporation in the seventeenth century, and how did it exercise
them ? In dealing with these old records, one has constantly to make mental
reference to the state of civilization of the period. As veracious historians,
we must also, once for all, relieve our historical conscience by admitting
that some of the things recorded in these minutes do not greatly redound
to the credit of these early Glasgow surgeons. For the narrow and
exclusive spirit they displayed, they are entitled to the excuse that this
was more or less characteristic of every corporate calling in these times.
Their pettifogging way of peremptorily exacting their corporate fees and
fines, often from those ill able to pay them, raises unpleasant feelings in
the reader. Their relentless mode of cutting off defaulting members from
corporate privileges, and thus professionally ostracizing them, strikes us as

48 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

often harsh. Their own defence of their exacting attitude towards those
over whom they exercised jurisdiction, would probably have pointed to
the purpose for which these exactions were made. The monies were
allocated " to the puir of the calling," and that not merely nominally but
really. For generations the " freedom fines," and other dues, were applied
mostly to eleemosynary purposes. If they showed greed in their corporate
dealing, it was in their case the handmaid of charity. It must also be
constantly kept in view that the record books show the doings of a craft
rather than the proceedings of a profession. This is especially true of the
records till the middle of the eighteenth century ; and but for the presence
of the physician element in the body this feature would doubtless have
been still more marked.

One of the first acts of the corporation was to adopt the barbers,
rather, however, as servants than as sons. On the 22nd June, 1602, " It
is statut and ordained that harbors being a pendecle of Chirurgerie, shall
pay at ther admission fortie punds Scots and ilk yeir twentie shilling to
the puir, and to midle not w' anything farder belonging to Chirurgerie,
under the paine of five pund, toties quoties, and sail pay to the Clark of
the Calling for his bulking threttie shilling scots, and to the oficer twel
shilling." It was no doubt intended from the first to admit the barbers
to some corporate privileges. They had been purposely left out in the
charter, and they could therefore be dropped at any time should occasion
arise. But for the present their recognition was probably inevitable. All
over Western Europe the barber still retained the traditional monopoly of
bleeding, and exercising some of the simpler procedures of surgery. But
in Glasgow his relation to the surgeon was somewhat peculiar. He was
admitted to qualified corporate rights, but at first only as a matter of grace.
Even when a municipal charter or " Seal of Cause " placed him during
the latter half of the century in a position of almost corporate equality, it
was not till the beginning of the next century that he fully realized his
position. The minute quoted above shows how jealously and guardedly
his relation to the surgeon was defined. In the phraseology of the period
he was " free of his ain calling," but not of the incorporation as a whole.
Surgery was to him a forbidden territory, from which he was warned off
by threat of fine and expulsion. In reading the records his corporate
insignificance is obvious enough. For considerable periods we hear nothing
of the barber at all. Indeed, the number of persons admitted to " barbourize,"
and nothing else, was at all times small till near the close of the incorporating
union. More frequently the applicant was admitted " Simple barber-
chirurgeane, to medill with simple wounds allenarlie," following which is
usually a list of operations which he is enjoined not to take in hand, on
pain of fine and expulsion,^

^ There was one Faculty post often filled by a barber, viz., that of officer to the

' «f .

:-^^^*^^r

%AcWl^

■ C

^P^(~ *^- 5j;

>" ' "^"" ' " Mi

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 49

Immediately on its inauguration the attention of the Faculty was
turned to the organizing of the calling in Glasgow. The most pressing
matter to be dealt with was that of apprenticeship. It must be remembered
that at this period medical schools in the country did not exist. To
learn his calling the physician, as has been stated, betook himself to France
or Italy, and later to Holland ; and a few of the more ambitious class of
surgeons followed his example. Dr. Peter Lowe was not a solitary example
of a Scots surgeon of that period being attracted to the French schools.
Thus Andro Scott, surgeon to the King of Scotland in 1597, and, two
years later, Deacon of the Edinburgh surgeons, was with Dr. Lowe in Paris
in 1590. Another famous Scots surgeon of the period, whose tragical
end must have cast a gloom over the profession in Edinburgh, was for
" sometime chirurgion to the great hospitall of Paris." ^ This was Robert
Auchmowtie, who, in 1600, was beheaded at the Cross of Edinburgh for
killing his enemy in a duel.^ But these cases of surgeons being educated
abroad were exceptional ; the mass of the craft were trained solely by
apprenticeship. In 1602 the Faculty enacted a code of rules for the better
and more uniform regulation of the system. The following is the first of
several Minutes referring to the matter : _

Die xxii Tunii, 1602. "The sd day ordaines that all prenteises to be Act anent the

•' _ •' '^ admission of

entered shall remaine no shorter space nor seven yeares, and the last two prenteisis
thereof for meat and fee, and at his entri shall pay five pund to the ^" °° '"^*
craft and to the dark — i lib. 13s. 4d. give he be ane extraordinar on;
and give he be a barges son, to pay 2 lib. to the box, and to the dark
I lib. 6ss. 8d., and to the officer i2ss. And y' ilk prentise shall be
examined efter the first thrie yeares, compleating upon his art of Crafte,
and to pay 5 lib. for the denner at that tyme and to every examinator
20SS., and to the Clark 6ss. S''- at the day of examination; and the Act for Exam-
Visitor to admonise the examinatores qron they shall examine to be prenteses.
wryten, and at the 5 yeares, and to be examinat lykewise, and to pay
alyk . . . And at the seven yeares end, qhen he passes master to
be examinat upon the hoU particulars of his airt, of the definitions,
Gausses, signes, accidents, and cures of all deseises perteaning to his airt,
w' the composition of nature and fit medicaments as shall be requisit,
payand at the tyme for ane denner, ten pund, and to the examinatores
and others as is afoirsd."

Corporation. In the seventeenth century this office was, in most cases, nominally filled by
the last admitted member. If this were a surgeon, the duties were often performed by a
deputy, who was almost always a barber. Whether in such cases the acting was remun-
erated by the nominal official does not appear. From the examinees of the incorporation
he received certain fees ; while the Faculty contributed " a pair of shoon," the price of
which figures regularly for a number of years in the accounts.

^Lowe's Chiriirgerie, ist ed., vni., Chap. 3. '^ Pitcairn's Trials, Vol. 11., 112.

50 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

From one or two of the minutes it would appear that the " denner "
was occasionally exacted even though the candidate was unable to satisfy
his examiners — surely rather hard measure. Even when he had run the
gauntlet of these multiform exactions, and passed the final examination,
the new master, if intending to practise in Glasgow, had no liberty to begin
till he had first been enrolled as a burgess of the town, this involving a
further fee. Armed with his burgess ticket, he presented himself before
the Faculty, and was then admitted a freeman of the calling. But even
then, when a fully-fledged member of the craft, the drain on his purse did
not come to an end. To retain the privileges of membership he had to
pay throughout his career an impost called " quarter accounts," for the
collecting of which several functionaries called " quartermasters " were
annually appointed. If he fell behind in the payment, he could be sus-
pended, or even eventually expelled from membership. But it was rare
that this extreme step was had recourse to for a mere pecuniary default.
Expulsion was, however, the recognized punishment for moral delinquency
as a member, such as turbulence or insubordinate conduct at meetings, and
especially the crime of slandering the visitor, which was one of no uncommon
occurrence. But the punishment being one which involved professional
ruin, it generally happened that the Faculty relented, and re-admitted
the delinquent on his expressing penitence. When this was done it appears
to have cost him a new " upset " (admission fine).

Such was the system of apprenticeship as it existed at that time and
long after, which has now altogether ceased in Scotland. It was obviously
inadequate, but it was not devoid of some good points. It secured to the
neophyte a good, practical acquaintance with his art ; and the training in
the house of his master also secured for him a needed moral control. The
weak side of the system is seen in the inadequate provision for securing
a sufficient training in anything but routine details. This appears to have
been felt even in those early days. To remedy the defect it was made
obligatory in 1612 (28th January) "that the deacon [visitor] or on of the
qrtmasters teach upon Medicine, Chirurgeri, or Apothecarie, the nature of
herbs, droges, and such lyk as shall be though[t] expedient by the brethrene
of sd vocation." This appears to have been the earliest attempt at collective
medical teaching in Glasgow. The idea was, as subsequent allusions show,
to collect the burgh surgeons' apprentices together at stated periods, with
such of their masters as chose to attend, in order that the visitor, or other
official, should give instruction, oral and demonstrative, with a view chiefly
to supplement the isolated instruction given to the apprentices. Occasional
references to the matter in the Records attest that the obligation did not
remain altogether a dead letter.

Of the character of examinations of those early daj^s we have sufficient
materials in the Records on which to form a notion, if not a judgment.

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 51

They appear to have been quite as exacting as the necessities of the
case permitted. " Plucking " was, it is true, not so common as it is now-a-days,
but it occasionally happened. Indeed, minutes of the following kind are
met with so frequently as to suggest the doubt whether the complaint of
the Town Council on one occasion, that the burgh was inadequately supplied
with surgeons through the fault of the Faculty, may not be well founded :
A candidate, " being examined upon Chirurgerie and Pharmacie, was found
ignorant by the sd Facultie as to both the sd airts, and yrfer they hereby
discharge him in all tyme coming to exerce any of the sd airts, or to give
any potion of physic, &c." In such cases the candidate was obliged to give a
bond or written guarantee, for the observance of which he had to find caution
that he would abstain from practice, under penalty of a fine of a specified
amount, usually forty pounds Scots. Several features of examinations as now
conducted, which are looked upon as modern improvements, are met with so
far back as the beginning of the seventeenth century. Under minute of
June, 1602, part of the examination, as we have seen, was to be in writing,
" the Visitor to admonise the examinatores qron they shall examine to be
wryten." Many circumstances tend to prove that the examinations were to
a considerable extent practical. Even the clinical examination, which is
looked on as a thing of the latter half of the present century, was not
always awanting in the examinations of these early days. It is not a little
curious to note the straits to which the examiners were put to find clinical
materiel. To compensate for the want of hospital-patients the examinee was
sometimes ordered to accompany the Visitor or other examiner on his round
of visits. Sometimes also the procedure was reversed. For example, a
candidate was examined and received licence in 1671 on the condition "that
before he be recavit he acquaint the Visitour when any patient did employe
him to use any pairt of Chirurgerie, who sould tak two of his number with
himself, see his applica°ne, &c." One would imagine that it would be rather
an awkward proceeding for a surgeon on probation taking his Examining
Board along with him on a visit to his own — and presumably his first — patient.
This way of licensing conditionally was not very common. But they
had a mode of partial licensing which we in these days find it a little
difficult to realize. If a man were found qualified in some particular depart-
ment, but unable to pass muster in the whole compass of the art, he was
admitted to practice quoad his ability. This mode of admission was usual
in those times, and was contemplated in the charter, in which it is ordained
that candidates were to receive a " testimonial according to the airt and
knowledge that they sal be fund wordie to exercise." When this was done
it was strictly stipulated that all beyond the defined field of practice was to
the candidate forbidden ground. How this system could ever work well it
is a little difficult for us to understand. One would suppose that the
exigencies of general practice would be frequently throwing temptations in

52 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

the way of the surgeon to stray into the prohibited territory. This must
often have happened, but recorded cases of the kind do not occur so often
as one would anticipate. It must, however, be constantly kept in view that
the medical confraternity in the West of Scotland in those days was com-
paratively small. All the surgeons in Glasgow would readily be known to
each other ; and the same remark applies equally or more certainly to those
of such towns as Ayr, Paisley, Dumbarton, and Kilmarnock. Any violation
of the conditions of licence would therefore come to the knowledge of some
of the members of the Faculty ; and this in itself would act as a deterrent.
The area of limitation in regard to practice differed very widely in different
cases, both as to form and extent. The barber-surgeon was licensed " to
draw blood," or " to vent blood with ane home," and to " cuir simple
wounds." Sometimes, but rarely, the permission was extended " to the
curing of broken bones quhair the flesh is not cut," or, " whilk are not
come through the skin." But, as a rule, it was only the surgeon who did
not " barbourize " who had his tether so far lengthened. The pharmacist's
formula entitled him " to sell drogues, and mak up recepies according to
ane doctor's directions." In one case, that of a Paisley apothecary, this
rider is added, " which he is to receive from ye doctor in ye Scots language,
because he has no other language." In turning over the leaves of these
Records, we occasionally come upon some oddity in the range of qualification,
either superadded to the ordinary formula, or authorizing some specialty to
be practised alone. Thus, in 1668, Matthew Miller is licensed to the
" applica°ne of coulters & ventosis, the cuiring of simple woundes, and
embalming of corpes " ; and in this, as occasionally in other cases of partial
qualification, it is added " in caice it shall happen at any time herefter
the said Mathew to attain more knowledge and skill of his calling, being
fund qualified by the sd Facultie, then he sail be admitted yrto accordingly."
In such cases it often happened that the range of licence was extended on
re-examination.

Lithotomy was at this period a kind of specialty, and was not generally
looked upon as a recognized surgical operation. It was, in fact, considered
too dangerous a procedure to be admitted to rank with the ordinary
practices of the life-preserving art. It might often save life ; but the chances
of success were too desperate for it to be encouraged by honourable practi-
tioners. This mode of regarding the operation of cutting for stone was a
relic from very ancient usages. It has been pointed out by the late erudite
Dr. Adams, of Banchory, that in the whole compass of ancient medical
literature there is not a single description of the operation by a person
who had actually performed it. In Arabia it was regarded in the same
light. Avenzohar pronounced the operation to be one which no respectable
practitioner would witness, far less perform.^ The operation was forbidden
* Adams' Edition of the Works of Hippocrates, Sydenham Society, T]"].

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 53

by Hippocrates in the well-known oath which he exacted from his
disciples.^ Dr. Peter Lowe, in his Chirurgerie, gives no instruction in regard
to cutting for stone, although he refers to writers on the subject, and to
his own Poore Mans Guide. It was not till the eighteenth century that it
took rank in this country as a recognized surgical operation to be performed
by the ordinary surgeon. It was this peculiarity of lithotomy as an operation
tabooed by the profession which perhaps obliged the Town Council of
Glasgow to appoint a " stone-cutter " for the city, distinct from the ordinary
surgeons. From the City Records, of date 21st March, 1 661, we find that
" it was concludit be the Magistrates and Counsell to pay yearlie to Evir
M'Neill, that cutis the stone, ane hundreth markis Scotis, and he to cut
all the poor for that freilie." ^ This salary was paid him for a great many
years. In the treasurer's accounts for 1682 it is entered, along with that
of Dr. Brisbane, the town's physician, and John Robisoune, the town's
surgeon. All three receive the same salary — £66 13s. 4d. Scots. Even
after the impecuniosity of the city had obliged the authorities to desist
from subsidizing physicians and surgeons, the stone-cutter apparently
continued to draw his annual salary as formerly. In 1688 Evir M'Neill,
on whom the infirmities of age had begun to tell with effect, retired
from the office. At the meeting of the Town Council of 27th March of
that year, there is produced " ane testificat in favour of Duncan Campbell,
subscryvit be the haill doctors and most part of the chirurganes in toune,
of his dexteritie in cutting of the ston, as also in sounding with great facilitie,
and hes given severall proofes thereof within this burgh, whilk being taken
to the said Magistrats and Counsell their consideration, they nominat and
appoynt him to cutt such poor in toune as he shall be desyred be the
Magistrats, in place of Evir M'Neill, who is unfit to doe the same through
his infirmitie."

We have no information in regard to Evir M'Neill's mode of operation,
or even in what way the unlettered Highlander acquired his skill. Special
attention, however, seems to have been paid to calculus in the West
Highlands.^ The various methods of procedure were usually kept and

^ The question has, however, been raised whether it was not the operation of
Castratio7i which Hippocrates thus prohibited. The matter has been fully discussed by
Littre, and a fair summary of the arguments on both sides will be found in Petreqimis
Chirurgie d'' Hippocrate^ Vol. I., 192. Paris, 1878. That it was really lithotomy that
was the proscribed operation seems to be placed beyond reasonable doubt.

- It appears that the Town Council had ineffectually offered inducements to a " Doctour
Soutar" to accept the office of city stone-cutter (^Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of
Glasgow., 188 1, p. 327, 420). If he came to the burgh (he was admitted a Member of the
Faculty in 1655), he can only have remained in it a short time.

^See papers by Professor Mackinnon of Edinburgh University in Edinburgh Medical
yournal, January and February, 1895.

54 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

whispered as family secrets. It was in this way that the operation practised
by the Collots in France was handed down from father to son and son-
in-law, until, as the story goes, the secret was at last filched from Francois
Collot by the students opening a hole through the ceiling over the spot
where he generally sat while performing the operation. Evir M'Neill, it
must be remembered, flourished nearly half a century before Frere Jacques
had improved the operation of cutting for stone. His operation was there-
fore probably of a somewhat primitive kind ; and, in spite of " the testificat "
of operative dexterity of his successor, Duncan Campbell, signed by the city
physicians and surgeons, it is doubtful whether his method would be much
better than those of his predecessor. We have unfortunately no kind of
statistics which might serve as an index of their success.

The fact that the city " stone-cutter " was allowed the same annual
salary as the town physician and the town surgeon might suggest the
question whether in that age stone in the bladder was not a more common
affection in Glasgow than it happily is at the present day. The notices we
have of it in the seventeenth century refer mainly to the cases of children.
Even now, with its population so vastly multiplied, Glasgow produces few
cases of stone. In our hospitals, indeed, the affection is occasionally met
with ; but most of these cases come from districts beyond the city. There
exist no data for deciding the question whether the affection has decreased
in frequency. Altered habits of living may have tended in this direction,
but it is more probable that in those early days the hazardous nature of an
operation excluded from the limits of ordinary surgical procedure, placed a
factitious value on the services of the professional stone-cutter.

Evir M'Neill must have cut for stone for a period of upwards of forty
years. This appears from the terms of the minute of his admission to the
qualified membership of the Faculty in August, 1656. For just as the
Collots in Paris were admitted as lithotomists to the College of Surgeons,
Evir M'Neill was in a sort of way affiliated to the Faculty in Glasgow. It
will be observed from the following minute that he was admitted qua litho-
tomist pure and simple, and that, though a trial is spoken of, no attempt
was apparently made to test by examination his qualifications for the
specialty: — "Octavo Augusti, 1656. Convenit in the new Kirk Johne Hall,
pnt Visitour w' Mr. James Hamiltone, Arch. Graham, Johne Low, Daniell
Broune, Tho. Lockhart, James Thomsone, and Ro^' Hareis, anent the tryeall
of Iver M'Neill, Chirurgiane, who hes been in use these ten yearis or therby
bygaine in cutting of the stone. They upon sight of several creditable
testificats did licentiat him allenerlie to exerce the cutting of the stone
w'in the boundis contenit in ther gift." From the treasurer's accounts of
that year, in which there is an item, " Ro'- Browne for charging Iver M'Neill,"
it would appear that the connection of the latter with the Faculty was not
one of his seeking. To us in these days the transaction has a somewhat

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 55

discreditable look. It could reflect no credit on the body to license a
specialist whom they did not examine ; and all the more so, because what-
ever dexterity he may have shown in using the knife, Evir M'Neill, of all
whom the Faculty ever licensed, was the only man who had to make the
humiliating admission that he could not wield the pen. His signature in
the records is made by a notary, " because he cannot wryt." This leads
us to remark in passing that though in those days there was no test of
general education other than that afforded by an examination conducted
partly in writing, the Records conclusively prove that the members were,
as a rule, tolerably well educated men. A fair number of them — probably in
proportion as great as at the present time — were Masters of Arts, the names
of such being invariably distinguished by the prefix " Mr." Some at least
of the early surgeons were cadets of good country or city families. That
this circumstance was of advantage in elevating the general tone of the
body there cannot be a doubt. The social standing of not a few of the
members afforded the best guarantee at that time available for the exclusion
of ignorant and unlettered men.

While touching on the licensing function of the Faculty as performed
in early times, we cannot omit some notice of the position of the body
in respect to medicine. The charter, as we have seen, made a clear dis-
tinction between the relation of the Faculty to surgery and its attitude to
medicine. But the fathers of the Faculty did not always clearly apprehend
the distinction ; or, if they did, they often disregarded it. During the
first half of the seventeenth century they appear to have examined and
licensed almost as often in medicine as in surgery. They evidently
regarded the members of the Faculty rather as men who were to
exercise the functions of general practitioners than of surgeons only. It
sometimes happened that while the candidate was found incompetent to
practise surgery, he was qualified in medicine ; and he was licensed in strict
accordance with the results of the test. The explanation which may suggest
itself, that the word " medicine " in the Records is merely equivalent to
" pharmacy " is inadmissible. The two terms are often used in the same
minute, the one in superaddition to the other. Thus of Mr. Arch. Graham
in 1654 it is noted " quha being examinat be ye said facultie is licentiate
to profes pharmacie and medicine w'in ye boundis . . . as is contenit
wHn ye Ires of gift and obleiss him at no tyme heirafter to use nor exerce
any point of Chirurgerie." Here the candidate is not only licensed to
practise medicine as well as pharmacy, and prohibited from exercising
surgery, but this is alleged to be in consonance with the powers conferred
by the charter.

Almost from the first this lax mode of interpreting the charter was
indulged in. In 161 2 we find " Androe Mill fund qualifiet to practice the
airt of Chirurgerie and sic uthers of the airt of Medicine he has knolage

56 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

of." It is still more surprising to find this loose reading creeping into legal
documents and even an Act of Parliament. In a General Decreet or Signet
Letters^ obtained from the Lords of Council and Session in 1635 there occur
the words " chargeing all and sundrie the saidis persones qu'tsomever, pro-
fessing or using the saidis airtis of Chirurgianie or Medicine ... to
desist and cease frae all using or usurpeing of the saidis airtis of Chir-
urgeanrie or Medicine within the boundis foresaidis, . . . except they be
examinat be the said Mr. James Hamiltoun, present Visitour foresaid in
the said Airt or calling of Chirurgianie and Medicine, . . . and be his
brethrerin," etc. In the Parliamentary Ratification of the charter,^ obtained
in 1672, it was necessary to recite the original document, or to give a
fair summary of its contents. The clause respecting medicine is thus
misrecited, " and that it shall not be leisum to any maner of persons within
the foresaids bounds to exercise medicine, without ane testimoniell of ane
famous Universitie wher Medicine is taught, or at leist the persons above
mentioned or ther successours " [viz., the visitor, and his brethren]. The
clause as thus recited received the ratification of Parliament. It is therefore
quite possible that had the Faculty at a later date advanced the claim to
license in medicine as well as in surgery they might have made out a fair
case. It is beyond question that they could have pleaded and proved
ancient usage.

A (qw sentences will serve to describe the working constitution of the
Faculty during the first half of the seventeenth century. The office-bearers,
who were annually elected at Michaelmas, were these : a praeses, whose
correct designation was the " visitor," but who is often called the " deacon,"
elected by the general body of members ; a varying number of " masters,"
originally called " quartermasters," from the circumstance that one of their
functions was to collect the quarterly accounts, appointed, part of them, by
the visitor [visitors' masters], and part of them by the members [crafts'
masters]. These masters were the executive of the Faculty, and assisted the
visitor in examining, and all other matters of importance. There were also
two officials called " boxmasters," who were charged with the duty of
preserving all the important documents as well as the cash belonging to the
incorporation. They took their name from the repository of which they
were custodiers, which was " a box w' twa keis," ordered to be procured in
1612, "to keep the frie money that comes to the common affaires, w' the
bulks and other evidences." The non-existence of banks of deposit was
doubtless the cause of the procuring of this box, which was an institution
common to all corporate bodies of the period. A treasurer (called the
collector) was first appointed in 1636. A clerk (or law adviser and secretary)
and an officer, appointed from the outset, completed the early list of officials.

At first there was no fixed place of meeting. The Blackfriars Church,
' See Appendix II. - See Appendix IV.

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 57

in which the Faculty first met, the " New Kirk " (the first Tron Church),
the house of the visitor, " the Crafts Hospital," and, latterly, Hutchisons'
Hospital, were the most usual places in which the meetings were held during
the seventeenth century. The number of members resident in Glasgow
during the first sixty years of the century does not appear at any time to
have exceeded twenty-four, and this only shortly before the Restoration.

During the period from 1604 to 1677-78 the surgeons and barbers
were represented in the Trades' House by the visitor, the physicians as such
having no connection with the crafts. It is true that the name of Dr.
Robert Mayne appears to be enrolled as deacon in connection with the
Trades' House.^ But this was before the date of the Letter of Deaconry,
at a time when things had not yet taken the shape they eventually assumed.
From 1679 to 1709 there appears to have been no representative of the
corporation. This was caused by the litigation with the Town Council in
connection with a case narrated in a subsequent chapter (ix.), when they
felt themselves obliged " to separate themselves from the rest of the incor-
porations." On the conclusion of that case in 1691, they appear to have
been in no haste to avail themselves again of the privilege of trades'
representation, and this was on one occasion made the ground of complaint
by the barbers. In 1709, the name of the visitor again appears as deacon
of the craft, and this continues to 1 7 1 9, when, as will afterwards appear,
the connection with the Trades' House was finally severed, as far as the
surgeons were concerned.

The name of the corporation is also a point to which we must briefly
advert. It has already been pointed out^ that, in strict accordance with
Scottish legal usage, the charter gave no distinctive appellation to the
body. For several years the want of a special name was probably never
felt. In the Records the assembled members are designated in various
ways : " the brethren of Chirurgerie," " the craft of Chirurgerie," and similar
titles. About the year 1629 "the Facultie " occurs in the minutes for the
first time ; but for several years thereafter the clerk appears to have used
this and other titles indifferently. About the middle of the century " the
Facultie of Chirurgerie " has nearly dispossessed the other titles. Shortly
thereafter, when two or three physicians were admitted to the membership as
such, " the Facultie of Chyrurgeons and Physitians " appears for the first time.
This was in 1654, and it was not till the end of the century or later that
the title finally crystallized into " The Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons
of Glasgow." There can be no doubt that it was the recollection of what
the Glasgow corporation owed to its venerable namesake in Paris, through
its founder. Dr. Peter Lowe, which prompted the early fathers of the Faculty
to the adoption of this particular title.

^ Cleland's Annals of Glasgow^ I., 455. "P. 40.

CHAPTER VII

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (Continued)

It has already been stated that the charter of James VI. made no mention
of the barbers, although in Edinburgh, and the other divisions of the
kingdom, that craft was conjoined with that of the surgeons at this period
and for many years after ; and that after the inauguration of the Faculty,
the barbers were adopted as a " pendicle," without any defined rights in
the incorporation. There is no evidence, as far as we know, to show that,
previous to 1599, the barbers existed as a separate burgh guild in Glasgow,
though various dates of their alleged incorporation have been given. Had
this been the case, it is not probable that they would have quietly
acquiesced in the arrangement of 1602, under which they were liable to
corporate burdens without being admitted to proper corporate privileges.
To the accident of Dr. Peter Lowe's intimate acquaintance with the state
of matters in Paris was doubtless due the exaltation of the surgeon over
the barber in Glasgow. But there was no great gulf at this time between
the two callings in this country. Probably, it might rather be said the
one craft shaded into the other at the beginning of the century ; and the
result of the state of affairs established by Dr. Lowe would be to create a
sharp dividing line which must have been galling to the humbler craft.
Besides, the latter would be virtually unrepresented in the Trades' House except
by the surgeon-visitor, in whose election they had no voice. These were
probably the reasons which led to the application to the Town Council
for a " Letter of Deaconry," or " Seal of Cause." The instruction given in
the minute of 4th August, 1656, that the document was to be drawn "in
favouris of the facultie, but [without] prejudice of the old gift grantit to
them be the decest K. James, and this to be allenerlie [only] in favouris of
the Chyrurgeons and barbouris."

This municipal charter ^ is a document of some length. Besides em-
bodying a code of regulations, it is of some interest both in regard to

^ See Appendix III.

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

what it includes and what it omits.i Amongst other curious provisions,
it has one enacting that " no friemane presume to tack ane vther
freamanis cuir af his hand wntill he be honestlie satisfied and payit for
bygaine painis . . . vnder the paine of ane new vpsett," — an Utopian
measure the principle of which was adopted by one of the Glasgow Medical
Societies a number of years ago, but with little success. This provision was
qualified by another in virtue of which the visitor and quartermasters were
authorized " to tack patientis from ane friemane not fund qualified for
the cuiring of them, and to put them to ane more qualified personne as
sail be thought expedient after exact tryall." This, with the provision to
" poynd " absentees from meetings and burials, is illustrative of the notions
then prevalent in regard to what is now called " the liberty of the
subject." This obligation to attend funerals, by the way, was not intended,
as a cynical reader might possibly imagine, in the way of penance for
the result of the practitioner's treatment. Such a provision was common
to other incorporated callings, and had reference to the obsequies not
only of members of the craft, but also to those of distinguished burghers
and others. A similar obligation was enforced in the case of the Paris
Faculty of Medicine, which prescribed in detail the order in which the
physicians should march in the ceremony.^ It seems almost to have been
regarded as one of the regular duties of the visitor, and other office-
bearers, to attend officially, in some kind of state, the funerals of persons
of note.^

Another noteworthy point in regard to this Letter of Deaconry is that
the name " Faculty " does not occur from beginning to end of it. The
body incorporated is simply the " Chirurgians and Barbouris," or " the said
Crafts " or " Airts." The reason is this. The word " Faculty " was hence-
forth, either tacitly or by unrecorded arrangement, reserved to designate the
body acting under Royal Charter, as distinguished from it acting under

^ It appears that in the inventory of writs belonging to the present Incorporation of
Barbers there is a copy of the Seal of Cause, in which there occurs a curious mistake in
regard to a date : " Sence ye patent grantit to us of the date ye penult day of November,
1559." The year should obviously be 1599, as James VI. was not born till 1566. This
error probably misled Crawford, the historian of the Trades' House, into giving 1559 as the
date of the incorporation of the Barbers.

^ Ritus Usus et laudabilis Faciiltatis Medicmae Parzsiensis, Cap. 38, 133.

^ For such attendance the members were paid, though not for being present at the
obsequies of fellow freemen. Entries similar to the following are not uncommon in the

treasurer's accounts : —

£ S. D.
1665. For those that went to burialls, be the deacons orders, - - 580

1669. For three hors hyres for Montross buriall, 6 16 o

„ For four hors hyrs for Walkinshaws buriall, - • - - 360

,, For four horses to my Lord Elphingstonis buriall, - - - 10 13 4

6o FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Municipal Charter. Though this was the rule, the clerk appears on some
occasions to have forgotten it.

We look in vain through this " Seal of Cause " for any very clear reason
why the surgeons thought it necessary to apply for this kind of corporate
connection. We read, it is true, of " ane joint and harmonious correspondence
of brotherhood, as brother citizens willing to sympatheis with the rest of the
bodie of the citie." But it was doubtless a less sentimental reason which
was the motive power in this instance. It was not, at all events, that the
Corporation should be represented in the Trades' House. It had apparently
always been represented there by the visitor, and it had regularly contributed
to the Crafts' Hospital, in which the meetings of the body were often held.
It might therefore be supposed that the surgeons had a good deal to lose
in the matter of dignity, and not much in the way of compensating gain
by a formal union with the barbers. The Minutes, however, dimly suggest
a reason which may have swayed the surgeons. To obtain a Letter of
Deaconry was to draw closer their connection with the Town Council. The
latter body were charged by the charter with the duty, which they had
come under obligation to discharge, of giving executive effect to the lawful
acts of the Faculty under the Royal Charter. But the surgeons had lately
been grievously troubled by illegal practitioners. In was only in March of
this very year that they had appointed a deputation " to speak to the
magistrates anent the execune of the Ires [letters] of captioune," more
especially with reference to two notorious offenders who were particularly
complained of To draw closer the municipal connection would therefore
be a politic step on the part of the surgeons ; and it is probable that the
magistrates would insist on the recognition of the hitherto dependent craft
of barbers. All the other crafts had their Magna Charta in the " Letter of
Guildry " of 1605, and the barbers were, no doubt, desirous of emancipating
themselves from their parasitic condition, and of being placed on some kind
of parity with the other crafts. After all, however, neither party can be
said to have profited much at first, at all events, by the union. The most
ambitious barber could never hope to rise to the Visitor's Chair, which
could only be filled by a surgeon. Nor can it be said that the latter
obtained an equivalent for consenting to pocket what little of professional
dignity he possessed. The alliance, as will shortly appear, became a source of
embarrassment to the surgeons during their negotiations with the physicians ;
while at a later period, the complication arising from two charters granting
jurisdictions not coterminate — the one extending over a wide district, includ-
ing the burgh of Glasgow, the other limited by the bounds of that city, and
granted to them only in virtue of their being burgesses of it — led to such
hopeless entanglement that a severance of the union was the only way out
of the difficulty. From the position taken up by Dr. Peter Lowe, this
corporate alliance with the barbers was a retrograde step, retarding, as it

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 6 1

did, the progress of the body, and turning its energies into a wrong
channel.

In 1672 the Faculty obtained from the Scottish Parliament a Ratification
of the charter.^ This document, though intended to be a ratification of
the Royal Charter only, is drawn, curiously enough, in favour of the
surgeons, apothecaries, and barbers. The most noticeable point in it is
that, as already stated, in giving a precis of its provisions, it so far mis-
quotes the original charter, as to credit the Faculty apparently with the power
to examine and license in medicine as well as surgery. The error was doubt-
less one of inadvertence, and the circumstance shows the perfunctory manner
in which such documents were drawn in the seventeenth century. Whether the
blunder had any legal significance may be a moot point. On the one hand,
it may be held that where an Act of Parliament extends the powers previously
conferred by Royal Charter, the statute, and not the charter, must be held
to be the authoritative rule ; while, on the other, it might be contended
that the powers conferred by a Parliamentary Ratification cannot exceed those
bestowed by the charter so ratified.^

Immediately after receiving the parliamentary confirmation of their charter
the Faculty engaged in negotiations for the admission of a class who, unlike
the barbers, had a claim under the gift of James VI. The charter was
originally granted to a surgeon and a physician ; and the powers conferred
by it had reference to medicine as well as surgery. The original conception
of the Faculty was in fact that of a College of Physicians and Surgeons ;
the latter to be admitted by examination, the former as possessing a University
degree. But in the first half of the century there were evidently very few
physicians resident in Glasgow. In 1645, Mr. Robert Mayne, the first
titular professor of medicine in the University of Glasgow, and Mr, James
Dwining, both doctors of physic, were admitted members, and without
examination. As showing that this was done under the provisions of the
charter these admissions are expressly stated to be " conforme to the patent."
Of Dr. Rattray's admission subsequently no record was kept. Dr. John
Crichton, of Glasgow, and Dr. Wm. Wallace, of Paisley, were admitted soon
after the last named, and one or two others followed. In regard to the
business of the corporation, all these physicians appear to have been on the
same footing as the surgeons. Thus Professor Mayne, when visitor, acted
as the Faculty's delegate in the Trades' House. But the municipal alliance
with the barbers appears to have had the effect for several years of preventing
the physicians from entering. The latter naturally stood on their dignity,
and would have no association with a craft the members of which they
regarded as tradesmen,

^ See Appendix IV, The cost of the Ratification was 500 merks Scots {£27 15s. 6%6..),
certainly a modest sum when contrasted with the expenses of an unopposed private bill
at the present day.

^ See Case in House of Lords, College of Glasgow v. Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, 20.

62 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Both physicians and surgeons appear at last to have felt that they
were losers by the estrangement. The former were in want of a bond of
professional union ; whilst the surgeons lost in dignity, and, as a body
corporate, in effective working power, in being unable to carry out one of
the objects of the charter. It is also evident from the Records that an
important question had come to the surface. Had doctors of medicine
resident within the bounds, as such, a right to demand admission to the
Faculty ? It was probably on this point that some earlier negotiations had
been wrecked. This was in 1671, when Dr. John Colquhoun, Dr. Matthew
Brisbane, and Dr. Thomas Hamilton, all physicians in Glasgow, were desirous
of admission to the membership. At the meeting held on 7th February
of that year, it was carried by a majority that the fact of being a doctor of
medicine, resident in Glasgow, did not carry with it the right of admission.
By a second vote it was carried by a majority that these three physicians
should be admitted, a day being fixed for receiving them as freemen.

But the physicians, it would seem, would rather remain out than enter
on any other terms than those implying a right of admission in virtue of
possessing a degree. At the end of 1672 the negotiations were renewed,
the Faculty on this occasion making the first approaches. The surgeons
were evidently eager to bring the matter to a successful issue. The
negotiations are reported in the Records in great detail. Each party first
formulated the conditions on which they were willing to consummate a
union. The surgeons, on their part, thought it right to put on record, in
the preamble of their stipulations, their reasons for desiring the admission
of the physicians. In the phraseology of the period these were "that the
concurrence of some physitians residing w'in the bounds specifit thereintil
\i.e. in the charter], is injoined and necessaire (if it can be had) ffor the
richt and legall exercise of the power of visita°ne." They were, in fact,
of opinion that the concurrence of some physicians would enable the
Faculty the better to perform the functions and obligations imposed
by the charter. They admit that the spread of quackery and kindred
evils may be partly due to the defect in their existing constitution. They
therefore think it right and expedient to revert to what they considered
to be the conception of the constitution of the Faculty, as sketched in the
charter. That conception, to their minds, was that of a body presided
over by two heads of co-ordinate authority, the one representing the
physicians and the other the surgeons. They therefore request Dr. John
Colquhoun to take upon him and exercise " the office of Visitor conjunct
with the pnt Visitor of the Chirurgians and pharmatians as fully, frielie, and
honollie [honourably] in all points as Mr. Robert Hamiltone did, or might
have done, with Mr. Peter Low, according to the first intention, and at the
procuring of the sd. gift." The committee appointed to negotiate with Dr.
Colquhoun were invested with large discretionary powers, subject to two

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ^l

reservations, which they evidently regarded as their inner citadel, to be
maintained at all hazards. One of the conditions was general, the other
special. The first was that they should accept no terms which might tend
to the destruction of the incorporation, or opposed to the parliamentary
ratification of the charter then recently obtained. Separation from the
barbers was therefore not to be entertained. The special reservation was
that the possession of a University degree was not to be acknowledged as
giving its holder, though resident in Glasgow, or elsewhere within the bounds,
any right of admission to the Faculty. With these exceptions, everything
else could be yielded in the way of " securing his [Dr. Colquhoun's] honour
and reputation from aspersions, or for easing of his burding in the sd
charge." The reference to " aspersions " pointed to the barbers, and the
possible contamination of the physicians from being associated with them.

At the next meeting Dr. Colquhoun, as representing the physicians, also
submitted a number of stipulations to be accepted as fundamental. The
first and most important of these touched upon the delicate point of the
conditions of the admission of a physician. This, it will be remembered,
was probably the rock on which last year's negotiations had been wrecked.
But the physicians had now abated their demands. They no longer
insisted on admission in right of their degree. But they made the proviso
that it should be put on record that the entry of the physicians into the
Faculty was in accordance with the express tenor of the charter, and
" not precarious or depending on the bare call of the Chirurgianes." This
was a compromise. Though not admitted as a matter of right, they were
not to enter as a mere matter of grace. It was to be minuted that their
presence was provided for in the charter, and that they were therefore a
necessary element of the body-corporate. The other stipulations were :
That the number of physicians to be admitted was not less than two ; that
one of these was to be resident in Glasgow, while the other might live in
the country ; and that to the latter " some poynts of the power of
visitation may be committed." That in all matters depending upon the
charter, physicians and surgeons were to sit and decide covwiuni consilio,
and any resolution against which the former unanimously protested as
derogatory to their degree, was to be void and null. That the physicians
were to be exempted from taking part in crafts' or trades' house business ;
that the physicians were in all matters to take precedence of the surgeons ;
that the surgeon-visitor was to take oath that he would seek the honour
and advantage of the physicians, " especially those incorporat," while recip-
rocally the physician-visitor was to swear that he would seek the good and
welfare of the surgeons. That, as regards the business of the Faculty arising
out of the charter, only a selected number of the surgeons were to sit
and vote with the physicians ; and, lastly, that the two visitors should
have equal power to convene meetings.

64 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Everything was at last satisfactorily adjusted. The ratification of the
convention between the two high contracting parties is thus described in
the Records :

" The said Doctor Johne Colquhoun did condescend and imediatlie
yreft did accept in and upon him the office of Physician-Visitor conjoint
w' the Chirurgian-Visitor ; and he and members of the sd facultie
abowyne [above] did hinc inde give y"^ grit and solem oathes, viz., The sd
doctor to maintain the just ryts and priviledges of the sd incorporatione w'
ther weelfare, and the sd members to maintain the honour and advantadg of
the sd Physician-Visitor, and did tak uther by the hand in furder testimonie
of ther unanimous assent to the premiss."

The minute then proceeds to record the election and admission of two
other physicians — Dr. Thomas Hamilton, of Glasgow, and Dr. Michael
Wallace, of Ayr. Thereafter eighteen surgeons were selected from the
whole list by the two visitors, and these were to have the power of voting
at meetings. All persons who had been licensed to practise only a part of
the profession, and the whole of the barbers, were left out in the cold.
The physicians took no part in any business arising out of the Letter of
Deaconry. That appertained to the surgeons, apothecaries, and barbers. But
all matters originating from the Royal Charter, such as those connected
with examinations, inhibiting unlicensed practitioners, reporting in medico-
legal cases, and several others, became the functions of the physicians and
surgeons acting conjointly.

That the admission of the physicians constituted an important era in the
history of the Faculty, there cannot be a doubt. The advantages accruing
from it are obvious. It provided a greatly needed counterpoise to the crafts-
man element in the body, which had been recently reinforced. The care
with which the physicians guarded themselves from contamination from this
source is almost amusing in its eagerness. With the surgeons, as acting
under the Seal of Cause, they would have nothing to do. It was only with
these surgeons as the successors of Dr. Peter Lowe in the charter of
James VI. that they would form any alliance. In the negotiations it is
pretty obvious that they very nearly got everything their own way. If
unanimous, the physicians could veto any resolution of the body. Though
at first a numerically small element in the Faculty, they could exert a
preponderating influence on its deliberations. Their accession, however, had
the effect of complicating the constitution of a body already sufficiently
involved. It must now be regarded as having a kind of dual constitution.
On the one side it was a college of physicians and surgeons, with the
medical and surgical members admitted on different conditions, having two
presidents of nominally co-ordinate authority, with powers of examining
and licensing, and inhibiting from practice, extending over the western
counties. On the other hand it was a city guild, composed of two separate

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 65

crafts, the members of each being admitted freemen of their own caHing
only, having for its head a " deacon," who was the surgeon-visitor, and
attending to the ordinary business of such an incorporation. On the one
side the surgeon joined hands with the physician, on the other with the
barber ; but between the two extremes of this trio thus strangely linked
there was no relation whatever. It was not in the nature of things that such
a complicated constitution could work well. The elements which composed
the body in its different aspects had little cohesion at best, and some of
them mutually repelled ; while its several functions were in reality incom-
patible. The only wonder is that such discordant elements could exist
together for something more than half a century.

With the accession of a few physicians and surgeons from the larger
towns in the West of Scotland — from Ayr, Kilmarnock, and Paisley — which
took place about the middle of the seventeenth century, or a little after, the
Faculty began to obtain a grip over the larger part of their allotted district
outside Glasgow. During the first half of the century their numbers were
too small,^ and the success of their operations within the town of Glasgow
too doubtful to allow of their working the country districts effectively. They
appear first to have begun with Paisley, which was rising into some importance,
if we may judge from the number of practitioners examined and licensed.
Only one or two in that century came from Greenock, the rise and prosperity
of which are of more modern date. It was evidently with great reluctance that
the medical men in the country districts came up for examination, and often
only to escape prosecution. They were frequently found sadly awanting at
the examination, and not a few of them obtained only very qualified and
restricted freedom to practise. In the latter half of the century the Faculty
tried the experiment of delegating part of their power to a few physicians
of their number resident in Ayr and Kilmarnock. The first appointed was
Dr. Lxichael Wallace, of Ayr, on 21st March, 1673. The minute bears
that " they offred him a commissione w^ certain instructions for the sd shire
and a list of all persons allready licentiat within that bounds, Reserving to
themselfs and y"" successors liberty to call and convein persons w'in the sd
shyre before them not formerly licentiat, and to call him to ane accompt for
his actions and intromissions." Three months later, iith July, 1673, "The
qlk day the facultie taking to ther serious consideratioune the grit burding
lying on doctor Wallace by the late Commission grantit to him ffor the
power of visitatioun in the West, they judgit it convenient he should have
an assessor or helper," and for this purpose they appointed Dr. Bryce Bell,
of Kilmarnock. It is not quite clear whether they were to examine
applicants, the Faculty reser\ang the power to re-examine ; or whether they
were simply to utilize their local knowledge for seeking out unlicensed
practitioners, and sending them to be tested in Glasgow. Though provided
with two letters of horning, they do not appear to have been very successful,
and the plan was soon abandoned.

^For another possible reason, as regards the burghs, see p. 41.

CHAPTER VIII

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (Continued)

In perusing the early Records of the Faculty, we have seldom the advantage
of seeing the old surgeons in any but their official dress. Occasionally
however, we do catch glimpses of them as they lived and acted their parts.
Interspersed amongst the driest minutes we come upon " touches of nature
which make the whole world kin " : the human passions of the men, some-
times their vanities, their jealousies, occasionally their turbulence, and not
seldom their genuine kindness of heart, peer out from the time-stained pages.
Through the Records also we sometimes, but not often, get glances at what
is passing in the greater world outside, and can read with more or less
distinctness a few of the incidents or characteristics of the age. It is
proposed in the present chapter to present a very few illustrations of this
aspect of these Records.

One cannot read any length into these old Minutes, in some places, indeed,
can hardly open them, without being struck with the frequency with which
a crime known as " blaspheming " prevailed in the early Faculty. A cursory
modern reader finding this word ever and again cropping up in the pages,
might imagine these old surgeons as amongst the most irreverent of men.
But the term "blaspheme" is an example of a word once used in a general
sense, and now confined to a particular case of the idea it represented.
It was not the Deity of whom the members of the Faculty spoke evil ;
it was of one another, and especially of the visitor. If the frequency of the
offence is at all indicated by the number of times in which laws were made
and renewed against it, these early surgeons could have placed remarkably
little restraint on the "unruly member." As early as 1612 (22nd Sept.)
we come upon an " Act against any brother to abuse ane other." " Give
any member of the said calling," runs this statute, " blaspheme any brother
of his craft ether publickly or privately or utherwise, or misuses any of
them in word or deed, in yt caise tryall takein and provin against him
be witnesse, shall pay 4 lbs. to the calling, and give his brother scandalized

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 6y

satisfaction at the deacons sight and masters, otherwise to be dischargit to
use his calling toties quoties." The position of the visitor rendered
him peculiarly obnoxious to the shafts of calumny, and at the same
time rendered the offence exceptionally heinous. It was accordingly found
necessary to hedge this official round with a cordon of prohibitive statutes,
which were constantly renewed, and probably as often broken. Here is one
of these of date 1654 (28th April): " yt at no tym heir efter any
person qtsoever being a member of the facultie shall tak upon him to
speik scandalously of the Visitor, ether before his face or behind his
back, for qtsoever cause or occasion, but upon the contrair shall indevior
to carry themselfs respectfully to him, and give him his deu respect in
everything relating to the calling & yt under the paine of i 5 lbs. unforgiven,
and the Act to be put to dew execution be the last deacon, the present
deacon complaining to him," etc. It appears also that this fine was often
exacted with relentless rigour, a peremptory order being made in a former
minute that " the culprit remaine in fast ward till it be payd." But it would
have required a surgical operation to stop the unlicensed wagging of the
tongues of some of the members. Minutes similar to the following occur so
often as soon to blunt all sense of the unusual or exceptional : " The qlk day
ther being a complaint given be the Visitor aganes John Liddell for his
misbehaviour towards the Visitor and abusing at severall myr [more] members
of the ffaculty by his toung, the ffaculty present taking the same to ther
considera°ne wt his confession yrof. They heirby discharg him of that trust
as a box-master. . . . also they discharg him to compeir at any of ther
meetings untill they see his future good behavior, and this to continue
during ther plesur."^ Suspension, such as in this case, and even expulsion,
were not unusual sequels to this class of offences. On adequate expression
of contrition the blasphemer was generally readmitted, but even then he
was invariably mulcted in " ane new upsett " [admission fine, and perhaps
" denner "]. But all the terrors of fines, imprisonment, suspension, and even
corporate excommunication, were unavailing to prevent this crime of vilipend-
ing, even on the most public occasions.

In 1667 (24th Sept.) it is recorded that "a complaint is givene in by the
sd Arch Bogle [the Visitor for the year] and Wm. Currie, makand mentione
that q' Wm. Cliddesdaill upon the 19th day of the sd monethe in presence
of the haill brethrene upon reciding of the sd Wm. Currie " [a new entrant
examined at the previous meeting] his supplica°ne anent his admissione to
exerce such points of chirurgie or apothecarie as he sould be fund qualified
unto. Trew it is the sd Wm did in ane most uncivill maner w'out any
offence given upraid the sd visitour by uttering ane number of vyll ex-
pressions, as particularlie yt he was ane mere fool and ane ass not worthie to
carry office in his place, and did call the sd Wm Currie ane warlock and

^ 26th June, 1680.

68 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

runniegait going fra door to door, as the sd complaint more fully com-
portes." The accused admitted the offence as regards Currie, but denied
it as respected the visitor. The charge thereupon was put to proof, the
evidence of the visitor and other members present being taken, with the
result that the accused was found guilty as libelled. " Thereupon the sd
facultie all in one voyce did fyne the sd Wm. Cliddesdail in Twenty
merks moneye for the use of the poor and yt the sd Wm sould never
Carrie office nor have a vott in all tyme coming, except the Visitour
present and to com and the facultie see his good behavior in the futur." ^

In 1672 John Fleming, for the crime of " reflecting on the Visitor," was
amerced in a fine of six pounds, compelled to crave the Visitor's pardon,
and then expelled. These are a few out of a considerable number of
instances which could be given to illustrate the want of restraint in the
matter of expressing their opinions of each other, which appears to have
characterized not a few members of the Faculty. But no one acquainted
with the habits of the different classes of society of the period will make the
mistake of supposing that an undisciplined tongue was limited to the members
of the medical profession. This was, in truth, a feature of an age characterized
by rudeness and turbulence in Scotland, and not of any particular class or
calling. All through the published Minutes of the Town Council cases are
continually turning up of " speaking scandalously," or misuse of speech
under some such term. Running one's eye down the rubric of the Burgh
Records, published by the Maitland Club, it is arrested (at page 7) by
the pithy summary of an Act, " gif they flyte to be brankit," The same
failing was chargeable to the members of the legal profession in Glasgow.
They were " boisterous and talkative, besides indulging too much in strong
imagery." In 1668 a code of " Injunctions for the Procurators" was drawn
up by the Commissary ; and these contain a graduated tariff of fines for the
various kinds and degrees of offences of this kind.-

^ Clyddesdail was afterwards rehabilitated on his own application, and his fine remitted.
But he appears to have had a knack of getting into scrapes. In 1669 the widow of one
John Risk laid a complaint against him before the Faculty for malpraxis, which she alleged
had resulted in the death of her husband. The complaint is set down with a quaint
minuteness which almost borders on the ludicrous ; how " that the sd umquhill John
Risk having ane paine in his briest" consulted Clyddesdail, paying him a fee in advance,
wherupon the latter gave to the " defunct in two cockell shells ane potione of antimonie,"
with instructions as to the taking of it. The result is thus stated : " The sd defunct made
use yrof upon the morrow, being a Sabaath day . . . that it did no wayes in the least
work with the sd defunct until Monday at aight, at which time that it wroght the defunct
to death." Clyddesdail denied the charge in toto ; but his admission that he had ad-
ministered to the patient " some oyles and some pills " was enough to seal his fate. He
had treated a medical case, which was " altogether contrair to his act of admission." He
was therefore heavily fined, and a representation of the facts was ordered to be made to
the Town Council, with what object does not appear.

"^Memoir of George Baillie, 17.

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 69

In view of the troublous times in which the Faculty was cradled, one
would naturally expect to light in the Records on incidental references to
passing events. Such allusions do occur, but rarely. Thus the accession of
a new monarch necessitated the taking out of fresh letters of horning in his
name. Occasionally their connection with the municipality saddled the
members of Faculty with duties which would somewhat surprise their modern
successors. In 1665 the Visitor reported to the Faculty "that his Majestie
and Estates had imposed ane greater taxatione of monye upon the countrie
nor formerlie, and that the magistrates of the brughe had ordered him to
desyr the calling to meet to the effect they might know how the sayme should
be payit, whether by a common stent, or augmentatioune of the excyse of
malt, who all in one voyce agreed that five shillings, Scots moneye, myr of
augmenta°ne sould be laid upon the mask of malt nor is presentlie exactit."
A certain sum was in these days required to be raised by every burgh in
proportion to its resources, the magistrates in each case being left to exact
it in the way they thought best for the locality. It is evident from the above
quotation that the surgeons had a wholesome dislike of direct taxation. In
1653 we learn incidentally that some time previous the treasurer had lost
" much of the crafts guids at the incoming of the Englesh to the toune."
Cromwell had evidently given the Faculty some cause to remember his visit
to Glasgow three years previously.

As to ecclesiastical politics, though a few of the Faculty were red-hot
Covenanters ^ the major part of them appear to have tempered piety with
prudence. In 1677, when the crusade against the Covenanters was hot the
Faculty had the misfortune to have a Treasurer who attended conventicles.
Great was the anxiety of his brethren for the safety of the corporate purse.
Accordingly a meeting was convened, and the members " taking to ther
serious considera°ne the hesart of loss they may sustein through Mr. Thomas
Smith, the present collector, being denuncit or convenit before the Lords
of Secret Councill for attending conventicles," they thought it wise summarily
to eject him from office, and appoint a successor ad mterini. The latter was
peremptorily enjoined to call his covenanting brother to book forthwith, and
take over all his papers and money.

In 1656 an attempt was made by the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, to
institute in Edinburgh a College of Physicians for Scotland. The surgeons of
that city appear to have taken the alarm at once, and communicated with
the Faculty with a view to the scheme being opposed. The Faculty met,
"Octavo Junii 1657. Conveint . . . concerning ane letter direct to them be
the chirurgianes and apothecaries of Edg"" anent the letteirs of patent granted
be the protectour for erecting ane College of physitianes ther, They did
all in one voice Comissionat and Impower Johne Hall and Mr. Arch. Grahame
to goe to Edg' to advocat and oppose the sam before the Counsall of Stait."

^See Roll of Members, "John Spreull," entered 1661.

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

The Commissioners were to take with them the Charter, Letters of Horning,
and forms of summons. On the twelfth of the same month they reported
that they had presented a memorial to the Council of State, and secured
the services of two agents ; and the Faculty " ordered each on of ther
number to think upon the phisitianes patent and upon objectiones ther
against." What was the result of their cogitations does not appear from
their Minutes, but elsewhere we learn that there being strong opposition, not
only on the part of the surgeons of Edinburgh and Glasgow, but of the
Universities and other bodies, the scheme was eventually dropped in 1657.^
That the surgeons had good ground for their dislike of the project is evident
from the fact that under the proposed foundation their practice would have
been greatly circumscribed, and their professional position generally lowered.
They were to be allowed to treat only cutaneous and external diseases
" so long as these remained simply such and did not recur," in which
latter case a physician was to be consulted. The patent which was actually
made out and is still extant gave the college the power to practise surgery
as a branch of medicine, " forasmuch as the Science of Physick doth com-
prehend, include, and contain in it the knowledge of chirurgery, being a
special part of the same and member thereof." ^ The opposition of the
Faculty is, therefore, intelligible ; but what is not so clear is the ground of
the suspicion apparently implied in the following Minute of Glasgow Town
Council, that the Faculty might come to terms with the physicians, and the
interest that Council took in a question which was not a matter of much
concern to them. "5th Sept., 1657. James Thomson, deacone of chirurgianes
compeired in the counsall being sent for, and was discharged publictly that
nether he nor his bretherine of calling should mack any kind of agriement
with the doctors of physick anent the colledge of phisitianes craved to be
erected be them, whill he did first aquant the counsall, quha promised it should
be so." The visitor reported the interview to the Faculty and " did demand of
them whither they would adher to ther old gift or joyne w' the prht calling
of Physitianes. They did all in on voyce adher to ther old gift." Clearly
some overtures for union had been made to them.

In 1660, the year of the Restoration, we come upon a little bit of
mystery, which it is impossible to clear up from the Minutes themselves.
In that year the annual meeting at Michaelmas took place as usual, but
under unusual circumstances. In the first place the meeting is said to be
convened " be lawfull authoritie and be virtue of ane warrand from ye
magistrats and Counsell," — an authorization apparently as unnecessary as
it was unprecedented. Then the presiding surgeon-visitor is not the one
whose election had been recorded at the last annual meeting, a year
previously, there being no intimation of any change made. Further, the

^Gairdner, Sketch of the Early History of the Medical Professioji in Edinburgh^ 1864, 20.
"^Historical Sketch, etc., of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 1882, 20.

THE FACULTY IN THE SEiVENTEENTH CENTURY yi

officer " gave his aith that he had warned the haill members, except ye
secluded member's" — the last words being added by way of correction in
the margin. The mystery was cleared up by the publication of the Town
Council Records in i88i.^ From these we gather that exception had been
taken under the Seal of Cause to the election of Thomas Lockhart as
visitor, he being not a surgeon -freeman, as the municipal charter provided
for, but an apothecary. On the matter being reported to the Town Council
they, after a good many meetings and not a little forbearance, ordered
the election to be rescinded. It will be seen from the minute of the Town
Council, to be quoted, that it was alleged and admitted that the Faculty
minute book had been tampered with, for the purpose no doubt of proving
the election to have been valid. The original record of Lockhart's admission
and the alterations effected thereupon may be seen from the following extract :
"Die the 13 of decemb. 1649. The qlk day Thomas Lockard is admittit
apothecarie and chyrurgian to wse phlebotomie w' putting in of potentiall
cauters and other prse of chirurgerie, who hes given his oath," etc. The words in
italics have been interpolated to legalize Lockhart's election as visitor. There
is little wonder that the Town Council were indignant. Their minute bears :

2 March, 1 660. — " Forsuameikle as Baillie Colquhoune and the deane of
gild did mak report that they now and divers tymes of befor had spokine
with Thomas Lockart, apothecar, and wthers of the chirurgianes, anent
the electing of the said Thomas deacon of their calling, contrair the tenour
of the litter of deaconheid laitlie grantit be the toune to that calling, and
that conforme to the counselles ordour given be them thairanent, and
that so far as the said baillie and deane of gild could gather of them, the
said Thomas Lockhart and theis adhearand with him seimes altogither to
slight and viliefie the forsaid gift grantit be the toune to that calling, and
to adheare to their old right ; and now the said magistrats and counsell,
taking to their consideratioune the great regrait made be sundrie of the
chirurgianes in this burgh that the said Thomas Lockheart, now pretendit
deacon of that calling, was not lawfuUie choysen, he being ane apothecar
but not ane chirurgiane, and so contrair to that lait letter of deaconheid
grantit be the toune to that calling, and how that some of them, for
better effectuating of their sinistruous ends, had vitiat and interlyned their
books most vnjustlie, and how that the said Thomas, after warning,
compeared in counsell, and, being interrogat anent the vitiating of their
said book, he grantit the same, quherwpon he was requyred to produce
ane act sett doune by the calling warranding the vitiating and interlyning
of the said book before the samyne was done, with certificatioune if he
failyied, the magistrats and counsel wold declair his place to be vacking."

The minute details at length their unsuccessful dealing with Lockhart,
and then records his deposition : they " doe heirby declair the aforsaid
Thomas Lockhart, as pretendit deacon of the said calling, to be vacant,

1 Pp. 430, 432, 433, 437.

72 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

in respect he was not laufullie choysen conforme to the said letter of
deaconheid grantit be the toune to that calHng, and does heirby Hberat
and mak frie the bretherin of that calHng fra giving to him any obedience
as becometh ane deacon in tyme coming, and appoynts the baillies and deane
of gild to intemat the samye to him."

From the allusion to " ye secluded members," it is probably not far
wrong to infer that there had been a quarrel in the body, ending, in these
days of intolerant majorities, in the suspension of the minority from
corporate privileges. The dispute blazed up again in February, 1661, when
one of the leading members, Mr. David Sharp, refused to keep court with
the others in auditing the Treasurer's accounts, " except y' ye haill brethren
wer present, and yron took instruts [instruments] and imediatlie left ye
court, and upon ye qlk carriadge of ye sd. Mr. david Scharps, James
Frank, Visitor, asked instruts, and protested for remeid of Law ag' him.
Unto qlk the Visitor declared ther wer a prit [part] of ye number secludded
from ye court, and notwithstanding Mr. david said he would have yem to
be yr befoir he would acknowledge ye court." The dispute is not again
referred to.

If these early surgeons did not always prove their piety by being
lovers of peace, or by restraining their tongues, and were even worldly-wise
enough to look with disfavour on an official attending conventicles, they
compounded for these shortcomings by religious ardour in another direction.
Of Sunday shaving they had the most pious horror. Again and again
they had to put down the foot on impious barbers, who were inclined to
please their patrons by indulging in the proscribed practice. Here is a
minute of January, 1676: — "The sd day, upon informa°ne given to the
facultie that severall harbors, who are members yrof within the burgh, are
prophaners of the Sabath by barborizing of persons yt day, They taking it
to ther considera°ne, and finding the same to be so gross a sin, and viola°ne
and breach of the Sabath day, contrair to the word of God, and to all
lawes both humane and divyne. That any sould tak upon them who are
members of the Incorpora°ne, and does sitt and vott wt them to comitt
the same, being in itself most scandelous, as it is a hiely provoking sin,
They all w' on consent doe heirby enact that qtever person, ether at pnt
incorporat wt them, or who sail heireft be admitted as a member of the
facultie, sail presume to barborize any person qtsever upon ane Sabboth day,
and he be convict yrof in presence of the facultie, sail for each of the
first and second faultes, pay in to the Collector of the upsett ffourtie
punds Scots, and upon refusal to pay the same, to be declarit no member
of the facultie, and his act of admissione cancellit and delet. Lykeas if
any sail happen to be so gross as be convict a third tyme of the foresd
sin, they do heirby declare him no member of ye sd facultie fra yt tyme
furth as if he had never been admittit, and incapable at any tyme yreft

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 73

to be readmittit, and his act of admission cancellit, scorit, and expungit
furth of ther records as a prson unworthie of being incorporat in any
societie, and much less to be a member of the facultie." This last
sentence reveals a depth and virulence of detestation of unsanctified shaving
to which the Faculty Clerk of the day was fortunately able to give
adequately pungent expression.^

If the members of the Faculty were thus not lacking in what they
considered their duty to God, neither were they neglectful of what v as
due to themselves. Laws to regulate points of medical etiquette and
ethics were frequently made and renewed. In the very first meeting held
in 1602 the subject crops up, and a few days later "it is statute
and ordanit that non of ye brethren tak ane patient out of ane uthers
hand untill the tyme y' the sd brother be fully satisfiet for his paines
and y' at the visitouris sight and qtermasters, under the paine of paying
to the box 40 lbs. unforgiven." In the Letter of Deaconry there are
some odd provisions on this matter, such as that under which " no
freeman presume to tak any other freeman's case out of his hands, till
he be honestly paid for his bygone pains, and that at the sight of ye
bailiffs, with the advice of the Visitor, in case the patient find himself
grieved by the chirurgeon, under the paine of a new upsett, excepting always
libertie to the Visitor and quartermasters to take patients from ane freeman,
not fund qualified for the cureing of y'em, and to put them to ane more
qualified person, as shall be thought expedient after an exact tryall."
Complaints as to breach of etiquette are not uncommon. On one occasion
the complainer himself received an equal castigation with the respondent.
In 1678 William Kelso, a surgeon in Ayr, lodged a complaint against
James Stevenson, also residing in that town, " for taking ane patient of his
hand in swa far as being employit to the cuir of ane broken leg, and efter
he had reparit and dressit the same according to method, . . . the sd
Mr, James did (as it appears at the desyre of the patient) untie the fractur,
and dressit the same himself" The dcnoiiement must have been galling to
the complainer, though he might have foreseen it. On looking into the
record of their examination and conditions of admission, the Faculty
found that neither the one nor the other had been found qualified and
licensed to practise surgery. Their finding, therefore, was that as regarded
the complaint, it was " not convenient to meddel yrwith," but both parties
were strictly enjoined to desist from the practice of surgery till they had again
been examined and found competent in it.

This brings us to the subject of prosecutions. In these modern days,
as every one is aware, the matter of prohibiting and prosecuting quacks is

' Sabbatarian zeal took the same form much about the same time in the Edinburgh
College of Surgeons. See Gairdner^s Sketch of the Early History of the Medical Profession
in Edinburgh. Edin. 1864, p. 10.

74 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

one of considerable difficulty and delicacy. We are troubled with new-
fangled notions regarding what is called "the liberty of the subject." We
draw fine distinctions. It is not unqualified practice that is illegal ; it is
the dishonest assumption of professional titles. The meshes of the law are
thus wide enough to allow a pretty big offender to escape. But in the
seventeenth century they were not troubled with such nice scruples. The
Faculty had not only the power to prosecute, but the charter, having as
its handmaid a despotic law, put into their hands an instrument by which
they could do so in a manner equally summary and effective. The original
provision of the charter was that " in case they be contumax being
lauchifully citat, every ane to be unlawit in the soume of fortie pundis toties
quotiesr And in enforcement of this penalty the Faculty were to receive
" our letters of horning, . . . chargeing them to poind thairfor within
twenty-four houris under the paine of horning ; and the partie not haveand
gear poindable, the magistrate under the same paine, to incarcerate thame
quhill caution responsall be fund that the contumax personne sail compir
at sic day and place as the saidis Visitouris sail appoynt, gevan tryall of
ther qualifications." Such a provision in modern times would be justly
reckoned most arbitrary and tyrannical. In the most summary way the
delinquent could be tried by the Faculty and fined, and on a magistrate's
order (failing goods to be distrained), committed to prison till the pay-
ment of the fine ; or, if a more lenient view were taken of the case,
till he came under obligation to desist from practising, and found adequate
" caution " that the promise would be fulfilled. These " general letters of
horning " might possibly be of advantage to the community in a certain
stage of social progress, but they were obviously subversive of the elementary
principles of liberty, as the term is now understood. But to the credit of
the Faculty, they appear to have generally tempered rigour with mercy.
As far as there is evidence, they cannot be said to have recklessly used
the powerful instrument which the law put into their hands. If they were
severe, it was only intermittently, and not for long periods at a time. From
about the year 1665 onwards, for twenty years, a mania for prosecuting
appears to have seized them. The Records for that period are filled with
cases of unqualified persons brought up before the body in their judicial
capacity. The accused sometimes appeared in answer to summons, but
occasionally they were brought up " under caption," or " apprehended wi'
caption." Letters of horning come up in some shape in almost every
minute. Nor was it the City only that they tried in this way to clear of
quacks. The crusade was pursued to the furthest border of their territory.
On 24th April, 1673, we read that "they ordain a pair of Ires of horning
to be sent west to Dr. Wallace " — a country physician admitted in terms of
the convention with Dr. Colquhoun, and to whom was to be committed
" some points of the power of visitation," ^ " to be mad use of in that part

»P. 64.

THE FACULTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

committed to his visitation." It does not appear what execution the
formidable " pair " effected. Let us hope that the quahty of mercy was not
strained in the use made of them. Occasionally men were found bold
enough to defy the Faculty, despising all the terrors of letters of horning,
caption, and imprisonment. In such cases the contumacious quack usually
raised in the Court of Session an action of suspension directed against the
authority of the Faculty, but usually without much success.

Though some of these proceedings in these prosecutions may appear to
us high-handed, there can be no doubt that many of them were clamorously
called for. Some of the cases of malpraxis related in the minutes would
in these days be treated as culpable homicide, if not murder. Female
practitioners were occasionally made subject of complaint ; and on two
or three occasions the Faculty thought it consistent with their dignity to
prosecute the offenders. The essential portion of one of these cases, as
stated in the Minutes at length, may be given :

"28th Aug'- 1657. The sd day anent the complaint of Jannet Andersoune, relict
of the deceasit James Rodger, Merchant of this borough, against Margaret Granfield,
spous to David Farrell, making mention that upon the sixth day of this instant
monethe the sd Janet, her deceasit husband being heavily diseased with ane mortall
diseas qrof he departed this lyf, and hear tell that the sd Margaret had geven out
herself as ane most expert physitian, he caused her goe for her, wha came to visit
him, and after shoe had gruped his pulsis shoe told him that his diseas was curable,
and promised to cuir him yrof w'in fyfteen days; and he, being thus persuadit be
her, did in end agrie wt her for three pound ten shillings sterling money, for the qlk
soume shoe promised to cuir him perfectlie, and qlk soume shoe recavit in hand
according to her own desyre ; and true it is she sent him some jewly [jelly] in ane
can with other two things, qlkes are almost extant to the fore to be seen." The
minute then records his taking of the medicine, and his death, and proceeds : " and,
being present w'in three or four moments of tyme before his departure, shoe told
him that ther was no deathe working with him." The complaint then resolves itself
into a demand that the female practitioner be declared incapable of practising
medicine or surgery, and that she be ordained to return the fee. The case went to
proof, the accused denying "the whole expressiones conteint in the narrative aforsd,
but acknawledgit receipt of the forsd monye, and that she did give the defunct the
particular medicamentes conteint in a papper given in be her, to wit, two pyntes
of [ * ], two pyntes of claret wine, two loaves of sugar, threee ounces of syrup
of [ * ], three ounces of maidenhair, wt some syrup of gillet flowers, and
declarit he died of ane hydropsie, be reason of his legis were all swalit downward,
and ane hard coche and ane draught and [ * ] in his bellie." After some
interrogation, she said that she was " content to soccombe and undergoe the censur
of the facultie, and pay back all the forsd three punds ten shillings, stg., to the

* Blank in the M.S.

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

pursuer ; and being demandit if shoe had any warrand to exerce Medicine or
testimonial! from any in authoritie to pas through the natur whereby her honestie
and well carriage might be knawne, shoe denyit the having thereof. Qlk being
considerit the facultie all in one voyce did unlaw, amerciat, and decerne the sd
Marg'- and her sd husband for his interest to pay to Arch''- Bogle, the Collecter,
fourtie pound Scots for her bygane transgressione, for the use of the poor, to be
disposed upon by the baillie and facultie." On her plea of poverty, the fine was
remitted at the next meeting.

CHAPTER IX

THE FACULTY AT THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

The last meeting of the Faculty in the seventeenth century, of which
the record has been preserved, was held on 28th June, 1688 : the earliest
extant minute of the eighteenth century bears date 8th November, 1733.
For a period little short of half a century we have no official record of
the proceedings. But the want of the minutes is to some extent made up
by other available sources of information. In the interest of historical
continuity it fortunately happened that during the larger part of this period
the transactions of the Faculty were more than ordinarily matters of public
concern. Notices of them accordingly survive in recorded judicial proceed-
ings, and in the Municipal Records.^ From these sources we can gather
with accuracy and tolerable fulness the movements and principal matters of
interest which concerned the body during this half century. That everything
has thus been preserved which one would like to know we cannot assert.
The continuity of the roll of members cannot now be recovered, and many
matters of detail are irrecoverably lost. Yet enough has been preserved to
console us for what is lost.

For the Faculty the whole period was one strongly marked by feud and
struggle. The contest which falls to be recorded in this chapter was one
between the Faculty and their Corporate Superior under the " Seal of Cause "
— the Town Council of Glasgow. This relation to the municipal authority
was one which had been voluntarily assumed by the Faculty. The charter
of James VI. in favour of Peter Lowe enjoined the magistrates to give
executive effect to the decisions of the Corporation ; yet the latter was not
by it placed in any relation of burghal subjection to the municipal authority.
But what the charter did not apparently do was effected by the " Letter of
Deaconry," applied for and obtained from the magistrates in 1656. By

^For access to the Municipal Records we have to express indebtedness to the courtesy
of Dr. (now Sir) James Marwick, the Town-Clerk.

78 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

this charter the surgeons and the barbers were constituted a city incorporation.
We have already pointed out the effect of this act on the position of the
body. It gave to it a new constitution without abrogating the one already
existing. This dual aspect of the Faculty — with one charter from the State,
and another from the City ; the former giving jurisdiction over four counties,
the latter limited to Glasgow — though it often perplexed the surgeons, was
never entirely lost sight of by them ; but the distinction was too fine to be
always apprehended by others, even by the Town Council. That body
regarded the incorporation of surgeons and barbers as exactly on a footing
of equality with that of the baxters or maltsters. They looked for the same
allegiance and obedience from them in all things pertaining to the crafts
as from any other of the city guilds. This the Faculty were not always
disposed to yield.^ Unless by mutual forbearance, therefore, a conflict of
jurisdiction was inevitable. It first took place in this way. The Faculty,
in 1679, in their corporate wisdom, passed the following Act (25th March):
" The qlk day the members of the said ffaculty present, taking to ther serious
considerationes the prejudice that may arise through their promiscuous admission
of strangers to practise chirurgerie and pharmacie within the city of Glasgow;
and that be their gift from King James of blessed memorie, and Ratification
thereof, they are empowered to mak statutes for the common weil of the
leidges anent the sds arts ; Have for preventing yreof for the future statuted
and ordanit, likeas they theirby unanimously statute and ordain that no
person or persons qtsevir shall in any tyme coming be admitted to practise
ether of the saidis airts of chirurgerie and pharmacie w'in the citie of Glasgow,
but such as either have served their prentisehip with any frieman or member
of the ffacultie for the tyme, for the space of fyve years, conforme to
indentors in communi forma ; And have conforme thereto receivit from his
master meat and drink and bedding within his house, the said space ; or
otherways be ane frieman's son or maried to ane frieman's dochter, with
the qualificationes allwayes sutable and necessar for aither of the saids arts,
with this provision allways. That it shall be in the power of the Magistrats
of Glasgow for the tyme (in caice of deficiencie of qualified persons
chyrurgianes in the place) to call ane or more weel experienced in the
saids airts to reside in the city : the intrants in that caice being allways
subject to the tryall of the facultie for their qualifications, and paying their
friedome fyne for the maintenance of ther poor, according to ther Acts
and Statuts."

In the next chapter we shall find that the snug family arrangement
referred to above was one fraught with consequences for which the surgeons

lit must, however, be kept in mind that though we have used the word "Faculty" to
denote the body in either of its aspects, it was generally used to designate it as consti-
tuted by Royal Charter. As a municipal craft it was the " Incorporation of Chirurgeons and
Barbers."

THE FACULTY AT THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 79

had not bargained. But the immediate effect of the new rule was to bring
the Faculty into collision with the Town Council. Hardly had it come
into operation before what they considered a suitable case for its enforcement
occurred. Indeed there is a strong presumption, in view of the dates and
what subsequently occurred, that the law was made to exclude this particular
applicant. This was Mr. Henry Marshall, a surgeon who had about this
time come to Glasgow from Kilsyth. At all events, on his applying for
admission, he was at once confronted with the new law. Being neither the
son, son-in-law, nor apprentice of a member, he was declared inadmissible.
Marshall at once appealed to the Town Council, and that body called on
the Faculty to show cause why he should not be admitted to trial as a
surgeon. The Faculty declined to assign any reason, but persisted in their
refusal. The Town Council appear thereupon to have consulted the Trades'
House, and, fortified by the opinion of a majority of that body, proceeded
at once, without further ado, on their own authority to admit Marshall to
practise surgery within the burgh, "alse amplie in all respects as if he were
admitted freeman with the said calling of chyrurgeons." The " said calling,"
it need hardly be said, were equally astonished and indignant. At once they
began to look to their arms. It was clear that if the magistrates could
legally do this thing, the Faculty's occupation was gone. For an upstart
unfreeman to be authorized to " practise their arts over their bellies," as they
indignantly put it, was a thing not to be borne. How far the magistrates
acted within their powers under the Letter of Deaconry need not be here
discussed. They had probably ample power to reinstate a craftsman who
had been wrongously excluded from his guild ; and this much may be said
for the municipal authorities, that though this was the first time they had
admitted a man to practise in the town on their own authority, they appear
to have on several occasions invited surgeons to Glasgow, or offered them
inducements to settle there, apparently without consulting the Faculty, and
without remonstrance on their part. Thus in 1636 they remitted the freedom
fyne of George Michelsoune,^ who proposed to come to Glasgow, and who
actually entered the Faculty next year. In 1648 Arthur Tempill was invited
more than once by the Council to settle in Glasgow.^ He did not come,
however, but settled as a surgeon in Edinburgh, which city he subsequently
represented in the Scottish Parliament. In that case the Council " granted
and enacted themselfs to entre him frie with the calling of Chirurgeounes " —
certainly a stretch of authority. In 1656 the Council offered William Souter
inducements to settle as city stone-cutter.^ In their action in Marshall's
case, the magistrates went a step further. They failed, however, to realize
that the Faculty, though in one respect a city incorporation, was some-
thing more ; and that the admission of a surgeon as a member was a power

^ Extracts fro7n the Records of the Town Coimcil of Glasgow, 1881, 42.
"^Op. cit., 152, 169. ^Op. cit., 327, 420.

8o FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

which they owed primarily to royal and parliamentary, and not to muni-
cipal grant. The ire of the members of the Faculty did not prevent them
from making sure of their ground before launching on a sea of litigation. In
the iive years subsequent to 1679, when the Records of the century cease,
we have now and again notices of what was being done. At one time the
visitor would be dispatched " east " to Edinburgh " anent Marshall's case " ;
opinions of Counsel are referred to in the case, and the Treasurer's accounts
show that the funds are being drawn upon to a considerable extent for
the preliminary procedure. At last they raised an " Action of Declarator "
against the Magistrates and Town Council, and for several years this litiga-
tion appears to have been depending before the Court of Session. The most
eminent Counsel at the Scottish bar were engaged on both sides : for the
Faculty, Mr. Hugh Dalrymple, afterwards Lord President ; and for the
Magistrates, Mr. James Stewart, sen., afterwards Sir James Stewart of Good-
trees. The latter contended that the Faculty might any day do essential
injury to the City by so reducing the number of persons eligible for admission
as freemen that there would not be a sufficient number of surgeons for the
public wants. Their object he declared to be, by means of the reduction
of competition, to enhance the value of their own professional services.
Under shelter of the royal charter they ought not to be allowed to make
statutes inimical to the common weal of the burgh. The reply of the
Faculty was that the very statute complained of provided for the hypothetical
case of a scarcity of qualified practitioners ; and that the power to make such
laws was necessarily limited to such as were not prejudicial to the public
welfare. In the present instance it was not contended that there was any
paucity of qualified surgeons in the burgh ; and the power arrogated by
the Magistrates to veto proceedings authorized by royal charter would
involve the subordination of royal and parliamentary to municipal authority.
A large part of the pleadings was too technical to be here summarized ;
but this is perhaps a fair outline of the arguments on both sides.

The decision was given on 9th July, 1691, and was in every point in
favour of the Faculty. Three months prior to this date, however, the
Town Council, finding their position legally untenable, had surrendered at
discretion. In a minute, of date 9th May, they unconditionally revoked
their former grant in favour of Marshall. But in thus turning him adrift
they thought it right " to refer and recommend him to the Facultie, and
earnestly desire them to use him civillie and discreetlie." The latter could
well afford to be magnanimous in the hour of victory. At great cost
they had vindicated their right to exclude him, and they could now admit
him with better grace. How they arranged to get over the difficulty
raised by the law of 1679 does not appear. But in a short time afterwards
Marshall's name appears in the list of members ; and for a considerable period
he was one of the leading practitioners in Glasgow.^

' See Roll of Members in Appendix.

THE FACULTY AT THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 8 1

Though eventually victorious in this contest, the Faculty suffered much
by it in its progress. In the Act of the Town Council already referred to,
of date 9th May, 169 1, it is admitted that the illegal admission of Marshall
" has ruined the whole incorporation of Chirurgians to this day." From
the same source we also learn that the surgeons had been " necessitat ever
since to separatt themselves from the rest of the incorporation of trades, so
that the said haill incorporation of trades has found the prejudice and loss
of having a particular calling disjoined from them, and has sustained a
considerable loss in the maintenance of their whoU poor." This is con-
firmed by an examination of the list of the deacons of incorporations and
of the Trades' House, none being given of the surgeons and barbers in the
lists from 1679, when the case went to court, till 1709.^

Of the propriety of the "Act" of 1679 any opinion from the standpoint
of over two centuries later would be of little value. Of its legality the
judges of the Court of Session appear to have entertained no doubt ;
and they were equally clear " that the Magistrates and Counsell of Glasgow
have no right nor power to warrand or authorize any person to exercise
Chirurgerie or Pharmacie within the city of Glasgow except such as are duly
approven of by the Visitors." But that such a regulation was ever workable,
in view of the fact that the number of apprentices was small — probably not
more than one to each surgeon at one time ^ — proves clearly enough that
Glasgow was, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, not only a
town of no great size, but that its yearly rate of increase must have been
small. With a limited number of apprentices, a rapidly growing community
would soon have outstripped in its demand the supply of medical practitioners
available under such a rule.

One important step in the progress of the Faculty falls here to be
recorded. For nearly a century they had been without a local habitation,
holding their meetings in various places, but latterly most frequently in the
Crafts' Hospital and Hutchesons' Hospital. From a memorial presented to
the Town Council in 1697 by Mr. James Weir, then visitor of the Faculty,
we gather that the Faculty had lately acquired a property contiguous to
the Tron Church, on the west side, which they proposed to take down
and rebuild on a plan (which is described), " not only for the publik
decoration of the street, but also for ane publik Hall to the faculty for y*"
publik meetings, and more particularly for y"" meetings the first Munday of
ilk moneth of the y"", for communicating to the necessity of the poor gratis,
conform to their gift and charter." The object of the memorial was to
obtain a right to a certain " throwgang," and in this they succeeded. The
hall which the Faculty erected was a one-storey building which, with the
tenement of which it formed part, projected into the street, and had six or
eight windows looking towards the north. The whole of this tenement
^Cleland's Atuials of Glasgow^ Vol. i. 455. ^ See Letter of Deaconry, Appendix III.

82 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

was subsequently acquired by the City, and it was taken down and the
site rebuilt on so lately as 1858.

This hall adjoining the Tron Church remained their home till 1791,
when they migrated to St. Enoch's Square. Coincident with their entering
on the possession of this hall in 1698 was the commencement of the formation
of a medical library, as more particularly adverted to in a subsequent
chapter [xxil].

CHAPTER X

THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE SURGEONS AND BARBERS, 1 700-1722

The action against the Town Council, recorded in the last chapter, had
scarcely been fought and won when the Faculty found themselves in an
intestine war, which lasted, with periods of intermission, for upwards of
twenty years. It originated in the ill-starred union of surgeons and barbers,
effected by the Letter of Deaconry of 1656. Up to this period we have
heard very little of the barbers. All through the minutes, up to 1684,
when the Records cease for nearly half a century, this reticence about the
barbers is very marked.^ Now and again, at considerable intervals, the
admission of a person " to barbourize " is indeed recorded, with the usual
caution that he is to " meddle with no points of Chirurgie," under pain of
the statutory penalties. Occasionally, at the end of the sederunt of members,
occurs the name of a solitary barber distinguished as such. But the name
thus included is often that of the acting officer. It seems very doubtful
whether the barbers in any numbers were ever present in the seventeenth
century as members of the Corporation. There are no proceedings recorded
with which the barbers, as such, could have any special concern, unless such
prohibitive statutes as those against " barbourizing " on Sunday.^ We are
therefore probably justified in saying that up to the end of the seventeenth
century the barber element in the incorporation was inconsiderable and
of small influence. That in being thus quietly ignored these craftsmen
sustained substantial injustice is more than probable. By the Letter of
Deaconry they were in all respects placed on a corporate equality with the
surgeons, except that they were not eligible for the office of visitor. But

^ In the printed pleadings in Calder's Case (chap, xii., p. 102), it is mentioned that two
sets of minute books were kept, one for the body acting under Royal Charter, and the
other for the surgeons and barbers acting under the Letter of Deaconry. If this be correct
it would account for the rarity with which the barbers are mentioned in the existing
minutes. There is, however, no other evidence of this averment, which is quite improbable.

^Chap. VIII. 72.

84 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

they appear to have been systematically excluded from all offices. Up to
the end of the seventeenth century the barbers, as far as appears, bore the
burden of exclusion with uncomplaining meekness. But scarcely had the
eighteenth century dawned than they showed symptoms of restiveness under
the yoke. In 1701 they appear to have laid their grievances before the
Trades' House, but as far as has been traced no particular result followed.
In 1703^ the barbers appealed directly to the Council. Their petition set
forth that " the Chirurgions hes committed many unwarrantable encroachments
upon the interest of the barbers contrary to the letter of Deaconry." They
proceed to supplicate for inquiry and redress, or, alternatively, that " they
fall about some method of disjoyning the barbers from the Chirurgeons."
This is the earliest suggestion we have of a possible separation, and it will
be noted that it came from the barbers. The Town Council remitted the
matter to a committee, who did not present their report till 8th May, 1704.
From their own account the work of the committee during these six months
was anything but a sinecure. They had sent a copy of the barbers' petition
to the visitor of the Faculty (who, by the way, was Mr. Henry Marshall,
whose admission to practise by the Town Council had given occasion to the
litigation of 1680-91), with instruction to him to summon a meeting of the
surgeons to prepare answers to the complaints in the petition ; answers were
given in at a meeting with representatives of both parties ; and it had
turned out on inquiry that these answers were those of Marshall himself, and
not of the whole surgeons, whom he had never taken the trouble to consult.
They state that the meeting was adjourned to have the answers adopted by
the surgeons, and that these were again answered by the barbers. The
proceedings of next meeting were invalidated by an omission similar to
that which had formerly occurred. Mr. Marshall admitted that he had
forgotten to summon a meeting of the surgeons to homologate the report, and
craved a further adjournment. This was granted, though from their tone
the reporters now evidently suspected that the surgeons were playing fast
and loose with them. At the next meeting Mr. Marshall stated that he
was not commissioned to give any reply to the charges regarding the violation
of the Letter of Deaconry ; that that document was one which now required
revision, some of its provisions being distasteful to the surgeons, and that
obedience to these was incompatible with the carrying out of the provisions
of the grant of James VI.

This very long report, of part of which the above is a condensed sum-
mary, was adopted by the Council. The surgeons were peremptorily enjoined
to conform to the Letter of Deaconry, and plainly told that their plea that
the gift of King James was to over-ride that Letter was wholly inadmissible.

The barbers had so far gained their point ; but the surgeons had evidently
no intention of discontinuing their habit of lording it over them, although the

^Minutes of Town Council, 30th October, 1703.

THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE SURGEONS AND BARBERS 85

latter were naturally less disposed than ever to submit to the yoke. In
1706 we find them again knocking at the door of the Council. The usual
procedure of appointing a committee, who called for written statements on
both sides, was gone through, and on i6th September, 1707, the Council
gave their decision. This was again favourable to the barbers. From the
terms of this award, it appears that the principal grievances of the barbers
were these : That the surgeons restricted to a small number the barbers
whom they admitted, excluding many who were qualified for membership ;
that they usurped all, or nearly all, the corporate offices ; that the barbers
were not summoned to attend meetings ; and that when differences arose
between surgeons and barbers, the former paid the law expenses from the
corporate purse, leaving the barbers to meet theirs from their own pockets.
The judgment of the Town Council made provision for redressing all these
grievances, at the same time protecting the surgeons from any interference
of the barbers in matters purely surgical. The Council intimated that their
award was given not only in the " capacity of arbitrators, but also as their
Superior, having power to determine all such differences," and that they
expected that it would " be inviolably obeyed, and observed by them in all
tyme hereafter."

The Town Council must have been very sanguine indeed if they enter-
tained any such visionary hope. The decision, however, was followed by
one effect, which disturbed the numerical balance of parties. There at once
took place such an influx of barbers that in the next year they appear to
have considerably outnumbered the surgeons. In that year both parties
evidently contemplated a disruption as an impending possibility, for which
immediate provision ought to be made. They had accordingly to face the
very delicate question of how to make an equitable apportionment of the
corporate property. This was a more complicated matter than might at
first sight appear. Part of the goods had accresced to the body under the
Royal Charter, and part under the Letter of Deaconry. The former belonged
exclusively to the physicians and surgeons, and the latter to the surgeons
and barbers. The arrangement eventually come to and subscribed by both
parties was to this effect : That the library, anatomical preparations, and
" rarities " were to be regarded as the property of the Faculty, acting under
Royal Charter. The Faculty Hall in Trongate, with pictures and furniture,
was to be regarded as the common property of the Faculty of Physicians
and Surgeons, and of the Incorporation of Chirurgeons and Barbers. The
whole remaining property, heritable and movable, was to be allocated in the
following proportion, — three-fifths to the Faculty, and two-fifths to the incor-
porated joint trade of surgeons and barbers. The deed of agreement, which
is very elaborate and detailed with painful minuteness, further contains a
number of stipulations respecting the rights of parties, evidently drawn on
the lines laid down by the Magistrates in the previous year. It is subscribed

86 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

by both parties, and, for the sake of preservation, a copy is ordered to be
entered in the Records of the Town Council, and another, oddly enough, in
the Minutes of the Kirk-Session of Glasgow.

For the next four years the Town Council appear to have enjoyed a
well-earned and no doubt welcome respite from the appeals and complaints
of surgeons and barbers. But in 1 7 1 2 the war broke out afresh, and with
increased virulence. In that year application for admission as a surgeon was
made by Mr. William Stirling, a member of an old Glasgow family, and
father of the founder of Stirling's Library in Glasgow. Mr. Stirling had
apparently not entered the profession by the door of apprenticeship in
Glasgow, but had probably climbed up by way of attendance at a foreign
school. Under the law of 1679, he was clearly not admissible as a freeman.
But the surgeons desired to admit him, and resolved to do so in face of that
law. In consideration of his want of apprenticeship, he was to pay a freedom
fine or entrance fee of 1000 merks, which, it is presumed, was the estimated
aggregate of the fines and other expenses of which, as an apprentice, he
would have been mulcted. But here the barbers stepped in with an
unheard-of demand. They appear to have claimed that that part of the fee
which was in excess of the ordinary freedom fine should be credited to their
side of the dual corporation. The rationale of this demand is not quite
apparent from the extant statements on the subject. Apparently the barbers
thought, if there was to result any pecuniary gain from an infraction of the
rules, that they should be sharers of it. On this occasion we gather that
the first appeal was made to the Trades' House. That body gave their
decision on ist July, 1712 ; but it seems to have been so unintelligible that
they had to issue another " interloquitor " to explain it. The judgment, as
explained by the new reading, was in favour of the barbers, and the
surgeons appealed to the Town Council. The final award gave to the
barbers even more than they appear to have asked for. It was decided that
in the particular case which led to the quarrel, the entire fee was to be
applied to the common stock of surgeons and barbers. Up to this time the
Town Council had listened to the interminable quarrels of the two parties
with the utmost patience and forbearance, and in sifting the complaints
brought before them had spared neither time nor labour. But now it is
evident that municipal patience was nearly exhausted, and something like
a groan for the first time escapes them in giving this last verdict. " Much
trouble," say the arbiters, " hes been given to ye Town Councill." They
now resolve to apply a drag to the quarrelsome pace of the parties by
enacting " that if either of the sd parties, chirurgians or barbers, shall
quarrel, impugn, or controvert any part of the above sentence, or shall by
any process reclaime or pretend to exemption therefrom, that the partie,
quarrelling or reclaiming by any process, shall have no access to the
common stock for defraying any part of the expenses y'anent."

THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE SURGEONS AND BARBERS 87

For four years again the surgeons and barbers appear to have ceased
from troubling the Town Council. At the end of that period the war
broke out afresh, and in 1 7 1 9 it reached a crisis. The casus belli on this
occasion was the scope and meaning to be assigned to the oft-mentioned
law of 1679, by which the membership was restricted to the sons, sons-in-
law, and apprentices of members : in the words of the law itself, to " such
as ether hev served their prentisship with ane freeman or member of the
facultie, ... or otheways be ane freeman's son, or maried to ane free-
man's dochter." Up to this time it had been assumed, apparently without
any dispute or discussion, that as an entrant on admission was made free
only of his own calling, so the apprentices, sons, and sons-in-law were qualified
or eligible for admission as freemen only of their respective arts. This was
beyond doubt the sense in which the framers of the Act interpreted it, for
at the time it was passed the barber element was relatively insignificant.
But things were now greatly altered ; the barbers felt themselves a power in
the body corporate. They were also flushed with victory, having been
found in the right in every contest in which they had been engaged with
the surgeons. The immediate occasion of the question being now raised
cannot be gathered from the Records. It may possibly have occurred to
some aspiring barber, with a mind as keen as one of his own razors, that
the law of 1679 was susceptible of a wider interpretation than that which
custom had assigned to it. Was not the barber, equally with the surgeon,
a freeman of the corporation ? If so, why should not his son, son-in-law,
and apprentice, equally with those of the surgeon, be admissible as surgeons.
provided on trial they were found qualified ? All at once a tempting vista
of ambition was opened up to the barbers. The younger generation of
them would be able to throw aside the razor and shaving-brush, and, by a
rapid metamorphosis, emerge as fully-fledged surgeons. In vain the surgeons
represented, on the claim being first advanced, that the barbers were incor-
porated with them qua barbers ; that the very object of the law of 1679 was
to ensure that the surgeon-entrant had obtained a proper training in the art
of chirurgerie ; and that it would be simply monstrous to hold men qualified
to be taken on trial as surgeons who had only been trained to " barbourize."
The barbers determined to test the question by appeal. On the matter
coming in the first instance before the Trades' House, the decision was
entirely in favour of the barbers. The surgeons thereupon appealed to the
Town Council, who appointed a committee, with the Provost as convener,
to consider the question. On that committee reporting, the Council gave
their decision on 7th November, 17 19: "They are of opinion, that, seeing
by the letter of Deaconrie, the surgeons and barbers are incorporat into
one body and incorporation without distinction, upon the joynt application
of surgeons and barbers, and that there is no difference thereby made anent
the soum to be paid for the admission of a member to any of the said

88 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

professions ; . . . and that all the acts made, either by the surgeons or
barbers, from excluding persons from those employments, are only against
unfreemen ; . . . and that seeing every surgeon and barber is a freeman of
the incorporation, and that thereby their sons, sons-in-law, and prentices have
an equal priviledge to be admitted members of the incorporation according to
what, upon tryall, they shall be found qualified to practise, and that the
surgeons cannot be thereby prejudiced, as if strangers craving to be admitted
with the barbers," ^ — for these and other reasons of a like nature the Town
Council dismiss the surgeons' appeal, and affirm the decision of the Trades'
House.

It is with curious interest that, having read this decision, one turns over
.he leaves of the Records of the Town Council to ascertain what the surgeons
vvould do in the face of it. Perfectly just and legal it may have been under
the Letter of Deaconry ; but surely there could not have been a more com-
plete reductio ad absurduni of the position of the surgeons as corporate
partners with the barbers. But the surgeons at last rose to the occasion.
On 19th December, 17 19, they formally gave in to the Town Council a
" Demission and Renunciation of the Letter of Deaconry." This document
is couched in language firm and dignified, yet temperate. Beginning with
a historical preamble, they advert to the ground of dispute, and point out
that the adverse decision deprives them of any advantage which the fact of
their incorporation by the Council could yield. They admit that their
difficulties have largely arisen from the complications inseparable from their
dual constitution, or, as they put it, " by ane mixed state, which has been
so intricating and perplexing to us, and the neighbourhood," — by this last
phrase probably meaning the Town Council and Trades' House. They
request the Town Council to make an equitable division of the common
stock, promising to yield obedience to their award. Finally, to show that
the state of chronic warfare in which they had spent the last twenty years
was alien to their natural disposition, they conclude ; " We being most
firmly resolved to follow our own affairs, and duly and faithfully to execute
the trust given to us by the foresaid charter, for the good of all his Majesties
lieges, and to cultivate peace and good understanding with all our neigh-
bours, which the misunderstanding of our several interests by the foresaid
letter of deaconry has so long and much hindered." This renunciation is
subscribed by fourteen surgeons, being probably the whole, or nearly the
whole, of those resident in Glasgow. It is engrossed in the Records of
the Town Council, of date 22nd September, 1722, on which day the Magis-
trates and Town Council formally accepted the Demission and Renunciation,
and declared the Letter of Deaconry " to be in all tyme coming null and

Mn a law suit which took place in 1816, it was stated in the pleadings that in Glasgow,
though the crafts of dyers and bonnet-makers are joined in one incorporation, a member of
the one craft could not exercise the other without serving an apprenticeship to it.

THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE SURGEONS AND BARBERS 89

void." Why it happened that a period of three years intervened between
the Renunciation and its acceptance is not apparent from the Records of
the Council. There is no notice of any further negotiations having been
carried on in the meantime, or of any unexpected difficulties having arisen.
But it is apparent that this interval was a period of anarchy in the disrupted
body. On the 27th June, 1720, the barbers lodged a complaint that they
had now no representative in the Trades' House. The visitor had evidently
acted on the Letter of Renunciation, and treated the disruption as an
accomplished fact. Commiserating their desolate condition, the Town
Council appointed the Deacon Convener to act ad interim as " Deacon of
the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers," and this appointment was
repeated in the subsequent year. In apportioning the corporate stock, the
Magistrates adhered closely to the agreement of 1708,^ assigning three-fifths
to the Faculty and two-fifths to the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers.
Of the latter portion the barbers received one-half, or one-fifth of the entire
stock. In this way they hived off with ^2116 5 s. lod. Scots, and were
immediately re-incorporated by a new Letter of Deaconry. The record of
the Town Council concerning the award enters with great minuteness into
the financial part of the arrangement. The barbers were paid out in money,
the Faculty having taken over the hall and other real property at a
valuation.

Thus terminated the connection between surgeons and barbers in Glasgow.
In Edinburgh the union between them came to an end, as already stated, in
1 7 1 9, the year in which the surgeons in Glasgow renounced the Letter of
Deaconry. In the former city the separation does not appear to have been
so thorough and absolute. The barbers in Edinburgh were still obliged to
enter their apprentices in the register kept by the surgeons, whilst the latter
burdened themselves to pay in perpetuity to the barbers an annual sum of ten
pounds sterling, which item accordingly figures in their accounts till this day.
In London, as already stated, the separation did not take place till 1745, while
in Dublin the connection lingered on nominally till about 1840, but probably
practically ceased in 1784. In regard to Glasgow, the wonder is that with
tastes and tempers so obviously incompatible, the separation did not take
place some years earlier. It is impossible, however, to avoid seeing that it
was no sense of incongruity on the part of the surgeons that brought the
union to an end. In all these later negotiations we find no murmur from
the surgeons that their professional position was in any way compromised.
The union broke down because it latterly became unworkable. That it did
not come to an end earlier was simply because the barbers did not earlier
realize their own power. As soon as they thoroughly rose to the sense of
their corporate equality, the separation became inevitable.-

ip. 85.

^The barbers appear to have cast some "longing, lingering looks behind," if we may

90 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

It would have interrupted the continuity of the narrative of the quarrels
between surgeons and barbers to mention in its chronological position
another dispute which the Faculty had with the Town Council in the early
part of the century. In 1704 the Faculty made application to the municipal
authorities for exemption from watching, warding, and wappenschawing, with
other kindred services obligatory on the lieges at that time. The desired
immunity was refused on the ground that, in common with the other incor-
porated crafts, the surgeons were legally liable to such offices under the
Letter of Deaconry. Some years later the Faculty applied to the Circuit
Justiciary Court, and were successful in making good their claim under the
Royal Charter for complete exemption, not only from the services referred
to, but also from attendance as jurymen at Courts of Assize. The " Act of
Adjournal" recording the exemption is dated 12th October, 1709.

judge from the fact that for the next thirty or forty years individual members of the craft
were often brought up and fined for practising some parts of surgery. But the rank and
file of the craft could hardly be expected to keep out of the forbidden preserve when it was
boldly poached on by the very deacon of the order. Thus in 1742 Deacon William King
was fined in the statutory sum, though the fine was subsequently remitted on his pleading
"straightened circumstances"; while Deacon Alexander Edwards was more than once
punished for the same offence.

CHAPTER XI

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

For the materials of the last two chapters we were obliged to draw upon
sources of information outside the Faculty Records. From judicial reports
which have been preserved we have been able to present the progress and
result of the litigation with the Town Council ; whilst the Minutes of the
latter body, eked out by information from other sources, have been laid
under contribution in respect of the narrative of the war in its successive
campaigns between surgeons and barbers. That contest ended, the Town
Council Minutes afford us no further assistance. With the renunciation of
the Letter of Deaconry, the saying and doings of the surgeons ceased to be
matters of municipal concern. To fill up the blank in the history of the
next twelve years no vicarious record has been found. The first extant
Minute of the eighteenth century accounts for the wide gap of nearly fifty
years in the official records of the body. For this reason, notwithstanding
the length of the Minute, it is given entire.

" At, and within the Physicians and Surgeons Hall in Glasgow, the Eighth day
of November, One thousand seven hundred and thirty-three years.

"Convened in faculty, Mr. Peter Paton, Mr. George Thomson, Mr. Thomas
Brisbane, Mr. John Johnstoun, Mr. John Wodrow, and Mr. David Paton, all Physicians
and members of faculty ; and Alexander Porterfield, Thomas Hamilton, James Calder,
senior, Mr. WilUam Stirling, John Gordon, Robert Wallace, Thomas Buchanan,
Alexander Horseburgh, James Hamilton, John Paisley, and James Calder, junior, all
Surgeons in Glasgow and Members of Faculty.
"Actanent "The which day, the foresaid persons being the whole members alive

the faculty's • ,. . , , r. i /- i

loss by fire." residmg m the place (except Thomas Dougald, Surgeon, absent for the
day), Considering That their late Sederunt-Book containing their Elections,
Acts, Proceedings, Rules, Regulations, and others was burnt in the house
of John Colquhoun, Writer in Glasgow, Clerk of faculty, by ane accidental

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

fire, which began in a neighbouring house, and seized upon his house the
twenty-ninth of October last, seen by many of these persons, members of
the faculty, and further made appear in faculty by some remains of the
said book now produced not altogether consumed by the said fire, and
that upon the first Monday of October last the sd Mr. George Thomson
was elected Praeses; the said James Hamilton, Visitor; the saids Mr. David
Paton, and Boxraasters ; the said Robert Wallace, Collector ;

the said John Colquhoun, continued Clerk, and Alexander Colquhoun,
Messenger, continued Officer, all of them to the said Faculty unto the
first Monday of October next, being the next ordinar time of electing their
officers, and that the saids persons office-bearers had accordingly accepted
their several offices, and given their oaths de fidek. Towards the supplying
of which loss by fire, and again constituting the members officebearers in
faculty conform to their former elections and rules made in consequence of
the Royal Charter granted them, They, the forenamed whole members of
faculty present. Doe now Ratifie, approve of, and confirm the sd severall office-
bearers in the said severall offices, with all the powers and priveleges belonging
thereto as formerly used and practised. And, further, towards supplying the
said loss, the faculty being as aforesaid again constituted appoint and ordain
their sd Praeses and Visitor, Doctor Paton, elder; Doctor Wodrow,
Alexander Horsburgh, and John Paisley, or any three of them, the
Praeses or Visitor being always one, To meet, advise, consider, and report
from time to time with their conveniency the most proper methods to be
used, and steps to be followed towards farder supplying the loss foresaid
of the sd faculty Book, and also appoint them the next diet of the
faculty's meeting to give in ane account of charge of the poor's or faculty's
money, as the same ought to be charged upon the present Collector.

"Said day the subscribing physicians and surgeons being all of them
much inclined to encourage and promote the good design of maintaining
the poor in a workhouse already built at Glasgow,^ for that purpose, Do
hereby in full faculty voluntarily condescend and agree among themselves
That each of the six physicians subscribing will, according to their seniority
as physicians admitted (Mr. Peter Paton beginning as eldest), attend and
visit for the space of a year from the time of the poors' being first put in
sd workhouse the poor people to be kept in the Infirmary there and give
their advice and prescriptions as to the sick and infirm from time to time
as needfuU ; and that each of the eleven surgeons subscribing, according to
their seniority as members of the Faculty (Alexander Porterfield as eldest
beginning), will for the space of half ane year commencing from the time
of the poor being first put in the sd workhouse, visit and as surgeon
attend the sd House and do all the necessary business of a Surgeon to
the poor in the Infirmary there, and furnish to them upon his own charge
all drugs and medicaments necessary, or to be prescribed by the physicians "

'P. 136.

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Octr I, 1739,

Robert Bogle, agrees.
H. M'Lean, agrees.
Dav. Corbett, agrees.

Alex"^- Porterfield.
Thomas Hamilton.
James Calder, Senior.
William Stirling.
J. Gordon.
Robert Wallace.
T. Buchanan.
Alex. Horsburgh.
James Hamilton.
John Paisley.
James Calder, Jun'-

P. Patoun, M.D.
Geo. Thomson, M.D,
J. Brisbane, M.D.
Jo. JOHNSTOUN, M.D.

John Wodrow, M.D.
Dav : Patoun, M.D.

July 5, 1736.
Geo. Montgomery, M.D.

Unfortunately no artist of the time had the opportunity of transferring
to canvass the faces of these ancient fathers of medicine and surgery in
Glasgow, in solemn conclave assembled, with rueful faces contemplating the
charred remains of the book " containing their Elections, Acts, Proceedings,
Rules, Regulations and others." The picture must therefore be left to the
imagination, and all that can be done is to present the reader with a
facsimile of their signatures. The loss was indeed irreparable, but their
modern successors need not on that account be inconsolable. A good many
curious incidents and details which one would like to know must have
perished with the book. But the loss scarcely involves any solution of
historical continuity, as the main drift of events is manifest from documents
still preserved. In dismissing the subject of the burnt volume we may
mention that the committee appointed under the foregoing Minute met
from time to time, and one or two members were even added to it in
subsequent years. But they incubated on their report so long that it
never saw the light.

Cut adrift from its municipal connection, the constitution of the Faculty
at once reverted to its original simplicity. The body now consisted of
physicians admitted on election in virtue of the possession of a University
degree, and of surgeons admitted after examination. Each class of members
had its own official head. The " praeses " was the chief of the physicians,
while the " visitor " occupied a corresponding relation to the surgeons.
These dignitaries were invested with co-ordinate authority, each of them
having the power of convening a meeting of the Faculty without the
consent of the other. During the whole period in which this dual presidency
existed there is no evidence of the slightest jar or want of harmony between
the two parties. When the praeses (or physician-visitor as he was often
called) was present, he presided at the meetings; in his absence, the surgeon-
visitor. This arrangement continued till the year 1820, about which period,
as we shall afterwards see, the possession of a University degree by not a
few of the surgeons began somewhat to blur the formerly clear-cut line of
demarcation between that class and the physicians. It was some years
after that date that the visitor, while retaining the old name, fell back into

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

the position of Vice-President, which in substance, though not in name, he
has ever since retained, while physicians and surgeons became alike eligible
for both offices.

The mode of electing the praeses and the visitor in the eighteenth
century may be here described. It will have been gathered from what
we have said that the physicians alone elected the praeses, while the visitor
was in like manner chosen by the votes of the surgeons. The physicians
were divided into two " lites " or sections, and one man chosen by ballot
from each. The two thus selected were then by a second vote pitted
against each other, the one having the highest number of votes being
declared praeses. The visitor was elected in a similar manner hy the
surgeons ; but in their case there were three initial sections or leets, and
consequently three votes, before the matter was finally determined. The
other office-bearers were elected by the whole Faculty, and directly by
ballot. The " Collector " at first joined to his proper duties of treasurer
that of librarian, but a separate " Bibliothecarius " was appointed shortly after
the middle of the century. The office of " craftsmaster " had disappeared with
the barbers and Letter of Deaconry. But the " box-masters " were still elected
as of yore, and about the middle of the century a new functionary called
the " seal keeper " was added with duties sufficiently indicated by the title.

From 1733 onwards the continuity of the Records is unbroken, and
by their aid one can easily realize what a meeting of the Faculty was like
in the first half of last century. The day of meeting was then, as it is
now, the first Monday of every month — this arrangement dating from the
beginning of the century. If we may judge from its position in the
Minutes, the visitation of the poor was the first thing which required atten-
tion. Occasionally it happened that no poor attended for advice, and the
fact was duly noted in the Records,^ The one condition exacted of appli-
cants, that they should 'be recommended by a minister, elder, or some person
in public office, must have served in some measure to make their charity
discriminating. As far as appears from the Minutes, the whole Faculty
present originally took part in the work ; but eventually a contingent was told
off for the duty. The work of charity ended, the admission of new members
came next in order. If admitted as a physician after being balloted for, the
member-elect produced for inspection his diploma of doctor of medicine of
" ane famous university where medicine is taught." As a doctor of medicine
did not in these days practise as a general practitioner, but as a " pure "
physician, eschewing surgery, the admission of a member of this class was
much less common than the entrance of a surgeon. If the doctor of
medicine attempted general or surgical practice, as on one or two occasions
did happen, he was at once treated by the Faculty as a surgeon, and
subjected to examination as such. Thus, in 1745, Dr. Andrew Morris, a

^See in Appendix V, Notanda on Glasgow Poor.

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 95

graduate of the University of Rheims, insisted on his claim, in virtue of his
possessing a university degree, to open a surgery in Glasgow and practising
as a general practitioner. His right to do so was challenged by the Faculty,
and he was held liable to be mulcted in the statutory penalty of £^0 Scots.
Instead of paying it, he raised an action of Suspension against the Faculty,
the litigation extending over several years. At last, however, he surrendered
at discretion, submitted himself to examination, paid the dues, and was
admitted as a surgeon. The possession of the doctorate had in these days
its disadvantages, and was not in all cases an object of ambition. The
young practitioner could not generally afford to graduate till he had gained
an established position. It was for this reason that men like Dr. John
Gordon and Dr. John Moore, names well known in Glasgow in the last
century, declined to take the doctorate, the latter till middle age, and the
former till he was well advanced in life.^

Surgeons were admitted only after examination, the qualification of
admission being proof of an apprenticeship for five years. In the early
part of the century it was still insisted that the apprenticeship should be
limited to a member of the Faculty, but this rule was departed from about
17 16. When the Medical School of Glasgow took practical form about the
middle of the century, attendance on lectures was recognized under certain
conditions as equivalent to a year of apprenticeship ; and, at a still later
period in the century, a rudimentary curriculum of medical study was formu-
lated by the Faculty. In this way the time-honoured law of apprenticeship
became first modified and eventually abrogated as a pre-requisite for admission
to examination. The nature of the examination in last century is a matter
of some interest. Though some considerable modifications were effected
in the latter half of the century, the following may be taken as descriptive
of its general plan. The test was divided into two parts — the first known
as the " private," and the last as the " public " trial. The private examination
was of the most importance. The candidate was tested on both the theory
and the practice of his profession. If he failed in this part he was not
allowed to " proceed to further trials," as the Records phrase it. If, however,
he was successful, he was ordered to reappear at the next meeting of the
Faculty, and then and there to dissect a previously prescribed part, to
discourse on a set surgical or medical theme, and, finally, to make up a
complex pharmaceutical preparation. The real test was doubtless the private
examination. The circumstance of the subjects of the public examination

^ The universities of which the physician members of the Faculty were graduates in the
eighteenth century were mainly those of Glasgow, Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Leyden, Utrecht,
Rheims. Aberdeen was perhaps not represented till the beginning of the next century. In
regard to St. Andrew's and Aberdeen, the question was subsequently raised whether either
answered the description of " Ane famous university where medicine is taught." The Court
of Session declined to say that it was not.

96 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

being definitely prescribed beforehand, detracted from its value as a criterion
of knowledge. The private equally with the public examination was at first
conducted in presence of the assembled Faculty. About the year 1740,
this arrangement of the Faculty resolving itself into an Examining Board
was felt to be cumbrous and inconvenient. A committee was accordingly
appointed on each occasion to conduct the private examination and to
report. If the report were unfavourable, the candidate had the option
of appeal to the Faculty. Of this privilege the examinees were sometimes
not slow to avail themselves, but scarcely ever with the result of altering the
verdict. When the committee had examined the candidate its work was
done. For the testing of the next candidate another, and probably enough
a different committee, was appointed. In course of time this method also
was found to be practically inconvenient, and it was superseded by the
appointment annually of a standing committee charged with the duty of
examining applicants. Such was the mode of evolution of the Board
of Examiners.

The examination of candidates concluded, another piece of business
of frequent occurrence, — in the earlier part of the century perhaps more
common than any other, — was their dealing with unlicensed practitioners.
Not seldom did it happen that one or two, sometimes as many as five or
six, of such persons were in attendance, having been brought up on summons ;
not now, as in the previous century, on caption or letters of horning. The
delinquents were called in before the meeting, and interrogated as to their
alleged practising of medicine or surgery. They belonged to all ranks of life
and occupations — discharged soldiers, gardeners who had discovered salves of
miraculous virtue, schoolmasters, professional bone-setters, and even itinerant
mountebanks. One clergyman, the minister of Cumbernauld, is among the
list, though, from the not uncommon clerical itching to dabble in medicine,
one might have expected a larger representation of the cloth. If the delin-
quents admitted their fault, they were dismissed after signing an obligation,
or " bond of desistance " as it was called, by which they engaged no more
to poach in the forbidden preserves, on pain of the statutory penalty of
£i\o Scots. If they declined to attend on summons, or proved contumacious
when they did so, other proceedings became necessary, and to these we will
advert in the next chapter.

The allocation of charity to casual applicants formed another almost
invariable piece of business at the monthly meetings. Probably in theory
every benefaction of this kind had for its object some person connected in
one way or another with the profession. But if this was the rule, certainly
the widest possible application was given to it. The connection with
medicine of many of the beneficiaries appears to have been of the most
distant character. Nor was their sympathy expended on merely casual acts
of charity. As we shall afterwards find they believed in systematic

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THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 97

beneficence, and had a regular list of annual pensioners, who absorbed a
large portion of the revenue. It is stated incidentally, in a memorial which
the Faculty had occasion to draw up in the middle of the century, that their
benefactions exceeded those of any corporate body in the City. The voting
of funds for patriotic objects occasionally varied the monotony of charitable
doles. Thus, in 1778, they passed a resolution to contribute one hundred
guineas towards raising a battalion for His Majesty's Service, at the same
time pawkily accompanying the donation with a recommendation that " Mr.
Ninian Hill, a respectable member of their society," be appointed " Surgeon
to the regiment now raising by the City of Glasgow."

These were the stock matters of business at the meetings of the Faculty
during a large portion of last century. It need hardly be added that in
addition to these many special points came up for settlement, to a very
few of which reference will be made in next chapter. The difficulty of
forming' a quorum was occasionally much felt, and eventually stringent
rules became necessary to meet the evil. Under a law, passed 4th February,
1765, every absentee was fined in sixpence, "except when in the country,
or detained by sickness." The fine was subsequently doubled, and by a later
enactment (June, 1768) even absence in the country did not secure exemption
from it. The only exception recognized was in the case of a person who
had been a member for forty years. Even the clerk in those days appears
to have been touched with the prevailing infirmity of shirking the duty of
attending the meetings, for it was provided that when a defaulter, he should
be mulcted in the same sum as an absent member. The fines appear to
have been rigorously exacted for a considerable number of years.

CHAPTER XII

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— Continued

Throughout the larger part of the last century, the fees, inclusive of the
" freedom fines " exacted from entrants, were levied on the principle of
a differential rate. On the admission of a surgeon member the dues were
exigible in all cases. But it was originally different in the case of physicians;
as they were admitted without examination, so they entered without fee.
But in course of time this was felt to be unfair to the surgeons. Their
admission entitled them, equally with the surgeons, to all corporate privileges,
including the benefits of prospective provision for their children should they
eventually fall into poverty. At first the fee exacted from the physicians
was not large, being two guineas in the early part of the century. But
in 1736 it was doubled, and a few years later raised to six guineas, which
was afterwards increased. In the latter part of the seventeenth century
all surgeon members, whether in town or country, were mulcted in forty
pounds Scots (.^3 6s. 8d.). As time wore on there was a gradual increase
of the freedom fine both of physicians and surgeons. Along with this
there was still a tendency to differentiate. Thus, in 1774, the following
was the tariff established, the money being sterling :

1. Physicians, having a Diploma of Doctor of Medicine from a

University, to pay - ^15 15

2. Surgeons who have served a full {i.e. five years') apprenticeship

with a freeman within the city, to pay - - . . ^ ^

3. Surgeons who have served four years, as above, to pay, - 10 10

4. Surgeons who have served three years, as above, to pay, - 15 15

[The curtailed apprenticeship being supplemented by
attendance on Lectures at Medical School]

5. Surgeons whose apprenticeship has not been served within

the city, to pay - - - - - - - - 210

6. Sons and sons-in-law of members, to pay - - _ - 2> Z

o
o

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 99

The placing of sons-in-law in the same category as sons of members, and
thus securing their admission on a modified fee, was a survival. Originally
it might possibly be intended by the crafts^for the practice was universal
— to have the effect of enhancing, in the eyes of enamoured apprentices,
the charms of their masters' daughters. These fees were exclusive of charges
for library and clerk, and a small periodical impost called quarter accounts.
All subsequent changes during the century were in the direction of at
once raising and equalizing the fees. Thus in 1783 the relative charges
were : for a surgeon, twenty-five guineas ; for a physician, twenty guineas ;
while the sons and sons-in-law of members were let off for fifteen guineas.
Three years later the fee was fixed to be the same for all classes, at twenty-
five guineas. In 1787 it was raised to ;^30, and finally, in 1789, to fifty
guineas.

There was one class of entrants upon whom this constant raising of the
admission fine bore with unfair severity. Country members were excluded
from any share of the government of the Faculty, which was then understood
to be inalienably vested in the members who were " indwellers in Glasgow."
The families of country members were, it is true, entitled to share in the
corporate benefactions equally with the children of their brethren in town.
But even of these it was perhaps inevitable that those on the spot should
get the lion's share. The privilege of being admitted to practise " within
oure burgh and baronie of Glasgow, Renfrew, Dumbartane, and oure sheriff-
domes of Cliddisdale, Renfrew, Lanark, Kyle, Carrick, Air, and Cunninghame,"
was practically the only one which the country member received for his
heavy " freedom fyne." And now that the fee was being gradually raised
out of all proportion to the right conferred, it became absolutely necessary
to make provision for the case of country practitioners. Hitherto every
physician and surgeon admitted was equally a " freeman," or member, whether
resident in town or country. This was probably involved in the original
conception of the constitution of such a body. But such a provision was
no longer necessary. Why not admit country applicants, if they chose so
to enter, on the footing of giving them only a license to practise within the
bounds, and exacting a fee commensurate with the right conferred ?

Such were the considerations which led to the institution of the new
grade of " licentiate." An attempt had been made in this direction as early
as 1757, but, for some reason not very apparent, very few country surgeons
availed themselves of the option to enter as licentiates. It was not till
1785, when the scheme of licensing was recast, and placed on a better
foundation, that a good beginning was really made. This was not done a
day too soon. The territory was being overrun with unqualified men. Not
a few surgeons were prepared to run the risk of practising without a diploma
rather than pay a fee which they doubtless considered exorbitant. As soon
as the new scheme was inaugurated a considerable number came forward

m>.-

100 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

and submitted themselves to examination. If successful, they had the option
of entering either as freemen or as licentiates, according as they paid the
fee for the one or the other. The majority entered as licentiates, though of
these a number afterwards became members. The experiment of licensing
began on ist June, 1785, and by the end of the year twenty-seven licentiates
had been admitted.

It does not lie within the scope of this Memoir to give a roll of the
licentiates, and the limits of space preclude any reference to even selected
names. It may, however, be permitted to say in a word that, on running
the eye down the list of licentiates since the institution of the grade in 1785,
it is arrested here and there by names which became more or less familiar
in various fields. Several of them are enrolled in the long list of Glasgow
worthies, some of them winning their spurs in other fields than medicine.
With the name of Mr. Samuel Hunter, who inscribes his name in the Faculty
Register of Licentiates of 1795 as "of the North Lowland Fencibles," a
regiment of which he was first surgeon and afterwards captain, every Glasgow
man is familiar. It was at first in association with a surgeon member of
the Faculty, Mr. William Dunlop, that he conducted the Glasgow Herald
and Advertiser, a paper he edited with conspicuous success for thirty-four
years. Separated by only a name in the list from the entry of the genial
editor is that of Duncan Macarthur, who was one of two surgeons on board
Nelson's flagship, the "Victory," at Trafalgar, and who on his return to
England was made a K.C.B., afterwards serving in various high positions in
the navy and on shore, and before his death being called in to consult at
the death-bed of another distinguished warrior, the Duke of Wellington. In
1 8 17 occurs, as a licentiate, the name of Thomas Lyle, a Glasgow surgeon,
devoted to the lyric muse, and best remembered as the author of the
beautiful song, " Let us haste to Kelvingrove, bonnie lassie O," first published
anonymously in the Harp of Renfrewshire} A generation ago no name
stood higher as a medical lexicographer than that of Robert G. Mayne,
whose Lexicon of Medical Terms has been taken as the groundwork of the
great lexicon in process of publication by the new Sydenham Society.
Dr. Mayne was admitted a licentiate in 1837. The inscription of the name
of David Livingstone, of Blantyre, bears date i6th November, 1840; and
the name was added to the list of Honorary Fellows in 1857 on his return
from Africa. These are only a very few of a considerable list of men who in
some way or other became notable after the enrolment of their names as
licentiates ; and the list might be lengthened were it permissible to include
the names of men still living.

It was however, at first, only in that part of their territory outside
of Glasgow that the early licentiates were allowed to practise. The

^A copy of the Ancient Ballads and Songs (Lend. 1827), which he edited, is in the
Faculty Library.

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY lOI

admission of this new order to practise within the City was not at first
contemplated, and only became necessary when the membership fee became
still further increased by the necessities of the Widows' Fund, which greatly
drained the resources of the Faculty at the beginning of the present century.

The Faculty had, however, a class of licentiates of earlier origin than
the surgeons. In 1740 they instituted an examination for midwives which
was continued throughout the century. The Minute of 4th August of that
year bears that " The faculty haveing considered the many dismall effects
of the Ignorance of midwives, and that it is incumbent on the faculty to
prevent these evills as much as they can. They Therefor Enact that, after
the first of January, 1741, any midwife who shall pretend as such to practise
within the Shyres of Lanark, Renfrew, Ayr, and Dumbarton without a licence
from the faculty shall be fined in the sum of fourty pounds. . , . And
as the ffaculty have no other view than to prevent ignorant persons from
practising midwifery, They appoint that such as shall voluntarly submit to
ane Examination towards their being Licensed shall pay no freedome fyne
nor be at any furder charge than two shillings sixpence sterling, to be payed
the Clerk for each of their Licenses." The number of applicants was
considerable, but not a few were found to be ignorant, and were debarred
from practice. In Glasgow, midwifery was still to a considerable extent in
the hands of women, so that this class of practitioners was perhaps more
numerous than the surgeons. This fact must be allowed for in any calculations
in reference to the numerical proportion of medical practitioners to the popu-
lation in the eighteenth century as well as that which preceded it. The
extent of unlicensed medical practice during that period would be another
important factor in the calculation.

This brings us back to the subject of prosecutions. We have already
seen in what a summary fashion the Faculty could deal with delinquents
in the seventeenth century.^ But popular ideas regarding constitutional
freedom had now greatly advanced. " General letters of horning " were
now practically as antiquated as thumb-screws or " the boot." People
had got to realize something of " the liberty of the subject." No man
could be sent to prison unless in sequence to a more guarded legal
procedure. And just in proportion to the growth of these new ideas,
prosecutions by the Faculty became more troublesome and expensive. The
difficulty was also greatly aggravated by the dilatoriness of the law. Legal
machinery appears to have been much slower then than even in our day.
Some of the Faculty cases dragged on a tedious course for a good number of
years. Probably, however, this tardiness of the pace of justice operated to
some extent in favour of as well as against the Faculty. Persons charged
might be less willing to resist, in view of a suit to which they could not
see the end. But some of the unlicensed proved provokingly contumacious,

1 Chap. vni. 74.

iltiii!',

I02 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

even when they did not resist to the last extremity. In 1740 a certain
Thomas Lewis, described generally as a merchant in Glasgow, but who
was evidently a prescribing druggist in large practice, gave them infinite
trouble. Summoned to a meeting Lewis, acting at every step on legal
advice, attended. Interrogated by the Praeses he declined to answer, but
handed in the following protest. " I, Thomas Lewis, Jun''", in Glasgow,
being summoned to appear before the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons
of Glasgow, by what authority I know not, nor for what reason or cause,
and being now before them in Court, doe crave that a libel be put in my
hands, and a sufficient time given me to make answers or defences, and
on the Court's refusing to do so, I protest against any sentence they shall
pass against me as null and void," — with more to the same effect. In
several subsequent meetings he was dealt with, but without making him
resile an inch from his original line of defence. At last the corporate
patience got exhausted, and the usual sentence was given. This appears
to have been of no avail, as there is no evidence that the fine was
ever paid. The treasurer in those days had a habit of entering unpaid
fines in his accounts for several years, and then was authorized to write
off these debts as " utterly desperate." The usual practice at this period
was not to exact the actual fine for the first offence, but only to take
the delinquent's bond for it, on the understanding that it would be enforced
only in case of iterated transgression. In two or three cases the defenders
fought the Faculty for every inch of ground, only yielding when the last
stronghold was carried.

The case of James Calder was in some respects noteworthy. This
man was originally a gardener, but set himself out to vend a secret remedy,
and also to dispense drugs. Summoned to attend a court of the Faculty
he obeyed, and on interrogation was found grossly ignorant, and admittedly
practising medicine. In defiance of the inhibition of the Faculty he con-
tinued his practice, and on a second summons, in 1759, openly defied the
members to their faces, refusing to sign any bond of desistance, or to submit
to examination. The case being a flagrant one, they had no alternative
but to enforce payment of the fine by legal procedure. Calder at once
raised an action of Suspension, and the case was appealed from court to
court, till it was finally decided against him in 1763. But the interest
of the case arises from the character of the pleas in defence. Calder's
Counsel adopted a line of argument substantially identical in some respects
with that ingeniously used in the next century by the University of Glasgow
in the famous law-suit between that body and the Faculty. The argu-
ment was one which struck at the existence and the position of the Faculty
as a corporate body. In discussing the case of the University, it will be
necessary to define the ground assumed more fully ; here we may describe
it in a sentence. The charter, it was contended, was granted to Lowe and

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 103

Hamilton in their official capacities as king's surgeon and professor of
medicine ; that as many of the heirs of these men as occupied the same
offices, and no others, were their corporate successors ; that the Faculty
had therefore no claim to be regarded as successors of the original grantees,
and had therefore no corporate existence at all. Stated thus briefly and
baldly the argument may look paradoxical and even absurd ; but it was
buttressed by a curious array of special pleading. The result of Calder's
case appears to have acted in diminishing quackery in the district for some
years. But it soon again reared its hydra-head in another form.

The action of the Faculty in the case to be next mentioned may now
appear undignified ; but of this the actors themselves appear to have had
no appreciation. "21st Nov''", 1789. The Praeses informed the meeting
that Baillie Maclehose of Glasgow had applied to him as Praeses of the
Faculty to Examine Mr. Pitcairn and Mrs. Douglas, two travelling practi-
tioners in physic and Surgery on their qualifications — that in consequence of
the application the Committee for Examining practitioners went to the Council
Chambers, and having examined these persons found them to be grossly
ignorant both of surgery and pharmacy." The Minute winds up with the
usual formula of inhibition, and an advertisement was ordered to be inserted,
of which the following is a copy, taken from a Glasgow newspaper of
November, 1789.

1789 — November 24. — By order of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in
Glasgow, assembled at Glasgow, the 21st of November, 1789.

The committee appointed by the Faculty for examining all those who pracdse
physic and surgery within the bounds afterwards mentioned, reported to the Faculty
that they had been ordered by the Magistrates of Glasgow to examine two people
who call themselves Mr. Pitcairn and Mrs. Douglas, who, in consequence of pompous
handbills, have distributed various medicines at an enormous price; that upon
examination, the committee had found them grossly ignorant of anatomy, of surgery,
and of everything connected with the practice of physic; and that their medicines
were of the strongest and most dangerous kinds — all of which particulars the committee
had reported to the Magistrates.

The Faculty having considered the report, unanimously resolved to prohibit the
foresaid Mr. Pitcairn and Mrs. Douglas, or any person connected with them, practising
physic or surgery within the Burgh or Barony of Glasgow, Renfrew, Dunbarton,
the Sheriffdom of Clydesdale, Renfrew, Lanark, Kyle, Carrick, Air, and Cunningham,
over all which places their jurisdiction is extended by a Royal Charter, confirmed
by Act of Parliament. If, after this prohibition, the foresaid ]\Ir. Pitcairn or Mrs.
Douglas, or any persons connected with them, shall vend any medicines within the
bounds specified, they are liable to be fined ^d^o Scots each, toties quoties, which
sum the Faculty has ordered their Preses, Visitor, and Collector to levy with the
utmost rigour of the law. That the Faculty, by doing this, may be enabled to protect

104 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

the unwary from imposition, the Justices of the Peace in the counties aforesaid
mentioned, the Magistrates of the different burghs, the clergy, and those practitioners
who are members of Faculty, are required to give information to Dr. Cleghorn, Praeses
of the Faculty, if these practitioners should appear to prey on the people in Lanarkshire,
Airshire, Renfrewshire, or Dunbartonshire, as the Faculty is resolved to prosecute
them with rigour. To put the people on their guard, the Faculty ordered this account
of their proceedings to be published in all the Glasgow newspapers, and to be signed
by their Preses, Visitor, and Collector.

Robert Cleghorn, Preses.

John Jamieson, Visitor.

Robert Simson, Collector.

The spectacle of the Examining Board of the Faculty, at the behest of
a magistrate, wending their way to the Municipal Council Chamber, there to
examine two itinerant mountebank quacks, strikes one at the present day
as somewhat odd. In most of the prosecutions mentioned in the Records there
is a strong family resemblance ; but some of the cases occasionally presented
novel features.

In those days old soldiers, and especially old sailors, were privileged

persons. An Act passed in 1784 conferred on them certain rights to

practise their callings even within the jurisdiction of corporate bodies. In

1 79 1 a surgeon, named Alexander Dunlop, who had served some time in

the army subsequent to the date of the Act referred to, settled in Glasgow

and began to practise. Summoned by the Faculty to show cause why he

should not be subjected to examination, he pleaded that he had already

been examined by "the Master Governors and Commonality of Surgeons in

London," and by them authorized to serve in the navy as surgeon's mate.

The Faculty doubted the validity of the tests to which he had been subjected.

Possibly enough they knew no more of the London examination than could

be gathered from the veracious account of it in the case of Mr. Roderick

Random, written by the mercurial apprentice of Dr. John Gordon, a late

President of the Faculty. Smollett's racy description could hardly impress

them favourably as to the fairness or adequacy of the tests. They

insisted on examining him ; Dunlop was equally determined that he should

not be examined. The case was fought in the Edinburgh courts for several

years. It was decided against Dunlop, on the ground that the Act of 1784,

on which he founded, was purely retrospective, and did not cover the case of

those who entered the service after it was passed.

It will have been observed that in the last century the Faculty were
never long without " a guid ganging law-plea," which was wont to be
considered a kind of patent of gentility in the family of a well-to-do Scots
laird. They were generally very successful, having up to this period scarcely
ever lost a suit. But with Dunlop's case fortune appeared for a time to

AST

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 105

turn her back upon them. For a considerable time they had been greatly
exercised by a grievance, or rather a whole group of grievances, for which
they had by gentle means sought redress in vain. Their sore point was
that they were taxed very much like other people. They paid king's cess
and poor rates, . and, above all, soldiers were quartered on them as well as
on their neighbours. This, they held, was not fair. Their charter gave them
" immunite and exemptioune from all wappinshawingis, raidis, oistis, beiring
of armour, watching, weirding, stenting taxationis," and a number of other
services. They approached the magistrates on the subject ; but the latter
were obstinate, and declined to grant relief The Faculty accordingly resolved
in 1 79 1 to test the legality of the exactions of which they complained.
The form of process enabled them to include in the test action several other
questions on which less doubt could exist. These had reference to their
general rights as a corporate body instituted by charter, and especially to
their power to inhibit unqualified persons from practising. These latter
claims were not disputed by the magistrates, and the decision on them by
Lord Eskgrave was quite satisfactory. But on the chief points the Town
Council contended that the provisions of the charter were many of them
antiquated and others in desuetude ; that, for example, " rattan poyson " no
longer represented the whole department of toxicology ; that most of the
services from which the charter gave exemption were no longer exacted ;
and that, in particular, it could not exempt from the quartering of soldiers,
for the sufficient reason that there was no standing army when the charter
was granted. These arguments had weight with the judges. In regard to
the obnoxious billeting of soldiers, they were found not wholly entitled to
exemption, nor altogether liable like other burgesses. On special occasions,
when the ordinary accommodation was inadequate, the military might be
quartered on them. In regard to taxation, local and imperial, they failed
to persuade the judges that their case was good. This partially adverse
decision brought upon them a large part of the costs of the process. At
the amount of the expenses they stood aghast. To the Town Council they
made a humble representation that the latter ought not to insist upon their
expenses. They urged that the suit had not been conceived in any hostile
spirit, but had been simply a friendly action of declarator for the laudable
purpose of defining the rights of both parties. The municipal authorities,
however, were so obtuse or wrongheaded as not to see the matter in
exactly the same light. The payment of these expenses, to the tune of
^^158 6s. 7d. sterling, appears to have had the effect of damping their
litigious ardour for a good many years.

In the winter of 1794-95 the Faculty had another dispute with the
magistrates, in which the former were more unequivocally in the right. It
arose in this way. The Praeses, Dr. James Jeffray, Professor of Anatomy in
the University, had received a warrant or order from the Town Clerk,

I06 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

instructing him to inspect the body of a man who had been found dead
in the streets, and to make a report on the case to the proper authorities.
Dr. Jeffray delayed some time in obeying the order, and in the meantime
took occasion to address to the magistrates a pithy letter on the subject.
He complained that he had often been harassed by being required to perform
this duty when he could ill spare the time, and that he found the surgeons
averse from making such examinations under the existing arrangement. This
elicited a strong rejoinder from Mr. Orr, the Town Clerk. He pointed out
the necessity of these examinations in the interest of society and of public
justice. He took up the position that the performance of such duties
constituted one of the conditions on which the Faculty held their charter.
Independently of this consideration, he urged that in common law the
magistrates of boroughs and the sheriffs of counties had a right to require
the nearest physician or surgeon to perform such duties. On the part of
the magistrates, he requested the Faculty to decide what they intended to
do in the matter, as it might be necessary to bring the question before the
High Court of Justiciary. In their reply the Faculty declined to discuss
such an unheard-of claim as that involved in the latter part of Mr. Orr's
letter. They admitted to the full the necessity of the duty being performed
by competent medical men, but they denied their liability as members of the
Faculty to perform such work without remuneration, or that they held their
charter under any condition of gratuitous public service. They pointed out
the practice of Government in remunerating every other person employed
by the Crown in criminal prosecutions. They indicated their perfect willing-
ness to perform the duty as heretofore, but they would look to the magistrates
for payment. In the meantime, till an understanding was come to, the
warrants w'ould be executed by the office-bearers in rotation. After some
delay, it was eventually arranged that such services should be acknowledged
by a fixed fee.

This subject of professional fees is one of which it would be wrong to
take no notice, as it crops up now and again in the Records. Up to the
middle of the century, there appears to have been no rule in regard to
the fees of physicians in the town ; but under date ist November, 1756,
the Minutes bear that " as patients are uncertain how to pay physitians,
and the surgeons have no rule to direct them, the physitians of Glasgow,
members of the Faculty, agree to give advice and attendance to all poor
people, gratis. When called to people in good circumstances in town or
country, they expect to being feed at being called or consulted ; and in
acute cases where attendance is once a day or oftener, they expect to being
feed every eight or ten days ; and in chronical cases, where attendance is
not so frequent, once in two or three weeks. Agreed to by John Gordon,
John Wodrovv, Alex. Stevenson, John Johnston, Robert Dick, David Paton."
The Glasgow physician of those days, be it remembered, not only acted as

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY loy

a consultant with the general practitioner, and saw patients at his own house
or consulting room, but he also visited patients at their own homes on his
own behoof in medical cases.^ The following advertisement was first inserted
in the local newspapers in 1785, and it appeared at intervals till near the
end of the century: —

" The physicians and surgeons of Glasgow have long experienced much
inconveniency and loss of payment of their charges and accounts, in some
measure from their own inattention. To remedy this as far as depends upon
themselves the surgeons have come to the unanimous resolution to give in
their accounts once a year ; and the physicians expect, when there is no
other agreement for attendance through the year, to be paid for their
trouble and advice upon their visits becoming no longer necessary. It will
likewise be obliging the gentlemen of the Faculty if, on account of the
extent of the town, those patients who desire to be visited before dinner
would send their messages to them before ten o'clock in the morning, and
if in the evening, before three o'clock in the afternoon."

In several parts of the Records of the eighteenth century there are
allusions to a " Book of Fees," but not till the end of the century, when
the tariff of charges was subjected to revision, do we ascertain what the
rate of fees at that period was. The consulting fee of the physician was
a guinea. Midwifery fees varied from one to three guineas. For the
different surgical operations there was much discriminative nicety in the
tariff, from phlebotomy at five shillings up to the higher operations at five
guineas. For surgeons' visits the rate was one to three shillings in the
town during the day, and five shillings to one guinea during the night.
The mileage rate of charges for the country was conformable to the scale
we have indicated. But in this revised book of fees of 1794, there is found
one curious anachronism, which would surely have been more appropriate in
a tariff of a century earlier : —

Preparing and applying cerecloth to the corpse of an adult, - ^i^io 10 o
„ „ „ of a child, - 5 5°

^ It is curious, by the way, to find as one of the signatories of this Minute Dr. Robert
Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University, as it would appear to imply that
he was a practising physician.

"From time immemorial the supplying of the "Cerecloth" had, in Scotland, been the
duty of the surgeon, or general practitioner. The preparation of the cerecloth was one of
the mysteries into which apprentices were initiated. The practice of using them was a kind
of modified embalming ; and the price charged placed them beyond the reach of all but the
families of the well-to-do. The price had nearly doubled since the beginning of the century,
if we may judge from an account of Dr. Campbell, of Paisley, given in the Second Series of
Hector's Judicial Records of Renfrewshire (p. 58). The price which he charges to the
Walkinshaw family for "ane large cerecloth in 1720 was £,bb 13s. 4d." Scots, (about ^5 us.

I08 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Of other memorabilia of the century we have only space to mention
the removal of the Faculty from their hall in Trongate, which they had
occupied since 1697, to a more commodious building which they erected
in St. Enoch Square. This took place in 1791. The old hall was sold;
but it was fortunate for the corporate purse that some other property
belonging to them adjoining the Trongate premises at that period proved
unsaleable. Three-quarters of a century later, it had increased in value tenfold,
and through it the Faculty were partly recouped for the very large grants
which, as will afterwards be mentioned, they made to a Widows' Fund
they originated immediately on entering the St. Enoch's Square hall. This
hall, of which a sketch is given on the other side, was situated on the
east side of the square, and was taken down at the time of the erection of
St. Enoch's Station. In 1791 a minority of the Faculty were of Opinion
that the site of the new premises in St. Enoch's Square was too far west ;
but so rapid was the subsequent growth of the city in that direction that

stg.). In the First Series of the same Records (p. 102) there is given a copy of a summons
by Andrew How, surgeon in Kilbarchan, a member of the Facuhy, against half a dozen
of his patients, which may be quoted in this place as an illustration of the very moderate
fees of a country surgeon in Scotland in the first half of the eighteenth century. The date
is 1721.

" I, Andrew How of Pannell, asks and claims of ye persons underwren the debts and
soumes of money following owing by you to me in maner and for ye causes afters-
presd, viz. :

" I. James Gibb, in Barlogan, three pounds Scots, pairtly for ane cordial to his daughter,
and pairtly for my paines in going to his house with it to see his daughter, being
two iniles of way distant from my house.
"2. John Williams, in Bruntlabor, Six pounds Scots, as being for svall tymes letting
blood of his wyfe, and givving physick to her, and my paines in going thro' svall
tymes to his house, being four myles distant from myne.
"3. William Naismith, in Logiehole, a Guinzie, as being a moderate and rasonable
satisfaction for my paines and expenses in making up plaisters and oyr medica-
ments to, and performing a cure upon, his nose, when the same was almost cut
off by James Bartholomew, as was alledged, deducting two shills sterg pd.
" 4. John Aiken, in Corsehills, three pounds Scots, as being pairtly for my paynes and
pairtly for my expenses in furnishing and making up two bottles of syrop to his
daughter by his ordours.
" 5. James Mather, at Bishopton, Six pound, which was dew to me by George Grant,
late Cook to Craigends, and for which the sd James Mather became debtor and
promised me payment.
"6. John Lang, in Hilltown, Eleven pounds, Scots, as being for my paines in going
svll tymes to his house, and using of drugs and svll medicaments to him when
he was under a consumptione, and whereof I cured him.

"All which cures were performed and oyr advising used to the sevll persons specifit
within these seven or eight years yrby, and all of you promised me satisfactione, and yrfor
should be decernit."

THE FACULTY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 109

in less than twenty years there was an agitation to remove considerably
further to the west. The next exodus, however, did not take place till
i860, when they acquired their present premises in St. Vincent Street.

Several interesting movements which the Faculty either originated, or
in which they took a prominent part during the century, will be more
conveniently noticed in other than their chronological connection. In this
way the origin of the Widows' Fund and of the Library, and the part
which the Faculty took in the origination of such institutions as the Royal
Infirmary and the Humane Society, will be adverted to in subsequent chapters.

CHAPTER XIII

GLASGOW MEDICAL MEN OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND
EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES ^

In the rapid sketch contained in the preceding chapters of the origin and
progress of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, little note
has been taken of the men who carried on the work of the Corporation
during the first two centuries of its existence. When there has been occasion
to mention names of members it has been in their connection with the
corporation, and hence they have appeared only in their official garb. As
complementary to this sketch it may be of some interest to glance at some
of the men, whether in connection with or apart from their relation to
the Faculty, as has already been done in the case of Dr. Peter Lowe,
the founder. The limits of our space preclude anything but a hasty glance
over the two centuries, omitting all reference to the founders of the Glasgow
Medical School, the origin and early progress of which will form the
subject of succeeding chapters.

In regard to the seventeenth century, it must be admitted at the outset
that the outstanding names are few, and that in regard to most of these
their reputation was only local. For a century after the death of Dr.
Peter Lowe Glasgow produced no name in medicine or surgery worthy to
rank with that of the founder. The intellectual barrenness of Scotland
generally during the seventeenth century has often been made the subject
of remark. The chief causes of this mental sterility are indeed not far
to seek. The whole country was ablaze with religious and theological zeal.
In the fierce heat of ecclesiastical polemics, and the political convulsions
which added fuel to the flame, the seeds of literature and science were
scorched and withered. Add to this general consideration the special plea

^This chapter was written before the idea of publishing a Roll of Members in the
Appendix, with a few biographical notes, had suggested itself. It might, therefore, have
been omitted ; but its retention may possibly be justified by the fact of its presenting in a
sketchy form some facts not given under the " Roll."

GLASGOW MEDICAL MEN OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY m

as regards Glasgow, that during the whole of the century it was, as already
pointed out, a town of no great size or importance. It therefore presented
no great attractions to ambitious professional men. In several instances,
indeed, medical practitioners had to be tempted to settle or to remain in
Glasgow, or to return to the burgh after having left it, by the offer of a salary
or " pension," or a free burgess ticket ; and even such inducements were not
always sufficient to make the invitation effective.

After the death of Dr. Peter Lowe in or shortly after 1612, the leading
medical man in Glasgow must have been Dr. Robert Hamilton, who had
been associated with the former in the charter. Though a physician he
seems to have represented the Faculty in the Trades' House, but nothing
noteworthy has been preserved of him. Before his death, which was not
before 1628, his son, James Hamilton, had been admitted apparently both
as a surgeon and a physician ; and he practised to at least the middle of
the century. In Dr. Robert Mayne we obtain for the first time a
link between the University in High Street and the Faculty. He appears,
judging at all events from his epitaph, to have been a man of learning
and varied accomplishments. At first he filled the position of Regens
Paedagogii, or Arts Master, teaching the third class in the College. From
that post he was, in 1637, transferred to the Chair of Medicine. Whether
this office, the creation of which involved the first recognition of any depart-
ment of medicine by the University, was called into existence to accommodate
an incumbent at hand to fill it, or for some better reason, there is no evidence
to show. The sequel at all events proves that the experiment was pre-
mature. There can have been no clamant need for it at the time in view
of the universal system of crafts' apprenticeship in vogue for surgery, and
the small demand for physicians. Besides, judged by modern notions, the
chair could not long survive unsupported by a professorship of Anatomy.
Dr. Mayne's commission as a professor bore that he was " to teache ane
publict lecture of Medicine in the said Colledge, once or twyse ewerie weik
except in the ordiner tyme of vacance," and the remuneration was fixed
at 400 merks yearly. In those days, however, the University was largely
under the domination of the Kirk, which had power to raise up and cast
down. In 1642 the General Assembly, which met at St. Andrews, saw fit to
appoint a " Visitation " or Commission of twenty-three members for Glasgow
University, consisting of about an equal number of ministers and ruling
elders, amongst the latter being persons of title and position. The powers
with which the ' Visitation ' were invested were sufficiently ample and
inquisitorial. They could not only inquire as to the character of the
teaching, its efficiency, and its conformity to the Confession of Faith and
Acts of the Kirk, but could remove superfluous or incompetent teachers. A
professor of medicine this Ecclesiastical Commission decided to be super-
fluous.^ They reported, " Anent the Professione of Medicine the Visitatione

^ Munitnenta, in. 380.

112 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

finds that Profession is not necessar for the Colledge in all tyme comming,
and withal finds it just that Mr. Robert Mayne, who is already in that
Professione, continue in the same during his time," which was not destined
to be long, fo/ he died prematurely in 1646, aged forty-two, whilst the
plague which had entered the city some time before was still decimating
the townsmen, though there is no evidence that he was its victim. The
only physician now left in the town appears to have been Mr. James
Hamilton, mentioned formerly ; and the Town Council ineffectually tried to
induce a " Dr. Rae " to come to Glasgow, though they succeeded in the
case of a Dr. M'Cluir who was not a member of the Faculty, and about
whom nothing is known except that he was paid for services rendered
during the great attack of plague in 1647-49.^

A few years later Dr. Sylvester Rattray settled in the place, and there
wrote his two books ^ in Latin, the one on Sympathy mid Antipathy and the
other on Medical Prognosis, being the only Glasgow works on medicine
published during the century. Dr. Rattray, as will appear in a later
chapter, became known on the continent in virtue of the former of these
works; but we have no record to show whether he reduced to practice on
his Glasgow patients, one of whom was the son of Principal Baillie, the
preposterous theory of medicine which he expounds in that treatise. Of
three other physicians who flourished in Glasgow in that century. Dr. John
Crichton, Dr. John Colquhoun, and Dr. Thomas Hamilton, nothing note-
worthy has been preserved, apart from their relation to the Faculty,^ and
they left no literary remains. In the latter half of the century the name
of Dr. Matthew Brisbane stands out prominently as a Glasgow physician
of note. He belonged to an ecclesiastical family, both his father and
grandfather having been parsons of the parish of Erskine. He received his
classical education at the College of Glasgow, and graduated in medicine
at the University of Utrecht in 1661 ; and a few years later we find him
settled in practice in Glasgow as a physician. That he was a man of
influence and standing is evident from his honourable connection with his
Alma Mater. In two successive years (1675-76) he filled the office of
Dean of Faculty, and on several occasions (1677-81) he was elected to
the office of Rector, being apparently the only medical man in that century
who attained the distinction. But neither his learning nor his science had
the effect of wholly emancipating him from the superstition of his age.
So late as 1696 we find him cherishing a kind of sneaking faith in
witchcraft, or, at all events, admitting that he was unable to account on
natural principles for the phenomena presented in the case on which he was
consulted. It occurred in his native parish of Erskine. The subject or
victim of the supposed malignant influence was a girl named Christian Shaw,
daughter of the laird of Bargarran. A perusal of the evidence in this
^P. 12. ^See Chap. xxi. ^ P. 62, <?/ j^jr.

GLASGOW MEDICAL MEN OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 113

melancholy case would probably suggest to a physician of the present day
that it was one of those, common enough at all periods, in which self-deceit,
and conscious imposture, all dominated by a strong belief in the black art,
contributed in various degrees to the tragical result. The report of Dr.
Brisbane is a very learned document, showing much painstaking, and evidenc-
ing clearly the struggle in his mind between science and superstition. " He
was confident she had no visible correspondent to subminister hair, straw,
coal, cinders, and such like trash to her ; all which upon severall occasions
he saw her put out of her mouth without being wet ; nay, rather, as they
had been dried with artifice, and actually hot above the natural warmth of
the body." This excretion of " trash " was too much for the learned reporter's
science, and he concluded by admitting that were it not for this " he would
not despair to reduce the other symptoms to their proper classes in the
catalogue of human diseases." For the alleged crime of bewitching this
wretched girl four persons were burned at Paisley, whilst a fifth only escaped
the same fate by suicide in Paisley prison.

The Glasgow surgeons of the seventeenth century, after Dr. Lowe, need
not detain us long. Probably the most notable family of surgeons was
that of the Halls, of whom there were four generations, the last of them
living on to the next century. They were all apparently men of good
standing ; the third of them was a member of the Town Council and a
bailie, and it would appear from the Records of the Council somewhat
asreressive and turbulent. The burgh accounts also show that at the visi-
tation of the great plague of 1646-49 he was paid for "sichting and visiteing
suche as deceasit of the pestilence " — a suggestive entry as regards the
mortality of the scourge at that period. It is somewhat curious to find
that one of the best known surgeons in Glasgow in the latter half of the
seventeenth century was an Englishman. James Frank was admitted a
member of the Faculty in 1650, the Records containing no information
where he had been apprenticed. M'Ure, the historian of Glasgow, says that he
was the son of a Leicestershire squire. After eight years' residence in Glasgow
he appears to have left the town and gone to Ireland, but was tempted back
by the offer of a pension from the Town Council. He had a son a surgeon
in the town, and his daughter became the mother of Dr. David Patoun, a
Glasgow physician, whom we will have occasion to mention shortly. Several
surgeons of the century, as has been stated, are invariably distinguished as
" Mr.," implying that they were possessors of Arts degrees, of whom Mr.
Charles Mouat and Mr. David Sharp were the most noteworthy. Towards the
end of the century the two most prominent surgeons in Glasgow were Mr.
Henry Marshall and Mr. Robert Houston, younger. The former was the son
of a medical practitioner in Kilsyth, from whom he had probably learned his
craft. It has already been narrated ^ how the attempt of the Town

1 Chap. IX.
H

114

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Council to accredit him as a surgeon in Glasgow in the face of the
opposition of the Faculty led to a long law-suit with the Town Council, in
which the former were successful. On his admission to the Faculty he took
a leading position ; and his somewhat despotic conduct while visitor, and
especially his apparently contemptuous attitude to the Council and Trades'
House during the progress of the disputes between the surgeons and
barbers,^ mark him as a man of some vigour of character. Like Dr.
Matthew Brisbane he was consulted in the Bargarran witchcraft case,
and his report is even less guarded than that of the physician in its
implication of supernatural influences. He instances, with details, several
of the girl's conversations with invisible interlocutors. From another of
the documents we find that the medical report was wanted by the Presbytery
in order to facilitate the obtaining a commission of judges to try the case.
Henry Marshall had a good social standing in the West of Scotland, being
connected by marriage with the Earl of Wigton's family.

Contemporary with Mr. Marshall was Mr. Robert Houston, who is
honourably associated with the operation of ovariotomy, being indeed the
first surgeon who performed it. He was the son of a surgeon member of
the Faculty of the same name, had been apprenticed to his father, and
was a graduate in Arts of the University. The operation by which his
name has been perpetuated was performed in 1701, being more than a
century before Dr. Ephraim M'Dowell of Kentucky, who is generally credited
with being the earliest ovariotomist, performed his first operation. As prob-
ably only a few specialists who have looked into the history of their specialty,
and others interested in medical archaeology, are acquainted with Houston's
interesting narrative, his description of the operation is here reproduced from
the thirty-third volume of the Philosophical Transactions, London, 1733, in
which the case was recorded thirty-two years after it occurred :

"August 1701 I was in the Country, with a Patient, the Lady Anne Houstoun,
Wife to Sir John Houstoun, Baronet ; in the Shire of Renfreiv, ten miles from Glasgow,
North Britain. This charitable lady pressed me with great Earnestness to visit a
Tenant's Wife, who lay bedridden, of an uncommon Disease, which no Physician, or
Surgeon, who had seen her, could give any Name to, or account for. She inform'd
me, the ablest of that Country had forsaken her, and declared her incurable, so that
I could lose no Reputation by the Result of my Endeavours.

" In order to oblige this worthy lady, and in Compassion to the Distress of a
poor Woman in so deplorable Condition, deserted and given over on all sides, I
went, determined to do everything in my Power for her Relief. She was in the 58th
Year of her Age, her name was Margaret Millar.

" She informed me that her Midwife, in her last lying-in at 45 Years old, having
violently pull'd away the Burthen, she was so very sensibly affected by a Pain, which
then seiz'd her in the left Side, between the Umbilicus and Groin, that she scarce

^Chap. X.

GLASGOW MEDICAL MEN OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 115

ever had been free from it after, but that it had troubled her more, or less, during
13 Years together; that for two Years past she had been extremely uneasy, her
Belly grew very large, and a Difficulty of breathing increased continually upon her :
insomuch that for the last six Months, she had scarce breath'd at all but with the
utmost Difficulty. That in all that Space of Time, having quite lost her Appetite, she
had scarce eat so much as would nourish a sucking Child; and that for three Months
together she had now been forc'd to He constantly on her Back, not daring to move
at all, to one side or other.

" This Tumour was grown to so monstrous a Bulk, that it engross'd the whole
left Side, from the Umbilicus to the Fubes, and stretch'd the Abdominal Muscles,
to so unequal a Degree, that I don't remember ever to have seen the Uke in the
whole Course of my Practice. It drew towards a Point. Her being so long confined
to lie continually on her Back, having grievously excoriated her, added much to her
Sufferings, which, with want of Rest and Appetite, had wasted her to Skin and Bone,
as the poor Woman herself expressed it. Indeed she needed not to have told me
so, my Eyes were too faithful Witnesses of her low and wretched Condition.

" Scarce able to speak out, she told me, that having heard much of my Success,
she had strong Hopes of Relief provided I would try at least, and do something in
pity to her Affliction.

" I answer'd her that I was willing, but afraid, in her low State, she would not
have Strength to undergo a large incision; that in order effectually to relieve her, I
must be oblig'd to lay open a great Part of her Belly, and remove the Cause of all
that Swelling : she seem'd not frightened, but heard me without Disorder, and, as if
inspir'd with sudden Courage, press'd, and urg'd me to the Operation.

" I drew (I must confess) almost all my Confidence from her unexpected
Resolution, so that without loss of Time, I prepared what the Place would allow,
and with an Imposthume Lancet, laid open about an Inch, but finding nothing issue,
I enlarged it to two Inches and even then nothing came forth but a little thin
yellowish Serutn, so I ventured to lay it open about two Inches more. I was not
a little startled, after so large an Aperture, to find only a glutinous Substance bung
up the Orifice. All my Difficulty was to remove it ; I try'd my Probe, I endeavour'd
with my Fingers, but all was in vain ; it was so sHppery that it eluded every Touch,
and the strongest hold I could take.

" I wanted, in this place, almost everything necessary, but bethought myself of
a very odd Instrument, yet as good as the best in its Consequence, because it
answer'd the end propos'd. I took a strong Firr-Splinter, such as the Poor in that
Country ordinarily use to burn instead of Candles; I wrapt about the End of this
Splinter some loose Lint, and thrust it into the Wound, and by turning and winding
it, I drew out some two Yards in Length, of a Substance thicker than any Gellie, or
rather like Glue that's fresh made and hung out to dry ; the Breadth of it was above
ten Inches ; this was followed by nine full Quarts of such Matter, as I have met with
in Steatomatous and Atheromatous Tumours, with several Hydatides of various Sizes,
containing a yellowish Sertim, the least of 'em bigger than an Orange, with several
large Pieces of Membranes, which seem'd to be parts of the distended Ovary. Then

Il6 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

I squeez'd out all I could, and stitch'd up the Wound in three Places, almost equi-
distant; I was oblig'd to make use of Liicatellus's Balsam, which was made by her
Lady for the Use of the Poor ; with this Balsam I cover'd a Pledget, the whole Length
of the Wound, and over that laid several Compresses, dipp'd in warm French Brandy,
and because that I judg'd that the parts might have lost their Spring by so vast and
so long a Distention, I dipt in the same Brandy a large Napkin four times folded,
and applied it over all the Dressings, and with a couple of strong Towels, which
were also dipt, I swathed her round the Body, and then gave her about four Ounces
of the following Mixture which I had from her Lady.

'^- Aq. Ment/m, Bbfs. Aq. Cinnamomi fort., Ibifs.
Syr. Diacodii, 5vi. tn..

" The Cinnamon Water was drawn off from Canary and the best Cinnamon •
indeed it was the finest and most fragrant Cinnamon- Water I ever tasted; of this
Mixture I ordered her 2 or 3 Spoonfuls 4 times a Day.

" Next morning I found her in a breathing Sweat, and she informed me, with
great Tokens of Joy, that she had not slept so much, nor found herself so well
refresh'd, at any Time for three Months past. I carefully attended her once every
Day, and as constantly dressed her Wound in the same Manner as above, for about
eight Days Together; I kept in the lower Part of the Wound a small Tent, which
discharged some Serosities at every Dressing for 4 or 5 Days. But Business calling
me elsewhere, I left her, having first instructed her two Daughters (both Women, who
carefully attended her) how to dress her Wound, and told 'em what Diet I thought
most proper, enjoining 'em strictly to observe what I order'd.

" Her chief Food was strong Broth made of an old Cock, in each Porringer of
which was one Spoonful of the Lady's Cinnamon Water ; this was repeated 4 times
a day, and gave her new Life and Spirits.

" After three Weeks Absence, I called at her House, and finding it shut up, was
a little surpriz'd, but had not gone far before I was much more surpriz'd, when I
found her sitting wrapt up in Blankets, giving Directions to some Labourers who were
cutting down her Corn.

" She amended apace to the Admiration of everybody thereabouts, recovered
surprisingly, and lived in perfect Health from that time, which was in August 1701
till October 1714, when she died in ten Days sickness."

Some pathological observations follow, and the paper finishes with a
Bibliography of Ovarian Tumours.

Houston's case of ovariotomy is notable, not only as being the first
recorded, but for being performed in the absence of proper instruments, and
under apparently ludicrously unfavourable conditions ; yet with a success
which could not have been surpassed by a Keith or a Spencer Wells, with
all modern appliances and means, aseptic and antiseptic to boot.

The success of Houston as a surgeon in Glasgow and neighbourhood in
the beginning of the eighteenth century was so great that in 1 7 1 1 he took

GLASGOW MEDICAL MEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ny

a step which may be interpreted as showing an intention to retire from
general practice, and betake himself to the then more dignified practice
of a physician. In that year he applied to the University to be examined
for a medical degree. At the time there was no Medical Faculty, or even
a single professor, no attempt having been made to resuscitate the Chair of
Medicine, which had fallen into abeyance in 1646 on the death of Dr. Mayne.
A Board of Examiners had accordingly to be improvised for the occasion,
consisting of Dr. Sinclare, the Professor of Mathematics, who happened to
be an M.D., and Drs, Montgomery and Johnstoun, two physicians practising
in the city, with lay senatorial assessors. So far as can be gathered from
the Munimenta, Houston appears to have been the third medical graduate
of the University, and the second admitted by examination. How long he
practised in Glasgow after receiving his degree does not appear. On his
removal to London, he seems to have practised in Westminster or its
neighbourhood ; and it may be inferred from another paper he published in
the Philosophical Transactions on a case of ectopic pregnancy, and from
some little treatises published by him on surgical subjects, that he reverted
to the practice of a general practitioner.

Before casting a glance over the medical practitioners of Glasgow during
the eighteenth century, a word may be said regarding a remarkable family
of old standing in the country. The Hows of Damton and Pennold,^ in
the parish of Kilbarchan, were entitled to the distinction of being emphatically
a medical family. Not only did they practise in their native place, but
some of them appear besides to have betaken themselves for the purpose to
other localities, and one became a London physician. Occupying a county
position as landowners, the young Hows, or at all events certain members
in successive generations, appear to have been trained to look to medicine as
their inheritance as much as, or even more than, to their paternal acres.
It is doubtful whether a longer medical pedigree existed anywhere in Scot-
land than that of the John How, surgeon, of Damton, who died in 18 16.
Semple, who edited the work of Crawfurd, the historian of Renfrewshire,
writing in 1782, when this How was in active practice, states that he was
the twelfth John in direct descent, and the eighth that had been a prac-
titioner of medicine. This John had a son, also a surgeon, who predeceased
his father ; and a daughter, who became the wife of Mr. William Couper, a
Glasgow surgeon. The first of the family in the Faculty Roll was admitted
in 1654, but there were certainly others of the name practising as mediciners
earlier than this date. Though practising well within the limits of the
Faculty's jurisdiction, the Hows were not always willing 'candidates for the
privilege of admission as country members, and some of them were apparently

1 Damton lies immediately west of the little town of Kilbarchan ; and with the lands
of Law, Pennold, Wester Whitelands, and Over Johnstone, in Kilbarchan parish, and Syde,
in the parish of Kilmalcolm, were long in the possession of the How family.

Il8 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

passed over altogether. In 165 i the John How of that day was brought up
before the Faculty under the process known as " horning." His medical
requirements were evidently scarcely commensurate with the length of his
pedigree. On submitting himself to examination, and, according to custom,
giving a list of the points he " professed," it was limited to " simple woundis,
phlebotomie, dislocationes, fracters, and sic oyr parts of chirurgie as he suld
be fund qualifit ; and also to be authorisit be them to give purgatives by
senna, rubarb, and sic lyk." After examination, the limits of his qualification
v/ere found to be even narrower than his own modest estimate of them ; he
was licensed to " cuir simple woundis, and to practise phlebotomie be the
advys of physitians, fracters where there is no complicatioun, but no oyr
part of chirurgie;" the unobtrusive request regarding purgatives being appar-
ently tacitly ignored.

With the dawn of the eighteenth century there arose in Scotland a
freer spirit of inquiry, bringing with it the promise of progress in the healing
art and brighter days for its practitioners. In the early years there was
still much stagnation and lethargy, and it was not till towards the middle of
the century that the profession in Glasgow became fully alive to the warm
breath of this new spirit. Leaving to the succeeding chapter a brief sketch
of the results of this intellectual awakening, as shown in the foundation of
a Medical School, we have here space for the mention of only a few out-
standing names of men not directly connected with that movement. Two
physicians, father and son, belonging to an old Glasgow family, had names
long familiar in the city, and they lived to such an age as between them
almost to span a considerable part of a century. These were Dr. Peter
Patoun and Dr. David Patoun — the former the grandson of Mr. James Frank,
a Glasgow surgeon in the seventeenth century, already referred to ; and the
latter the father of Archibald, the "Captain Patoun" familiar to old Glaswegians
by his oft-recorded old-fashioned oddities, and as the hero of Lockhart's
" Lament." Another Glasgow physician of good position was Dr. John
Wodrow, brother of the gossiping author of the Ajialecta and historian of the
Kirk, whose father was Professor of Divinity in the University. He was
especially devoted to medical botany, a pursuit which was as common among
medical men of the last century as it is rare among those of the present
day. In this department Wodrow appears, however, to have been facile
prmceps, and for a number of years he received an annual grant from the
Faculty to enable him to cultivate his physic garden. He also collected
a Natural History Museum ; but what became of it does not appear, though
the Faculty purchased the human anatomical specimens. As an example
of a man of a good family who practised surgery, may be mentioned
Alexander Porterfield, a scion of the house of Porterfield of that ilk, who
was admitted as freeman in the last decade of the seventeenth century, and in
1733 was the senior surgical member of the Faculty. Mr. William Stirling,

GLASGOW MEDICAL MEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 119

whose admission to the Faculty in 1 7 1 2 was the occasion of setting surgeons
and barbers by the ears, was a surgeon of repute during the first half of the
century. Even more than to his professional skill, his fellow citizens were
probably indebted to his public spirit and enterprise. In association with
his partner. Dr. John Gordon, and of two other citizens named Loudon, he
introduced into Glasgow the manufacture of linen ; whilst his son Walter
gave the citizens further cause of gratitude by a public benefaction which he
bequeathed in the shape of the library that has perpetuated the name.

Not less favourably known as surgeon and general practitioner was Mr.
John Paisley, a man of varied erudition, who collected what appears to have
been a good medical library. When his old apprentice and friend. Dr. William
CuUen, began to show his mettle by giving public lectures on medicine,
chemistry, materia medica, and botany, the library of Mr. Paisley was
generously thrown open to his students. The only literary remains of
Paisley are some papers in the Edinburgh Medical Essays. Both before
and after the middle of the century, John Gordon, the partner of Mr.
William Stirling, held a good professional and social position. His career
as a practitioner well illustrates the unwritten rules affecting medical practice
in his day. After practising more than thirty years as a surgeon and
general practitioner, he resolved to limit himself to medical practice only.
For this purpose he qualified himself in 1754 by taking the Doctorate of
Medicine of the University of Glasgow. This involved the necessity of his
entry as a surgeon-freeman of the Faculty being cancelled, and his formal
admission as a physician. In the year following he was elected praeses,
an office to which as a surgeon he would have been ineligible. This little
episode bears testimony to the punctilious recognition by the profession in
these days of the dividing line between the physician and the general prac-
titioner. For the work of the latter the degree was not only not required,
but was, though not an absolute disqualification, certainly a drawback. Its
possession raised the presumption that the graduate practised as a pure
physician ; and if this presumption were negatived by the known facts, he
was promptly inhibited from practice till he had qualified as a surgeon
member. This actually happened in the case of Dr. Andrew Morris, a
Rheims graduate, who contested the point at law ; but ultimately yielded,
and having been apprenticed to his father, a member of Faculty, he was
examined and admitted as a surgeon.^ Accordingly the doctorate was an
honour to which very few, and scarcely any young practitioner, could afford
to aspire. It was not till some time after the commencement of the present
century, when, as the sequel will show, the supply of University graduates
had increased at a rate out of all proportion to the demand for " pure "

1 Dr. Morris does not appear to have made his mark in practice in Glasgow, and was
chiefly remembered for his eccentric character and his physical infirmity, being for many
years paralyzed in his lower limbs.

120 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

physicians that doctors of medicine in Glasgow betook themselves to general
practice.

To return, however, to Dr. John Gordon. No better tribute to his
worth could be given than the eulogistic words which his old apprentice,
Tobias Smollett, puts into the mouth of Mr. Bramble : " I was introduced
to Mr. Gordon, a patriot of a truly noble spirit, who is father of the linen
manufactory of that place, and was the great promoter of the city work-
house, infirmary, and other works of public utility. Had he lived in ancient
Rome, he would have been honoured with a statue at the public expense."
Of this apprentice we have nothing to add to what is already known. The
fact of his apprenticeship to " Mr. W. Stirling and John Gordon " was duly
"booked" in the Faculty Records of 30th May, 1736. "The which Day
Tobias Smollett, son of the deceased Mr. Archd. Smollett in Dumbarton, is
booked apprentice with Mr. William Stirling and John Gordon, freeman,
for five years from the date of the Indenture produced, dated the Sixteenth
and Nineteenth days of Aprill last, and he payed the Collector ten shillings
ster. of Booking money with the Clerk and Officer their dues." According
to all accounts he was a wild and restless youth, and must occasionally
have sorely tried the patience of his masters. His youthful pranks have
been noticed by his biographers, and need not be here repeated. The
mercurial surgeon's apprentice appears to have been popular in the section
of Glasgow society he affected, though he had a habit of indulging in lampoons
and squibs, which cannot always have been pleasant to his acquaintances.
On completing his apprenticeship, he left Glasgow without becoming a free-
man of the Faculty, as he had no intention of practising in the West of
Scotland. His subsequent career is well known, and does not belong to our
subject. He was the friend of Dr. William Smellie, the obstetrician, a
member of the Faculty ; and Dr. John Glaister, in his biography of the
latter,^ has proved that the work on Midwifery by Smellie underwent Smollett's
literary revision before publication.

Tobias Smollett was essentially, as regards his lifework, a man of letters ;
and though he practised a little at one time, and wrote an essay on the
" Medicinal Use of Tar Water," it may be said that he was connected with
the medical profession by little more than the accident of his training.
It was otherwise with Dr. John Moore, another literary apprentice of Messrs.
Stirling and Gordon. In the case of the author of Zeluco, it was rather
the literary character which was the accident. For many years of his life
his professional work, first as a general practitioner in Glasgow, and for
two years as a physician there, and some years subsequently as a prac-
titioner in London, absorbed the larger share of his energies. The son of
a Stirling clergyman, Moore received his education at the University of
Glasgow, and was apprenticed to the two surgeons named on 3rd December,
"^ Dr. William Smellie and his Contemporaries. Glasgow, 1894.

GLASGOW MEDICAL MEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 121

1744. On the completion of his pupilage, he served for some years as
a surgeon in the army, and subsequently carefully prepared himself by
two years' study and observation in Paris and London, Thus equipped,
he returned to Glasgow in 1 7 5 1 on the invitation of his old master, John
Gordon, who made him his partner. On Gordon, a year or two later,
taking his degree, and establishing himself as a physician, Mr. Moore assumed
as a partner Mr. Thomas Hamilton, the brother and afterwards the successor
of the Professor of Anatomy in the University. In 1770, when about forty
years of age, he followed the example of his former master and partner, John
Gordon, and took his degree at the University, " having declined it sooner,"
says his biographer, " as imposing a limit to the range of his extensive
practice." A wit and humorist, and something also of a bon vivant, Moore
was wont to relieve the dulness of the life of a hard-working surgeon in the
modes of social relaxation universal in Glasgow in the middle and latter
part of last century. The soul of the Hodge Podge Club and kindred
gatherings, the favourite of Glasgow society, Moore never forgot, even in
moments of social abandon, what was due to his professional position. His
wit and raillery were seldom or never ill-natured ; and if his satirical sketches
of his fellow-clubmen want something of the point and more of the polish
of Goldsmith in Retaliation, they were at least informed with the same kindly
spirit of friendly appreciation and humour. In 1772 he accepted an offer to
go to the continent as travelling companion and medical attendant to the
Duke of Hamilton. It is from this epoch that his literary career began.
On returning from abroad he did not resume practice in Glasgow, but settled
to work in London. His only medical work, Medical Sketches, was published
in 1785, though in his Vieiv of Society and Manners in Italy there is included
an essay on " Pulmonary Consumption." Moore lived to see the present
century, his death occurring in 1802, seven years before that of his heroic
son. Sir John Moore, the hero of Corunna.

Mr. Andrew Craig, a Glasgow surgeon in the second half of the
eighteenth century, has had the fate — probably about the last he himself
would have coveted — to have his name perpetuated, not in virtue of his
own modest worth, but as the father of a daughter who figures somewhat
questionably as one of the many " flames " of Robert Burns, the Scottish
poet. Agnes Craig was the " Clarinda " of the bard ; and her name
frequently occurs in the Records of the Faculty. She was married early
to a Glasgow lawyer of the name of James Maclehose ; but the union
was unhappy. Her husband left her and went to the West Indies, whence
he eventually returned with a fortune. The abandoned wife went back
to her father's house, and remained there with her children till his death
in 1782. On this happening she applied to the Faculty to be placed on
their list of pensioners. This was done, and her name figures in the
accounts as receiving ;^8 yearly up to 1787-88, the year, by the way.

122 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

in which she met Burns. The pension was then discontinued, the reason
stated being that she had a stronger claim on the Faculty of Procurators,
of which her husband had been a member, and also that she had a private
income of her own. Though an application was made for the renewal
of the pension, it was not granted. By this time she had removed to
Edinburgh, where she met the poet. Another Glasgow surgeon, whose
professional career spanned the latter half of the last and a dozen years
of the present century, was Robert Wallace. His father, of the same name,
had been admitted in the second decade of the century, so thus their
united professional lives all but cover a hundred years. Dr. William
Thomson, in his Life of Cullen, gives an interesting letter from the
second Wallace, dated 1812, giving his reminiscences of the origin
of the Glasgow Medical School, to v\^hich we will advert in the next
chapter.

To mention other surgeons whose names, now forgotten, were once
familiar in the mouths of old Glasgow burghers, is forbidden by the limits
of our space. For these the reader is referred to the Roll of Members in
the Appendix. To recall the chief physicians after 1750 is a lighter task.
Not only were they fewer in number than the surgeons, but the most
prominent of them were in some way connected with the nascent Medical
School, and will accordingly fall to be noticed in connection therewith.
It is somewhat curious to find amongst the physician members of the
Faculty the name of Dr. Robert Dick, professor of Natural Philosophy
in the University. Whether or not he was engaged in practice there is
no evidence on which to decide ; but his name, as we have stated, appears
at the bottom of a manifesto of the physicians with reference to their fees.
Dr. Colin Douglas had been in the army before settling to practise in
Glasgow, and appears to have been cut off prematurely, only " the dregs of
his vigour," as Dr. John Moore puts it, being left to him in his Glasgow
practice. That he was a man of a straightforward amiable character, may
be inferred not only from Moore's stanza ^ but also from the appreciative
epitaph of Mr. John Dunlop, the elegiac poet of the Hodge Podge Club.^
Dr. Peter Wright, who became first President of the Andersonian University,
a familiar figure in old Glasgow, belongs partly to the last and partly to
the present century, having lived to 1 8 1 9. The circumstance mentioned by
a historian of the city that, attired in cocked hat and bedecked with a
sword, he attended the accouchement of the Duchess of Montrose, in the
Drygate; at the end of the century, shows that by that time not only
surgeons but doctors of medicine in Glasgow had betaken themselves to
the practice of obstetrics. He lived indeed to see the day when, as will
appear from the sequel, they were forced by necessity to practice all
departments of medicine and surgery. A contemporary of Dr. Wright in
^ Strang's Glasgow Clubs, 2nd edition, 43. -lb., 46.

GLASGOW MEDICAL MEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

123

Glasgow, Dr. Robert Marshall, a man of scholarly attainments, also lived
into the present century.

One peculiarity in regard to the practice of the surgeons in Glasgow
during the eighteenth century may be here adverted to. This was the
custom of surgical partnerships, which was then very common. The firms
of Cullen and Hamilton, of Stirling and Gordon, Gordon and Moore, Moore
and Hamilton, Hamilton and Towers, Maxwell and Parlane, Hill and
Monteith, Monteith and Couper, and others, could be cited as showing
the prevalence of the practice. In the present day such partnerships are,
if not all but unknown, very uncommon in Glasgow and, indeed, in Scotland
generally, unless perhaps occasionally in the case of near relatives. In
England, on the other hand, judging from the advertisements, medical
partnerships are still in vogue. The change in Scotland must have some
foundation in national trend and tendencies. There must be some factor
at work now which was less operative in the last century. In Glasgow,
during that century, as in England now, the office of the medical
man counted for much. Now-a-days Scots are critical of the personal
qualities of the man who fills it. Whatever may be the true explanation,
it must be sufficient to cover a whole group of co-related facts. The rarity
of medical partnerships, the comparative infrequency of medical assistantships,
the difficulty till recent years in obtaining any great money equivalent
for a practice in Scotland, are all doubtless due to the same cause.

Of two country practitioners we have only space to say a word.
Dr. John Campbell, of Paisley, made a reputation for himself in the first
half of the century, not only in that town, but over a wide area of
surrounding district, Wodrow ^ even mentions that a scheme was talked
of in the University of Glasgow of having him made professor of anatomy.
Dr. William Smellie, of Lanark, was a freeman of the Faculty, admitted
apparently in 1732 or 1733, though he had begun practice in his
native town in 1720. The fact, that for about a dozen years he had
practised within the Faculty's jurisdiction without licence, would appear to
show that the pressure put on country practitioners was not severe. In
1739 he removed to London ; but his Faculty quarter-accounts were
paid through his friend Dr. John Gordon, to whom he acknowledged his
professional obligations in his well-known treatise on Midwifery. As the
most notable part of his career was spent in the metropolis, it lies beyond
the scope of this sketch ; and it is the less necessary to dwell upon it,
as an admirable Memoir of him has lately come from the pen of Dr,
John Glaister.^

^ Analeda, Vol. iv., 28.

^ Dr. Williarn Smellie and his Co7iteviporaries. Glasgow, 1894.

CHAPTER XIV

THE RISE OF THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL

To the present generation it may at first sight seem a Httle surprising that
medicine was not systematically taught in Glasgow till the middle of the
eighteenth century. With a University dating back to the middle of the
fifteenth, and a medical incorporation founded at the end of the sixteenth
century, with the whole of the West of Scotland as their district, one might
be apt to assume that the burgh possessed at an early period the necessary
elements of a medical school. But the case was otherwise. The constitu-
tion of the Faculty possessed no proper elements for the outgrowth of a
teaching body. In the seventeenth century, it is true, one of the recognized
functions of the visitor was to give lectures, or at least some kind of col-
lective teaching to apprentices. But the object of this instruction was
obviously to make up for the defects incident to the system of the isolated
training by apprenticeship. This instruction by the visitor would probably
be fitful and intermittent, depending for its efficiency on the personal char-
acter of the office-bearer. Eventually the practice seems to have fallen
into desuetude even before it was superseded by a better system. The Uni-
versity was differently situated. Founded by a Papal Bull, it was authorized
to grant degrees in theology, canon and civil law, " et quavis alia licita facul-
tate" and the right of the College to teach was apparently as extensive as
that of the University to examine. Medicine was not specifically mentioned
in the Bull, as it was in some of the foundation charters of St. Andrews
and Aberdeen ; but the general powers conferred were sufficiently extensive
to cover a medical faculty, which existed in the Italian University of which
that of Glasgow was understood to be the counterpart. That the University
of Glasgow did not earlier rise to a true conception of its duty towards
medicine was less the fault of its early members than that of the time and
country. Before the Reformation there seems to have been only what
was deemed a complete Faculty of Arts, and a less regularly constituted
Faculty of Canon Law. For some time after that epoch the Arts subjects

THE RISE OF THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL

125

and those connected with theology seem to have been regarded in Glasgow
as the most proper for academic study, though the Nova Erectio of
James VI. in 1577 provided for the teaching of "physiology" in connection
with geography, chronology, and astrology. From that time also University
teaching in Glasgow was to a considerable extent dominated by the Kirk,
whose wants were too many to leave much room for the supply of those of
other interests. The teaching of science was mostly limited to physics, which
is doubtless what was denoted by the term " physiologia " of the new charter ;
and so it was long before it was recognized that medicine should find a place
in the University course. The want of resources was another large factor
in the case ; and, in addition, there was no effective demand for University
medical teaching. Physicians in Scotland were few, and the practice of their
betaking themselves to the continent for their education eventually placed
a factitious value on such a training. It was some time before a home-made
physician took rank with the graduates of Italy and France. Then, as
regards the ordinary surgeon-apothecary, the system of apprenticeship seems
to have been deemed adequate. Before the end of the seventeenth century-
there existed the rudiments of a medical school in Edinburgh, formed even
before the Town's College had properly developed into a University. But
this example failed to stimulate their western neighbours. Except for
the nominal tribute paid to medicine by the appointment of Dr. Robert
Mayne as professor^ of the subject (1637-46), nothing was heard of this
department in the seventeenth century. The eighteenth century brought
with it better promise for the recognition of science ; but as regards medicine
the acknowledgment was still tardy. The examining and degree-granting
function was exercised for nearly half a century before the College used
effectively its power to teach. From 1703, when Samuel Benion — an Eng-
lishman who, if not the first medical graduate, appears to be the earliest
of that century whose name is published in the Munimenta ^ — was admitted to
graduation, down to the middle of the century, a few candidates, amongst whom
was Mr. Robert Houston, the first ovariotomist,^ requested to be examined
with a view to graduation. On these occasions a Board, consisting partly of
physicians practising in the town, was improvised for each examination.
There are also in the Munimenta one or two entries recording that the
degree had been bestowed on persons who were not examined ; but such

1 There is evidence that Dr. Mayne actually prelected. Thus Principal Baillie, writing
in 1643, says : " Dr. Maine on the Fridays Afternoon and other dyetts hath very elegant
discourses on the choycest Physick questions." {Baillie's Letters and Joiirnals, edited by
David Laing, ll. 72. Edin., 1842.)

2 n. 376. One medical graduate was apparently admitted as early as 2nd August, 1469.
"Receptus ad gremium universitatis et privilegia et libertates Magister Andreas de Garleis
doctor in medicinis." {Munimenta^ II. 74.)

3 Chap. XIII. 117.

126 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

cases were apparently rare, and it is to the honour of the University of
Glasgow that this traffic in medical degrees, which is a blot on the escutcheon
of two of the Scottish Universities, was not chargeable against her. Some
funds being at last forthcoming for the purpose from the appropriation of
certain Crown grants, a beginning of a medical faculty was made in 17 14,
when the Chair of Medicine, which had been in abeyance since the death
of Dr. Mayne, in 1646, was resuscitated. The first incumbent was Dr. John
Johnstoun, a young physician practising in the town, who had graduated
in medicine in Utrecht five years previously. The next professorship to be
instituted was that of Anatomy (with which was conjoined Botany) in 1720,
Dr. Thomas Brisbane being the first to hold it. He was the son of the
Dr. Matthew Brisbane who has been mentioned in the last chapter as having
filled the offices of Dean of Faculty and Rector. But these professorial
appointments probably were little more than titular. Thus Wodrow, himself
the son of a Glasgow professor, and living close to the town, and who must, it
is presumed, have known the facts in regard to medical teaching in the
College in his day, speaking of a royal visitation of the University in 1726
says : " Dr. Brisbane, I believe, might have been scored off, but in examina-
tion they found his patent did not oblidge him to teach. In short. Dr.
Johnstoun teaches us little, and praelects none." ^ Wodrow, by the way, is
here scarcely accurate in regard to the commission of Dr. Brisbane. His
patent did oblige him to teach comparative anatomy ; and by an Act of the
Visitors in 1727 he was ordered to teach botany if five scholars entered, and
anatomy if ten students were enrolled, and in any case he was still under
obligation to " praelect " on anatomy once a week.^ If additional evidence
of the sinecure nature of the appointment as regards medicine were necessary,
it is supplied by Mr. Robert Wallace, a Glasgow surgeon, who studied under
Cullen. He says, " Dr. Johnstone was at that time {i.e. on Cullen's advent
in Glasgow) Professor of Medicine, but did not give lectures . . . Dr.
Brisbane , . . never gave lectures." ^ In 1742 Dr. Brisbane was succeeded
in the Chair of Anatomy and Botany by Dr. Robert Hamilton, and the new
incumbent began to teach the former subject. Dr. Hamilton, who belonged
to an old county family, had been educated in Glasgow, and had obtained a
degree from the University. His beginning must have been on a small scale;
but to him appears to be due the credit of clearing the ground on which
could be laid the foundation of a medical school. His prospects must have
been at first very discouraging. It was long before the day of the Anatomy
Act, and there was no recognized legal machinery for obtaining sufficient
material for dissection. Some of the students, or those purveying for them,
appear to have betaken themselves thus early to illicit modes of supplying
this want, or rumours to this effect may have gone abroad. Something of
the kind may at all events be inferred from the following manifesto which
1 Analecta, in. 332. ^ Mu7iinicnta, n. 580. ^ Thomson's Life of Cullen, I. 24.

THE RISE OF THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL 127

the Faculty thought it necessary to record on 5th June, 1744: "The said
day the ffaculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow being in full ffaculty
assembled, They in abhorrence and detestation of the crime of violating the
dead do hereby revive and confirm their former Acts against it, particularly
an Act declaring all members of the ffaculty guilty thereof to be incapable
of being any longer members of said Faculty, and to forfeit all privileges
they or theirs may claim by their having been members thereof; and that
apprentices guilty shall for ever be excluded to be members of sd. ffaculty
tho' otherways Intitled by their services." The rule above referred to
appears never to have been put in force, no occasion for doing so having
arisen. It does not appear whether publicity was given to the Minute. If
it was published, the object may have been to allay apprehension ; or, if
not, it would serve as a renewed admonition to members and their appren-
tices to eschew the crime of being found out.

With the professorship of medicine still a sinecure, there was little that
could be effected. An acting and capable teacher of medicine was now
the most urgent want. For some time back the eyes of a few discerning
men had been turned to a medical practitioner in Hamilton as one likely
to achieve much, opportunity being favourable. William Cullen was born
in Hamilton in 17 10, and apprenticed, when about fifteen years of age, to
John Paisley, a member of the Faculty in Glasgow. He also attended some
of the Arts' classes at the University. After finishing his apprenticeship he
made a voyage to the West Indies as surgeon to a merchantman. On his
return he practised as a surgeon in Auchinlee, parish of Shotts. Leaving
that village he studied for two years at the Edinburgh Medical School, then
fast rising into great importance, and then settled to practice in Hamilton
in 1736. This being within the jurisdiction of the Faculty, he applied that
year to be examined for the membership. The date for his examination
was appointed, and the subjects in which he was to be publicly tested, as
was usual in these days, duly minuted. When the time arrived, it is recorded
that the examination was postponed, and it appears never to have taken
place ; and when he was admitted eight years later it was as a physician,
in virtue of his degree obtained from the University of Glasgow in 1740.
The reason of this mischance probably was that Cullen had almost, from
his first start in Hamilton, resolved to abandon the practice of surgery,
which he disliked, and qualify himself as a physician. He virtually handed
over his surgical work in the first instance to his friend William Hunter,
afterwards so celebrated, whom he had taken as a pupil, and on the removal
of Mr. Hunter to London, to a partner whom he assumed, Mr. Thomas
Hamilton, a member of the Faculty. In 1744 Dr. Cullen found him.self
free to gratify an inclination he had for some time cherished, and to which
he was pressed by many friends, to settle in Glasgow with a view, not only
to practise, but to teach medicine. His first course of lectures was delivered

128 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

outside the University in the winter of that year ; whether the teaching was
continued in the troublous year of the '45 has not been ascertained. In
1746, by an arrangement with Dr. Johnstoun, the titular Professor of Medicine,
he was enabled to deliver his course of lectures on medicine under the
wing of the University. It was his great object to found in Glasgow a
medical school like that of Edinburgh/ and, except the teaching of anatomy,
he had everything to do himself Having stirred up the University to fit up
a chemical laboratory in 1747, he embarked, with the aid of Mr. John Carrick,
assistant to Dr. Hamilton, the Professor of Anatomy, on the teaching of that
subject. In the summer of 1748 he added materia medica and botany to the
subjects which he taught. Like the great Haller, he was, in fact, a medical
faculty in himself The amazing versatility and richness of resource which
he now displayed is the best proof of the care with which he had prepared
himself during his leisure hours in Hamilton and elsewhere for the career on
which he had embarked. In 1750 Dr. Johnstoun resigned his chair; and
after some delay on the part of the Crown, Dr. Cullen was appointed his
successor, entering on the office on 2nd January, 175 1.

Such was the small beginning of the Glasgow Medical School, with only
a regular teacher of anatomy, and another on medicine, and a class of students
perhaps not above twenty. Cullen's lectures on " Medicine " were not read ; he
merely spoke from notes. This was probably in itself a departure from recog-
nized academic usage, but there was still a greater. He lectured in English at
a time when it was still the fashion for University lectures to be delivered in
Latin. All the characteristic doctrines of the system of medicine, as subse-
quently elaborated by him in Edinburgh, were first taught by him in Glasgow.
As regards chemistry, Cullen was among the first in this country to expound
the subject in its scientific aspects as apart from its connection with phar-
macy or medicine. To its industrial applications he made some contributions ;
and if want of leisure and opportunity prevented him from setting his seal
mark on that subject, he had the merit of training and inspiring one who
did. It was as the pupil of Cullen that Joseph Black was fired with that
enthusiasm for chemistry which enabled him to make the two great dis-
coveries with which his name will ever be associated.

Amidst all these multifarious academic labours, lecturing on medicine
(theory as well as practice), on materia medica, on botany, and on chemistry,

^ In 1765, some ten years after Cullen had been settled in Edinburgh, William Hunter wrote
to him suggesting their uniting with Dr. Black to found a great School in Glasgow. "Could
you," he writes, " make a sacrifice of the few more guineas you could receive from practice at
Edinburgh, and join with me to raise a School of Physic upon a noble plan at Glasgow ? I
would propose to give all my Museum and Libraiy, and build a Theatre at my own expense,
and I should ask nothing for teaching but the credit of doing it with reputation. You and
Black, and with those we could chuse, I think could not fail of making our neighbours stare.
We should at once draw all the English, and I presume most of the Scotch students."

THE RISE OF THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL 129

varied by continuous experimenting in his laboratory, Cullen was all the
time a busy physician in the town, with a practice large though not very
remunerative, and involving long drives into the country. Little wonder
that he began to turn his eyes towards Edinburgh, as affording a field for
work where more time could be devoted to elaborating his system and to
fresh research. In November, 1755, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry
in the University of that city, and entered on duty in January of the year
following. This brought about two changes in Glasgow University. Dr.
Robert Hamilton, the Professor of Anatomy, was transferred to the Chair
of Medicine ; and Dr. Joseph Black, Cullen's pupil and friend, obtained
the appointment of Professor of Anatomy, a subject for the exposition of
which he had no particular aptitude, and as little liking. In the field of
chemical research he had already highly distinguished himself In 1746
he had been sent from Bordeaux, where his parents, who were both of
Scottish extraction, resided, to be educated in Glasgow. Cullen, whose student
he was, perceived the devotion of Black to physical science, and made him
his laboratory assistant. In 175 1 he went to Edinburgh to complete his
medical education, and while thus engaged he accomplished the brilliant feat
of isolating carbonic acid, which inaugurated a new era in chemistry. When
he returned to Glasgow as Professor of Anatomy, it was not in that subject
that any advancement of science was looked for at his hands. As Cullen's
successor in the lectureship on chemistry, he was in his true element. He
soon embarked with renewed zest in a series of laboratory experiments, which
eventuated in the second discovery which made him famous. This was the
evolving of the doctrine of latent heat, probably the most important advance
ever made in the realm of chemical physics. Black occupied the Chair of
Anatomy only one year, the death of Dr. Robert Hamilton in 1657 opening
up to him the appointment to the Chair of Medicine. Like Cullen, he
added the exacting duties of a physician to those connected with his labours
as a teacher of medicine and chemistry, and as an investigator. His some-
what feeble constitution would probably soon have broken down under the
strain of labours so many and harassing, had he not in 1766 followed Cullen
to Edinburgh as his successor in the Chair of Chemistry, on the latter being
transferred to that of Physic.

Cullen and Black were the actual founders of the Glasgow School of
Medicine. It was fortunate that its originators were men who were able
to shed lustre upon it, for its early progress was slow and uphill. Especially
was it handicapped for want of an hospital. The burgh was slowly growing
in population and rapidly in wealth, but it had not attained to a size which,
at that time, made a general infirmary a clamant need. The diseased poor
were still treated by the members of the Faculty in the Town's Hospital.
Whether this institution was ever used to any extent for clinical teaching of
any kind is doubtful. There was nothing in the printed rules of the infirmary

I30 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

of the institution which would warrant us to infer such a use of the wards,
though Dr. Cleghorn is stated to have latterly utilized them for the purpose.-^
This, however, could only have been for the half-dozen years immediately
preceding the opening of the Royal Infirmary in 1794.

In the Chair of Anatomy, Dr. Black was succeeded by Mr. Thomas
Hamilton, brother of Dr. Robert Hamilton, the predecessor of Black. He
had the reputation of being superior in talent to his brother ; but though
quite a competent, he was not a brilliant teacher or anatomist. There is
evidence that he had a large practice as a surgeon and reputation as
an operator, and that he was a genial member of Glasgow society, a
frequenter of the Hodge Podge Club, and, as was the custom in Glasgow
in those days, a lover of good fellowship, and possessed of the gifts of wit
and humour. He was on terms of friendship with both William and John
Hunter, who both esteemed him. On account of ill-health he resigned in
1780, and he died in January, 1782, at the age of fifty-three, having filled
the Chair of Anatomy for twenty-four years. His son William succeeded
him as professor in 1781. Of the three Hamiltons the youngest was the ablest
and most accomplished. Though only twenty-three at his father's death,
he was a young man of undoubted promise. After studying and graduating
in the Arts classes in Glasgow, and attending the class of medicine in
Glasgow and Edinburgh, he was sent to London to complete his education
under Dr. William Hunter. By the great anatomist he was treated with
almost paternal fondness ; and so greatly did he gain his confidence that
he invited him to live in his house, and in the course of a year he entrusted
him with the entire charge of the dissecting room of his school. When,
on the resignation of his father, young Hamilton made application for the
Chair, the duties of which he had discharged for a session. Dr. Hunter
wrote to the Duke of Montrose " that it was the interest of Glasgow to
give him rather than his to solicit the appointment." The number of
anatomy students had now considerably increased, and young Hamilton
entered on his work with high hopes and aims. His industry was great ;
not only did he lecture on both the subjects of his commission, anatomy
and botany; but to those he voluntarily added midwifery, in which he
had a large practice, being called, according to his colleague. Dr. Cleghorn,
to every difficult case near Glasgow.^ As if this were not enough to task
his energies, he had a large surgical practice and collected materials for
a system of surgery, to be illustrated with cases which, however, he did
not live to complete. " His constitution," writes Dr. Cleghorn, " somewhat
enfeebled by early and intense application to study, was worn out with the
toil of business and thought, in which he was continually engaged." He
died in 1790, in his 32nd year, leaving two sons, one of whom. Sir William

^ University of Glasgo'u, Old a?id New, 108.

- Tratisactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, \\. 39.

THE RISE OF THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL 131

Hamilton, acquired renown in another sphere of academic study; and the
younger was Captain Thomas Hamilton, the accomplished author of Cyril
Thornton. w

On the removal of Dr. Black to Edinburgh, in 1766, the Chair of
Medicine was filled by Dr. Alexander Stevenson. He was the son of a
physician of standing in Edinburgh, and had graduated in medicine at the
University of Glasgow in 1749. He began practice as a physician in
Glasgow in 1756, and at the time of his appointment to the Chair was
a man in good position in the city. It was a difficult task to follow two
such men as Cullen and Black ; and it was thus his misfortune to be some-
what eclipsed by the high reputation of his predecessors. He was a man
of solid talents and great amiability of character. Dr. Stevenson threw himself
with earnestness into the movement which resulted in the erection of the
Royal Infirmary. He did not however live to see the hospital built. He fell
into delicate health, and in 1789 his nephew. Dr. Thomas Charles Hope,
was associated with him in the Chair of Medicine, and discharged all the
duties. Dr. Stevenson's death took place in 1791. Both Cullen and Black
had, as has been stated, conjoined with the duties of the Chair of Medicine
those of lecturer on chemistry ; but the rapid strides which were being
made by the latter science made it fitting that a separate lecturer should
be appointed for it. On demitting office Black strongly recommended as
his successor in the chemical lectureship Mr. John Robison, son of a Glasgow
merchant, born in 1739. He had been for some time attached to the Royal
Navy, to which he had rendered valuable scientific service. His appointment
in the College seems to have been looked on as only tentative, being renewed
from year to year; but he taught the subject in a satisfactory manner, though it
was known that his inclinations were rather to the mechanical side of physical
science. In 1769 he accepted an appointment connected with the con-
struction of the Russian navy, and in a ^qw years thereafter obtained the
Professorship of Physics in the University of Edinburgh. Robison's appoint-
ment to the Glasgow lectureship was a merited tribute to his great talents,
but it was not made for want of a well-qualified medical candidate for
the office. Dr. William Irvine, like Robison, was the son of a Glasgow
merchant, and had been educated at the University, where he took his
medical degree. Under the tuition of Black, whom he assisted in his first
experiments on the latent heat of steam, he developed a strong liking for
chemistry. When Robison's more powerful interest succeeded in procuring
for himself the chemical lectureship, Irvine, in his disappointment, resolved
to leave the City. Some of the members of the University, however,
notably Dr. Thomas Reid, the venerable Professor of Moral Philosophy,
were loath to lose the services to the University of a man whose worth they
knew, and they had interest to obtain the foundation of a lectureship on
materia medica, into which Dr. Irvine was installed. Pupils were, however,

132 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

still comparatively few ; and on Robison's resignation of the lectureship on
chemistry, Irvine was appointed to conduct the courses on both subjects,
which he did with the best results. His private practice was small, a fact
which Dr. Cleghorn attributes to the native honesty and straightforwardness
of his character — an explanation which carries with it unpleasant implica-
tions as to the conditions of success in medical practice, and may be there-
fore thought to reflect on the prosperous physician who suggested it. The
same authority describes his lectures as remarkable for erudition, sagacity,
and explanatory power. A considerable portion of his time and re-
searches were devoted to the industrial applications of science in reference
to his native city. But in the midst of his labours he was cut off by
fever in 1787.^

In both the lectureships of chemistry and materia medica Dr. Irvine
was succeeded by Dr. Thomas Charles Hope, son of Dr. John Hope,
Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh, and nephew of Dr.
Stevenson, Professor of Medicine in the University of Glasgow. It has
already been stated that on Dr. Stevenson falling into ill-health about
two years after his nephew came to Glasgow the latter was appointed
colleague and successor to his uncle in the Chair of Medicine. As a
lecturer on chemistry and materia medica in Glasgow Dr. Hope had
therefore scarcely time to make his mark. In the course of a year he
resigned the lectureship on materia medica, retaining the other till 1790.
But even after his official connection with the teaching of chemistry in
Glasgow had terminated he continued his laboratory experiments with great
ardour, and acquired that neatness of lecture-demonstration which so
eminently characterized him when he resumed the teaching of the subject.
His reputation as a chemist suggested to Dr. Black the idea of having
his old pupil associated with him as his assistant and successor in the
Edinburgh Chair of Chemistry. The offer was made and accepted in
1795, after he had filled the Chair of Medicine in Glasgow for about six
years.

To the lectureship on materia medica, vacated by Dr. Hope, succeeded
Dr. Robert Cleghorn, who was transferred to be teacher of chemistry in
1 79 1 when Dr. Hope demitted that office. His reputation in Glasgow as
a practical physician, endowed with great sagacity and a finely balanced
mind, stood high ; but neither in the subject of materia medica nor chemistry
did he make any original investigations. As a neat and lucid teacher of
chemistry he was appreciated by a fairly large class of students. The
appointment in materia medica was given to Dr. Richard Millar, a man of
extensive erudition, whose well-known contributions to the history of ancient

1 In the Town Council Minutes of 1776 there is an entry ordering the treasurer to pay
Dr. Irvine eight guineas for his "trouble in searching round Glasgow for water to be
brought to the city."

THE RISE OF THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL 133

medicine are still appreciated as valuable. It was a well-earned tribute to
his scholarship and teaching ability when the lectureship he held was elevated
to a professorship in 183 1. Dr. Robert Freer succeeded Dr. Hope in the
Chair of Medicine, while Dr. James Jeffray secured the Professorship of
Anatomy in succession to the last of the Hamiltons. These men belong,
however, rather to the nineteenth than to the eighteenth century ; and, as
we shall see in a subsequent chapter, during their tenure of office the Glasgow
Medical School underwent a great expansion.

The end of the century is a convenient date at which to take stock.
There was still no proper medical school outside the University, though,
as will subsequently appear, provision had been made on paper for such
teaching, and that too on a scale to dwarf the defective University courses.
Within the College a complete medical school, such as was even then under-
stood by the term, was far from being an accomplished fact. The subjects
regularly taught were four — anatomy, chemistry, medicine, and materia medica.
Botany was conjoined with anatomy, and was only fitfully taught. For the
great departments of surgery and midwifery there was no regular provision at
all, though the latter had been taught as an extra subject by the youngest of
the Hamiltons, as was the former in connection with anatomy by his successor.
Dr. Jeffray. With two such yawning gaps as these, such minor defects
as the absence of provision for teaching zoology and medical jurisprudence
need not be named. Physiology and pathology were still in their embryo
stage of the theory of medicine, the teaching of which lay within the domain
of the Professor of Medicine. But the concluding half-dozen years of the
century had added to the medical school what might well cover a multitude
of defects — a good general hospital.

The Glasgow Medical School was fortunate at its start in having two
successive teachers of such enthusiasm and accomplishments as Cullen and
Black. Several of their successors, notably Irvine, Hope, the youngest of
the Hamiltons, and Robison, were men of conspicuous ability, and prob-
ably none of them fell below mediocrity. That several of the best of the
Glasgow teachers — Cullen, Black, Robison, and Hope — were transferred to
other spheres of labour almost as soon as they had made their mark in
Glasgow, was undeniably a calamity to the younger school. There was
some slight compensating advantage, however, in the stimulated ambition of
younger men who arose to take the place of those removed. Youthful ardour
was indeed needed to make up for the lack of the enthusiasm begotten by
numbers of students. We have no data as to the size of the classes in those
days, but it is certain that towards the end of the century there was a steady
increase. It need hardly be added that all the teachers, including those on
anatomy and chemistry, had not only their College duties to discharge, but
were immersed in the cares of ordinary practice.

It has been said that at the end of the eighteenth century there was no

134

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

extra-academic teaching. It would not be strictly accurate to have said
that there had never been any such teaching up to the end of that century.
We have seen that Dr. CuUen's first course was extra-mural. There had
also occasionally been other classes outside the College, such as one on
botany by Dr. William Irvine, before his appointment as University lecturer
on materia medica. Courses of instruction on midwifery seem also to have
been held in the town. In the Glasgow Journal, October 15th, 1759, Mr.
James Muir advertised such a course : " James Muir, Surgeon, will begin a
Course of lectures on Midwifery upon Monday, 1 2th November. No woman
will be admitted to these lectures unless her character for sobriety and
prudence is attested by some person of reputation in the place she lives in.
Mr. Muir continues as usual to deliver gratis all such women as apply in
that way for his assistance. He intends to begin a Course of Midwifery
for students about the end of December or beginning of January." A similar
advertisement, by Mr. James Monteith, appeared on 19th March, 1778:
' Midwifery : James Monteith, Surgeon (having provided the necessary
apparatus), proposes, on Thursday the 26th of March, to begin a course
of lectures on the theory and practice of Midwifery, to which will be
added a set of lectures on the diseases of women and children,
observations on Inoculation, &c. Inquire at his shop, middle of Stockwell
Street, or at his lodgings. Miss Semple's, New Street. At a separate
hour attendance will be given for the instruction of women in the practice
of midwifery."

Muir and Monteith were thus the pioneers of obstetric teaching in
Glasgow, and, as we have seen, this work was also carried on by Dr.
William Hamilton, Professor of Anatomy. It will be gathered from these
advertisements that the schemes of Muir and Monteith were on the lines of
that which had been carried out by Dr. William Smellie in London, and
even earlier by Gregoire in Paris.^ In the absence of any institution in
Glasgow for the delivery of poor lying-in-women, a field of some kind for
clinical practice had to be sought for. It was obtained by the teacher
arranging a scheme by which the students should, under the supervision of
the instructor, have facilities afforded them of attending women at their own
homes. The two classes of students — medical students and midwives — were
taught separately ; and it is instructive to note that while in the earlier
advertisement the more important class was that of the midwives, the relative
order as to priority was reversed in the later notice. This would seem to
indicate that in Glasgow, as in London, " man-midwifery " was steadily gaining
ground with the advance of time. Towards the end of the century obstetrics
in Glasgow, especially amongst the better classes, was largely in the hands of
the surgeons or general practitioners. Even the physician with sword and

^ Glaister's Dr. William Smellie and Ids Contemporaries. Glasgow, 1894.

THE RISE OF THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL

135

cocked hat did not disdain to act as accoucheur to wealthy or titled patients.
It was not, however, till 1 8 1 5 that a Chair on the subject was established
in the University.

In 1764, Dr. Andrew Morris, editor of Celsus, obtained the use of the
Faculty Hall for reading " Medicall Lectures." It is not known what success
he had ; but with Joseph Black lecturing on medicine in the College in High
Street, it is not likely that Dr. Morris's lectures in the Trongate would prove
a strong counter-attraction.

CHAPTER XV

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES OF GLASGOW

Throughout the whole of the troublous period of the seventeenth century
there appears to have existed in Glasgow no institution for the medical
treatment of the sick poor. The Faculty, it is true, in accordance with
their charter, gave gratuitous advice at their ordinary monthly meetings ;
but the infrequency of these meetings rendered the service increasingly
inadequate to the wants of a growing community. In 1654 they submitted
a long memorial " unto the Reverend Moderator, remanent Ministers, Elders,
and Decons of the Session of Glasgow," offering " such of our number as
may contribute their best skill for the weel of the poore diseased without
any payment or reward for ther pains " ; but it does not appear from
the Records that anything came of this offer. An attempt was early
made by the civic authorities to meet the want in their own way. This
was, as has been stated, by subsidizing a physician or surgeon (occa-
sionally both), an apothecary, and a " stone-cutter." But even this mode
of aid was abandoned in 1684, the reason assigned being, as already
stated, the lowness of the municipal exchequer at the time. In the
early part of the next century the want became more clamant, and the
feeling aroused by the inadequate provision for the destitute poor took
practical shape in 1733 in the erection of the Town's Hospital by public
subscription. The site was in the Old Green, near the Clyde, a little west
from the Stockwell. It was an imposing structure, " resembling," says
M'Ure, " more like a palace than a habitation for necessitous old people
and children." This institution, in some of its features, anticipated the
modern workhouse, though in others it differed from it. Its maintenance
was undertaken by the Town Council, the Merchants' House, the Trades'
House, and the general Kirk Session, these bodies contributing in definite
proportions. Aid was also given to it by a small tax on the citizens, and
by benefactions both from individuals and corporations. For many years
the Faculty regularly contributed, but they rendered better aid than that

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES OF GLASGOW

137

represented by pecuniary subsidy. The members came under obligation
to take charge of the infirmary attached to the hospital in rotation,
each physician for a year, and each surgeon for half a year — not only the
attendance and advice, but the medicines to be supplied gratuitously. This
arrangement was fully carried out for many years, and it was all the more
honourable to the members in that these services had no reward of a kind
which, in more modern times, in some measure compensates the physician
or surgeon for unpaid, or inadequately paid, hospital labours. There was,
as far as can be gathered, no systematic attempt to utilize the infirmary of
the institution for teaching purposes. In 1766, on the occasion of their
being solicited for a donation to extend the infirmary, the Faculty thought
it right to make some stipulations in regard to its management. These
were that at least "20 beds were to be fitted up in a clean and decent
manner, 1 2 of them for the sick poor from the hospital or town that are
entitled to the charity, the other 8 to be occupied by the sick poor put in
by the physician or surgeon, without any restriction to persons who belonged
to the town, or have resided in it for any particular time ; — the physician
and surgeon in attendance to judge of the propriety of the patients for the
whole sick beds, and to dismiss them from the hospital when cured or judged
incurable";^ that a proper number of nurses be appointed, and that the
diet be entirely in the power of the medical attendant. To prevent any
alarm as to possible extravagance, it was added that " a proper diet will in
most cases turn out cheaper than the common allowance of the hospital."
The conditions were accepted by the Directors.^

This system of relief, in its medical aspects, was unsatisfactory and
inadequate. It made no proper provision for clinical teaching ; and the
want of that indispensable adjunct to a medical school, a general hospital,
was therefore keenly felt. A movement, begun in 1787, to supply the
want, took shape, and in December, 1794, the Royal Infirmary was formally
opened for the reception of patients. To Mr. George Jardine, Professor of
Logic in the University, zealously supported by Dr. Alexander Stevenson,
Professor of Medicine, was due the credit of initiating the steps which
happily led to this result. It is needless to say that the Faculty also

^This stipulation would appear to point to the intended use of these beds for clinical
instruction; and elsewhere we hear of intended "Lectures" in the infirmary. But we have
come on no articulate statement that such instruction was actually given, except by Dr.
Cleghorn about 1789-90.

^The aversion of the Scottish poor to such institutions was strongly marked. In an
account of the Hospital, published in 1737, complaint is made of the prejudice against it
entertained even by persons otherwise dependent on charity. Among other things the
" confinement " was much disrelished, and pains were taken to show that there were no just
grounds for this adverse feeling. It was pointed out that the poor, "besides their going to
church every Lord's day, to which they are obliged by the Rules, have liberty and encour-
agement to attend the several week-day sermons."

138 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

took from the first a keen and active interest in the movement. From
an exchequer drained almost to dryness, by the combined effects of the
establishment of a Widows' fund and the erection of a new hall, they
contributed to the building fund the sum of one hundred pounds, being the
first of a series of three benefactions of that amount to the institution. To
the Board of Managers they were empowered to send four members, three
by election, and the President, in virtue of his office. The presence of the
Professors of Anatomy and Medicine, and one elected member, secured for
the University adequate representation. In this way provision was made for
about a fourth of the entire body of Managers being connected with the
medical profession.

The history of such an institution as the Royal Infirmary, as regards
those aspects of its management which bear on the medical profession,
cannot be devoid of interest to the members of that profession, and to others
interested in hospital management. Probably few of the present generation
know much, if indeed anything, of the controversies which have arisen in
connection with the medical affairs of the hospital. Battles have been fought
and lost or won which they wot not of. These struggles have occasionally
been so violent as to threaten the very existence of the hospital as a clinical
school. The parties to these forgotten feuds were as various as were the
casus belli. Sometimes it was lay against medical directors ; at other times
University against Faculty members of the Board ; and occasionally it took
the shape of an intestine feud among the last-named themselves. The
generation which witnessed these early struggles having now departed, a
brief sketch of some of these forgotten contests may be found of some
interest and profit to their successors. They will sometimes recognize in
the narrative old phases or forms of questions, with the more modern aspects
of which they are already familiar, and they will be in a position to compare
the new solution with the old.

Scarcely had the hospital been inaugurated when the Managers had to
face the question of its autonomy in reference to the medical and surgical
staff It was inevitable, though not provided by the charter, that the
medical officers should be drafted from the Faculty. But were the
Faculty to interfere in questions regarding the tenure of office and similar
matters connected with the staff? The majority of the P'aculty — for there
was decided division of opinion among the members — appeared to have
no doubt as to their powers. As soon as the Infirmary was opened,
they at once, and apparently all unasked, set themselves to frame rules
for its medical management. The physicians and surgeons of the Faculty
were to act, each class in the rotation of its members — each physician for
six months, and each surgeon for two months. Failure to pay the Faculty
impost, called " quarter accounts," was to disqualify a surgeon for hospital
duty. The duties of assistant surgeons, clerks, etc., down to the apothecary.

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES OF GLASGOW 139

the rules for consultations, were all laid down, cut and dry, for the officers
of the new institution.

Some things may be said in extenuation of this attitude of meddle-
some presumption on the part of the majority of the Faculty. All the
available medical officers were their own members. They had long been
accustomed to this autocratic procedure in the Town's Hospital Infirmary.
In the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh — the hospital nearest to them — some-
thing of this kind of rapid rotation prevailed. The members of the
Royal College of Surgeons attended by turns for two months at a time.
One of the results, we are not surprised to learn, was that the hospital
had practically fallen into the hands of the junior members. The senior
surgeons declined to avail themselves of the barren privilege of such a
brief tenure of office. It was against this system that Dr. James Gregory,
in his well-known " Memorial," ^ protested with such eloquence and incisive
vigour. Another consideration also will make more intelligible the attitude
of the Faculty at that period. In those first days the lay members were
much inclined to lean in most matters of medical management on the advice
of the medical members of the Board. But when all this has been said,
it must still be suspected that some rather unworthy feelings of professional
jealousy underlay their action ; that at the root of the desire for rapid
rotation of surgical attendance lay the fear that, with longer opportunities
of acquiring skill and dexterity, one or two surgeons would be sure to
outstrip the others. In the Faculty Records, indeed, this feeling is naively
given expression to with more or less articulateness." As regards their
opportunities, they held that all medical officers should be equal. In a
"Remonstrance," which, in 1795, they addressed to the Managers, they
tell the Board plainly that every plan of medical attendance which " owns
the principle of Election for its basis has always proved to contain within
itself the principle of partiality " ; that " friendship, ambition, sometimes
avarice, have subdued the independent spirit of free election, and sub-
stituted in its place canvassing and cabal." The doctrine is broadly
laid down that one of the chief functions of the hospital is that it should
be of the greatest use to the greatest possible number of practitioners
within the city, and that this could only happen if each of them got his
turn of service, with a good deal to the same purpose, but couched in less
respectful language. No wonder that the astonished Managers, in referring
the document to the Court of Contributors, took occasion to animadvert
upon its " spirit and tendency as advancing principles inconsistent with the
undoubted right which the General Court have by their charter to establish
such rules and arrangements as they shall judge proper without the interfer-
ence of any other person whatever."

On this point the Faculty were torn up into two parties. The minority,
^"Memorial to the Managers of the Royal Intlrmary," Edinburgh, j8oo.

140

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

which, in point of influence, though not of numbers, outweighed the
dominant side, included Drs. Cleghorn and Hope, physicians ; and Messrs.
Robert Wallace (for some years the Nestor of the Faculty), Alexander
Dunlop, Robert Cowan, Charles Wilson, Archibald Young, William Couper,
and James Towers. In a counter memorial these members of the
minority called upon the Managers to vindicate their chartered right of
making their own arrangements for the house.

The plan adopted, and which in substance, though varied now and
again by alterations in detail, continued in operation for half a century, was
as follows : Four surgeons were elected by the Managers, to continue in
office for two years. One of these took charge of all the surgical cases for
three months during the first year, and for the same length of period during
the second year, after which he became ineligible for two years. At the end
of that period he was generally re-elected for other two years, when he
became absolutely ineligible. In his first biennium he was called a junior,
and in his second a senior, surgeon. In this way only one surgeon attended
at a time, the other three being called in for consultation on important
operations. In 1824 the increase of surgical cases rendered it necessary to
somewhat modify the plan. It was enacted that two of the four surgeons
should be on duty daily, and for six months in place of three. In 1829
the period of consecutive attendance was extended to twelve months. In
a few years afterwards the growth of the hospital required the appointment
of four surgeons, who held office for as many years, and did duty daily.
At the end of four years they were eligible for re-election, but having
completed eight years' service they became ineligible for one year. In 1870
a change was again effected in the tenure of office, mainly at the instigation
of Dr. J. G. Fleming, one of the Managers, in a pamphlet published in
that year,^ in which, among other reforms, he strongly urged the abrogation
of the rule requiring a year of ineligibility ; and shortly thereafter the
Managers gave effect to this alteration. The tenure of office under a
regulation passed in 1879 was limited to fifteen years. Although the
changes subsequently made scarcely lie within the purview of this sketch,
it may be stated in a word, that in 1883 there was effected a reduction
in the period of continuous service of both physicians and surgeons to ten
years, and that this rule is still in force at the present time (1896), subject
to a proviso that the Managers may in special cases re-elect a medical officer
for a further quinquennium, and this they have done in several instances.

Turning now to the medical side of the Infirmary, the course of events
for many years shaped themselves very differently. The essential element
of difference was the limited number of physicians from whom to make a
selection. At the time the hospital was opened, and for about a dozen

^A Letter to the Managers of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary on the Medical Organization
of the Institution.

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES OF GLASGOW 141

years thereafter, the doctors of medicine in Glasgow were what are known
as " pure " physicians. The possession of a degree, which, while adding
dignity to practice, limited its range, was not coveted by the members of the
profession generally. They could not afford to graduate. In the eighteenth
century we have seen that such men as John Gordon, John Moore, and
later, James Monteath, looked on the degree as the crown of comparative
leisure to a life of toil. It was an honour to be accepted only after many
years of hard work in general practice. Two or perhaps three physicians
were all that a community like Glasgow, or even the West of Scotland, was
able to maintain. But the nineteenth century was only a few years old
when there came a change. Doctors of medicine began to multiply in the
land. The surgeon or general practitioner became ambitious of having a
degree long before he could afford to dispense with the ordinary run of
practice. On the other hand, the medical schools of the Universities were
becoming better equipped and organized. Gradually, therefore, the taking
of the medical degree came to be regarded as the natural outcome and
termination of the College course.^ How far this natural movement gathered
force from the easy terms on which the honour could at some Universities
be obtained we need not inquire. Now, how were all these doctors of
medicine to gain a living ? Only a very few of them could hope to practise
as " pure " physicians. The bulk of them had no alternative but to break
through immemorial usage and betake themselves to general practice.

It has been stated that when the Royal Infirmary was opened only^r i
" pure " physicians were appointed to the medical wards. Their number
being few it was inevitable that the same men should again and again be
re-appointed. It was indeed a case in which the Faculty's pet scheme of
rotation was almost compatible with permanency of tenure. About 1830,
however, opinion had been ripening for a change. The two hospital
physicians of that period. Dr. Richard Millar and Dr. John Balmanno, were
the only " pure " physician graduates who practised at all. Other doctors of
medicine there were who did not practise as surgeons, but neither did they
practise as physicians.^ In their dire extremity the Managers had appointed
as assistant physician Dr. Charles Badham, Professor of Medicine in the

^Any one curious to note the progress of the movement towards medical graduation
may study it in a graphic form in the table or list of surgeons of the Royal Infirmary
from 1795 to 1832, given at page 26 of Buchanan's History of that institution. For several
years not a single surgeon has the " M.D." In 1804 a solitary one appears; while, as the
eye travels down the columns, it will be found that after 1820 it is the exception rather than
the rule to find a surgeon a non-graduate. The same fact is brought out even more
markedly by the lists of the members of the Faculty for the same period.

2 Dr. Thomas Thomson was a chemist. Dr. William Couper had in a great measure
relinquished practice in his zeal for natural science. The case of Dr. Badham is referred to
in the text.

142 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

University. Though an erudite lecturer in physic, the learned professor was
well-known to eschew the practice of it, living as he did on the continent
for half the year. He is said to have accepted the office in the hospital
as physician on the stipulated condition of not being obliged to see cases
of fever. Public feeling in the ranks of the profession was now expressed
with freedom. Why should general practice disqualify a man who had a
medical degree from appointment as a hospital physician ? The Faculty
took the matter up and addressed to the Managers a memorial on the
subject. They pointed out that matters had almost come to a deadlock ;
that the great majority of doctors of medicine in the city were in general
practice ; and that the exclusion of these from the office of physician
limited the choice to two consulting physicians and one or two others
not engaged in practice at all. They therefore urged that the interests
of the hospital would be best served by now throwing the office of
physician open to doctors of medicine of standing, whether engaged in
general practice or not. As time went on, feeling in the profession
became more embittered. The term " pure " physician was used by way
of a sneer. The purity was denied altogether, and illustrative cases of
non-purity adduced. Stories again were put in circulation in which the
" purity " was admitted and ridiculed as quixotic.^ The " pures " themselves
came out with a strong manifesto in the shape of a long memorial to the
Managers, bristling with arguments, and edged with stinging sarcasm. They
refer to the recent multiplication of medical degrees : " Every surgeon almost
has been ambitious to purchase a diploma, and the Universities have for
many years back driven a very profitable trade in selling such distinctions."
But the difference between a physician and a surgeon cannot be abrogated
merely by giving the latter a degree. It is not the degree alone that
makes the physician. It is the purity of practice. A doctor-surgeon does
not get a physician's fee. The physician indeed cannot sue for his fee at
all, whereas the other can. Substitute surgeons with medical titles for
proper physicians, urge the " pures," and you will disqualify the Glasgow
school for recognition at the East India and other Boards. The condition
of a clinical school without a genuine physician is painted in darkest colours.
The " medico-chirurgico-obstetrico-practitioner " — by which sesquipedalian
appelative they suggest the new physician should be known — ought to receive
only a fraction of the physician's hospital honorarium, as he divests himself
for the nonce of his surgical and obstetrical functions. Then, again, as the
new system is inaugurated it will bring with it the vicious accompaniment
of rapid rotation of office. " The exhibition of surgeons in the Glasgow
Infirmary is a mere phantasmagoria — they are no sooner seen than they are
gone — flitting for ever away and disappearing from the scene like the spectre
kings of Macbeth." These are a few of the gems in a document drawn with

' Buchanan's History of the Glasgoiv Royal Infirmary^ 24.

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES OF GLASGOW 143

considerable argumentative and satirical force ; but it concluded with what
was virtually the despairing admission that their cause was lost. In the
meeting of the Court of Contributors the proposal of Dr. Richard Millar to
continue on the old lines did not even find a seconder. The new regulation
enacted that any doctor of medicine of fifteen years' standing was eligible to
the oiifice of physician. The subsequent changes in regard to the number,
rotation, and period of service of the physicians need not here be adverted
to. They proceeded for the most part pari passu with the corresponding
changes on the surgical side of the Infirmary. At the present time (1896)
the only condition of eligibility to the office of either physician or surgeon
is that he shall have been a registered medical practitioner for six years.
As contrasted with the provisions of some other great hospitals in this
country having reference to the qualifications of their staff, such a rule
may be regarded as almost the ne plus ultra of liberality as well as of
simplicity.

CHAPTER XVI

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES AND OTHER

INSTITUTIONS OF GLASGOW

In 1809 occurred a collision, though not of much importance, between the
Faculty and the Royal Infirmary. That the former were legally in the right
regarding the point at issue was subsequently proved by the result of a lawsuit.
The Managers appointed as one of the surgeons a Dr. M'Dougall, nephew
of Dr. Jeffray, Professor of Anatomy in the University, whose only qualification
was the Doctorate of Medicine of the University. The President of the
Faculty protested on the spot against the appointment as involving a violation
of the chartered rights of the Faculty. In evidence of their contention they
submitted a legal opinion from Mr. Robert Davidson, Professor of Law in
the University ; and they further contended that the appointment was insulting
to them as being liable to the construction that no surgeon of sufilicient
eminence could be found within the Faculty. As will be seen in the next
chapter, the question whether the degree of M.D. or any other University
degree could be held as qualifying its holder to practise as a surgeon within
the Faculty's territorial jurisdiction, was raised before the Courts a few years
later. If the action of the Faculty from our present standpoint should appear
unnecessarily assertive, it must be borne in mind that they saw the profession
beginning to be inundated with the new graduates, and the question of their
powers was therefore one of vital interest to them. They pointed out to
the Managers that their services to the hospital had been unstinted, and that
it was, to say the least, ungracious as well as inexpedient in the directors
of a public hospital to alienate the good-will of the men by whose public-
spirited services the institution had been chiefly upheld. The Managers, in
reply, acknowledged the services in the most cordial terms, but declined on
this question to come under obligation in the selection of their staff But
they practically acknowledged the wrong step at the next vacancy by not
re-appointing Dr. M'Dougall. No case of the kind occurred again as long
as the rule of territorial jurisdiction lasted.

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES OF GLASGOW 145

A question, involving deeper issues than any raised by this petty contest,
emerged for discussion in 181 2. It was connected with the subject of cHnical
teaching. The first clinical lectures in Glasgow seem to have been delivered
in the session 1797-98 by Mr. John Burns, then a very young man.^ In a
memorial to the Managers in 1797, he pointed out the advantages of this
method of teaching, and requested permission to give a course in the session
ensuing, which was readily granted. From that session clinical lectures
continued to be given in the hospital ; not always regularly — often, indeed,
fitfully and at intervals, and probably without much system or common
method. Sometimes a whole session, or even more, seems to have been
intermitted. There was no obligation on the medical officers to give clinical
lectures, and there was as little obligation on the students to attend them.
Fitful and methodless teaching of this kind could not but be unsatisfactory.
A reform was clearly called for ; the interests of the medical school, rapidly
rising in numbers ^ and importance, demanded it. In 18 10 the medical
students were even driven to the necessity of memorializing the directors to
provide regular clinical instruction. The medical officers, on their part,
represented that the students could not be counted on to attend a non-
compulsory course. This appeared to shift the onus of putting matters right
on to the qualifying bodies.

The first to move when matters were in this condition was the Medical
Faculty of the University. In 1 8 1 2 they made a proposal to the Managers
that the University " should appoint annually in rotation two physicians
from the Medical Professors and Lecturers belonging to the College, one
of whom will be required to deliver clinical lectures during the first three
months, and the other during the last three months of the session." These
lecturers thus appointed were to be allowed to select patients from any
part of the hospital, and to treat them. In return the University would
make it obligatory on all their students to attend these lectures. To this
scheme the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons strongly objected, as estab-
lishing a monopoly of an odious kind, and being obviously liable to adverse
criticism on the score of hospital organization. They insisted that the
ordinary medical officers of the house for the time being were the only
persons fitted to give lectures. This opposition put an end at that time
to the proposal. At this period unfriendly relations subsisted between the
University and the Faculty, and probably the Managers delayed to take
action till a more amicable feeling was established between the two cor-
porations. But as years went on the relations between the two bodies
became more strained, while bitter lawsuits between them dragged on their

Mn Glasgow^ Aftcieni and Modern, Vol. ll., 1249, this priority is assigned to Mr.
William Dunlop, afterwards one of the conductors of the Glasgow Herald. This statement
does not seem to be borne out by the Records of the Infirmary.

^For the progress of the school, see page 170, ei seq.

146 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

costly length. In 1824 the suggestion to organize clinical instruction was
again brought forward. It was fully time ; during the twelve years since
the former proposal matters in the hospital had gone from bad to worse,
and for several of these years clinical teaching seems to have entirely fallen
into desuetude. The University again revived the old scheme in a somewhat
modified form. The new proposal had reference only to surgery, and its
originator was Dr. John Burns, Professor of Surgery, who has been already
mentioned as the first clinical lecturer in Glasgow. The plan was that the
Professor of Surgery should be appointed ex officio to lecture on clinical
surgery, having the power to select suitable cases and to treat them, this
including the power to operate. The details of the scheme were elaborated
with much care. This proposal again brought the Faculty into the field
with their former objections against monopoly in clinical teaching. They
further pointed out that the scheme was subversive of proper notions of
hospital autonomy ; that the clinical lecturer, though not appointed by the
Managers, would be a permanent surgeon, with extraordinary powers and
privileges ; that in the exercise of these powers he would be brought into
frequent jarring collision with the ordinary surgeons ; and that no surgeon
of standing would accept office subject to the conditions of such an arrange-
ment. The matter was remitted to a committee of the Managers, who
reported against the scheme. When the report of this committee came up
for discussion a kind of coup d'etat was effected. The report was not
adopted ; a new committee was appointed, with pronounced leaning to the
side of the University, and composed entirely of laymen. This committee
reported in favour of a method which may be deemed a compromise, but
was in reality distinctly favourable to the claims of the University. It was
to the effect that two lecturers in clinical surgery should be appointed, one
by the University and the other by the Managers ; that the former should
lecture the first three months, and the latter during the last three months ;
and they further recommended that the same plan should be followed in
regard to clinical medicine, " unless the University consent in this to entrust
the directors with the appointment." This plan, they said, would meet the
difficulty " by dividing the patronage equally." The University at once
accepted the arrangement, and drafted a scheme for carrying it into effect,
promising at the same time to make the courses compulsory as regarded
their own students. The action of the Faculty at this important crisis was
as dignified as it was resolute. In the remonstrance which they sent to the
Board, they pointed out that men who could speak of the Managers " dividing
the patronage " of an institution, whose government was by charter entrusted
to them alone, and the selection of whose medical officers was theirs by
inalienable right, had never risen to a conception of their duties and
responsibilities. They answered the arguments of the University point by
point. The plea that the Senate must have control over the lecturer whom

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES OF GLASGOW 147

they accredited was met by the reply that the Senate had even now no
control (as they formerly had) over the nomination of any professor, the
appointment being made by the Crown. The argument that a permanent
lecturer would alone think it worth while to prepare a course of lectures
was combated by a reference to the organic distinction between systematic
and clinical instruction, the latter being based on the cases in the wards at
the time. The plea of academic usage was met by pointing to the University
of Edinburgh, where the question of not recognizing non-professorial clinical
lecturers had not been even raised. They remind the Managers that the
Faculty had a clientele of students and a curriculum of study as well as the
University ; that the question whether the University had even the power
to grant degrees in surgery, and thus control the larger part of the field of
practice, was still sub judice in the law courts ; and they suggested the
awkward nature of the consequences of the Faculty declining to make clinical
lectures compulsory, and of the pending lawsuit being decided in their
favour. Finally, they declare their resolution, as individually expressed in
Faculty assembled, to take no part whatever in the work of the hospital,
should the proposed obnoxious monopoly be established by the Managers.

It was to this determined stand made by the Faculty that the defeat
of the scheme to vest the patronage of the clinical lectureships, in whole
or in part, in other hands than those of the Managers, was due. The
University influence at the Board was deservedly powerful. Professor
Jardine, to whose initiative and great exertions the Infirmary in some
measure owed its existence, had been succeeded on the Board by Professor
Meikleham, and on the same side were Dr. Robert Freer and Dr. James
Jeffray. In point of reputation no surgeon in Glasgow could compare with
Professor John Burns, whose whole influence was thrown in on the same
side, though at the time he was not a member of the Board. The whole
contest, it should be remembered, took place under the baleful shadow of
the lawsuit which the parties were pursuing from court to court, of which
an account will be given in Chapter XVIII.

The contest was not yet ended, but space forbids us to pursue its course
further in detail. Suffice it to say that the scheme to vest in the Senate
of the University the power to appoint clinical lecturers in the Infirmary
was eventually abandoned in 1828. Next year, and apparently without any
prompting from either party, the Managers quietly solved the problem in
'their own way. Neither the University nor the Faculty would make attend-
ance on clinical lectures obligatory till they saw a plan for teaching which
met their approval. In view of this position, the Managers themselves
provided the necessary obligation to attend. They resolved that every
student of the hospital should take one course of clinical medicine and one
course of clinical surgery. These were to be given each session by one or
more of the physicians and surgeons of the hospital appointed annually for

148 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

that purpose by the Managers. The fee charged covered both the hospital
practice and the cHnical course, a fixed proportion of it being allocated to
the lecturer.

The scheme was inaugurated in the session of 1829-30, and was found
to work well. Modifications of it were made from time to time till the
point was reached that every physician and surgeon of the hospital was
empowered to be a clinical lecturer in his own department. The Faculty
added clinical medicine and clinical surgery to their list of imperative
subjects as soon as the scheme came into operation. The University
declined to take this step for many years, till in fact the old wound began
to be healed over. But to the Infirmary this was now a matter of little
consequence, as the plan which they had adopted dispensed with the necessity
of the co-operation of either of the parties.

Going back a little in point of date, the Faculty in 1 8 1 7 made an
ineffectual resistance to a regulation of the Infirmary passed at the meeting
of the Court of Contributors held in January of that year. We have seen
that the Faculty have four representatives at the Board of Management,
three by direct election, and the President in virtue of his office. It some-
times happened that some of these representatives were also at the same
time medical officers of the house. It was inevitable that occasions should
arise in which such an arrangement would work badly, unless the holder of
the two offices was a man of discretion and good sense. In 1 8 1 6 there
occurred a violent dispute between two of the surgeons, Mr. Granville
Pattison and Mr. Hugh Miller, the latter accusing the former of unprofessional
conduct at a consultation in the hospital. Mr. Pattison demanded an inquiry,
which was granted by the Managers. Being found in the wrong, he was
called before the Board of Managers, and formally reprimanded. Indeed so
grave did they consider the case, that they omitted Mr. Pattison's name from
the annual vote of thanks at the meeting of contributors held in January,
1 8 17. Mr. Miller, the aggrieved party, who happened to be a Manager as
well as a surgeon, took an active part in the case in his capacity of Manager.
This exhibition of bad taste appears to have attracted the attention of
another of the Managers, Mr. Kirkman Finlay, M.P., who proposed at the
meeting of the Court of Contributors in 18 17, "That from and after the
first day of November next it shall not be competent for any person to be
at the same time a Manager of the institution and a medical officer of the
house," — the ex officio medical members of the Board being expressly excepted.
The motion was carried, and the Faculty, under a mistaken sense of wrong,
took up the matter rather warmly but unavailingly. The regulation, after it
had been in operation for half a century, seems for some time to have been
allowed to fall into desuetude, but about the year 1883 it was again revived
in a form which made no exception of ex officio Managers.^

^ " No Manager shall be eligible for appointment ; and if any physician or surgeon shall

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES OF GLASGOW

149

The connection of the Faculty and the other medical charities of the
city may be dismissed in fewer words, as " no burning questions " affecting
the profession appear to ha\'e emerged in their history. Taken in the
order of their institution, the Glasgow Humane Society can hardly be called
a medical charity in the ordinary sense of the term, though it is to the
results of the researches of the medical profession on the best means of
resuscitating the drowned that the usefulness of such societies is mainly due.
But the Glasgow Society has also a historical bond of connection with the
Faculty. In 1787 Mr. James Coulter, a Glasgow merchant, bequeathed the
sum of <^200, under trust of the Faculty, for the foundation of a fund for
instituting a society in Glasgow for the rescue and restoration of the
apparently drowned. The Faculty at once communicated with the Royal
Humane Society of London to ascertain the constitution and methods of
operation of such an association. The London Society met the request of
the Faculty in the most cordial manner, and generously presented a set
of their apparatus, drags, etc., and also a copy of all their reports, free
of expense. Thus was the Glasgow Humane Society inaugurated. A close
connection between the Faculty and the Society founded in Glasgow under
their auspices and partly by their exertions was kept up for many years.
The chairman and secretary were generally members of the Faculty, and
up to the present time the latter official has always been a Fellow ; while the
president, the visitor, and the treasurer of the Faculty are ex officio directors
of the society.

Up to the beginning of the present century there was no proper
provision in Glasgow for the guardianship and treatment of the insane.
A ward or two in the Town's Hospital were, it is true, devoted to the
reception of the insane poor. But the accommodation was wretched. The
" cells," as they were specially and aptly named, were horrible dens, cold,
and damp, and dreary. They were intended, and adapted to be, simply
places of restraint, all ideas of humane guardianship, far less of restoration
or treatment, being discarded. For the insane of the well-to-do classes
there was no local provision of any kind. The enlightened views and
practice introduced by such men as Pinel, in France, and Tuke and
Conolly, in England, had, however, obtained a hold of the intelligence and
feelings of the community. The first to make a movement for a separate
institution were the directors of the Town's Hospital, urged thereto by
one of their number, Mr. Robert M'Nair of Belvidere, whose soul had been
stirred within him by the sights he had witnessed in the " cells."

The condition of these " cells " was fast becoming the opprobrium of
the city. At the instigation of the directors the Lord Provost communicated
with the Faculty in 1805. He intimated their intention to move for the

accept the office of Manager, or any office in virtue whereof he shall ex officio be a Manager,
he shall cease to hold the appointment." {Rules, etc., revised and reprinted in 1S84.)

150 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

institution in Glasgow of an asylum for the insane, and earnestly requested
the co-operation and assistance of the Faculty to enable them to accomplish
their humane object. The Faculty at once appointed a committee for this
purpose, and a constitution was drawn up, by which the Faculty and the
other chief corporate bodies in the City sent their representatives to the
Directorate of the asylum. The Faculty proved their earnestness by
contributing £\oo to the funds. The first building, situated in what is
now Parliamentary Road, but at that time in the midst of green fields, was
begun in 1810 and finished in 18 14. By the year 1842 the house was
found to be too small, and the fine pile of Gartnavel was then begun, to
which, when completed, the asylum was transferred, the house in Parlia-
mentary Road being left to be utilized by the City Parish as a poorhouse,
with hospital and asylum. Dr. Cleghorn, and after him Dr. Balmanno, at
first acted as visiting physicians of the asylum. In the later years of the
life of Dr. Balmanno the establishment had so increased that it required
almost the whole of his attention; and on his death in 1840 the arrange-
ment to have a resident physician superintendent was made.

In 1805 an abortive attempt was made to found in Glasgow a Lying-in
hospital. The Faculty, when appealed to, declined to assist the undertaking
on the ground that it appeared to be promoted for private ends. The
plea was, no doubt, perfectly valid ; but it raised a large and difficult
question, no proper solution of which has been found in this country down
to the present time.

Whatever may be said of the later history of the special hospitals of
the City, they have all, with one or two undoubted exceptions, been
originated by medical men ; and it is not uncharitable to suppose that the
main motive in every case was to afford to their founders facilities for
the prosecution of their own specialties. This is, no doubt, a considerable
public evil. The power of originating any description of eleemosynary
institution, without any check, is indeed hardly compatible with the wellbeing
of society. In the absence of any power to apply a wholesome veto when
there exists no real want, special institutions may be multiplied indefinitely,
with the inevitable result of destroying the healthy sense of independence
of not a few of the community; while the actual necessities as regards
these specialties could be effectively met by the ordinary general hospital.
In its subsequent dealings with these institutions the Faculty seems
uniformly to have acted on the principle of declining to co-operate with any
special hospital until it had attained to that period in its development
when it was governed by a responsible Board of Directors. In 1834 a
successful attempt to found a Maternity Institution was made, largely by
the exertions of Dr. James Wilson, who remained one of its medical officers
till his death. The Faculty contributed to its support till it became firmly
established. On the Directorate they had two representatives, one by election

THE FACULTY AND THE MEDICAL CHARITIES OF GLASGOW 151

and the President in virtue of his office. In 1880, on their contributing
^100 to the funds, they stipulated for another director being elected by them,
which was at once allowed.

Of other medical charities, such as the Eye Infirmary, founded mainly
by the exertions of Dr. William Mackenzie and Dr. G. C. Monteith in
1824, and some of modern date, we cannot now speak. In regard to the
Western Infirmary, opened in 1874, the institution of which was rendered
necessary, not primarily by the increase of the population so much as by
the migration of the University to its new home on Gilmorehill, it need
only be said that the Faculty's subscription of five hundred guineas, the
largest recorded in their annals, betokened their interest in the cause of
medical education, as it also indicated the healing of the wounds of the long
contest between the University and the Faculty.

Turning now from the medical charities of the city to institutions of
another class, the Royal Botanic Institution, to which the citizens were
indebted for the Botanic Garden, may be instanced as an institution with
which the Faculty were early identified, and in which they evinced a
practical interest. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they
encouraged the formation of what were called " physic gardens," by some
of their members ; and for many years they gave regular or occasional
subsidies to several of their members for this object. But it was eventually
found that for the purpose they had in view this method was inadequate.
The rapid expansion of the city also appeared to call for the formation of
a garden on a more extensive scale, in which might be cultivated not
merely plants connected with the materia medica, but representatives of the
vegetable world fitted to delight the senses and refine the taste. To the
formation and maintenance of such a garden the Faculty agreed to con-
tribute annually the sum of thirty guineas, in consideration of which every
member was to receive the privileges of a subscriber of one share. Further,
to secure their being represented on the Management, they purchased for
one hundred and twenty guineas twelve shares, to be put in the names of
any twelve members whom the Faculty might from time to time select.
Instead of paying the capital sum they agreed to pay annually interest
thereon at five per cent, which brought up the annual contribution to Lt^j
1 6s., which payment accordingly figures in the accounts till a few years ago,
when the garden passed into the hands of the City authorities.

With regard to some other public institutions of a non-medical character
with which the Faculty have been intimately associated, either as regards their
origin or management, it is only necessary to instance one. The founder
of Stirling's Library was Mr. Walter Stirling, a Glasgow merchant, the son
of that Mr. William Stirling whose admission to the Faculty in 17 14 was the
cause of one of the quarrels between the surgeons and the barbers.^ For the

^Chap. X. 86.

152 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

formation of the library Mr. Stirling bequeathed to trustees his collection
of books in his house in Miller Street, ;^iooo in money, and certain shares
in the Tontine Society. On the Board of Directors the Faculty have three
elected representatives. They have also one representative on the Direc-
torate of Baillie's Institution, the most recent in origin of the public libraries
of the City,

CHAPTER XVII

THE FACULTY IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH

CENTURY

" The poor were visited gratis, and the Faculty adjourned," is the stereotyped
formula, so familiar to the Fellows, with which every Minute of the monthly
meeting concludes. To account for it we must go back for three centuries
to the origin of the Faculty in 1599. During all that time it has been the
duty of the corporation, enjoined by their charter, " to conveen every first
Mononday of ilk moneth at some convenient place to visit and give counsell
to puir diseasit folks gratis," When the practice of the Faculty regularly
meeting for their ordinary business on that day was fully established, the
matter of the giving of gratuitous advice was minuted as one of the agenda,
and took precedence in the Minute of other business. During the two
centuries following their institution then, the Faculty strictly adhered to the
letter of the charter. At the end of that period they began to realize that
a better means might be devised to carry out the spirit of the injunction.
The interval between the monthly meetings was too great for the effective
discharge of useful medical charity ; to be of much value the advice must
be given oftener. The gratuitous attendance by rotation at the Town's
Hospital was not looked upon as exonerating the Faculty from the per-
formance of their prescribed duty. At the beginning of the present century
an excellent opportunity presented of converting a doubtful into a real boon
to the poor. Some two years before the end of the eighteenth century, the
profession in Glasgow had begun in a tentative way to utilize Jenner's great
discovery. William Nimmo is mentioned as the first surgeon in the city who
attempted vaccination, the subject of the operation being a relative of his own.^
By the year 1801 it was generally admitted that the procedure was one
of great value. In May of that year the Faculty resolved, in view of the
difficulty experienced in a large community such as Glasgow now was in
popularizing such a measure, to advertise widely that they would vaccinate all

^Strang's Glasgow Clubs, 2nd ed., 248. This was in 1800; but an earlier case was
that of a child of Dr. T. Garnett, on 30th May, 1799.

154 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

comers at their Hall in St. Enoch's Square, the operation to be performed
every Monday. To undertake the work two of the members were regularly
told off by rotation every month, the operators being held jointly responsible
in every case. For some time their procedure was evidently cautious and
tentative, and failures were not uncommon. But greater success followed in
the wake of experience, as is sufficiently evident from the first Vaccination
Register, which is still preserved. The method of appointing two surgeons
to act conjointly was followed for twenty years. In the course of a year or
two the vaccination station of the Faculty became popular and crowded
beyond all expectation. So much was this the case that the Faculty made
public intimation that they desired only the poor to avail themselves of the
charity. In less than five years the Faculty vaccinated gratuitously ten
thousand persons.^ The fact that about a fifth of the total number had not
returned after the operation pointed to an obvious abuse which required a
remedy. In spite of all attempts to select the cases from the class intended
to be benefited, the numbers went on increasing every year. At last the plan
was hit on of exacting a small deposit from every applicant, to be returned
if the case were shown on the proper day. This kept down the numbers to
some extent ; and this method, with trifling variations, was continued till the
passing of the Vaccination Act, when the necessity of obtaining a certificate
gave a sufficient guarantee for the child being brought back, and superseded
the need of a deposit. At an early period of its history the station was
placed in connection with the Royal Vaccine Institution in London. The
early reports of the Faculty to the latter afford interesting information of the
progress of vaccination in Glasgow. Thus, in 1812, we learn that the practice
of vaccination in Glasgow and neighbourhood was then almost universal, and
that though small-pox had been rather more prevalent in the year embraced
in the report, the Faculty knew of no case in which it had occurred in a
vaccinated person. In that year a sceptical surgeon in Glasgow attempted
the inoculation of variolous matter in vaccinated cases. The details are not
given ; but a report got abroad that the virus had taken effect, and the
Faculty thought it necessary to institute an investigation. The result was
reassuring, and an advertisement was inserted in the newspapers with a view
to quell any feelings of alarm. It stated that " the Faculty had considered
the report of cases of the children recently inoculated in this place with

^Cleland, the Glasgow Annalist, gives the following statistics of public vaccination in
Glasgow up to 1 83 1 : —

Station. When started. No. up to 1831.

Faculty, - 1801 30.982

Cowpox Institution, - - - 1813 6,969

Faculty of Medicine, - - - 1828 ij446

{E7tu!n. of the InhabiiatUs 0/ Glasgow, i83i, p. 22.)

39.397

THE FACULTY IN THE FIRST HALF OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 155

small-pox matter after having some time ago been satisfactorily vaccinated."
They assured the public, both from their uniform experience, and from the
symptoms of the present cases, that " they remain as fully convinced as ever
of the inestimable benefit of the cow-pox, and of its affording as perfect
security against small-pox as the small-pox inoculation itself" As time wore
on, the Faculty climbed down from this commanding position ; but none the
less did they express their conviction of the utility of vaccination, if not
always as an absolute prophylactic, as an agent which powerfully modified
the dreaded disease. In 18 13 the Faculty reported that the practice of
variolous inoculation had been totally abandoned^ in Glasgow and the West
of Scotland, and that the deaths from small-pox were showing a diminution.
The vaccine station of the Faculty is still in operation [1896], but, from
the great decrease in its numbers, owing to causes to which we need not
advert, it gives indications of approaching the natural term of its existence.
As far as we are aware, it is the oldest — certainly one of the oldest' — vaccine
stations in the three kingdoms.

But from the charity of the Faculty we must turn to its internal affairs.
With the advent of the century the defects of the old charter became more
apparent. Their frequent failures in prosecuting unqualified practitioners
brought home to the members their need of extended powers. Their existing
powers were neither ample enough, nor defined with adequate precision, and
they were besides adapted to a state of affairs not now existing. In 1805
a committee was appointed to report on the subject. Their inquiries brought
out that the points in which their powers were inadequate were chiefly these :
The judicial procedure for prosecution was too elaborate and expensive, and
the penalty exigible on conviction was ridiculously insufficient. Forty pounds
Scots, especially as enhanced by the " toties quoties," might act as a deterrent
to delinquents in the seventeenth century; but in the nineteenth, with the
great depreciation in the value of money, such a fine had no terrors for the
well-feed quack. What they perhaps would have liked was their old power
of mulcting unqualified practitioners in a considerable sum after a summary
procedure. But the times were now changed, and, on inquiry, they learned
that a new royal charter with enlarged powers in accordance with their wishes
was a mere chimera : the royal prerogative could not do in the nineteenth
century what it did in the sixteenth. It was only by authority of Parliament
that such powers could be obtained ; and even then the difficulties in their way
would be great. The legislature, they were advised, would probably now
regard the prosecution of unqualified practitioners rather as a matter of public
police than of corporate duty : that, while Parliament would not interfere
with rights already existing, they would be chary in extending them. With

' Several of the older medical men of Glasgow who have deceased within the last twenty
years, such as the late Ur. Andrew Buchanan, Professor of the Institutes of Medicine, were
inoculated.

156 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

this advice from eminent Counsel before them, the Faculty dropped the
agitation for extended powers. But in 1 8 1 7 it was again revived in another
form. In the House of Commons the Faculty had a warm friend in Mr.
Kirkman Finlay, the City member. To that astute politician it occurred, or
was suggested, that there is, after all, something in a name. If the corporation
were legally christened " the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Glasgow," a point would be gained. The members, without any apparent
compunction, resolved to endeavour to effect the alteration of name. The
time-honoured title of " Faculty," suggestive at once of age, of associations
of various kinds with learned bodies throughout the continent, and especially
with its celebrated Parisian namesake, seems to have on this occasion evoked
no sentiment of tenderness in the corporate bosom. With the new name
they agreed to seek no new power of any importance, but simply a definition
and consolidation of powers already possessed. But if by these tactics they
intended to disarm opposition, they soon learned their mistake. Their petition
was duly presented, and without any delay the Prince Regent's warrant was
issued thereon, ordaining it to be laid before the Lord Advocate. Here it
at once got into troubled waters. A caveat was lodged against the granting
of the application by the University of Glasgow. Trenching on no right
of the University, the charter might have been supposed secure from opposition
in that quarter. But the moment was inopportune. Extreme irritation at
this time existed between the two bodies. Two years previously the Faculty
had, as will be duly narrated in a subsequent chapter, instituted an action-
at-law to test the question whether University graduates had the right to
practise surgery. A decision had been given in the Lower Court against
the graduates, and the question was still sub judice on appeal. To make
matters worse, the University had only recently made a new move with a
view to checkmate the Faculty on this question, by instituting a new degree
in surgery. With soreness on both sides, there was therefore little hope
of an amicable understanding in the matter of the new charter. Committees
were appointed by both parties to meet and discuss the matter. After many
meetings, the points in dispute were practically narrowed to one. The
University insisted on their medical graduates being allowed to practise
surgery without further examination within the bounds of the Faculty. The
latter body replied that they had no power to grant exemption, and that
if it were accorded to one University it must be allowed to all. At that
time the country was being inundated with University graduates, some of
whom had obtained their degrees without any examination at all. On this
point, then — their inability to delegate their examining and licensing powers
to other bodies — the Faculty took their stand. It was on this rock that the
scheme for a new charter and name suffered shipwreck.

The institution of the grade of country licentiate in the last century
has already been noticed, and it was shown that the step was rendered

THE FACULTY IN THE FIRST HALF OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 157

necessary by the gradual increase of the fees for membership. The nine-
teenth century had not long begun when a similar necessity arose, and from
the same cause, for permitting licentiates to practise in the city. Up to the
year 1 8 1 1 Glasgow had, at least in theory, been held sacred to the members.
But the membership had now become an expensive qualification. A widows'
fund, as we shall afterwards see, had now been engrafted on the original
foundation. This was an expensive scheme, and necessitated a large addition
to the entrance fee. At the period in question the fee had reached one hundred
guineas, a large portion of which went into the devouring maw of the widows'
fund. To exact such a fee from every person who entered on general practice
in the city was impossible. The attempt to do so had been tried for years,
and with the result which might have been foreseen. Not a few preferred
to run the risk of practising without any qualification rather than pay such
an exorbitant exaction. It was to remedy this state of matters that the
institution was made of the grade of town licentiate. For all grades of
qualification — members, town or country licentiate — the examination was the
same. The fee was the differential condition of admission, and it was
assumed to be graduated roughly according to the privilege conferred. The
fee for country licentiate was five, and that for town licentiate twenty
guineas, the addition of fifteen guineas being in name of " Freedom Fine."
This fee was certainly too large, being at that time probably equal to more
than twice the amount now represented by the figures, in view of the com-
parative value of money. To avoid misconception, it was expressly stated
in the body of the diploma that the licentiate had no standing as a member
of corporation, or claim to the corporate property. Within a period of three
years he could, however, qualify as a member by paying the balance of fee.
The new grade was not popular. The fee was out of proportion to the
right conferred. Up to 1820 only forty practitioners had been admitted
town licentiates, and these were far from being satisfied with their position.
In 1 8 19 they presented a memorial to the Faculty setting forth their
grievances. They had been under the impression, they said, that by their
admission they had been virtually placed on the footing of members, except
as regards the corporate property. They found, however, that they possessed
none of the privileges conferred by the original charter, which the members
enjoyed from immemorial usage. They were subject to public burdens from
which the members were exempt. They accordingly asked that their position
should be accurately defined. The reply to the memorialists was conciliatory
in tone, but in their view could hardly have been satisfactory. The Glasgow
Medical Examiner gave strong, epigrammatic expression to the dissatisfaction
of the town licentiates. " Licentiates are described as a species of members
who have nothing to do with the Faculty laws but to obey them, nor with
the funds but to pay the fees which may be demanded from them — a species
of serfs who, upon payment of a certain tribute, are permitted to exist," and

158 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

more to the same effect. That they had good cause, at all events, to
grumble is beyond doubt. We shall see presently that the high exactions
made as fees were required to recoup the exchequer, drained nearly dry by
the omnivorous widows' fund. This scheme, indeed, cast its shadow upon
most of the actings of the Faculty about this period.

Of the Faculty widows' fund the little that can here be said has mainly
reference to the scheme in its bearings and reflex influence on the corporation.
In reference to its origin it may be regarded, if not as the orderly development,
as at least an outgrowth of the system of charity in vogue for nearly two
centuries, to which occasional references have already been made. All through
the Records for that period there is very frequent mention of aid being given
to " the poor of the calling," to " decayed members," or their widows, children,
grandchildren, or collateral relations. In the eighteenth century there was
a regular pension list revised annually, which, before the institution of the
widows' fund, amounted to about iJ^ioo, besides sums expended in frequent
casual doles. Various plans were discussed from 1779 to 1792 for placing
their charity on a better footing, all pointing in the direction of a regular
fund for widows and children. At last in 1792 a scheme was sanctioned,
and came into operation on 8th June of that year. It scarcely lies within
the scope of this sketch to advert to the widows' fund in its aspects as an
insurance society. As such it was successful ; but its success cannot be
quoted as lending much countenance to the institution of self-sustaining
Medical Widows' Fund Associations conducted on the mutual principle, such
as have been repeatedly proposed during the present century. The initial
capital to start the Faculty's scheme was taken from the corporate purse
and never repaid. The sums thus appropriated during the first twenty-eight
years of the fund amounted to ;^3494 ; and the amount paid annually by
the Faculty as a sort of capitation tax during the first fifty-eight years of
the fund would probably amount to a sum as large. In addition to this, at
first four-fifths, and latterly two-thirds, of the entire freedom fines of entrants
to the Faculty were placed to the credit of the widows' fund. What portion
of the Faculty revenue, sequestrated by these grants, was contributed by
the freedom fines of licentiates has not been determined. But there is little
wonder that there existed much dissatisfaction amongst this class in view
of the possible destination of their fees. From an insurance point of view
the widows' fund had the disadvantage of not providing for the selection
of lives, as it was obligatory on all members to join the fund. This disad-
vantage was, however, more than compensated by a class of incidents
against which selection of lives could scarcely have provided, even had it
been politic to do so. This was the heavy mortality prevalent almost up
to the present generation among the younger members of the Faculty, as
well as of the medical profession generally, in Glasgow and the other towns
in the West of Scotland. The number of members cut down before their

THE FACULTY IN THE FIRST HALF OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 159

prime, generally by typhus, remittent, or other fevers would now be regarded
as phenomenal. It generally happened that these men left no claimants on
the fund to which they had contributed their full quota.

As the nineteenth century advanced the entrance fee to the Faculty
gradually increased. In 1850 it stood at £\<^o even for the lowest grade
of entry to the widows' fund. The obligation to join the fund began to be
looked on as an intolerable burden, and operated in greatly diminishing
the number of candidates for the membership. Allegations were even made
that on one or two occasions men, otherwise eligible as members of the
Faculty, were denied admission at the ballot box, because they were bad
lives. This may have been untrue, but it was freely admitted that the
attempt to graft an insurance scheme on an institution existing chiefly for
other purposes was a mistake. In 1850 an Act of Parliament was obtained
mainly for the purpose of disjoining the widows' fund as compulsory on all
entrants from the Faculty as a corporate body. Advantage was taken of
the Act to include in it a provision for altering the name of " Member " to
" Fellow " ; and another, in virtue of which Fellows and Members of other
Colleges, entitled to grant Diplomas in Surgery, were allowed to practise within
the jurisdiction of the Faculty.^

Towards the end of the first decade of the nineteenth century a move-
ment took shape in the Faculty, with a view to stem the tide of illegal
practice which had begun to overflow their territory. A standing " Com-
mittee of Privileges" was formed to keep due guard over corporate rights
from whatever quarter threatened or assailed. The first task of the committee
was to look through the armoury and furbish up the old weapons. Some
of these, they reported, were rusty enough, and probably had never been
trusty blades. To test the legal strength of their position, they applied to
Mr. Robert Davidson, Professor of Law, who advised them on several doubtful
points. This was in 1809, and two years thereafter they commenced the
campaign. First they sent a strong representation to the City magistrates,
giving the reasons which had induced them for some time to decline the
task of prosecuting the unqualified. But the object was a public one, and
therefore the duty should be undertaken by the public prosecutor. It was
the community that was chiefly interested, and should therefore bear the
expense. They promised to co-operate cordially with the magistrates in the
event of the latter authorizing the Procurator-Fiscal to prosecute. The
magistrates were courteous, even cordial in their reply, but they declined to
order the Fiscal to take up the cases, on the ground that there was no
precedent for such a step. At this very period it happened that the circuit
judges had their attention repeatedly called to the prevalence of unlicensed
practice in Glasgow. Men appeared before them as practitioners of physic
and surgery in cases of the highest importance, whose lamentable ignorance

' See Appendix \'I.

l6o FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

of the arts they professed was manifest. The judges inquired into the
matter, and found the reason to he in the difficulties which nineteenth
century modes of judicial procedure interposed to the effective carrying out
of powers granted in the sixteenth century. The Faculty submitted to the
judges their powers, chartered and parliamentary ; and their Lordships, by
an "Act of Adjournal," of date 24th March, 1812, "recommend to the
Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons to persevere in the exercise of the
powers conferred by the said Royal Charter and Parliamentary Ratification ;
and at the same time the Court did and do enjoin and require all Sheriffs
and other Magistrates, with their respective prosecutors-fiscal within the
limits mentioned in the foresaid Charter and Act of Parliament, to be aiding
and assisting to the Memorialists in the proper execution of the duty herein
pointed out, and on due information to prosecute all persons illegally
practising medicine or surgery within their respective jurisdictions in time
coming."

The " Act of Adjournal " acted at once as a stimulus to the Faculty
to resume the prosecution of unqualified practitioners. The second Tuesday
of every month was appointed for the examination of candidates, and every
man in the district who was known to be practising illicitly was summoned
before the board. Those of them who satisfied the requirements were
licensed, the others, being the majority, were formally inhibited from
practice. Several, however, did not appear in answer to the summons, and
decree passed against them in absence. One or two lodged defences, but
these are devoid of any element of historic interest.

Before this series of prosecutions were ended the Faculty had become
entangled in the meshes of a number of lawsuits, involving the question of
their legal rights, which dragged on their slow length for a quarter of a
century. At one stage of this litigation it looked as if their very corporate
existence was threatened ; but the narrative of this struggle we must defer
to another chapter. The remainder of the present chapter will be devoted
to a matter of internal policy.

During the whole of the seventeenth century the official designation of
the principal office-bearer seems to have been " Visitor," the term used in
the charter. Physicians and surgeons were equally eligible to the office, and
we find that during the first seventy-nine years of their history it was held
in all, seventeen years by physicians and sixty-two years by surgeons. In
the latter half of the century there were generally two visitors with co-ordinate
powers, one the head of the physicians and the other the chief of the surgeons.
About the beginning of the eighteenth century it was found expedient, in
order to prevent confusion, to give the physician-visitor the title of " Praeses,"
the simple term " Visitor " being from that time reserved for the official head
of the surgeons. Gradually, also, the idea of co-ordinate authority was lost
sight of. The praeses, in effect, became the chief of the corporation, whilst

THE FACULTY IN THE FIRST HALF OF NINETEENTH CENTURY i6l

the visitor, by this process, took rank as vice-president. This arrangement
prevailed up to 1820, in which year the growing paucity of the grade of
pure physicians rendered it inconvenient. In that year a resolution, which
had been defeated eight years previously, was passed, with only one dis-
sentient voice, throwing open the higher office to the surgeon equally with
the physician, provided he had the University degree of M.D. ; and a few
years later surgeons without the degree were equally with physicians made
eligible to the office, a rule which has remained to the present day.

CHAPTER XVIII

A LONG LAWSUIT

With the commencement of the century the Medical School of Glasgow
may be said to have emerged from its state of infancy. Up to that period
medical graduates in Glasgow and the West of Scotland were very few.
In the City itself there were always two or three, or more, practising
physicians ; whilst the considerable towns of Ayr, Kilmarnock, and Paisley
generally attracted the services of a doctor of medicine, either of home or
foreign education. But the practice of these men was limited by tradition
and ancient usage. The possession of a University degree was usually held
to disqualify from general practice, and to elevate its holder to the serener
sphere of a pure physician. Not that the physician of the last century or
that preceding it was held disqualified from family practice, or limited to
the duties of a consultant. Had this been the case, their number would
have been smaller than it actually was. He was only disqualified in
Glasgow from the practice of surgery, and, till near the end of the last
or the beginning of the present century, of midwifery. But the century
was not well begun when this state of matters rapidly changed. Doctors
of medicine began to multiply at a rate which far outstripped the necessities
of purely medical practice. It was therefore inevitable that most of them
should betake themselves to the ordinary work of the general practitioner.
The attainments and requirements connoted by the degrees granted in
Scotland varied greatly, from a definite course of study and a fair examina-
tion, on the one hand, to a very nebulous curriculum, or even none at all,
and the payment of a fee, on the other. Under conditions often so
unexacting, there is little wonder that doctors of medicine rapidly increased.
Several of them settled in Glasgow, and began general practice without
any disguise. They believed and held that the possession of a University
degree superseded the necessity of entering as members of the Faculty.
If this position were good in law, it was clear to the members that their
corporate occupation was gone. No one would take the trouble to

A LONG LAWSUIT

163

subject himself to their more exacting conditions as to examination and
subsequent supervision, when he could gain admission to the profession
in a way at once easier, more dignified, and untrammelled by conditions
of practice.

After much deliberation and, apparently, also in face of the opposition
of a small minority, it was resolved to test the question of the legality of
doctors of medicine practising surgery within the jurisdiction of the Faculty.
The action was raised before the Court of Session in 18 15. Of the whole
number whom they could have summoned, four were selected, apparently
on the ground that they practised within the City, and held their diplomas
from different Universities in Scotland. In the pleas lodged for the Faculty
a distinction was made between the different defenders. Those of them
holding degrees from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow were
recognized as possessing valid qualifications to practise in medicine only ;
while, as regarded the graduates of Aberdeen and St. Andrews, it was
denied not only that they were entitled to practise surgery, but even to act
as physicians within the Faculty's bounds. The Faculty averred (and this
was apparently not denied) that neither of the two defenders who held the
degree of Aberdeen or St. Andrews, had ever been examined by the
respective Universities ; and further, that medicine was not even taught at
St. Andrews at the date at which the diploma in question was issued. The
Faculty therefore declined to recognize these institutions as answering the
conditions for the recognition of medical degrees laid down in the charter.
Neither of them was " ane famous University where Medicine is taught."
The other two defenders stood in a different position. Their diplomas were
admitted to be unexceptionable : the Universities which granted them were
the seats of medical schools, and the degrees had been obtained after
examination. The right of these men to practise as physicians in Glasgow,
after their diplomas had been inspected by the Faculty, was therefore admitted,
but it was denied that they were accredited, in virtue of these diplomas, to
practise surgery. This, indeed, was the crux of the whole matter : Does a
degree in medicine confer a right to practise surgery ? The defenders con-
tended that surgery is simply one of the departments of medicine, and that
therefore the degree in medicine covered the entire field of the practice of
the healing art. Medicine really consisted of two great branches — physic
and surgery. It was true that during the Middle Ages circumstances
had occurred which gave rise to a temporary separation between the practi-
tioners of these two departments. Surgery, during a part of that period,
had been degraded to the position of a handicraft, and on that account
physicians had refused to make themselves conversant with it. But the
division was now healed ; surgery had taken its legitimate place in the
science and art of medicine. The physician had resumed his inalienable
right to practise the whole round of medicine. Especially in Glasgow had

164 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

the distinction between the practice of surgery and that of medicine been
obHterated. The mihtary surgeon of the district was Dr. Freer, Professor
of Medicine in the University. Further, the powers conferred by the degree,
as expressed on the face of the diploma attesting it, were ample, and
limited neither by territorial nor any other bounds. The degree licensed
to practise every branch of medicine everywhere, " ojnnes tain theoriae inedi-
cinae quam praxeos actus ubique terrarmn exercendi^

Neither this plea, nor that impugning the right of the Faculty to plead
owing to an alleged defect in their constitution, was put in so forcible and
masterly a way as it was presented later in the case of the University
versus the Faculty, and it will be more convenient to state this part of the
argument and the Faculty's reply thereto when we come to that case. In
this place it will suffice to say that the Faculty urged that it was useless
to appeal to scientific definitions of medicine, in view of the fact that in
ancient charters the term was not used in a general, but in a specific sense.
In these documents, " medicine " and " surgery " were obviously used as
distinctive terms excluding each other, and the same distinction occurred
in every country in which medical degrees were granted. Besides, the
examination for a medical degree was not adapted to be a test of surgical
knowledge and skill. There was not a University in Scotland in which a
single question was put at the degree examination on any part of surgery.
And, further, the Faculty's commission under their charter, " to examine all
persons professing or using the said art of Chirurgery," was absolute,
recognizing no exceptions.

On this last point the legal decision hinged. In November, 181 5, the
Lord Ordinary decided that the Faculty had a legal title to sue ; that the
defenders were all entitled to practise as physicians within the bounds of the
Faculty, but no person could therein practise surgery or carry on the
business of an apothecary without submitting to the Faculty's examination.
The case was appealed by the defenders, but, after a litigation of four years,
the decision appealed against was confirmed. The Faculty's special objec-
tions to either Aberdeen or St. Andrews being considered as " famous
Universities where medicine is taught " were brushed aside almost without
remark. The power of granting medical degrees, said the judges, was
committed to all the Universities, and they declined to inquire under what
conditions the power was exercised. But a minority of the judges was
in favour of the claim of the graduates. The decision did not cover the
whole ground taken in by the pleadings. It did not settle the question
whether a doctor's degree entitled to practise surgery. What the case did
decide was that the degrees in question did not so qualify within the bounds
of the Faculty. But in giving their decision some of the judges incidentally
enunciated opinions adverse to the claim that a degree in medicine gave a
right to practise surgery.

A LONG LAWSUIT 165

Soon after a provisional decision in the case had been given by the
Lord Ordinary, and several years before the question was finally settled on
appeal, a step was taken by the University of Glasgow which introduced a
new feature into the struggle. Hitherto that body had not been a party
in the litigation. The graduates alone had borne the brunt of the battle.
But it was evidently a struggle in the issue of which the University was
deeply interested. It bore directly on the success of the institution both
as a teaching and an examining body. Its resources to meet the turn affairs
appeared to be taking in the law courts were ample. It seemed to be
good law that a doctor of medicine could only practise physic. If to
practise surgery required a special qualification, why should not the Uni-
versity institute a surgical degree? It is said that the credit for this adroit
proposal was due to Dr. John Burns, recently appointed the first Professor
of Surgery in the University. There was no precedent for such a degree in
any of the British Universities ; but an academic Testamur in surgery was
not unknown in some of the continental Universities. Surgery had now
emerged from its position as a handicraft and ranged itself side by side
with medicine as a science as well as an art. There was therefore nothing
incongruous in placing upon it the University imprimatur. Accordingly,
in the year 18 16, it was officially announced that the University of
Glasgow had resolved to add to its list of degrees that of Chirurgiae
Magister (C.M.).^ The new degree was never very popular, and no very
large numbers of men were attracted by it. The title appeared new-fangled
and odd ; the thing was an innovation ; and, more than all, doubts must
probably have existed of its legal validity for practice, especially in the West
of Scotland. The Faculty appear to have been in no haste to test this
question. Though some kind of action appears to have been taken in
18 19, it was not till the degree had been granted for ten years that they
resolved to challenge it. At that time there were practising in Glasgow
and the four Western Counties twenty-three persons in virtue of their hold-
ing the " CM." of Glasgow. Against the whole of these the Faculty in
1826 raised an action of suspension and interdict, first before the Lord
Ordinary and, on his reference, in the Second Division of the Court of
Session. They claimed that these persons be prohibited from practice
till they had been examined by the F"aculty. The case was ripe for
decision when the University came into Court by an action of Declarator
against the Faculty, asking the Court to find that persons holding the degree
of CM. were entitled to practise surgery within the Faculty's territorial
bounds. The two cases were conjoined, it being arranged for convenience
that the University should be called the " Pursuers." Briefly put, their
contention was this : That as a University they were entitled to teach

'The degree of Bachelor of Surgery was also instituted, but it did not make good its
footing, and in a year or two was discontinued.

l66 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

any branch or subject of human knowledge ; and that co-extensive with
the faculty of teaching was the co-relative power of examining and granting
degrees, and further, that these degrees qualified for practising all that in
practice was connected with the subject taught. But irrespective of this
power inherent in the University simply as such, they had ample powers
articulately expressed from their incorporating charters. The Bull of
Nicholas V. empowered them to grant degrees in theology, canon and civil
law, " et qudvis alia licitd facultate" — a commission wide enough to cover
surgery. True, there was no "Faculty" of Surgery, but this was included in
the Faculty of Medicine. A degree did not require to cover the whole field
occupied by a Faculty. For example, there were degrees of canon law,
of civil law, of music, grammar, etc. A degree was simply a testimonial
that the person to whom it was granted was sufficiently versed in the
department of learning to which it referred. The surgical degree was in
conformity with academic usage. The dissociation of surgery from the
University Schools of Medicine in the Middle Ages had been only partial.
Through all that period there had been gown-surgeons (medico-chirurgici)
who studied at the Universities, as distinguished from the barber-surgeons
who did not. In France it was admitted the Universities had handed over
surgery entirely to the latter class. But in Italy it was different ; gown-
surgeons were there the rule, and the degree of CJiirurgiae Magister was
not uncommon. This precedent from the Italian Universities was especially
important as regarded Glasgow, because it was on the model of the
Uuiversity of Bologna that the Bull of Nicholas V. founded the University
of Glasgow. A University degree was exempt from any limitation of
territorial bounds, and as far as it gave a right to practise that right was
good anywhere. A University was an institution juris gentium^ and by the
courtesy of nations respected all over the world. The University of Glasgow
was founded one hundred and fifty years before the Faculty of Physicians
and Surgeons of that City. From the first it possessed the power of granting
a degree in surgery whenever it chose to exercise that power. It could
not have been the intention of James VI., in granting the charter of the
Faculty, to derogate from the privilege of the University by constituting
the Faculty with a superior exclusive jurisdiction entitling them to debar
University graduates from practice. If the University Testamur in medicine
was valid for the practice of physic, there was no reason to deny the
validity of the corresponding certificate in surgery.

The question of the power of the Faculty to sue, as being a legally
constituted corporation, had been raised by the graduates before the Faculty
came into the field. This point was now practically departed from, whether
from the belief that it would be futile to insist on it, or from reliance on
the strength of their case independent of it, does not appear. Later on,
as we shall presently find, the question again came to the forefront of the case.

A LONG LAWSUIT

167

The main line of the defence of the Faculty was historical, and centred
round the facts of their origin and constitution. They pointed out that
at the period of the charter, surgery, having long before suffered disruption
from medicine, was regarded as a trade, and the surgeon as merely a manual
operator, this being indeed etymologically implied by the name. Even to
this day, it was urged, the practitioners of the two arts stood in a different
position in the eye of the law. The physician could receive an honorarium,
but could not sue for a fee ; the surgeon, on the contrary, could bring an
action for his bill in a court of law. The terms of the Faculty charter
were in themselves sufficiently conclusive as to the technical distinction
between medicine and surgery at the time it was granted. The conditions
for practising the two arts were different. To qualify in medicine, the
testimonial of a University was required ; whereas to practise surgery within
the territory allotted to them, an examination and license by the defenders
were necessary. Their commission to examine everyone practising surgery
within these bounds was absolute, there being no exceptions. Graduates of
surgery of l University — assuming the academical validity of the degree —
were equally excluded from this practice as graduates in medicine. This
privilege had been confirmed by unbroken usage from 1602 downwards, and
had been vindicated times out of number against defaulters. Turning to the
claims of the University, they adverted to their sweeping character. If these
were found to be valid in Glasgow, they would be equally good everywhere.
They would override the privileges from charters or statutes of every medical
corporation in the kingdom. Coming to closer quarters, they argued that
University degrees were not at all of the nature of licenses to practise.
They were honorary titles, academic distinctions, conferring on those who bore
them a certain character ; but carrying with them no professional privilege in
the way of practice. They might confer reputation, or even heraldic pre-
cedence, but they invested their possessor with no civil right. In view of the
purely honorary character of degrees, could it be pretended that graduates
had the right to practise co-ordinately with the members of the chartered cor-
poration within a jurisdiction defined by charter? The recognition of such a
right would extinguish every corporate body in the kingdom. On the same
principle a doctor of divinity might mount any pulpit in the kingdom without
license or ordination ; or a doctor of law might, without " call," practise at
any bar. The attempts made by University graduates in England to trench
on the chartered privileges of the College of Physicians of London had been
repeatedly repelled by the English courts. Coming down from the arguments
centring round legal right to those dealing with expediency, it was urged
that surgery was largely a practical art. It was therefore more becoming
that the door of admission to exercise it should be guarded by those engaged
in the practice of the art, rather than that door should be thrown open by
the degree of a literary body.

1 68 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Such was the main line of argument ; but there were side arguments,
much less effective, to which we need not allude. On both sides there was
a copious appeal to authorities, and the literature of medical history had
evidently boen ransacked to furnish or furbish weapons. When the case
was reported for decision, the Court, in view of its great importance, and as
involving new questions of law, directed the case to be laid before the
Lords of the First Division and the Lords Ordinary, with a view to their
joint opinion being obtained on the main question involved. The decision,
given after full debate and long delay, was entirely in favour of the defenders,
i.e. the Faculty. They were found to be a legal corporation ; to have
power to debar from the practice of surgery in their district persons whom
they had not examined and found qualified ; and neither the degree of
doctor of medicine nor master of surgery gave any title to exemption
from the operation of the Faculty's charter. Among the consulted judges
there was only one dissentient. Lord Moncrieff had exalted notions of the
powers of an University. He was of opinion that paramount authority was
invested in an University, in virtue of which graduates had co-ordinate, if not
superior, privileges to that of the members of a medical corporation. On
the opinions of the consulted judges being reported, the Second Division
found in favour of the Faculty, and judgment was accordingly pronounced,
by which masters in surgery were laid under perpetual interdict from
practising within the bounds. The Faculty were found entitled to expenses,
both from the University and the masters in surgery implicated in the case.

But there was still a final court of appeal, and to the House of Lords
the case was now carried. When it came before that tribunal at Westminster
a change was effected in the mode of attack. In the lower courts the
University had declined to insist on a plea which the graduates had urged
before the University appeared in the case. That plea was now revived.
It was contended that the Faculty was not a corporation, and therefore
could not maintain this or any similar action. Though this point had been
disposed of in the decision of the Court of Session, and that decision had
been acquiesced in by the University, it was urged that it had not there
received adequate attention in the pleading. The Counsel for the University
laid great stress on this preliminary argument, and made a strong impression
on the mind of Lord-Chancellor Brougham. To the volatile and versatile
chancellor, the charter of the Faculty appeared an amorphous and incom-
prehensible document. He could find in it no reproductive organs, no
method of election or of adding to the original founders, so as to continue
the body-corporate. It was a mystery to him who were the successors of
the original grantees, Lowe and Hamilton. " What do you mean," said
the bewildered Chancellor, " by the successors of Sir Henry Halford or
Dr. Baillie ? " [physicians to the King]. Further, the provisions of a charter
granted by a Scottish monarch in the sixteenth century appeared to him

A LONG LAWSUIT 169

an astounding stretch of prerogative. " Here is a letter," said he, " from
King James VI., under the Privy Seal, which you choose to construe a
charter, which is a letter agreed on all hands to have been written to the
Privy Seal, and in which King James VI. assumes to himself the power
which I never heard any king had before, of making his Surgeon and a
Doctor of Physic a Corporation ; and it speaks to their ' successors,' and
in another part to their ' brethren ' without telling you who they are, and it
gives them large and extensive powers . . . extending over Renfrewshire,
Lanarkshire, and about half Scotland, and giving them power which they
have no more right to confer upon others than I have to confer upon
Mr. Currie at the table." This was a novel point of view ; but the main
question raised being one pertaining to Scots law, the case was sent back to
the Second Division of the Court of Session. The opinion of the whole of
the judges was to be taken whether the Faculty were a corporation clothed
with the rights which they claimed in this action.

When this question was debated in the Edinburgh Parliament House,
it was contended by the University that one of the essentials for con-
stituting a body corporate was awanting in the charter — a special name or
title. Another alleged fatal omission was that of " incorporating words " in
the document. The power to enact bye-laws was alleged to be doubtful.
The provisions of the charter involved an illegal stretch of prerogative.
The taking out of a municipal charter — the "Seal of Cause" — in 1656 was
an acknowledgment that up to that date the members were unincorporated.
The renunciation of that civic charter in 1722 necessarily ended the cor-
poration. These and arguments of a more technical kind were urged, but
they made no impression on the consulted judges. The Court saw at once
that the Lord-Chancellor's doubts were caused by his looking at a Scottish
charter with the eye of an English lawyer. They held that the absence of
a special name and of incorporating words was of no moment. As to a
name, the christening of a corporation might be necessary in England : in
Scotland, nothing was requisite but a grant from a competent authority.
The judges pointed out what were the provisions for perpetuating the body,
and that these were expressed in the usual and appropriate style of the
period. After a review of the history of the Faculty from its origin, the
Court unanimously gave it as their opinion " that few cases have occurred,
if, indeed, any one, in which the possession of corporation privileges for
nearly two centuries and a half had been proved by such overwhelming
evidence": and decision was given in accordance with this opinion. The
judges further stated " that they felt somewhat astonished at this remit to
take the opinion of the whole Court on a point on which there then lay
on the table of the House of Lords an opinion already obtained from the
whole Court, of the most full, minute, and comprehensive character."

On being taken back to the House of Lords, endorsed with this decision,

I/O

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

expressed in a way as if meant for a slap on the face to the Chancellor,
the preliminary ground was completely cleared, and the case was debated
at great length on its merits in 1838; but it was not till the 7 th August,
1840, that the linal decision was given. It was in these words: "It is
ordered and adjudged by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament
assembled that the said Petition and Appeal be, and is hereby dismissed
the House ; and that the said Interlocutors therein complained of be, and
the same are hereby affirmed." The costs followed the decision.

So ended this cause ce'lebre, after dragging on its weary length through
the law courts for fourteen years. Though the Faculty gained the suit, the
real loss was not all on the other side. The contest, indeed, was one which
both parties had good reason to deplore. We have traced its origin almost
to the first decade of the present century. The immediate result, on the
one side, was the exclusion of University professors from the higher offices
of the Faculty ; while, on the other, reprisals were made in several ways,
such as in wrecking Mr. Kirkman Finlay's well-meant efforts for the
welfare of the Faculty.^ For half a century, indeed, this lawsuit cast a
chilling blight on the relations of two neighbours under obligation to live
together in peace and harmony, as they were working separately for a
common end. " Tanta est discordia fratruni !" " Tantaene aniinis coelestibus
irae ? "

ip. 156.

fc.

CHAPTER XIX

THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL (Continued) i
/
During the eighteenth century, in the middle of which it took its rise, we
have seen that the Glasgow Medical School was associated almost entirely
with the University. Cullen, it is true, inaugurated his brilliant career by
lecturing in his first year outside the University, and occasional courses were
given on special branches, such as those on midwifery, by Mr. James Muir
in 1759, and Mr. James Monteath in 1778. But these were intermittent
and exceptional ; the regular systematic teaching was intramural. With the
advent of the nineteenth century there began a great expansion of medical
teaching in Glasgow. All that had been wanting to give the necessary
stimulus was the institution of a good general hospital. The Royal Infir-
mary was opened for patients in 1794, and shortly after there was a
considerable increase in the number of medical students attending the
University. In the course of a decade the numbers went up by leaps and
bounds, and overflowed into the rooms of several private lecturers. It would,
however, be wrong to credit this enormous increase entirely, or even perhaps
mainly, to the enchanced reputation of the Glasgow School or its improved
facilities for medical teaching. The Medical School of the University was
still very incomplete. During the first fourteen years of the century, when
the number of students was increasing at an astonishing rate, it had no
professor of surgery or of midwifery, not to mention subjects of less im-
portance. Students who wished to attend regular classes on these subjects
had to seek for them outside the College. To a very considerable extent
the prosperity of the School was due to the great demand for army surgeons,
created by the long-continued continental wars in which the forces of Britain
took so prominent a share. This demand appears to have tasked to the
full the resources of the whole of the medical schools of the country. Add
to this that Glasgow had already begun the era in which her population has
increased at a phenomenal rate ; that the West of Scotland was also becoming

^From Chapter xiv.

172

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

rapidly more populous, and that the want of facilities for medical education
in Ulster brought over to Glasgow a large number of Irish students. The
following table shows the number of students enrolled in the anatomy class
of the University from 1790 to 1861 :

University Students of Anatomy, 1790-1861.

Number of

■\r_ . _

Number of

•\T^ . _,

Number of

Year.

Number of

Year.

Students.

Year.

Students.

Year.

Students.

1790

1808

199

1826

244

1844

179I

1809

208

1827

245

1845

1792

1810

232

1828

242

1846

1793

1811

259

1829

212

1847

1794

1812

280

1830

167

1848

117

179s

1813

352

1831

187

1849

^33

1796

1814

254

1832

187

1850

130

1797

1815

166

1833

187

1851

130

1798

1816

140

1834

115

1852

134

1799

115

1817

164

1835

119

1853

142

1800

113

1818

200

1836

1854

132

180I

102

1819

215

1837

1855

174

1802

1820

162

1838

1856

19S

1803

1821

204

1839

1857

195

1804

lOI

1822

186

1840

1858

205

1805

144

1823

199

1841

1859

240

1806

177

1824

265

1842

i860

256

1807

170

1825

277

1843

1861

166

These statistics were made up by the late Professor Allen Thomson from the books of his
predecessor and his own. We are indebted to Professor George Buchanan for a copy of them.
(See Address by him, Glasgorw Medical Journal, Nov. 1871.)

It is not difficult from these figures to trace the operation of outside causes
on the numerical progress of the school. They bring into strong relief the
enormous demand for medical men from 1804 to 18 14, the crucial period
of the great French war. The culminating point was reached in 181 3 — that
is, the session 18 13-14. After the battle of Waterloo there is a sudden
slackening of the demand. In the fifties there is a renewed increase,
probably to some extent influenced by the long agitation for medical reform
and the fear of more exacting regulations which marked that decade, eventu-
ating in the Medical Act of 1858. It must also be borne in mind in
reading these figures that from 1797 on to about 1828 there was an
unattached group of private lecturers under the general name of the College
Street School, some of whom, such as Allan Burns, and Granville Sharp
Pattison, attracted to their dissecting rooms large numbers of students ; that

THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL

173

from the beginning of the century onwards Anderson's University taught
anatomy with steadily increasing numbers of students till about the 'forties,
when its numbers almost doubled those of the old College, the University class
being temporarily on the wane; and that from 1830 to 1844 the Portland
Street School existed, with numbers less indeed than those of the Andersonian,
but still with a creditable clientele of students. The gradual decline of the
University students of anatomy from 1834 to 1847 was, no doubt, due to
the failing health and energies of the venerable professor of that subject,
and to its being handicapped in this respect by its two formidable rivals.
The advent of a new and brilliant professor of anatomy in the University
in 1848 is signalized by the sudden bound of the numbers upwards, the
increase being steadily maintained in future years.

Leaving the figures to speak for themselves, when read in view of
those considerations, a glance down the roll of teachers in Glasgow
University ^ during the period under review will show that the school
was, on the whole, fortunate in attracting the services of several men
eminent as teachers or as investigators, and one or two in both fields.
The long incumbency of Dr. John Burns, of the Chair of Surgery
(1815-50), was of much advantage to the University. During his not
very extended career as a teacher of anatomy he had earned the reputa-
tion of being an able expounder of that science. This reputation went
with him to the Chair of Surgery, and added to that which he further
acquired, of being, through his works on the subject, the most popular
expounder of midwifery in his day, was the means of attracting students
from a distance. As a man who combined strength of character with
great suavity of manner, as much as for his lucidity as a teacher, he sur-
vives in the memory of a very few old pupils. The long tenure of office
of Dr. James Jeffray, the Professor of Anatomy (1790- 1848), was of less
advantage to the University School, owing to the failure of health and
physical energy which marked his later years.^ Than his successor, Dr.
Allen Thomson, probably no one did more for the prosperity of the
school, his services as a teacher being in keeping with his lustre as a
man of science. Chemistry is a subject in the investigation and ex-
pounding of which Glasgow has been exceptionally strong. As we shall
presently see, the extramural school was very fortunate in their teachers
of chemistry. Within the University the department was represented for
a generation by a man of profound knowledge of the subject and of
European reputation as a chemist — Dr. Thomas Thomson. In the depart-
ment of Botany three successive teachers such as Dr. Robert Graham,
Sir William Joseph Hooker, and Dr. John Hutton Balfour are not often

^See p. 185.

2 Dr. Jeffray was ably assisted by Dr. Thomas Marshall, his nephew, who acted as
his demonstrator, and who gained considerable repute in Scotland as a lithotomist.

174 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

met with. The mention of the names of this trio recalls the fact that
they were all translated to other spheres of labour — the first- and last-
named to Edinburgh, and Sir William Hooker to the gardens at Kew.
The tendency of good Glasgow men to gravitate to other centres has been
seen in operation as regards some of the founders of the Glasgow School
in the eighteenth century. It has been to some extent operative in the
present century, as shown in the translation to Edinburgh of Mr. (now
Sir Joseph) Lister, Dr. Alexander Dickson, and Dr. Bayley Balfour, in
addition to the three above-named. A counter-movement to this was to
have taken place in 1833, when Dr. Robert Lee, a London specialist of
some name, was appointed to the Chair of Midwifery. He seems, how-
ever, to have changed his mind, as, though formally inducted by the Senate,
he never entered on duty ; but his name occurs in the Calendar list of past
professors.

Did space permit, something might be said as to the exercise of
patronage to the Crown Chairs in Glasgow during the first third of the
century. To a considerable extent it seems to have been either exercised
or influenced by the Duke of Montrose, Chancellor of the University. It
was occasionally subjected, and not without adequate reason, to the most
unsparing criticism. This was especially the case in the presentation to
the Chair of Medicine, in 1827, of Dr. Charles Badham, when what
may be described as quite an explosion of indignation occurred. The
event may be said to have justified to a considerable extent the com-
motion it caused. A man of classical erudition, and an elegant lecturer,
it was complained of him that his prelections were academic in the
secondary and questionable sense of having little relation to practice. It
was averred, indeed, that they were often devoted to subjects more
allied to the belles lettres than either the theory^ or the practice of
physic. For a few years he taught, or was understood to teach, both
these departments ; but eventually, by some arrangement, the subject of
the theory or institutes of medicine was handed over to be taught by Dr.
Harry Rainy. This continued for seven years, and it was certainly
somewhat hard measure for the latter when, on the institution of the
Chair in that subject in 1839, such a competent teacher found himself
ousted from his position, though the appointment of Dr. Andrew Buchanan
to the post involved an important accession to the ranks of men of mark
in the professoriate. In the same year a Chair of Forensic Medicine was
founded, the first incumbent of which was Dr. Robert Cowan, a man of
great promise, who had already made his mark in the fields of vital
statistics and epidemiology. His premature death, after only two years
of office, left a vacancy, which was filled up by the appointment of Dr.

^ The Theory of Medicine included the subjects now connoted by the terms Physiology,
Pathology, and Preventive Medicine.

THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL

175

Rainy, who was thus in some measure compensated for the loss of the
Chair of Physiology, and who worthily filled the position for upwards of
thirty years.

Our limits forbid us to notice other changes ; but, before turning from
the University to the extramural school, it may not be out of place to
advert for a moment to the policy adopted and persisted in by the Senate
of the University, down even to the present generation, of ignoring, for
graduation purposes, systematic medical instruction given in Glasgow outside
the College. That the policy was narrow, short-sighted, and detrimental
to the best interests of the University is now acknowledged on all hands.
Hence it resulted that the wholesome competition, which in the Edinburgh
school gave such a stimulus to individual professorial excellence, and permitted
to the student a proper alternative to his attending the prelections of a dull
or an indolent professor, was awanting in Glasgow. The oddity of a body
whose medical members had, individually, been mostly teachers in non-
University schools, and owed their position to that very fact, systematically
treating their old colleagues as virtually incompetent teachers, seems to have
struck the public more forcibly than it did the learned professors. The
wonder grew when it was seen that not even the promulgation of extremely
radical and liberal opinions on the subject, on the part of an outside lecturer,
failed to avert the inevitable metamorphosis of judgment which ensued as
soon as he had attained the coveted professorship. It is consolatory to
reflect that the mistake then made can never again recur ; and there is
now no danger that the feeling underlying it may find other modes of
manifestation.

To one momentous departure made by the University in 18 16 in regard
to the granting of degrees, reference has been made in another connection
in the immediately preceding chapter.^ This was the institution by the
University of a new degree, that of Chirurgiae Magister. At the time it
was only a single move in a game in which the University and the Faculty
of Physicians and Surgeons were the two players. Though the move did
not serve its immediate purpose, the Faculty having been able to checkmate
it by an appeal to law, and though the success of the scheme, as measured
by the number of those who availed themselves of the new degree, was
not great, it gave rise, or pointed the way, to a most important change
half a century later. It was the institution of this degree as an accomplished
fact which virtually enabled the Scottish University Commissioners, under
the Universities Act of 1858, to extend the degree and validate it in all
the Scottish Universities. It was natural that such a departure from the
established medical policy of this country should be strongly contested. The
medical corporations of Scotland joined with the Royal Colleges of Surgeons
of England and of Ireland in opposition, which they carried to the Privy

'P. 165.

176 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Council.^ Round the step taken by the University of Glasgow in 1 8 1 6
the controversy raged. The legal validity of that step ; the inherent power
of an University to grant such a degree ; the fitness of surgery to be hall-
marked by a separate academic testamur ; the history and evolution of
surgical degrees on the continent, especially in Italy, and their relation to
the masterships of the corporations of surgeons there : on these and kindred
topics the discussions of 1861 shed a fierce light. The movement initiated
in 1 8 16, though not successful in respect to its immediate object, must be
regarded in a very different light if we trace it as culminating in the
institution of a degree in surgery in all the Universities of Scotland.

To another matter we must also briefly refer in this place, as it equally
concerned the University school of which we have spoken and the extra-
mural schools of which we are about to speak. The question of the
mode in which the necessities of a large anatomical school, such as existed
in Glasgow for a quarter of a century before the passing of the Anatomy
Act, were supplied, is inevitably suggested by the statistics given above, and
those to be stated in connection with the outside schools. The number of
students studying anatomy in Glasgow about the year 1 8 1 4 has been
estimated as about 800.^ For the use of such a number almost the only
legalized means of obtaining subjects was by voluntary contract with
relatives, from which source there would probably be almost no supply ;
and by claiming the victims of the gallows, the supply from which source
was, as need not be said, wholly inadequate.^ This raises the question
whether there is any evidence that there existed a lack of materiel for the
supply of the Glasgow dissecting rooms in the first third of the century.
At a meeting of the medical profession held in London in 1826, in
reference to a reform of the College of Surgeons, Mr. (afterwards Sir) William
Lawrence said : " But, gentlemen, I have a more material objection to state,
and it is to the catalogue of the schools of instruction to which the
privilege of recognition has been conceded — Aberdeen, Glasgow ! We know,
gentlemen, that at least anatomy cannot be studied in these places with any
hope of success. We are all, I believe, aware, and no one is more ready
than myself to acknowledge the great talents and acquirements of the
gentlemen at the head of the anatomical schools in these places ; but we
are also aware that they are destitute of subjects" This statement so
definitely made at once provoked a denial from persons in Glasgow who
had evidently an intimate knowledge of the facts. It was averred that
so far from Mr. Lawrence's assertion being true, the supply in Glasgow

' Report of Proceedings before a Committee of the Privy Council relative to the Ordinances
of the Scottish Universities Cofntnissioners. Edinburgh, 1861.

^Lancet, ix. 839.

^ From 1765 to 1830 the total number executed in Glasgow was 89.

THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL 1 77

was better and very much cheaper than in Edinburgh, and even London
itself. One correspondent of the Lancet, taking a retrospect within his own
* experience, stated that in 18 14, though the total number studying anatomy
was not less than 800, he never knew a student obliged to wait for longer
than three or four days before he could be provided for dissection, whereas
in London it was a common experience to wait a month. He also stated
from his own knowledge that in 1 8 1 6 and 1 8 1 7 Dr. Barclay's dissecting
room in Edinburgh was supplied in great measure from that of Mr. Granville
Sharp Pattison in Glasgow. These statements remained unchallenged, and
we may therefore assume that even at the period when the dissecting rooms
were most crowded, there existed in Glasgow no lack of anatomical material.
There is no doubt that a varying amount of this supply was afforded by an
irregular traffic with Ireland, ghastly glimpses into which, through misadventure
or inadvertence, occasionally shocked a portion of the public.^

The remaining source of supply was the illegitimate one of clandestine
exhumation. It is very difficult now to form any proper estimate of the
extent of " resurrectionism " in Glasgow and the surrounding district. Most,
if not all, of those who, as students, profited by or took part in it, have
departed, and few of them knew much beyond the doings of their own
coteries.- This method of supply never received any official sanction, nor,
indeed, in theory, anything but official reprobation. The system of allowing
the probably inconsiderable number of students who personally took part
in the work free tickets to the dissecting room was the nearest approach
to official cognizance. We have already given an extract from the Faculty
Records of the eighteenth century, in which the practice is very strongly
condemned,^ and similar Minutes of an earlier and later date could be quoted.
In reading these, the suspicion may, indeed, arise that the members protested
too much, and that the intensity of their abhorrence was not always in
direct ratio to the vigour of their fulminations. As early as 1749 there was
a riot in the town, arising from a mere suspicion that one of the City
graveyards had been violated. The military were called out, but not
before the most of the College windows had been smashed. A similar
emeute occurred in 18 14, on which occasion some students were tried
and acquitted for want of evidence. As time went on, members of the
profession were at last driven into the position of appearing as apologists
of the practice. A licentiate of the Faculty, Dr. Mathie Hamilton,
in 1824 published, under the pseudonym " Aliquis," a pamphlet entitled,
Remarks on the Question, Are there any circumstances in which the lifting of
the dead is justifiable ? in which he vigorously advocated the affirmative.

^ Mackenzie's Reminiscences of Glasgow, ll. 473.

^ For some information on the point, see an article by Dr. Geo. Buchanan in the
Glasgow Medical Journal, January, 1855, 385 ; Mackenzie's Reminiscences of Glasgow, ll.
476, et scq.j Lancet, x. 184. ^ P. 127.

178 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

In the same year there also appeared in Glasgow, from the pen of Dr.
William Mackenzie, at that time teacher of anatomy and surgery in Anderson's
University, one of the ablest and most powerful presentations of the case
for providing by legal enactment for the wants of the medical schools.^
He strongly insisted on the absolute dependence of the healing art on
anatomy, and pointed out that the only alternative to affording legalized
facilities for practising operations on the dead subject was practice on the
bodies of the living poor. " Would to God," he exclaimed, " that the eyes
of the public were opened to the consequences of their idolatry of the
dead ! They would then spurn with contempt the plans of those ignorant
men who have vapoured over the midnight bowl that they would put an
end to anatomy, blind to the widely disastrous effects which their plans, if
carried out, must speedily produce in the best and dearest interests of
humanity." He proceeded to sketch a scheme not essentially different from
that afterwards given effect to in Warburton's Anatomy Act. Dr. Mackenzie's
" Appeal " created some sensation at the time, and in subsequent discussions
on the subject it was often referred to. But it was not till the public were
thoroughly alarmed by the terrible Edinburgh disclosures a few years later
that the clamant necessity for legislative enactment was generally acquiesced in.
It is now time that we should turn to the origin and early history
of extra- University teaching in Glasgow. In 1796 Mr. John Burns, son
of the minister of the Barony Parish of Glasgow, was admitted to the member-
ship of the Faculty when he was little more than twenty-one years of age.
In 1797 he rented rooms at the north-west corner of the head of Virginia
Street for the teaching of anatomy, to which was afterwards added surgery,
and eventually midwifery, and other subjects. Though so young, he at once
proved himself an accomplished teacher, and his rooms were soon well
attended. In the course of a year his brother Allan, a youth not much
over sixteen, who had studied medicine for two years, joined him, and was
.soon installed in charge of the dissecting room. The latter threw himself
into the work with such rare zest and enthusiasm that he soon made for
himself a reputation as a practical anatomist. In 1799 John Burns was
taken under the wing of an institution which had been founded in Glasgow
some three years earlier, and in which, by the will of Dr. John Anderson,
F.R.S., the founder, he had been designated as first Professor of Anatomy
and the Theory of Surgery. Dr. Anderson was himself Professor of Natural
Philosophy in the University, and the will, in virtue of which " Anderson's
University " took its origin, was in several respects a remarkable document.
Never probably was there an instance of wider disparity between the magni-
ficence of the intentions of the founder of an institution and the narrowness
of the means left to carry them into effect. The institution was to be a

^ An Appeal to the Public and to the Legislature on the necessity of affording dead
bodies to the Schools 0/ Anatomy by legislative enactment. Glasgow, 1824.

THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL

179

University, not in name only, but in fact, and of a type more advanced
than any then existing academic foundation. It was to be governed by
eighty-one Trustees, nine in each of the nine classes — tradesmen, agriculturists,
artists, manufacturers or merchants, mediciners, lawyers, divines, natural philo-
sophers, and kinsmen of the founder. It was to consist of four colleges
— arts, medicine, law, and theology — and each college was to contain nine
professors. In each of the colleges, or faculties, degrees were to be granted —
Bachelor and Master of Arts, Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine, Bachelor and
Doctor of Law, and Bachelor and Doctor of Divinity. As regards the validity
of the degrees, the testator avowedly went on the cynical principle that they
could be taken for what they were worth, " valeant quantum valere possunt."
The whole of the thirty-six first incumbents of the chairs were named in
the Will. The nine professorships in arts were physics, ethics, logic and
rhetoric, Greek, senior Latin, junior Latin, civil history, mathematics, and
chemistry ; the law chairs were Roman law, law of Scotland, English law,
law of nations and nature, Roman antiquities, Scottish antiquities, ecclesiastical
law, commercial law, and the practice of the Scottish Courts — a list which
involves a pretty comprehensive connotation of the term " law." The subjects
of the theological faculty were, systematic Divinity according to the Church
of Scotland, critical explanation of the Scriptures, Church history. Oriental
languages, the Burgher system of Divinity, the Anti-burgher system, the Relief
system, the Gaelic language, and sacred music — a mode of solution of the
question of the theological chairs, the principle of which would probably not
commend itself to the present Scottish Universities Commission. The medical
professorships, with the persons designated as the first incumbents, were —
(i) Dr. Peter Wright, Institutes of Medicine; (2) Mr. James Monteath, Practice
of Medicine ; (3) Mr. John Burns, Anatomy and the Theory of Surgery ;
(4) Mr. Peter Rolland, Practical Surgery ; (5) Mr. William Anderson,
Obstetrics ; (6) Dr. John Balmanno, Materia Medica ; (7) Mr. John Scruton,
" Professor of Clinical Cases " ; (8) Mr. Robert Cowan, Botany ; (9) Mr. David
Ure, preacher of the Gospel, Natural History. The last-named was the author
of the History of Rutherglen and East Kilbride^ published in 1793. The
other eight were members of the Faculty, though in two cases their technical
qualifications for the particular offices to which they were designated might
be challenged from the stand-point of the present day. Thus, Mr, James
Monteath, appointed Professor of the Practice of Medicine, was, at the date
of the Will, and a dozen years thereafter, a surgeon in general practice, though
he eventually took a degree in medicine ; while nearly the same description
held good of Mr. John Scruton, designated to be "Professor of Clinical Cases,"
by which it is presumed " medical cases " were meant, there being another
professor named for practical surgery, who never possessed any qualification
but the surgical membership.

In judging of this scheme of a new University apart from the men and

l8o FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

the means of carrying it into operation, one must not forget its ideal character.
Dr. Anderson had before him no counterpart in fact of a foundation on these
lines. Viewed thus, it cannot be denied that in some respects at least it
was in advance of anything then founded, and that it anticipated by several
years the foundation of chairs on certain special subjects, the scientific teach-
ing of women, and the popularization of science by lectures. The grouping
of the subjects betokens a kind of fantastic desire for symmetry, which also
oddly peeps out in his fixing his quarterly meetings on astronomical dates,
the summer and the winter solstice, and the vernal and the autumn equinox.
It would appear as if, having fixed the number of subjects in the Faculty
of Arts, the subjects of the other colleges were made to correspond by numerical
equipoise, though in some cases their connection with the department in
which they are placed is somewhat far-fetched. Some of the disciplinary
provisions of the will were so expressed as to serve the double purpose
of regulating his institution, and administering a kick to his old University
colleagues. Dr. Anderson was a good hater, and did not conceal his feelings.
Before the date of the will he had been greatly exasperated at the loss of a
lawsuit against the University concerning money matters. " The professors
of this University," so ran the will, " shall not be permitted, as in some other
colleges, to be drones or triflers, drunkards, or negligent of their duty in any
manner of way." The most minute provisions are made that no person
connected with the University of Glasgow, even in the position of a servant,
or an instrument-maker, was to be connected in any way with the new
institution. By this means he hoped that " the almost constant intrigues
which prevail in the Faculty of Glasgow College, about their revenue, and
the nomination of professors, and their acts of vanity or power, influenced
by a collegiate life, will be kept out of Anderson's University, and the
irregularities and neglect of duty in the professors of Glasgow College will
be corrected by a rival school of education."

Such were some of the leading provisions of the will of Dr. John
Anderson, which was not published in full for many years after his death,
the Managers, it was averred, acting in this way under legal advice, in case
an action at law might lie against them for the publication of some of its
pithy passages.

The only provision of this magnificent scheme, which the funds
available — about ;!^iooo — allowed the Trustees to inaugurate forthwith,
was that having reference to the " Physical Lectures." The first lecturer
was Dr. Thomas Garnett, appointed in 1796. He was succeeded by Dr. G.
Birkbeck in 1799, who, in his turn, had as successor, in 1804, Dr. Andrew
Ure. Neither of the two first lecturers formed any part of the College
of Medicine contemplated in the will ; they were expounders of science
to popular audiences. Dr. Ure was in the same position during the first
years of his appointment, and even possibly throughout his tenure of

THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL l8i

office. There is evidence to show that he lectured to medical students
both in chemistry and materia medica ; but whether in connection with
Anderson's institution has not been ascertained. In reference to Dr.
Anderson's will, Dr. John Burns occupied the singular position of being
the only professor, out of thirty-six in posse nominated by the testator,
who became a professor in esse of the institution. His connection with
the Andersonian College of Medicine was, however, little more than titular.
He occupied his own rooms, which were changed from Virginia Street to
a tenement on the north side of College Street, and later to rooms on the
west side of John Street. Unfortunately he compromised himself by some
alleged connection with a case of illegal exhumation, and a prosecution
commenced was averted by his undertaking to discontinue the teaching
of anatomy, limiting his courses to surgery and midwifery. But, in 1 806,
the anatomy demonstrations were resumed by his brother Allan, who had
returned from Russia, where he had filled a post offered to him by the
Empress Catherine. Unlike his brother, Allan did not excel as a lecturer,
but as a demonstrator and dissector he was facile pvinceps ; and there
gathered around him a little knot of young men whom he infected with
his own enthusiasm, and who assisted him in his work. His brief but
brilliant career was terminated by death in 181 3 — a severe blow to the
Glasgow Medical School, on which he had already shed lustre. His
work on the Anatomy of the Head a7td Neck is one of the most note-
worthy contributions to anatomy which the Glasgow School has yet made,
and his Observations on Diseases of the Heart was long a classic on the
subject. In the year 181 i the ranks of the extramural teachers were
reinforced by a lecturer on medicine. This was Dr. Robert Watt, after-
wards so celebrated in the field of bibliography. He continued to teach
the subject for several years, till his absorption in the compilation of his
Bibliotheca Britannica, and his uncertain health, compelled him to contract
his labours. Of the little coterie whom Allan Burns had gathered around
him, the teacher who took his place was Granville Sharp Pattison, who
afterwards became his biographer. In 18 18 Mr. Pattison was appointed
Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in Anderson's University, still
occupying the premises in John Street. A man of brilliant abilities as
an expounder of anatomy, his life throughout was greatly marred by his
rare genius for getting himself into trouble. Even during his brief career
in Glasgow he showed a taste of his quality in this respect,^ and his departure
from the City, which was made under a cloud, was perhaps on that account
the less to be regretted, though it was a distinct loss to the Glasgow Medical
School.

Of the group of teachers known as the College Street School, little
further requires to be added. Besides John and Allan Burns, there

^See Chap. xvi. 148.

l82 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

lectured in it at various times, on anatomy, Mr. Andrew Russell, who
had been tried and acquitted in connection with a " resurrectionist " charge
in 1 8 14; Dr. George C. Monteath, who eventually devoted himself to
ophthalmology, and whose place of teaching and dissecting room was latterly
in Gallowgate ; Dr. John Robertson, and, latterly, Mr. James Douglas, for a
short time, about 1835. Dr. Scouler lectured on botany in 1832; Dr.
William Thomson on anatomy, surgery, and pathology, 1828-32; Dr. John
Nimmo on medicine in 1835 ; and there were probably others. The exact
date at which the premises in College Street were closed as a medical school
has not been ascertained.

The medical school of Anderson's institution differed from the group of
teachers last-mentioned, and also from the Portland Street School, about to
be noticed, in so far that it was not a voluntary association of teachers, but
organized under a directorate, who appointed the teachers. The names of
the successive teachers up to the middle of the century, beyond which our
survey does not extend, will be found in the table at the end of this
chapter ; and although it is true that some of them had only a local reputa-
tion, others — such as Burns, Pattison, Mackenzie, Ure, Graham, and Penny —
attained to celebrity. In the domain of chemistry, as the last three of
these names will suggest, Anderson's College was exceptionally fortunate,
and the remark would be equally justified were the list of incumbents of
the Chair further down the century added to those of its early part.

One general remark in reference to the " Andersonian," as it is still
familiarly called, seems to be fully justified by the facts. It is this, that
the success and reputation early achieved by the Medical College of the
institution was in no sense owing to the fostering care of its governing
body. Of no school would it be less true to affirm that it was rocked
and dandled into prosperity. On the contrary, though conspicuously the
most successful of all the departments of John Anderson's ideal institution,
to the realization of which any attempt was made, yet it received the
least help of them all from the management. The teachers owed nothing
to the direction but a title and the tenancy of the rooms, for which latterly
they paid an adequate rent. Yet, in spite of the stepmotherly treatment, in
spite also of its being cold-shouldered by the University, the old Ander-
sonian Medical School grew and flourished, attracting students from far
and near, of whom a fair proportion gained good positions in various
departments of practice, and some attained to eminence. The following
table shows the numbers in the anatomy classes for twenty years.

THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL

183

The Andersonian Students of Anatomy.^

Year.

Number of
Students

Anatomy.

Year.

Number of
Students

Anatomy.

Year.

Number of
Students

of
Anatomy.

Year.

Number of
Students

of
Anatomy.

1841

120

1846

121

1851

115

1856

144

1842

116

1847

126

1852

1857

165

1843

108

1848

122

1853

I 10

1858

176

1844

120

1849

145

1854

125

1859

161

1845

140

1850

153

1855

136

i860

160

The curious in such matters may compare these figures with the corre-
sponding statistics for the anatomy classes of the University of Glasgow during
the same period.

The precise date of the opening of the Portland Street School we
have been unable to ascertain, but it was before 1827.^ Dr. A. Hannay
taught medicine there, and Dr. James Armour midwifery and medical juris-
prudence, before their translation to Anderson's College. It is stated that
Thomas Graham lectured there on chemistry in 1828, but who his colleagues
(if any) were does not appear. In 1830 it developed into a fairly-equipped
medical school, with Dr. William Weir as secretary. The list of teachers
from this date up to 1844, when the school may be said to have closed
(though one, and possibly two teachers continued to occupy the place till
about 1850), will be found in the table subjoined. Two of the lecturers,
in addition to the two just named, Dr. Moses S. Buchanan and Mr. Thomas
Graham, were transferred to Anderson's College, and one, Dr. John M.
Pagan, to the University ; and it will be noted that a considerable number
of the Andersonian professors were also translated to the University School.
Having given some statistics of the other medical schools, those of the
Portland Street School, as far as they have been ascertained, are here
tabulated :

^ Extracted from the Anatomy Class Roll-book, lent for the purpose by Ur. George
Buchanan.

-Lancet^ xn. 343, 796.

1 84

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Portland Street School.

Year.

Total
Attendance.

Anatomy

ONLY.

Year.

Total

Attendance.

Anatomy

ONLY.

1830
1831
1832
1836

143

178

108
166

5°

77
61

1837
1838

1839
1840

183
188
186
109

80
90
72

These figures are taken from the School Roll-book, now in the Faculty Library.

We have been unable to ascertain any special causes operating to
weaken the school after 1840; but it appears to have gradually gone
down in a few years, one teacher dropping off after another, and no
lecturers being found sufficiently venturesome to step in and supply the
vacancy. The school thus died of inanition. In the session 1843-44 the
only teachers announced were those of anatomy, surgery, and practical
chemistry. Of the next, and presumably the last, session of the school,
as such, no announcement has been found ; but it appears that courses of
anatomy, physiology, and surgery were started, and probably also
chemistry, which was continued a few years longer. In the anatomy
room that session there coruscated for something less than a month the
brilliant, but somewhat erratic genius of the unfortunate Dr. Robert
Knox. For the exile from Edinburgh the Portland Street class-room
was only a forlorn hope. But, in spite of his misfortunes, he seems to
have lost nothing of his old clearness of exposition, and facility and
aptness of illustration. The late Dr. William Weir, himself umquhill
teacher of medicine in the school, went to listen, and was fascinated
by the lecturer. But his class was small, and before the end of
November Knox had returned to the students their fees and taken his
departure.^

^ Sketch of the Life and Writings of Robert Knox, the Anatomist, by Henry Lonsdale, M.D.,
Lond., 1870.

THE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL

185

Table showinof the Teachers in the Medical Schools of Glasorow to
the passing of the Medical Act, 1858, and the subjects they
respectively taught.

CTTn T TT* /""T"

UNIVERSITY.

ANDERSONIAN.

PORTLAND ST. SCHOOL.

SUBJECT.

Year.

1637-46

1714
1751

Robert Maine.

John Johnstoun.
Wm. Cullen.

...

Medicine, ;

1756

Robert Hamilton.

, . ,

• ••

...

1757

Joseph Black.

>>■

1766

Alex. Stevenson.

• • •

1789

Thos. Chas. Hope.

...

1796

Robert Freer.

1826

Alexander Hannay.

1827

Charles Badhani,

1828

Alexander Hannay.

1830-42

William Weir.

1841-52

Wm. Thomson.

1846-63

Andrew Anderson.

...

1720

Thomas Brisbane.

1742

Robert Hamilton.

...

1756

Joseph Black.

...

1757

Thomas Hamilton.

...

1781

William Hamilton.

Anatomy,

1790

James Jeffray.

1799

John Burns.

1848-77

Allen Thomson.

1818

Granville S. Pattison.

1819

Wm. MacKenzie.

1826

Robert Hunter.

...

1828

Robert Hunter.

1830
1836

Peter Stirling.
Moses S. Buchanan.

1841-60

Moses S. Buchanan.

1841

James Douglas.

...

1844

Robert Knox.

1799

John Burns.

1826

Robert Hunter.

1815

John Burns.

1818

GranvilleS. Pattison.

1830

Wm. Auchencless.

Surgery,

...

1819
1829

Wm. MacKenzie.
James A. Lawrie

...

1850-59

James A. Lawrie.

1850-60

Robert Hunter.

1840-44

William Lyon.

1815

James Towers.

1820

John Towers.

1826

James Armour.

Midwifery, -

1833

[Robert Lee.]

1828

James Armour.

1830

James Wilson.

1834

Wm. Cummin.

1831

James Brown.

1838

Charles Ritchie.

1840-68

John M. Pagan.

1841-63

James Paterson.

1840

Maxwell Adams.

1747
1756
1766
1769

Lecturers.

William Cullen.
Joseph Black.
John Robison.
William Irvine.

...

Chemistry, }

1787
1791

Thomas C. Hope.
Robert Cleghorn.

Professor.

1828

Thomas Graham.

1818-52

Thomas Thomson.

1830
1837

Thomas Graham.
Wm. Gregory.

1833

James M'Conechy.

1839-70

Frederick Penny.

1836-44

Robert M 'Gregor,

1 86

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

UNIVERSITY.

ANDERSONIAN.

PORTLAND ST. SCHOOL.

SUBJECT.

Year.

Botany,

1818

1821

1841

1845-68

Robert Graham.
Sir Wm. Jos. Hooker
John H. Balfour.
G. A. Walker- Arnott

Lecturers.

1819
1847-63

William Cummin.
Joseph Bell.

1840-42

David Gibson.

Materia 1
Medica, <

1766
1787
1788
1791

Wm. Irvine.
Thomas C Hope.
Richard Cleghorn.
Richard Millar.

Professors.

1828

Andrew Buchanan.

1827
1830

Wm. MacKenzie.
Wm. Davidson.

1831

1834

1855-65

Richard Millar.
John Couper.
John A. Easton.

1838

1840

1855-88

Wm, Hooker.
John A. Easton.
James Morton.

1841-42

J. D. Muter.

Physiology, -,

1839-76

Andrew Buchanan.

1840

1846

1850-76

Andrew Anderson.
Maxwell Adams.
Eben. Watson.

1830

1833

1836

1839-42

William Weir.
William Craig.
William Weir.
Wm. Macdonald.

Medical
Juris- \
prudence, \

1839
1841-72

Robert Cowan.
Harry Rainy.

1 83 1

1842

1856-63

Geo. Watt.
John Crawford.
J. B. Cowan.

1826

1830

1841-42

1842-43

James Armour.
J. M. Pagan.
H. Cleland.
John Jackson.

Natural j
History, 1

1807

1829

1857-66

Lockhart Muirhead.
Wm. Couper.
Henry D, Rogers.

...

CHAPTER XX

GLASGOW MEDICAL SOCIETIES AND CLUBS

As far as we can trace there existed no society in Glasgow for the discussion
of medical topics till the beginning of the present century. The earliest
in point of time seems to have been the Medico-Chirurgical of the University,
a students' society inaugurated in 1802, which still continues in vigorous
health. As regards societies for medical practitioners, the Glasgow Medical
Society usually gets the credit of being the parent association ; but a shade
of doubt is thrown on the point by a passage in its own first Minute book.
This occurs in the Minute of 5th October, 18 19, when a motion was sub-
mitted that the name of the society should be changed, on the ground " that
there exists in Glasgow another and older medical society of the same
name " ; but this motion was subsequently withdrawn. There was probably
no valid ground for the statement in the motion, as it is hardly conceivable
that the title of an elder existing society should have been assumed, or
that when the matter was challenged, the usurpation of title should have
been persisted in. The probability is that the association to which allusion
is made was the Glasgow Medical Club, to be afterwards referred to in
this chapter, and which may occasionally have been known as the Medical
Society.

The Glasgow Medical Society was founded in 181 4, the preparatory
meeting having been held on 27th October of that year. It was attended by
six medical men — Dr. Robert Watt, Dr. Robert Graham, Dr. John Robertson,
Mr. Granville Sharp Pattison, Mr. John Young, and Mr. George Macleod.
Dr. Watt was called to the chair, and a rudimentary constitution was agreed
on, which a committee was appointed to elaborate. At the next meeting
three new recruits were enrolled — Mr. James Alexander, Dr. George Monteath,
and Dr. Robert Perry, though the last-named does not appear to have
been present. These eight having subscribed the " Laws," the society at
once set to its proper work, Dr. Watt being elected as first president.

Of the eight original members or founders of the society, at least half

1 88 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

were well-known medical men in Glasgow, some of them destined to become
better known. Dr. Robert Watt had already repute as a lecturer on
medicine and the author of two works on medical subjects, and he was at
the time at work on his Bibliotheca Britannica, which was to form such a
wonderful monument to his skill and industry as a bibliographer. Dr. Robert
Graham had made his mark as a physician, and was an enthusiastic botanist,
destined to fill the Chairs of Botany successively in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Dr. John Robertson was a lecturer on anatomy, and subsequently became a
physician at Bath. Mr. Granville Sharp Pattison was an accomplished teacher
of anatomy in the school founded by John and Allan Burns. Mr. George
Monteath had only lately established himself as a surgeon and lecturer, and
afterwards was an oculist in the city. Of the others, with the exception
of Dr. Robert Perry, to be mentioned presently, less is known. Mr. George
Macleod was a Highlander whose lofty appreciation of the character of the
Celtic race was somewhat oddly displayed in a paper he read on the case
of a " fasting woman." In discussing the bona fides of the patient, who,
he admits, was not properly watched so as to place the element of deception
beyond doubt, though somewhat guarded in his judgment, he still inclined
to the opinion that the abstinence from food was real ; and in favour of
this view he naively urges : " She was a very religious woman, to which may
be added the circumstance of her being a Highland woman, for I believe that
those of Celtic extraction are less apt to impose on the public than others."
There was some little difficulty in christening the infant society. The
name first adopted was " The Glasgow Medical and Chirurgical Society,"
but at the second meeting it was agreed, on the motion of Drs. Graham
and Monteath, " that as the name, Glasgow Medical and Surgical Society,
was objectionable to some of the members, the resolution imposing that
appellation be further considered." Accordingly, at next meeting the name
was changed to " The Glasgow Medical Society." The conjecture is perhaps
not very far-fetched, that the objection taken to the double-barrelled name
had some reference to the legal point raised at that time in the case of the
University graduates against the Faculty, whether surgery was technically
included in medicine ; whether, in fact, a doctor of medicine was entitled as
such to practise surgery. The Faculty granted the new society accommoda-
tion in their premises in St. Enoch's Square. The constitution provided for
the compulsory reading of papers by members in rotation ; periodical dis-
cussions on prevalent diseases ; fines, not only for default in the matter of
providing and giving adequate notice of papers, but also for complete and
partial absence from meetings. Probably in a small society it was necessary
to make the contribution of papers obligatory ; it evidently proved an irksome
provision for a number of the members, and could not but react on the
quality of the contributions. This rule was not abolished till 1844. The
provision for fining absentees appears also to have produced some friction ;

GLASGOW MEDICAL SOCIETIES AND CLUBS 1 89

there were constant applications for leave of absence, especially in the case
of those lecturers whose courses were delivered in the evening ; and the
frequent resignations were no doubt directly attributable to the same cause.
One member, whose frequent absence, from illness, had to be now and again
condoned, was the first president — Dr. Watt — who, besides suffering" from a
delicate constitution, and giving some premonitions of the illness which cut him
off untimely in 18 19, was immersed in his bibliographical researches.

It does not lie within our plan to follow the fortunes of any of the
associations whose rise and origin are here briefly chronicled. The rules
of this society provided for the preservation in manuscript of the whole of
the papers read, and this plan was rigidly adhered to down to 1845,
when its continuance was thought unnecessary, now that the providing of
pabulum for each meeting was no longer a matter of individual obligation.
Thirty-one volumes of the " Essays " are on the shelves of the Faculty
library, and the contents of each volume have been inserted in the catalogue
of the library. Many of the subjects discussed are of perennial interest
to the medical profession, but in most instances the particular side or phase
of them presented in these " Essays " has ceased to be of interest to the
present generation. One mode of treatment for many diseases, phlebotomy,
is constantly cropping up, especially in the earlier papers. " Phlebotomy
in Intractable Cases of Syphilis " is a title which at once suggests how
great is the gulf that separates the therapeutics of the beginning and the end
of the century. Mr. James M'Conechy, subsequently a well-known Glasgow
journalist, gives a learned historical dissertation on the practice of blood-
letting in general, tracing this depleting treatment back to the land of
the Pharaohs, and following it through Greek and Roman civilization
down through the Middle Ages to modern times. A paper by Dr. Thomas
Brown of Lanfine, entitled " Cases of Sore Throat ending in Croup," was
published, with a prefatory note by Dr. James Finlayson, in 1881, as
being in some respects a contribution to the history of diphtheria in
Scotland. Papers on medical ethics and etiquette occur now and again,
and occasionally impromptu discussions on points connected with the one
or the other are raised. Embedded in a paper by Dr. James Wilson,
written in 1840, on "Certain Medical Habits and Professional Points of
Etiquette," one comes on this passage, which will suggest to the younger
generation of medical men in Glasgow how modern an institution that of the
class of " consultants " in Glasgow really is :

"Many attempts," he says, "have been made by practitioners to establish
themselves in this place in consulting practice, but they have almost in
every instance failed. The fully engaged general practitioner could not
embark in it without the risk of great pecuniary sacrifices ; while the
stranger, or the practitioner to whom it might be an object, would neither
have the confidence of the public nor the profession."

190 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

The consultant in Glasgow, as distinguished from the medical practi-
tioner called upon more or less frequently in consultation, really dates from
little more than a generation back. The physician of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries was essentially a family practitioner who limited himself
to the practice of medicine.

The subjects of Medical Reform and Medical Education crop up now
and again for discussion ; but these gropings towards improvements in
professional organization would not interest the present generation. A
paper by Mr, James Brown, on "Medical Education in 1824," was a smart
critique on the Faculty curriculum, which the writer found to be inade-
quate. It consisted then of two courses of anatomy and surgery, and one
course of chemistry, practice of medicine, midwifery, and materia medica
and botany. Mr. Brown strongly advocated a return to the discarded
apprenticeship system, the five years thus spent to be supplemented, should
the candidate see fit, by an entirely optional course of college study. There
is not a word in the paper on the utilization of the resources of the hospital
for practical instruction, an idea which developed later.

The occasional unauthorized publication of their discussions more than
once roused the ire of the society, for what reason does not appear from
the Minutes. Nothing, indeed, could be balder and generally more
meagre than the statement of matters of fact in the Minutes ; and it was not
till 1 846, on the appointment of Dr. James Adams as secretary, that the
bare skeleton of fact of the earlier Minutes gives place to the clothed form
of the record of full discussion.

The subject of fever in one form or other was never long absent from
the agenda of the society, as the thing itself was always with them, and
the severity of the various great epidemics, notably those of 18 18, 1843,
and 1847, can be gauged from the notices in these transactions. In
these days of the infancy of epidemiology the term typhus connoted two
fevers now long recognized as specifically distinct — typhus, and enteric or
typhoid, then known as " dothienenteritis." We gather from the Minute
of the Society, of May 19th, 1835, that Dr. Robert Perry, physician to
the Fever Hospital, had for some time been recognized as holding notions
at variance with those commonly adopted. " Dr. Perry having on various
occasions stated to the Medical Society a number of propositions on typhus
fever in the Fever Hospital of Glasgow, which were not considered to be
in accordance with the experience of the generality of the members of the
society, and at the same [time] their great importance if made out, being
fully admitted, on the motion of Mr. Watt, seconded by Dr. Macfarlane,
it was agreed that five members of the society should be appointed as
a commission to visit the wards of the Fever Hospital, along with Dr.
Perry, who readily undertook to point out the facts upon which his opinions
had been formed. The following gentlemen were appointed : Dr. Wm.

GLASGOW MEDICAL SOCIETIES AND CLUBS

igi

Weir, Dr. Young, Dr. John Pagan, Dr. John Macfarlane, and Mr. George
Watt." An ad interim report was read in the May of next year, which
was signed by the convener, Mr. Watt ; but, as each of the other members
had specific objections to certain points, it was agreed that it should be
given in as the convener's report, the assent of the other members being only
general and with reservations. The commission was renewed, with new
members added ; but no final report appears to have been made. Dr.
Perry submitted his views to the commission in the form of sixteen
formidable propositions ; and the convener's report, though guarded and
critical, was favourable to the most of Dr. Perry's theses, which covered
a large part of the ground of the natural history of typhus and dothien-
enteritis. That Dr. Perry, in some of these propositions, does state the
opinion that the two are specifically separate, cannot be gainsaid ; and
one or two of his old students have put on record their ineffaceable
impression that he taught them that they were etiologically as well as
pathologically distinct. But the clear statement of his convictions in one
proposition becomes a little clouded by limiting statements in others ; and
on one or two points his pathology was probably faulty. But for this
one flaw Dr. Perry would have stood forth, without challenge, as the man
who first clearly established the differentiation of typhus from enteric fever.
As it is, the credit due to him has only to be slightly qualified, that,
while he placed the diagnosis of the two fevers on a stable foundation,
he somewhat obscured the issue by one or two statements which the progress
of pathology has proved to be unsound.^

While we are on the subject of typhus fever, we may advert to a
discussion in the Medical Society which took place in 1847, in which
Dr. Perry took part. One of the points at issue had reference to the
contagiousness of typhus, when that gentleman informed the meeting of
an experiment he had made, which appeared to settle the question. His
statement was that " he had succeeded, about six years ago, in inoculating
typhus, and had since repeated the experiment with success. He had
rubbed cotton upon the skin of a typhus patient at the time desquam-
ation was going on, and then introducing the cotton into the nostrils of
another person." One breathes more freely when he adds, " The experi-
ment was quite safe when tried on children." It must be remembered that
the inoculation of small-pox had, in view of the safer practice of vaccination,
been declared illegal by Act of Parliament ; and though it might be justifi-
able to try to modify typhus by inducing an attack in youth, the experiment
is one which perhaps few would care to repeat in our own day.

The various advances in the healing art and its armamentarium are
faithfully mirrored in the society's Minutes as the century grew older.
Ether-inhalation was discussed in 1847, and in the early part of 1848

^ Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ.., XL. 64 ; Dub. Jonrn. Med. Sci., x. 381 ; Med. Times and
Gaz., 1857, II. 537.

192

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

chloroform comes on the boards. In both cases opinions varied, and as
regards chloroform anaesthesia, some appeared to think that the risks and
unpleasant effects outweighed its advantages. On the whole, the outcome
of the discussion emphasized the necessity for watchful caution. There
was a full dress debate on homoeopathy in 1 8 5 i initiated by the secretary,
Dr. Adams. We gather from the debate, which was all on one side, that
the occasion of the introduction of this discussion was the resignation of
Dr. James Wilson and Dr. Thomas Watson as medical referees of the
Caledonian Insurance Co., in consequence of a homoeopathic practitioner
having been associated with them as medical referees of the company.
The upshot of the matter was that the homoeopathic practitioner was
called upon to resign, and the two former referees reinstated in office.
The society had also on this occasion a fling at the members of another
profession. " Animadversions were made . . . upon the gullibility and
the officious meddling of clergymen, and the annoyance, of which they were
frequently the agents, between medical men and their patients."

We have not space to follow further the fortunes of the Glasgow Medical
Society, which in 1866^ amalgamated with its more vigorous rival, the Medico-
Chirurgical Society, to the history of which we have now briefly to advert.

The Medico-Chirurgical Society of Glasgow dates from 1844. It was
constituted at a meeting held in the house of Dr. Jas. Lawrie, 1 5 Moore
Place, on the 27th of June of that year.^ Dr. Thomas Thomson, Professor
of Chemistry in the University, was called to the chair, and was elected
first president. From the first the members kept themselves free from the
trammels of compulsory papers and attendance with which the older society
had bound itself The members of the latter were invited to enter, and
the members of the Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Society were to be
privileged visitors — a compliment which was at once reciprocated by the
eastern sister. In another respect the members resolved to place themselves
abreast of other associations. They agreed, " in conformity with the practice
followed by the various literary and scientific institutions of London and
Edinburgh," to have coffee served to them at the termination, and eventually
at the beginning, of the meeting. The older society, through their secretary,
wrote to say that they would " always rejoice in any good the newly-formed
association may be able to accomplish, either in the improvement of its own
members or the advancement of the Healing Art in its scientific or practical
departments." The fact that the new society was needed was abundantly
shown by large accessions to the roll. One of the earliest papers was one
by Dr. Adam Warden, F.R.C.S.Ed., " On the Employment of the totally
reflecting prism for illuminating the Open Cavities of the body with a view

1 The last Minute is dated March of that year.

2 Of twenty-six medical men present, the only survivor at the time of writing is Dr.
James Adams.

GLASGOW MEDICAL SOCIETIES AND CLUBS

193

to facilitate the Examination of Disease." A paper which attracted much
attention was read in 1851 by Dr. Andrew Buchanan on " Darlingism,
misnamed Electro-Biology." The whole phenomena exhibited by peripatetic
expounders of what is now known as hypnotism he set down as originating
in an excited imagination, a love of notoriety, or a positive desire to deceive
on the part of the subjects, or a combination in varied proportions of the
several causes. A lively discussion followed, but the opinions of Dr. Buchanan
were generally endorsed, and a resolution was adopted " that the society
deem it their duty to put down a system founded on delusion, and fraught
with immorality," and they further resolved, with a view to this end, to
publish the address. The paper, notwithstanding the cordiality of its reception,
can scarcely be said to be an important contribution to the subject, as it
virtually relegates the whole phenomena of what is now known as hypnotism
and hypnotic suggestion to the domain of fraud and delusion — an explanation
which doubtless applies to a good deal of what is exhibited to popular
audiences, but falls far short of the now admitted facts. In 1852 the
society appears to have been a good deal exercised about a case of alleged
plagiarism from Claude Bernard, by one of the members in a paper on " The
Origin of Sugar in the Animal Economy." After some discussion a motion by
Dr. Andrew Buchanan and Mr. John Reid was adopted, that it was no part
of the function of the society to exercise moral censorship over its members,
and they therefore resolved that it was inexpedient to proceed further in
the matter. Another paper of Dr. Andrew Buchanan's, bearing the title of
one which was read years before in the Medical Society, was also followed
by a practical resolution. This was " On the Stable Nuisance in Glasgow,"
and the society agreed to make a strong representation to the Police
Committee of the Town Council on the practice of having permanent
repositories of filth, as disgusting and injurious to health, and that the
accumulations should be removed with greater frequency. In 1858 the two
societies held a joint meeting to examine the case of M, Groux, of Hamburg,
the then well-known subject of congenital deficiency of the sternum, which
enabled observations to be made on the sounds and motions of the heart.
Dr. Allen Thomson seems to have acted as demonstrator on the occasion,
and his remarks were subsequently published. The same year the society
warmly interested themselves in a case of wrong suffered by Mr. James
Henderson, parochial medical officer of the parish of Fordoun, in the
county of Kincardine. This gentleman had been summarily dismissed from
his office by the Parochial Board for making a post-mortem examination
to ascertain the cause of the sudden death of a poorhouse patient. An
additional offence was that he had declined to accept the testimony of
third parties as sufficient ground for signing a lunacy certificate in the case
of a person of whose insanity repeated examinations had wholly failed to
convince him. Mr. Henderson was eventually reinstated in his office, and

194 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

it is to be hoped that the strong representation of the society contributed
to the result. In 1859 the society guaranteed £2^ to Brown-Sequard in
respect of his giving a course of lectures in Glasgow on the anatomy,
physiology, and pathology of the cerebro-spinal axis. The course was duly
delivered, and was so successful that no call on the funds of the society
was necessary. Dr. Brown-Sequard was made an honorary member of the
society, and shortly afterwards the honorary fellowship of the Faculty was
conferred on him. In i860 the society contributed ten guineas to the John
Hunter statue in London, and voted also £2^ to assist the movement which
had been started for the amendment of the Death Registration Act. The
gravamen of the objection made to the Act was that it made the medical
man penally liable for the signing of the death certificate, and denied him
any fee for this professional act. The agitation continued for some time,
but was not successful.

Though it goes beyond the limit in time which we had fixed for this
sketch of the medical societies, viz., the middle of the century, we can hardly
omit reference to the great meeting of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, held
in the Faculty Hall on 17th April, 1868, when Professor (now Sir) Joseph
Lister " gave a lengthened exposition of the atmospheric germ theory of
putrefaction, and illustrated it by the exhibition of M. Pasteur's experiments
with flasks containing urine." The lecture — though no paper was read —
occupied nearly two hours, thus excluding the possibility of discussion ; but
next month Dr. Eben. Watson read " On the theory of Suppuration, and
the use of Carbolic Acid Dressings," in which he threw doubt on the germ
theory of putrefaction, and Lister's rationale of carbolic acid dressings, and
attributed the undoubted good effects of the acid in surgical dressings to
its effects in coagulating albumen, and rendering the surface firmer and
more impervious to air, and keeping in the fluid discharges.

The jubilee year (1894) of the society found it in a condition more
flourishing than at any former period of the society's existence, and with a
large membership roll. Under its new constitution, recast some years ago,
under which it meets in four groups — a medical, a surgical, a pathological,
and an obstetrical and gynaecological section, each with its own head and
executive — it has tried to adapt itself to the wants of the time.

Another medical association which took origin in the same year as the
Medico-Chirurgical Society is the Glasgow Southern Medical Society, which
is fortunate in possessing as its historiographer. Dr. John Dougall.^ To that
gentleman's sketch we are indebted for all that we know of this association.
He mentions — quoting the Minutes — that the first formal meeting was held
in the " Secretary's Chambers, Mrs. Thomson's Lodgings, 1 5 Oxford Street,
1 6th August (Friday), 1844, in full conclave." If the meeting was formal,
certainly the official record of it is not characterized by formality, and the

^Historical Sketch of the Glasgow Southern Medical Society. Glasgow, 1888.

GLASGOW MEDICAL SOCIETIES AND CLUBS 195

same remark applies to most of the Minutes made by the first Secretary.
The original list of members were " James Stewart, Esq., President ; John
Goudie, Esq., Treasurer ; John Leech, Esq., Secretary ; David Campbell, Esq.,
simple member." Dr. Leech, the Secretary, was something of a character, and
his eccentricities come out markedly in his Minutes, which are generally
written in a vein of pleasantry and banter occasionally running almost into
riotous fun. The quotations given by Dr. Dougall from these early Minutes
form racy reading, and to his pages the reader, who does not think the
record beneath the dignity of the historic muse, is referred for entertainment,
and information in regard to the progress of the society. One new feature
was the institution of a " Black Book," in which was kept a record of non-
paying patients ; but this does not appear to have been a success. The society
has, in addition to the usual office-bearers, a " Court Medical " for investigating
and giving judgment in cases of medical ethics and etiquette occurring amongst
the members. It has published a Code of Ethics, and a Tariff of Medical
Fees. The enormous expansion of Southern Glasgow within recent years has
opened up a wide field of usefulness for this society.

Originating earlier in point of time than the two last named societies,
the Glasgow Faculty of Medicine differs from all the associations of medical
men in Glasgow as regards originating motive, constitution and objects. It
started at a period when the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons was a body
far from popular amongst the rank and file of the general profession in
Glasgow. The territorial jurisdiction conferred by the charter was enforced
with as much rigour as the circumstances would allow. A town licentiate's
fee was high and that of a member much higher, while the former obtained
no privilege in return for the payment, except that of being allowed to
practice within the bounds. The fact that every member was obliged to
join the Widows' Fund, an expensive scheme, virtually excluded from the
corporation all but the well-to-do of the profession in Glasgow. In addition
to all this the position of University graduates, who had qualified at a
moderate cost, was doubtful in regard to their right to the practice of
surgery, or virtually to general practice. There is little wonder, there-
fore, that there was much irritation felt amongst a section of practitioners
at the domination of this exclusive corporation, and the Faculty of Medicine
was the earliest concrete expression of this feeling. This society, therefore,
to a large extent, originated in political antipathy to the chartered body in
St. Enoch Square ; and one odd expression of this feeling on the part of
the new society was the assumption of a name so nearly alike that of the
Faculty as to be certain in course of time to mislead and create confusion,
should the new venture succeed. The proem to the first published constitution
bears that, " A number of medical practitioners in Glasgow and the neigh-
bourhood convened within the Cowpock Institution Hall, 1st October, 1825.
After mature deliberation they unanimously agreed to form themselves into

196 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

an association under the designation of the Glasgow Faculty of Medicine." ^
The meetings were to be held on the first Friday of every month. The
executive was to consist of a president, vice-president, treasurer, court of
eight directors, librarian, secretary, paid clerk, and box-masters.^ The
annual payment by members was fixed at £2 12s., one pound of which was
to be devoted to purchasing books, one pound to a benevolent fund to assist
in forming an annuity for widows, and the balance of twelve shillings to
form an ordinary fund for granting occasional aid to decayed members and
defraying the expenses of management. It will thus be seen that the new
association was formed on different lines from those of an ordinary scientific
society of medical men. The idea of the founders was essentially that of a
medical library in association with a widows' fund. The monthly meeting
appears to have been intended for business purposes, no provision being
apparently made at first for the reading of papers on professional topics.
The entire constitution, however, it was expressly provided, might be changed,
with two reservations. One was that the body could not dissolve if two
members objected, and the other was that the name, " The Glasgow Faculty
of Medicine," was to remain " unchangeable and inviolate." This latter
stipulation seems to be based on an anticipation that the successors of the
founders might be visited with conscientious qualms as to the assumption of
a title fitted to confuse and annoy. The " wee faculty," as it came to be
popularly known, failed to realize the ambitious aims of its projectors. The
widows' fund scheme, for the working of which an elaborate set of tables
is appended to the original rules, never properly got under weigh at all. In
a few years it would appear that the members had somewhat assimilated
the functions of the body to those of an ordinary medical society. In the
Glasgow Medical Examiner of 1831-32 we find their discussions on papers
and medical topics reported : they started a vaccination dispensary in 1828,
which was carried on for a great many years. As their aims became less
ambitious, their members appear to have increased, till it fairly fulfilled the
function of a medical society for the central and eastern parts of the city.
As other societies came into existence, it began to decline, and the Faculty
of Medicine eventually fell back on the useful function of a small reading
club. It is presently housed in the Eye Infirmary, Charlotte Street.

The Glasgow Pathological Society commenced in 185 i, and met for several
years. It was intended to be associated, as its name implied, with specially
pathological work. Its meeting-place was therefore fittingly in the Royal
Infirmary, and it was inaugurated by a paper by Dr. Robert Perry entitled,

^The official notice in the Medical Directory gives the date as 1824.

*The first office-bearers were Robert Hosie, president ; David Steel, R.N., vice-president ;
John Campbell, R.N., treasurer; George Ferguson, librarian; Archibald Ferguson, R.N.,
secretary ; John Buchanan, sealkeeper, and eight directors. Five were ex-surgeons of the
Royal Navy, and one had been an Army surgeon.

GLASGOW MEDICAL SOCIETIES AND CLUBS

197

" Remarks on the post-mortem appearances in the bladder and ureters in
Typhus cases," in which he drew attention to some appearances which
had not been previously observed, or at least recorded, and gave details of
twenty-six cases, showing specimens. The late Sir William Aitken, and
a few other enthusiasts in the field of pathology, threw themselves with energy
into the work of this society. The distance of the Infirmary from what may
be called the centre of medical activity of the City was probably the chief
reason of the comparatively short life of this society.

The Medical Societies of Glasgow of more recent origin : the Glasgow
Pathological and Clinical Society, founded in 1873, which has published
several volumes of transactions ; the Glasgow and West of Scotland Branch
of the British Medical Association, founded in 1875 ; the Obstetrical and
Gynaecological Society which originated in 1885, and the Eastern Medical
Society, in 1893, do not come within our purview, and we now pass on
merely to glance at two associations, with an aim and object purely social
and recreative.

The precise date of the establishment of the " Medical Club " has not
been ascertained, but it was before 1800, and probably about 1798. Its
Minute book, if any such book was kept, does not appear to have been pre-
served ; and nearly all that has come down to us in reference to it is
given in the very discursive sketch in Strang's Glasgow and its Clubs}
Probably Strang's information about the club which, when precipitated from
the combination of personal anecdote, descriptive sketching, and digressive
sallies, does not amount to much, was obtained from some of the members.
Membership of the Faculty was a necessary qualification, but it was not easy
to obtain the entree to this extremely select fraternity. The club met
monthly, at first in a well-known tavern in Princes Street, kept by Mrs. Pollok,
and afterwards in the " Prince of Wales " in Brunswick Street. It must be
remembered that these were still the days when it was the almost universal
practice for persons of the well-to-do classes, after the labours of the day were
over, to meet regularly in inns or taverns for the purposes of social relaxa-
tion. Many a jovial hour was thus spent by the members of the various
clubs of the city, some of which met every evening, and others weekly or
oftener. The Medical Club assembled every month at the hour of four
o'clock. If the members were not all clubbable jovial souls, it was not the
fault of the rules, under which a single black ball excluded. The story told
by Strang is said to be authentic, of an able but troublesome member of the
Faculty being proposed in a speech by a reluctant friend, and at the ballot all
the balls being found to be black ; and whether true or not, it shows that
it was well understood that only good fellows could run the gauntlet of the
brotherhood. One of the leading members was Dr. Freer, Professor of
Medicine in the University ; and the extreme contrast between the natural

^ See second edition 1857, p. 241, et seq.

198 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

reserve and grave formality of his academic and professional every-day life and
mien, and his complete abandon in the presence of his ^sculapian fraternity
only added to the enjoyment. Other members named were Dr. James Jeffray,
Professor of Anatomy, the learned Dr. Richard Miller, Charles Wilsone,
William Dunlop, James Towers, John Macarthur, James Monteath, William
Couper, Robert Cowan, William Nimmo, etc. The club flourished till about
the year 18 14, when it came to a somewhat sudden termination.

A period of over thirty years elapsed before the inauguration of another
similar association for the promotion of social intercourse amongst the
members of the profession. The Western Medical Club took its origin at
a dinner held, by previous arrangement, at Bell's Inn, Bowling Bay, on
25th July, 1845, attended by the following members of the profession all
resident in Glasgow : Dr. A. D. Anderson, Dr. William Weir, Dr. John
Macfarlane, Dr. Robert Perry, Mr. George Watson, Dr. David Gibson, Dr.
J. G. Fleming, Dr. Alexander Maclaverty, Dr. A. M. Adams, and Dr. Andrew
Anderson.^ Dr. A. D. Anderson was appointed chairman, and Dr. Robert Perry,
vice-chairman. In the course of the evening, which, as the secretary, Dr. J. G.
Fleming, states, " was spent with great hilarity," " it was agreed to institute
a club with the object of providing friendly and social intercourse among
the members of the medical profession in Glasgow and the West of Scotland."
A committee was appointed to draw up a constitution and regulations.
These provided for a definitely limited number of town and country members,
a dinner in Glasgow in winter and in the country in summer. In 1849
the dinner which should have been held in Glasgow was intermitted, " in
consequence of the great prevalence of epidemic cholera in Glasgow and
the West of Scotland." In 1864-66 the meetings appear to have been
again intermitted, owing to the secretary (Dr. James Fraser) having left
town. With these exceptions, the social gatherings have been continuous
for half-a-century, the club celebrating its jubilee at Tarbet in June, 1895.

The •' Town and Country Club," with objects similar to the last named,
founded in 1893, is too recent in its origin to come within our survey.
The exclusiveness of the older club is probably the raison d'etre of this
vigorous rival.

'The only survivor of the gathering (1896) is Dr. Maclaverty.

CHAPTER XXI

EARLY GLASGOW MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY AND JOURNALISM

On a hasty glance it might appear that a chapter on the early medical
bibliography of Glasgow need not greatly exceed in length the famous one
on snakes in Ireland. The theme is certainly not a large one. The town
being one of so great size and importance at the end of the nineteenth
century, it is apt to be forgotten that it was only at the beginning of it
that it entered on that career of rapid development which has raised it to
the rank of Second City of the Empire. The art of printing was not intro-
duced into Glasgow till 1638, the year in which the General Assembly of
the Kirk, which figures so prominently in Scottish history, sat in Glasgow.
George Anderson, our first printer, came from Edinburgh, and remained in
Glasgow till his death about 1648. He appears to have printed no medical
books. His son, Andrew Anderson, began business in the burgh in 1658,
having previously pursued his craft for a year or two in Edinburgh. Among
the first, if not indeed the earliest book he printed, was one written in
Latin by Dr. Sylvester Rattray, a physician who had settled in Glasgow
a year or two previously, concerning whom personally not much has been
ascertained. The following is the title of the book, which is in duodecimo :

There is a dedication, " lOANNl ScOTO, SCOTOTARVATIO, Nobili Musarum
Maecenati," ^ and also a preface, through which one looks in vain for auto-

^Sir John Scott, of Scotstarbet, encouraged Timothy Pont in the preparation of the
Ailas of Scotland, pubUshed at Amsterdam in 1662, and for this and other reasons he was

200 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

biographical details. The title fairly enough represents the character of the
contents. The book appears to be an attempt to find a philosophical basis
for a system of medicine, as well as of other things, in which the opposing
powers of sympathy and antipathy, especially the former, play the leading
part. The system itself was no new thing, and may be traced back to
Paracelsus. The famous Dutch physician, Van Helmont, adopted and
elaborated it, and his writings on the subject were translated into English
by Dr. Walter Charleton in 1650, under the title, A Ternary of Paradoxes :
the Magnetic Cure of Wounds^ etc. A considerable literature had arisen
round the subject before Rattray wrote ; and in the same year as his treatise
appeared, a work on it in English, from the pen of Sir Kenelm Digby,^
placed on the system the impress of fashion, though it is more than
doubtful whether Digby's own account of how he became possessed of the
secret is anything but pure fiction. The therapeutic application of the force
of sympathy took the form of the " weapon salve," or " powder of sym-
pathy," which had the remarkable virtue of effecting a cure, not when
applied directly to a wound, but at a distance, especially to a bandage or
other material which had come from the wound, or to the weapon which
had inflicted it. Many were the forms of composition of the various
sympathetic medicaments, and fantastic as they were varied. Green vitriol
prepared for 365 days by exposure to the sun, ointments made from
powdered mummies, human blood and fat, moss from a dead man's skull,
may be given as specimens of the ingredients. To find a philosophical
ground-work for a system teeming with absurdities of this kind may seem
a task of some difficulty,^ but Dr. Rattray was equal to it. He begins by
searching through the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, up to man,
for examples of " amor " and " odium," sympathy and antipathy. Every-
where in these realms of nature he finds the operation of the two occult
forces. Mineral likes or dislikes mineral, vegetable has an attraction or the
opposite for vegetable, animals draw or repel each other, whilst the same

entitled to be called a Maecenas. That he evinced a friendly interest in the poor of Glas-
gow is shown by his having mortified certain lands named " Puckie and Puckie Mylne,"
for the purpose of "putting prentises to craftes within the burgh," the benefaction being
limited to "poor boyes." (^Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, 1630- 1662,
266, 328, etc.)

^ A late discourse made in a soleinn Assembly of nobles and learned men at Montpellier
. . . touching the cure of wounds by the powder of sympathy. Rendered faithfully out of
French into English by R. White. 2nd ed., 12°, Lond. 1658.

2 Belief in sympathetic cures was widespread, and accepted by the best intelligence of
the day. On 26th June, 1660, Sir G. Talbot submitted a paper on the subject to the
newly-founded Royal Society, and the fact that a specimen of the powder was entered in
the journal to be procured shows that he made an impression. (Weld's History of the Royal
Society, \. in, 112.) Bacon not only believed in witchcraft, but in heaUng by sympathy,
and he related a cure of warts on himself by this method. (Weld, op. cit. 87, note.)

i>j.

EARLY GLASGOW MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY AND JOURNALISM 201

subtle forces govern the relationship of these three kingdoms in their mutual
interactions. It is a science of nature based on two antithetical forces, a
case of " pull baker, pull devil " extending through the whole of the kosmos,
and the theory all apparently founded on a wide induction of facts. Un-
fortunately, the facts are not of the order spoken of by Burns —

" But facts are chiels that winna ding,
And downa be disputed."

Their verification could hardly have entered as an element into the science
of the old physician. Here are a few taken at random:

" The smoking of the lung of an ass or a horse in a house kills worms,
serpents, and all poisonous things." ^ " Clothes which have been at a funeral
are never attacked by moths." ^ " If we often make use of the shorter lived
fruits, and the animals which feed upon them, they shorten life."^ " Should the
feathers of the tail of a peacock come into contact with a haemorrhage from
accident or blow, it cannot be stopped unless these are removed." * Starting
from a foundation such as this, he proceeds to elaborate his scheme. Thera-
peutics resolves itself into a science of sympathetic or antipathetic antidotes.
Nor is he in any way daunted by the task of explaining how medicines can
act at a distance from the point of lesion. His theory need not be repro-
duced here ; it is rather metaphysical, and not easily understood. Such as
it is, however, he makes a point of its being his own, and he criticizes
Van Helmont and others with considerable freedom. He discards any ex-
planation based on a supposed analogy of his forces to magnetic attraction
and repulsion. He will have none of Van Helmont's " magnale magnum,"
invented apparently to simplify the rationale of the sympathetic process, and
puts it contemptuously aside. Rattray was evidently not extreme in his
views, and glimmerings of common-sense appear here and there in his fan-
tastical reasonings. He ought, he says, to have added a section on the
method of curation as elucidated by the theory of sympathy, but this had to
be deferred till another occasion, which seems never to have presented itself

Rattray's little book was republished in Tubingen (in 16°), by J. A. Reisius,
in 1660; and in 1662 at Nurnberg, in a quarto collection of pieces on the same
subject ; and here it occupies the place of honour at the beginning of the
volume.^ For a book published in a place so unimportant as Glasgow then
was, this seems no small honour to the author. This position was doubtless
due to the fact that his little treatise dealt with underlying principles supposed
to constitute the groundwork of the system, and its place was thus pro^ ^rly

IP. 19. 2p, 20. 3p_ i5, 4p, 12,

^ Theatrum Sympatheticum auctum exhibens variores authores de Pulvere Sympathetico,
quidem : Digbaeum, Straussium, Papinium et Mohyum de Unguento vero Armario . . .
Praemittitur his Sylvestri Rattray, Aditus ad Sympathiam et Anti-pathiam. 4to, Nurnberg,
1662.

202 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

introductory. It need hardly be added that the printing of the Glasgow
book is poor.

The next book in order is another by the same author —

" Prognosis Medica ad usum praxeos facili methodo digesta. A. Sylvestro
Rattraso, Med. Doct., Glasguensi Scoto. Nullum est praceptum adeo in-
violabile ut limitationem non admittat. Glasgus, Excudebat Robertas
Sanders, Typographus Urbis, MDCLXVi." [Pp. lo not numbered, 247.]

The dedication is to Sir John Wedderburn, one of the leading Scottish
physicians at the time.^ In his preface the author expatiates on the import-
ance of a knowledge of prognosis to the practitioner, averring that medicine
without it is simply hangman's work. Prognosis he therefore held to be
the noblest department of the healing art. The work is divided into forty-nine
chapters or sections. It is a digest from the work of Hippocrates and a few
more recent writers. After the prognosis in the different diseases has been
given, Chapter XLVIII. opens up some more general considerations. Rattray
relegated all diseases into three categories — (i) slight ailments, requiring no
treatment, as they may be left to nature ; (2) diseases which cannot be sub-
dued either by nature or art ; (3) diseases tending to a fatal issue, in some
cases amenable to successful treatment, and in others not. The first class, that
of trivial affections, he dismisses in a sentence. In regard to the second,
incurable ailments, he says that no prudent physician would attempt to tackle
them. In the long list of them he jumbles together diseases, medical and
surgical, injuries of vital organs, and congenital conditions. It includes blind-
ness and deaf mutism, obstruction of the bowels, premature baldness, phthisis,
large calculus, wounds of the heart, brain, stomach, and even the swallowing
of needles, etc. But in looking down Dr. Rattray's black list, it is pleasant to
note that modern medicine or surgery has successfully grappled with several
of them. It is, however, his third category of ills which affords the proper
scope for the therapeutic art ; and he carefully defines the conditions in each
of them which limits the possibility of cure. When the event is fatal, this is
due either to the Deity, maleficence, physical fate, the doctor, the druggist, the
patient, those around the patient, or, lastly, to outside influences. By the second
of these adverse factors, " maleficence," it need hardly be said that the old
Glasgow physician refers to witchcraft, the evil eye, and magic arts, in the power
and potency of which Rattray, with all his contemporaries, was a believer. The
sins of omission and commission of the physician in effecting or expediting a
fatal issue are unsparingly dwelt on. In this connection he adverts to the fact
that it is not the most learned physician who is necessarily the best in effecting

^Wedderburn was a St. Andrews M.D., and was admitted graduate at Oxford. He
was Professor of Philosophy at St. Andrews, after which he seems to have travelled a good
deal ; and on his return he was knighted and made Physician-in-Ordinary to the king.
(Matthias, Conspectus Medicina, 635.)

EARLY GLASGOW MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY AND JOURNALISM 203

cures. " Varia etiam sunt dona Dei, hie ad docendum ille ad practicandum,"
is a shrewd observation which contains the germ of a truth recognized now as
then. Similarly he notes the effects of bad or badly prepared medicaments,
of the patient's peevishness and impatience, and of careless nursing. Finally
the things " exteriora," which make for a fatal end, are such as lightning,
earthquakes, the fall of the house, the barking of dogs, the noises made by
neighbours, bad tidings, and the like.

One question he raises and settles to his own satisfaction. Rattray, it must
be remembered, was a contemporary of Harvey, and lived in an age which
inaugurated a revolution in physiology and medicine. Must not recent dis-
courses, he asks, in regard to the circulation of the blood, the ducts, the
receptacle of the chyle, the doctrine of fever as resulting from the action
of ferments, necessarily affect and modify the old notions as to prognosis ?
Not in any way, he jauntily answers ; the good old Hippocratic landmarks
remain where they were. As regards prognosis he was perhaps not so far
wrong.

The printer, it will be observed, is Robert Sanders, who succeeded Andrew
Anderson as printer to the City, and lived to about 1696. The type is
scarcely better than that of Rattray's first book, and the proof-reading faulty,
being excused in a note as due to the absence of the author.

These books of Rattray's have been noticed at greater length than their
intrinsic importance might seem to warrant. To us their bibliographical
interest lies in the fact that with the exception of the second and subsequent
editions of Lowe's Chirurgerie, they form the only Glasgow contributions made
to medicine during the seventeenth century, the first books in any department
of medicine printed in Glasgow, and that they stand at a long distance in
point of time before the next on the list. Several of the other physicians, and
more of the surgeons, doubtless made a local reputation in the burgh and
beyond it ; but they have left no taste of their quality in the shape of literary
remains. Hence such physicians as Professor Robert Mayne, Dr. John
Colquhoun, Dr. Robert Hamilton and his son James, Dr. Thomas Hamilton,
and Dr. Michael Wallace ; and Glasgow surgeons, as the Halls, James Frank
(the Englishman), the elder Houstoun, Henry Marshall, and others, are
little more to us than names. But with Rattray it is different. We can
through these books make out his mode of regarding nature and man, his
fantastic theory of medicine, and his felt powerlessness in the presence of
affections induced by supernatural agency.

We have been unable to find in the library of the Faculty, or in the
lists of books printed in Glasgow given by Macvean^ or by Duncan ,2 any
other medical work printed by Robert Sanders. It is well known that

^M'Ure's View 0/ the City of Glasgow, 1830, 368 et seq.

"^Notices and Documents illtistrative of the Literary History of Glasgow. Maitland
Club, 1831.

204 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

during the latter part of the seventeenth and the early part of the
eighteenth century the business of printing and book-production generally
in Glasgow instead of improving steadily deteriorated.^ Various efforts were
made by the University to place matters on a better footing ; but it was
not till Robert Urie and the brothers Foulis began to print about 1740
that really creditable printing was executed in Glasgow, As far as we have
ascertained, the first medical work of the Foulis' press was Hippocratis
Aphorismi. Gr. et Lat. 12°. 1748. A reprint in duodecimo of Garth's
Dispensary was executed by the same printers in 1750. The next in order
appears to be

" Gulielmi Harveii, Doct. et Profess. Regii Exercitationes Anatomicae de
motu cordis et sanguinis circulatione. Glasguae : In Aedibus R. Urie,
Sumptibus D. Baxter, Bibliopilae. mdccli." [Pp. x. + 299. 8vo.]

The printing of this volume is admirably clear. Two years later we have
from the Foulis press :

" Sure Methods of attaining a long and healthful Life, with means of
correcting a bad constitution. Written originally in Italian by Lewis
Cornaro, a Noble Venetian, when he was near an Hundred Years of Age.
Glasgow. Printed and Sold by R. and A. Foulis. MDCCLlll." [Pp. xviii.
2 pp. not numbered + pp. 120. 12°.]

The typography, it is needless to say, is admirable. In our bibliographical
record there is now an interval of thirteen years, and the next reprint is by
a Glasgow editor :

"A. Corn. Celsvs De Re Medica. Accessurus Index Vocabulorum omnium
et cujuscunque ad Rem pertinentes More Dictionarii. In usum Humanitatis
et Medicinae studiosorum."-^ Glasguae. Excudebat Gulielmus Bell : veneunt
apud Foulis, Gilmour et Duncan. Edinburghi, Kincaid et Bell : Balfour
Fleming, Drummond et Donaldson : Londini apud eundem Millar et Wilson.
2 Vols. MDCCLXVi." [Pp. 400. 8°.]

There is a magniloquent dedication to the members of the Faculty, " Viris
amplissimis et literatissimis civitatis nostrae Glasguensis, Medicis, Chirurgis,
et Pharmacopolis," in which the editor, Dr. Andrew Morris, complacently
takes credit for having supplied in the edition of Celsiis a want long felt for
an accurate text. It is a pity that he delayed the publication of his
Vocabulary of Celsus, which never appears to have seen the light. This
edition was the result of the enforced leisure of its eccentric editor, who

' Wodrow {Analecia, ill. 249) mentions that in 1725 when a Committee prepared a
Vindication of the Magistrates as regards their conduct in the Shawfield Riots, they had to
have it printed in London, as the Magistrates of Edinburgh would not allow it to be printed
in that city. No wonder that the Secretary of State " wondered there was not a press in
Glasgow at the Magistrates' command."

^ In Vol. II. this is varied into " Medicinae et Chirurgiae Studiosorum."

EARLY GLASGOW MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY AND JOURNALISM 205

was for many years paralyzed in his lower limbs, and a pensioner of the
Faculty.

From the publication of Morris's edition of Celsus in 1766, we have
apparently no medical book brought out in Glasgow for upwards of twenty
years. Even then we can only unearth a pamphlet of thirty- six pages,
entitled

" Remarks on the Nature, Causes, and Cure of Continued Fever, by J.
Riddell, Member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. Glasgow.
Andrew Foulis. 1788. SV

We have excluded from our purview medical theses or inaugural dissertations,
as these form a kind of literature sui generis, wanting, as they do, one of
its true elements, spontaneity ; nor were they at that time, with a few notable
exceptions, of much value. The next Glasgow book of medical interest was

" A general view of the Natural Progress of Human Life, with Observations
on the preservation of health, and the prevention and cure of diseases in
the different Stages of Life : By William Henderson, M.D. Part i.
Glasgow, James Duncan. 1791." [Pp. xiv. + 52. 8°.]

Henderson had published a little work in Edinburgh, 1789 (misprinted in
the book 1689), on the History and Cure of the Plague. All that is known
of him is stated under his name in the Appendix Roll of Members. Nine
years later we come upon

" The Anatomy of the Gravid Uterus, with practical inferences relative to
pregnancy and Labour. By John Burns, Surgeon in Glasgow. At the
University Press. Printed by James Mundell for Mundell and Son, Edin-
burgh, &c. 1799." [PP- xxi. + 248. 8°.]

The work is dedicated to Dr. Robert Cleghorn, physician to the Royal
Infirmary and lecturer in chemistry of the University of Glasgow, and James
Muir, surgeon, Glasgow, and dated from George Street. Next year the same
author published

" Preliminary Dissertations on some of the Laws of the Animal Economy.
Dissertations II. on the history, causes and consequences of Simple In-
flammation, by John Burns, Surgeon. Glasgow, by James Mundell, Aytoun
Court, for John Murdoch, Trongate, &c. 2 vols. 1800." [Pp. xiii., 479,
498. 8°.]

It was dedicated to Dr. Andrew Duncan of Edinburgh. The rest of the
works of Dr. John Burns were published in London. There seems to have
been no work on medicine published in Glasgow this (nineteenth) century
till there appeared Cases of the Excision of Carious foiftts, by H. Park
and P. F. Moreau, with observations by James Jeffray, M.D., Glasgow.
J. Scrymgeour. 1806. [210 pp. 12°.]

In 1 8 1 3 appeared a work which has long been a classic on the

2o6 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SUB GEO NS OF GLASGOW

subject on which it treats, and the numerical tables of which have formed
a mine from which medical statisticians have frequently dug ;

"Treatise on the History, Nature and Treatment of Chin-cough, including
a variety of Cases and Dissections ; to which is subjoined an Inquiry
into the relative mortality of the Principal Diseases of Children, and the
numbers who have died under Ten years of age in Glasgow during the
last Thirty years, by Robert Watt, M.D., &c. 8°. Glasgow. John Smith
and Son. 1813. Printed by Wm. Lang." [Pp. xvi., 392.]

The dedication is to Sir Gilbert Blane, Physician-in-ordinary to the Prince
Regent.

Captain Laskey's General Account of the Hunterian Musetmi, published
by John Smith & Son, scarcely comes within our purview ; and the same
remark may possibly apply to the two books next to be mentioned, but
they are given on account of their local interest :

" Flora Glottiana, a Catalogue of the indigenous Plants on the banks of
the River Clyde, and in the neighbourhood of the City of Glasgow, by
Thomas Hopkirk, Fellow of the Linn^an Society and Member of the Wer-
nerian Society of Edinburgh. Glasgow. John Smith & Son. 8°. 18 13.
Printed by Wm. Lang." [Pp. 170.]

Another botanical work by the same pen is

" Floria Anomoia. A general View of the Anomalies in the Vegetable
Kingdom, By Thomas Hopkirk, younger of Dalbeth, F.L.S., M.W.S., &c.
Glasgow. John Smith & Son. MDCCCXVli." [Pp. 198. 8°.]

Two years before the appearance of this last book there had been printed
in Glasgow a Bible which bears on the title-page to have some degree of
medical interest :

"A revised Translation and Interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures after
the Eastern manner from the Concurrent Authorities of the Critics, Inter-
preters, and Commentators, copies and versions showing that the Inspired
Writings contain the seeds of the valuable Sciences, being the source
whence the ancient philosophers derived them ; also the most ancient His-
tories and greatest Antiquities ; with a Philosophical and Medical Com-
mentary ; the use of the Commentary is not to give the sense of the Text,
as that is done in the Interpretation, but to describe the work of Nature,
showing the connection of Natural Science with Revealed Religion.
Glasgow. Printed for and Sold by R. Hutchison & Co. [and a number
of other firms in Glasgow, Greenock, Kilmarnock, Port-Glasgow," &c.].
[Pp. i.x., 1 123. 4to.]

The preface is signed "J. M. Ray," and dated " Lond. 1802." In it, he
refers the reader to the commentary on the third chapter of Daniel for an
exposition of the " progressive plan of this work, which renders it copyright
till the Millennium." A reference to the chapter shows that the " plan " is
rather fantastical ; and Ray's Bible, both as regards its conception and execu-
tion, is one of the curiosities of biblical bibliography.

EARLY GLASGOW MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY AND JOURNALISM 207

The next work bears the title

"An attempt to establish Physiognomy upon Scientific Principles, originally
dehvered in a series of Lectures. By John Cross, M.D. Glasgow : Printed
at the University Press for Andrew and John M. Duncan, Glasgow," «S£C.
181 7. [Pp. 270. 8°.]

The dedication is to Dr. Matthew Baillie. This is a meritorious work for
the time, by an observant and thoughtful writer. He was a graduate of
the University of Glasgow, and one of those referred to in a former chapter^
as included as one of the defenders in a test case to decide whether an
M.D. as such could practise surgery. Another book by the same author
was published two years later —

" On the Mechanism and Motions of the human foot and leg ; By John
Cross, M.D. Glasgow. Young, Gallie & Co., for A. & J.. M. Duncan,
1819." [Pp. 437. 8°.]

The author describes the work as " physico-theological," and its aim through-
out is teleological.

In the year intervening between these two books by Dr. Cross, Glasgow
suffered from a violent outbreak of typhus and other fevers, and this
called for several pamphlets, the most important of which was :

" Practical Observations on Continued Fevers, especially that form at
present existing as an Epidemic ; with some remarks on the most efficient
plans for its suppression by Robert Graham, M.D., Glasgow, Regius Pro-
fessor of Botany in the University of Glasgow, President of the Faculty of
Physicians and Surgeons, and one of the Physicians of the Royal Infirmary.
J. Smith & Son. 18 18." [Pp. 84. 8°.]

Our space forbids the inclusion of the pamphlets on the same subject by
Dr. Richard Millar and others. We close this bibliographical sketch with
the title of a work on ophthalmology —

" Memoir of Diseases of the Human Eye, intended for Surgeons commencing
practice, from the best National and Foreign works, and in particular those
of Professor Beer, with the Observations of the Editor, Dr. Charles H.
Weller, and illustrated with cases and Observations. By George C.
Monteath, M.D., and Illustrated with plates. Glasgow : printed by R. Chap-
man, Trongate, for Reid and Anderson, Glasgow." 2 vols. 1821, [Pp. xiii.,
280, 310. 8°.]

The dedication, from 15 George Square, is to Dr. Matthew Baillie. The
illustrations are by Swan, the noted Glasgow engraver.

During the period under review, the number of books by Glasgow medical
men published outside of Glasgow was probably considerably in excess of
those brought out within the Cit}-. Still it must be said that during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the medical men of Glasgow were not

^ Chapter xvill. 163.

20S FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

as a rule, given to the " making of books." As regards the former century,
in view of its ceaseless pohtical broils and ecclesiastical heat, this is not to
be wondered at. In the eighteenth century some of the Glasgow men who
took to writing books, such as Cullen and Moore, were drafted off elsewhere
before the period of their literary activity had began.

With a few words on the periodical medical literature of Glasgow we
conclude this survey. There was no medical periodical published in
Glasgow till February, 1828, when the first number of the Glasgow
Medical Journal appeared. Before that date the medical periodical press
of Edinburgh, and occasionally of London — The Medical and Philosophical
Commentaries^ Medical Essays and Observations^ The Edinburgh Medical
and Surgical Journal, and The Lancet — afforded outlets to the intellectual
activities of a few Glasgow men, such as John Paisley, James Calder,
Robert Watt, John Burns, and others. The Glasgow Medical Journal
was started as a quarterly, the editor being Dr. William Mackenzie, who
that year retired from the Chair of Anatomy and Surgery in Anderson's
College, and who subsequently acquired wide reputation as an oculist and
writer on ophthalmology. The first volume was published by David Allan
& Co., and the first published list of subscribers numbered nearly three
hundred, not a few of them necessarily being outside Glasgow, The
Glasgoiv Medical Journal was the pioneer of provincial medical periodicals,
being the first published of any in the three kingdoms ; but the example
set by its promoters was soon followed elsewhere. Thus the Midlaytd
Medical Reporter was started for the central counties of England, while the
North oj England Medical and Surgical Jotwnal was begun to supply the
wants of the border counties ; and others followed in a few years.

The new venture had at first a chequered career. Both its editors and
its publishers were at first frequently changed. In the fifth volume from
the start the editor strongly animadverts on the obstacles placed in his
way, the petty personal interests and private animosities of those who
should have supported him. On the publication of every number, he says,
it was whispered that the journal was moribund. Several times it did die, but
had a knack of rising phoenix-like from its ashes in a form not very different.
These successive transmigrations constitute a difficulty for indexing and
cataloguing purposes. Every fresh redintegration is simply named a " New
Series," there being five such series in all, undistinguished numerically.
The successive editors of the first of these were Dr. William Mackenzie,
Drs. Andrew Buchanan and William Weir, and Dr. J. A. Lawrie. Series
the second consists of a single volume, edited jointly by the two last
named. The third series did not begin till twelve years later, under the
editorship of Dr. William Weir, assisted by Dr. James Steven and others,
continued by Dr. George Buchanan and Dr. J. B. Cowan (with whom later
Dr. James M'Ghie), Drs. Joseph Bell and William Leishman (the latter

EARLY GLASGOW MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY AND JOURNALISM 209

alone), and subsequently by Dr. P. A. Simpson, The fourth series of
two volumes inaugurated a change to a monthly issue under the redaction
of the last-named gentleman. The fifth and present series, which now
numbers forty-four volumes, came out, and has continued, under the
auspices of the " Glasgow and West of Scotland Medical Association," called
into existence solely to carry on the Journal. Under this regime the
Journal has continued to flourish, and has taken its place amongst the
accredited organs of medical opinion. This association, in 1889, published
a general index to the Journal^ from its beginning to 1888, in which
the various series are distinguished in their sequence by numbers. This
index was very carefully compiled by Dr. Malcolm M'Murrich.

The Glasgow Medical Journal had only been three years in existence,
and had scarcely surmounted the perils of its infancy, when a rival
periodical was started in the City. This was The Glasgow Medical
Examiner, begun in April, 183 1, under the editorship of Mr. J. P. Glen,
a licentiate of the Faculty practising in the neighbourhood of St. Andrew's
Square. More ambitious thav the Journal, the Examiner was issued
monthly, the publisher being John Macleod, Argyle Street. Its origin
lay in the same political movement which had called the Faculty of
Medicine into existence half-a-dozen years earlier,^ and of this association it
was practically, though not officially, the mouthpiece. Its purpose was
avowedly to protest and agitate against what its promoters considered, and
not without reason, to be the unjust imposts exacted from licentiates in
Glasgow for liberty to practise, and the even more extortionate terms
insisted on in the case of members of the corporation. Every town
licentiate was charged fifteen guineas in the name of " freedom fine," while
the entry money for members had risen from ,^50 in 1792 to ;^I50 in
1 8 16, with compound interest on the sum for every year the member
was above twenty-five. The obligation to enter the Widows' Fund was
the cause of this heavy exaction. The general tone of the Examirier
was accordingly declamatory, and its epithets strong. The contributions
of the editor were characterized by adequate knowledge and an incisive
vigour of style which marked him as a man of considerable ability, but
some of his contributors were merely vulgarly vituperative. The magazine
came to an end with the eighteenth monthly issue, but not before the
editor was able to congratulate himself and its readers that it had not
lived in vain. The Faculty had abolished the obnoxious " freedom fine,"
and for this reform the Examiner, probably with some justice, assumed all
the credit.

The Glasgow Medical Examiner of Mr. Glen extended to a volume and
a half, the last number appearing in September, 1832; and, oddly
enough, in April, 1 869, appeared the first number of what the title-page

^ Chapter xx.

2IO FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

styles " Vol. II." of the same periodical. For this extraordinary Rip Van
Winkle feat in bibliography, the new editor, Mr. John Reid, who, like
his predecessor in office, Mr. Glen, was a licentiate of the Faculty, was
responsible. The singularity of the re-appearance of the Examiner was
in keeping with the latinity of its new motto, " Resurgatur cum gloria."
It was continued in 1870, and expired in 1871, having been discontinued
in each year during the summer months. The publisher was James
Hadden, Sauchiehall Street, who, it is stated, lived in continual fear of
action for libel from his connection with the magazine. Though rather
an odd re-incarnation in a bibliographical point of view, there existed
between the volume of the Examiner of Mr. Glen and that of Mr. Reid,
thus separated by an interval of thirty-seven years, a certain congruity of
spirit and aim, which went some way to justify the continuity of title.
Both first and last the Examiner was essentially aggressive, combative,
running tilt against what the editors believed to be glaring professional
abuses. In the case of the old Examiner the mark at which the editorial
lance was hurled was irresponsible monopoly, especially as embodied in
the Faculty, and to a less extent in the University. But in the generation
intervening between the two volumes most of the old abuses had been
reformed or modified. Others had, in the view of the editor, taken their
place. Specialism in its hydra-headed forms was rampant, and, as a conse-
quence, special hospitals had arisen and were arising on all sides, to fill
the pockets of their originators, to beggar the general practitioner, and
demoralize the general community. Pluralities in hospital appointments
were not uncommon ; medical advertising in its subtler forms was rife ;
and, more deplorable than all in the eyes of the editor, the members of
the profession were rushing unthinkingly into belief in a preposterous
pathological doctrine unsupported by proof " Listerism," begotten in
Glasgow, with its spawn of " germs," of " spores," and " sporules," its
carbolic acid, its antiseptic crudities of all kinds, was now all the rage.
Against these and similar pernicious heresies the resuscitated Examiner
lifted up its voice. Than Mr. John Reid no one was more fearless in the
expression of opinions, which, if often narrow and one-sided, and not seldom
antiquated, were always honestly held.i

1 See Biographical Notice of Reid, by Dr. J. Lindsay Steven, in the Glasgow Medical
Journal, May, 1895.

CHAPTER XXII

THE FACULTY LIBRARY

The library was started in 1698, immediately after the erection of the
first Faculty Hall in Trongate. To provide the nucleus of a collection, the
members, both town and country, made donations, some of them of a
considerable number of volumes, many of which are still on the shelves ;
and they appear to have also solicited contributions from their lay friends
and patients, the names of a number of whom figure in the list of donors.
There is preserved in the library a manuscript volume in large folio, which
bears to be " Ex dono Joannis Bodie Chirurgorum Facultatis Glasguensis
Socii, Septemb 26, M,DC,XC,VIII.," and contains " The names of such worthie
persons as have gifted books to the Chierurgions Librarie in Glasgow."
The list is appended to this chapter ; it includes, as will be seen, not only
the names of physician- and surgeon-members of the Faculty (with those
of two barbers), but also the names of then well-known Glasgow citizens,
such as Sir William Fleming of Farme ; " Mr. Hugh Blair, Min'- of ye
Gospell " ; " Mr. Georg Skirban, Rector of the Grammar Schooll " ; and
others whom we may regard as the patients or friends of members,
who made friendly contributions, such as the Earl of Wigton, Lady
Barrowfield, elder; James Campbell of Mains, etc. It is noteworthy
that as a rule the donations of " outsiders " are non-medical books, and
amongst the gifts of members it not unfrequently happens that a book or
two of this class are included. It would, therefore, almost appear that the
Faculty originally contemplated the formation of a general library. At all
events, many of the donations belong to the departments of theology and
history, and this class of books must have subsequently been carefully
weeded out, none of them being now found on the shelves. Even the
" Biblia Sacra Latina," 1532, gifted by "the Mutch Honoured Master Charles
Maitland, Brother germane to the Earle of Lauderdale," though it surely
might well have been spared, appears to have succumbed to this relentless
process of elimination. Several authors of books in London, Edinburgh,

212 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

etc., such as Dr. James Douglas, Dr. John Brisbane, Dr. Pitcairn, etc.,
send contributions of their own works.

Such was the beginning of the library, this nucleus of donations
being supplemented by purchases, at first in a very modest scale. The
hiatus in the Records draws a veil over the fortunes of the library for
thirty years. When the curtain rises in November, 1733, there is no
librarian amongst the list of office-bearers, though this must have been
an inadvertent omission, as a librarian was probably appointed from the
first. At the next election, in 1734, John Paisley, surgeon, was elected
" Collector and Bibliothecarius," a very suitable appointment as regards
the library, for it is on record that he was the possessor of a good collection
of books of his own, and presumably had a knowledge of medical literature.

The Minutes now and again are concerned about the library, and, on
7th December, 1741, "the Visitor produced ane exact catalogue of the
Faculty's books in their library," which was signed by the clerk, and, as
a rule and standard in time coming, is ordered to be laid up in the box.
On 6th October, 1746, Drs. Wodrow and Cullen are, with the Faculty's
money and for their use, allowed to purchase such books as they think
fit. At the election of office-bearers in 1755, the "Bibliothecarius" blossoms
out into a separate office-bearer, and a new catalogue is ordered to be made
out. In the record of the same meeting it is minuted that, " from the
respect to the memory of Doctor Peter Low, who procured their erection,
they appoint the collector to cause the Doctor's book, ' The Whole Art of
Chirurgery,' to be new bound, with proper ornaments, and discharge the
same from ever being afterwards lent out." This was the fourth edition,
a copy of which had been presented to the Faculty by Mr. James Weir,
visitor at the time the library was commenced. The binding is a fairly
creditable specimen of ornate workmanship by single tool.

In 1762 ten pounds was voted for the formation of a separate
collection for the use of students and apprentices, and this was several
times referred to and increased in subsequent years, the last entry occurring
in 1774. The scheme does not appear to have been very successful.

A library committee was first appointed in 1768, and from that time the
library began to expand much more rapidl}'. Still, at the beginning of the
present century there were complaints that the collection was being starved,
and ^300 was voted in February, 1801, to be expended on books. A cata-
logue had been printed in 1778, and another was prepared in 18 17. In 1820
the number of volumes was estimated as 3,500, and the value of the books
is set down in the accounts with punctilious exactitude as ^2,102 13s. 4d.
This was probably the amount which they had cost ; but, had they been
brought to the hammer, there would have doubtless been a very considerable
shrinkage in the figures. From 1733 to 1845, the sum expended on books,
as given in the accounts of 1846, was £^,626 4s. 7d. In 1842 another

THE FA CUL TV LIBRAE Y 2 1 3

edition of the catalogue was prepared under the supervision of Dr. John M.
Pagan, which, with two supplements in 1861 and 1871, did duty till 1885,
when another catalogue, with a classified index of subjects, was printed.
During its progress through the press, the collection of books of the late
Dr. William Mackenzie, the eminent oculist, was presented to the Faculty.
It is much below the truth to say that under the superintendence of the
present Honorary Librarian, the accretions to the library, not only in the
way of new literature, but of older works which had been omitted or
overlooked, have been not only greater but more systematic, and selected
with greater judgment in reference to the efficiency of the collection than
at any former period of the same length.

The number of volumes in the collection at the present time approxi-
mates to 40,000. The great aim of the successive library committees of
the Faculty within the last generation has been to make it a good medical
library all round, not to pamper one department at the cost of the
atrophy of others. The library in this way reflects the composite character
of the body. A College of Physicians may naturally incline to give in the
selection of their books a distinctly medical colour, on the principle that a
full representation of surgical works lies more in the province of the library
of a College of Surgeons. From any such defect of lopsidedness, at all
events from this cause, the constitution of a Faculty of Physicians and
Surgeons happily exempts those who have charge of the library. It is
nevertheless true, that from accidental circumstances one or two specialities
are better represented than others. In the department of Ophthalmology
the library may be said to be exceptionally rich, owing in a great measure
to their possession of the Mackenzie collection. In the History of Medicine
it also stands well ; and when a chair on that branch is founded in the
City, the professor will, it is hoped, find an adequate equipment of literature
on his subject ready to his hand. As between the scientific or fundamental
branches of medicine, and those which are more concerned with practice,
the library is much better equipped in the latter than in the former, which
lie more within the domain of an academic library. There has been no
attempt to narrow the selection to works strictly medical ; on the contrary,
what may be called the accessory sciences of anthropology, biology, palae-
ontology, and others, have received recognition as far as has been deemed
fitting. General literature is necessarily excluded, though here and there on
the shelves is found a straggling representative of this class. On a single point
the curators of the library have thought it right to depart systematically
from the guiding principle of making the collection distinctively medical.
As, historically, one of the city incorporations, the Faculty have considered
it befitting that works bearing on the history and progress of Glasgow
should find a place on their shelves ; while, as a body to which was entrusted
by charter jurisdiction over the western counties of Scotland, works bearing

214 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

on the history of " our burgh and baronie of . . . Renfrew, Dumbartane,
and our Sherriffdomes of CHddisdale, Renfrew, Lanark, Kyle, Carrick,
Air, Cunninghame," are always welcome.

There has been no special attempt to make any collection of medical
incunabula, though a few fifteenth and early sixteenth century books are
found on the shelves. The earliest printed of these is the Liber Serapionis
aggregatus in Medicinis simplicibus (Venice, 1479). There is also a cop)^
of the Opusculus cui nofuen Clavus Sanitationis of Simon Januensis (Venice,
1488). In chronological order comes next a copy of the work of Bar-
tholomaeus Anglicus [de Glanvilla] Liber de proprietatibus reruin (Argentine,
1 491). There is also a fine copy of the Liliuni Medicinae of Gordonius,
printed at Venice in 1496. Published in 1501 there is a copy of the
Claroficatoriuni of Johannes de Tornamira. Recently acquired there is a
copy of the first edition of Vesalius, De huuiani corporis fabrica (Basil,
1543). The Rosa Gallica of Champerius is represented by the Paris
edition of 1 5 1 4 as well as by later editions ; but there is awanting an
early edition of the Rosa Anglica of John of Gaddesden, which is repre-
sented by an edition published by Schopfius in 1595. A few of the books
in the library acquire a factitious value from their being very scarce, or
from circumstances having special reference to the authorship. A small work
whose value is enhanced on both these grounds is the Spanish Sicknes of
Peter Lowe, whose Chirurgerie is represented in the library by copies of
all the editions except the first. As an example of a book published so
late as 1672, which is rarely met with, is Wiseman's Treatise of Wounds.
When Sir Thomas Longmore published his biography of him in 1891,
he could only ascertain the existence of two copies, one in the British
Museum, and the other in the Military Medical Library at Netley. Since
then two other copies have been obtained — one by the library of the Royal
College of Surgeons of England, and a fourth by the Faculty of Physicians
and Surgeons of Glasgow, the latter acquired by gift.

The manuscripts in the Library include among others 3 i volumes of the
Transactions of the Glasgow Medical Society, 1815-45; the Minute Books
of the same Society covering the entire period of its existence ; the first Minute
Book of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Glasgow, containing its records
from 1844 to 1892; the manuscripts of the published work of Dr. Robert
Watt on Chin-cough and of the Flora Glottiana of Thomas Hopkirk, younger,
of Dalbeth ; copies of volumes of the Lectures of John Hunter, Robert Whytt,
John Gregory, and others, presumably as taken down by students ; Diary of a
Tour and Residence in several Continental Countries, 18 16-18, by Dr. William
MacKenzie, the eminent writer on Ophthalmology ; a volume giving an
account of John Hunter's establishment at Earl's Court, of Sir Everard Home's
troubles with his publishers, and money accounts of Hunter's estate, by
William Clift ; a folio volume by an unknown author, entitled Theoria Medicinae

THE FACULTY LIBRARY

215

Naturalis, in Latin and German, illustrated by quaintly curious pen and ink
sketches ; and a collection of medical autographs, etc.

It remains only to be said that a Reading Room was added to the
library about 1840.

Repeated efforts made by the Faculty during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries to form a museum have invariably resulted in failure.
The collection of " rarities " in natural history to which occasional refer-
ences are made in the Minutes of last century appears to have left no
trace in the present century. In 1823, and again ten years later, move-
ments towards the institution of a pathological museum resulted in the
formation of a considerable nucleus of such a collection. We read of a
vote (to be continued annually) of £^0 for the museum in the former of
these years, and in the latter of a scheme to erect an appropriate building
(behind the Faculty Hall) in St. Enoch's Square for the purpose of a
museum, with a salaried conservator and other officers, and some consider-
able progress seems to have been made in the obtaining of specimens,
wax models, etc. But the scheme eventually came to nothing, and in
1852, after various resolutions had from time to time been submitted in
regard to the " Museum," it was agreed, in the face of a protest by two
of the Fellows, to hand over the entire collection to the Pathological
Museum of the Royal Infirmary. A communication was accordingly re-
ceived, dated 3rd January, 1853, from the Pathological Committee of that
hospital, thanking the Faculty for the gift, and accepting it " as a sub-
stantial proof of the interest taken in the Museum by the Fellows of the
Faculty."

2l6

The Names of such worthie persons as have Gifted Books to
THE Chierurgions Librarie in Glasgow.

Doctor Peter Patoune, Praeses To the faculty.
James Weir, present Visitor.
Mr. Henrie Marshall, Chyrurgeon Apothecar.
Mr. Alexander Tran, Chirurgeon Apothecar.
Alexander Porterfield, Chyrurgeon Apothecar.
Alexr. Porterfield of that Ilk.
David Hall, Chyrurgeon Apothecar.
William Thomson, Chyrurgeon Apothecar.
Robert Houstoune, Chirurgeon Apothecar.
Master Robert Houstoune, Chirurgeon

Apothecar.
John Boyd, Chyrurgeon Apothecar.
James Robison, Mer[chant].
Robert Graham of Gallengade, Chirurgeon

Apothecar.
Alexander Knox, Chyrurgeon Apothecar.
Thomas Hamilton, Chirurgeon Apothecar.
John Hamilton, Chirurgeon Apothecar.
James Calder, Chirurgeon Apothecar.
Robert Robertson, Wryter in Glasgow and

Clerk to the ffaculty.
Sir William Fleming of Farme.
Peter Bogill, Mer[chant].
Mr. Hugh Blair, Min"-- of ye Gospell, by the

Influence of Mr. H. Marshall, bibliothe-

carius.
John Campbell, Chyr[urgeon] Apothecar.
The Lady Barowfeild, Elder, by the Influence

of Mr. H. Marshall, bibliothecarius.
Mrs. Marion Pender.

^ Mr. Archibald Pitcairn, Doctor of Medicine.
Thomas Napier of Ballikinrain, Chyr[urgeon].
John Moorhead of Brydisholme.
Mr. Alex""- Horsbrough, Chyr[urgeon].
William Wallace, Barber.
James Bell, Barber.

Mr. Matthew Brisbane, Doctor of Medicine.
Mr. William Wright, Doctor of Medicine.
Mr. Thomas Kennedy, Doctor of Medicine.

Mr. James Baird, Doctor of Medicine.

John Melvin, Chyrurgion in Dolluay.

John Bogill, Chyr[urgeon].

Adam Cuningham, Chirurgeon in Greenock.

Andrew Reid, Chyr[urgeon].

William Robertson, Merchant in Glasgow.

Robert Boyd in Banheth.

Mr. Georg Skirban, Rector of the Grammar

Schooll.
Robert Baillie, Sone to Mr. Hendry Baillie,

Indweller in Glasgow.
John Marshall, Wryter in Glasgow and Clerk

to ye Facultie.
John Marshall, Chyrurgeon in Glasgow.
William Stirling, Bailzie of the Regallity of

Glassgow.
James Campbell of Mains.
John Naismith.
The Ryt- Honorable TheEarle of Wigton, At

the Intercession of Mr. Henrie Marshall.
The Mutch Honoured Master Charles

Maitland, Brother germane to the Earle

of Lauderdale.
Thomas ffalconer, Wryter and Clerk to the

Facultie.
John Semple of Dalmook.
Matthew Lamb of Rorkwood, ane member of

faculty.
The Reverend Mr. William Jameson.
^ Doctor James Douglas, Doctor of Medicine

at London.
John Munro, Writer in Glasgow and Register

of Seasings.
John Wodrow, Doctor of Medicine.
Mr. John Gordon, Surgeon in Glasgow.
1 Doctor John Brisbane, Physician in London.
1 Doctor Andrew Morris.
College of Physicians, Edinburgh.

1 Author of the Works presented.

APPENDICES

CHARTER BY KING JAMES VI. TO THE FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND

SURGEONS OF GLASGOW.i

JAMES, be the Grace of God, King of Scottis, to all Provostis, baillies of burrowis,
scheriffs, stewartis, baillies of regalities, and otheris ministeris of justice within the
boundis following, and their deputis, and all and sundrie otheris ouir leigis and subditis,
quhom it efferis, quhase knawledge thir our letteris sal cume, greiting, Wit ze we, with
auise o oure counsall, understanding the grit abuisis quhilk hes bene comitted in time
bigane, and zit daylie continuis be ignorant, unskillit and unlernit personis, quha, under
the coUour of Chirurgeanis, abuisis the people to their plesure, passing away but tryel
or punishment, and thairby destroyis infinite number of oure subjectis, quhairwith na
ordour hes bene tane in tyme bigane, specially within oure burgh and baronie of Glasgow,
Renfrew, Dumbartane, and oure Sheriffdomes of Cliddisdale, Renfrew, Lanark, Kyile,
Carrick, Air and Cunninghame; For avoiding of sik inconvenientis, and for gude
ordoure to be tane in tyme cuming, to have made, constitutit and ordanit, and be the
tenoure of thir oure letteris, makis, constitutis, and ordinis Maister Peter Low, our
Chirurgiane and chief chirurgiane to oure dearest son the Prince, with the assistance
of Mr. Robert Hamiltone, professoure of medecine, and their successouris, indwelleris
of our Citie of Glasgow, Gevand and Grantand to thaime and thair successoures, full
power to call, sumonnd, and convene before thame, within the said burgh of Glasgow,
or onie otheris of ouir said burrowis, or publict places of the foirsaids boundis, all personis
professing or using the said airt of Chirurgie, to examine thame upon thair literature,
knawledge and practize ; gif they be fund wordie, to admit, allow, and approve thame,
give them testimonial according to the airt and knawledge that they sal be fund wordie
to exercise thareftir, resave thair aithis, and authorize thame as accordis, and to discharge
thame to use onie farder nor they have knawledge passing thair capacity, laist our
subjectis be abusit ; and that every ane citat report testimonial of the minister and eldris,
or magistratis of the parochin quhair they dwell, of thair life and conversatione ; and
in case they be contumax, being lauchfuUie citat, everie ane to be unlawit in the
soume of fortie pundis, toties quoties, half to the judges, other half to be disponit at
the visitoures plesure ; and for payment thairof the said Mr. Peter and Mr. Robert,
or visitoures, to have oure uthere letteris of horning, on the partie or magistriates quhair
^ From a Notarial Copy in the Possession of the Faculty.

2l8

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

the contemptuous personis duellis, chargeing thame to poind thairfoire, within twentie
four houris, under the pain of horning ; and the partie not haveand geir poindable, the
magistrate, under the same pain, to incarcerate thame, quhill cautioun responsall be fund,
that the contumax persone sail compir at sik day and place as the saidis visitouris sail
appoint, gevan trial of thair qualifications ; Nixt, that the saidis visitouris sail visit everie
hurt, murtherit, poisonit, or onie other persoun tane awa extraordinarly, and to report
to the Magistrate of the fact as it is : Thirdlie^ That it sail be leisum to the said visitouris,
with the advice of their bretheren, to mak statutis for the comoun weill of our subjectis,
anent the saidis artis, and using thairof faithfuUie, and the braikeris thairof to be punshit
and unlawit be the visitoures according to their fait : Fordlie, It sail not be leisum to onie
mannir of personis within the foresaidis boundis to exercise medicine without ane
testimonial of ane famous universitie quhair medecine be taught, or at the leave of oure
and oure dearest spouse chief medicinarie; and in case they failzie, it sal be lesum to
the saidis visitouris to challenge, perseu and inhibite thame throu using and exercing of
the said airt of medecine, under the pain of fourtie poundis, to be distributed, half to
the Judges, half to the pure, toties quoties they be fund in useing and exercing the same,
ay and quhill they bring sufficient testimonial as said is : Fythlie, That na manir of
personis sell onie droggis within the Citie of Glasgow, except the sam be sichtit be the
saidis visitouris, and be William Spang, apothecar, under the pane of confiscatioune of
the droggis : Sextlie, That nane sell retoun poison, asenick, or sublemate, under the
pane of ane hundred merkis, excep onlie the apothecaries quha sail be bund to tak
cautioun of the byaris, for coist, skaith, and damage : Sevetiflie, Yat the saidis visitouris,
with thair bretherene and successouris, sail convene every first Mononday of ilk moneth
at sum convenient place, to visite and give counsell to pure disaisit folkis gratis : and
last of all, Gevand and grantand to the saidis visitouris indwellers of Glasgow, professouris
of the saidis airtis, and thair bretherene, p"nt and to cum, imunite and exemptioune from
all wappin shawengis, raidis, oistis, beiring of armour, watching, weirding, stenting
taxationis, passing on assises, inquestis, justice courtis, scheriff or burrow courtis, in
actiounes criminal or cival, notwithstanding of oure actis, lawis, and constitutionis
thairoff, except in geving yairr counsall in materis appertaining to the saidis airtis :
ORDAINING you, all the foresaidis provestes baillies of burrowis, sheriffis, stewartis, baillies
of regalities, and otheris ministeris of justice, within the saidis boundis, and zoure
deputis, to assist, fortifie, concur and defend the saidis visitouris, and their posterior,
professouris of the foresaidis artis, and put the saidis actis maid and to be maid to
executioun ; and that our otheris letteris of our sessioun be granted thereupon to charge
thame to that effect within twentie four houris nixt after they be chargit thairto. Gevin
under oure previe seill, at HaHruid house, the penult day of November, the zeir of
God jmvc. and fourscore ninetein zeiris, and of oure regun the threttie thre zeir.

(Written on the Tag thus)

Litera Mag"ri Petri Low, Chirurgi

Et Mag"ri Roberti Hamiltone

Professoris Medicinre

(Written on the back thus)

Written to the Privie Seil, Penult Novemb'' 1599.

J. Hay.

Per Signaturam manu S. D. N. Regis, nee
non manibus Dominorum Ducis Lennocse
Thesaurarii ac Scaccarii Dicti Domini Regis
Subscriptam.

GENERAL SIGNET LETTERS 219

II.

GENERAL SIGNET LETTERS, THE SURGEONS OF GLASGOW AGAINST
THE MAGISTRATES, AND ALL AND SUNDRY.

Dated -T^isi July, Signeted \.\th August 1635.

CHARLES, be the grace of God, King ot" Great Britain, France, and Ireland,
Defender of the Faith, to our lovittis, John Ramsay, messenger,

our Sheriffs in that part conjunctUe and severaUie, specialHe constitut,
greeting. — Forasmeikle as we understanding the great abusis qlk hes bein comniittit
in tyme bygane, and zitt dayhe continues, in ignorant unskilHt and unlearnit personis
quha hes, under the culler of chyrurgeans abuseit our leidges att yair pleasor, passing
away but tryell or punishment and yrby destroying infinit members of our subjects,
quarof na order hes taken in tyme bygane, speciallie within our burgh and baronie
of Glasgow, sheriffdoms and burghs of Renfrew, Paisley, Dumbartane, Clydesdaill,
Lanerk, Kayll, Carrick, and Cunynghame ; and also understanding that our umqu'
deirrest father, King James of worthie memorie, for avoyding of sic inconvenients,
and for order to be tane yairanent in tyme coming, be his Hieness I'res of gyft
under his Hieness Privie Seall, made y'rupon of the dait att Holirudhouse, the
penult day of November the zeir of God jajv and foirscore and nineteen zeirs,
made, constituted, and ordainit the visitour in the said airt and calling of chirurgeonrie
in our burgh Glasgow, and his successors, indwellers in the said burgh, Commissioners
to the effect underw", Giveand and Grantand to them full power to call, summond,
and convein before them within our said burgh of Glasgow, or any oy'r of our
saidis burrowes or publick places of the foirsaidis boundis, all persones professing
or useing the said airt of chirurgeonrie, to examine them upon yair literator,
knawledge, and practice, give they be fund worthie, to admitt, allow, and approve
them, give them testimoniall according to the airt and knowledge that they sail be
fund worthie to exercise, y'rafter ressave yair aithes, and authorise them as accords ;
and to discharge them to use any furder nor they have knowledge or passing yair
capacitie, leist our subjectis be abuseit, and that every ane citat report testimoniall
of the minister and elders, or Magistrates of the parochine q" they dwell of y' life
and conversatione, and in caise they be contumax being lawfullie citat, everie ane
to be oulawit in the soume of fourtie pundis, toties quoties, half to the judges, the
uther half to dispone at the visitoures pleasour ; and for pay^ y'rof they to have
I'res of horning on the partie or Magistrates q" the contemptuous persones dwelles,
chargeing theim to poynd yairfor within twentie-foure hours, under the jjaine of
horning, and the pairtie not haveand geir poyndable, the Magistrate under the same
paine to incarcerat them qu' cautioun responsall be fund that the contumax person
sail compeir att the day and place as the said visitors shall appoynt, giveand tryell
of y'. qualificatioun ; and that the saidis visitors shall visit everie hurt, murderit,
poysoneit, or uther persone tane away extraordinarilie, and to report to the Magistrates
of the fact. Thirdly, That it shall be leisome to the saidis visitours with advice of

220 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

yair brethren, to male statutis for the common weill of our subjectis anent the saidis
airtes and useing yairof faithfuUie, and the breakers thairof to be punishit and unlawit
to the visitors according to the fact. FourtHe, It shall not be leisome to ony
maner of persones within the foirsaidis boundis, to exercise medicine without ane
testimoniall of ane famous Universitie q'. medicine is taught, or at the leive of our
said umq'. deirest father, and our umq'. deirest mother of worthie memoire, thair
chief medicinaries, and in caise they failzie, it soud be leisome to the saidis visitours
to challenge, persue, and inhibit thaim throw useing and exercing of the said airt
of medicine, under the paine of fourtie pundis, to be distributeit half to the judge,
and half to the poor, toties qiwties they be fund useing and exerceising of the same,
ay and quhill they bring sufficient testimonialls as said is. Fyftlie, That na maner
of persone sell ony drogis within our citie of Glasgow, except the samyn be sightit
be the saidis visitors, under paine of confiscatioun of the druggis. Saxtlie, That
nane sell ratine poyseing, arsenick, or sublimate, under the paine of ane hundreth
merkes (except only the apothecaries quha shall be bund to take cautioune of the
buyers for cost, skaith, and dammage.) Seventlie, That the saidis visitores, with
their bretheren and successors, shall conveine everie first Mononday of ilk moneth,
att some convenient place, to visit and give counsell to puir desaisit folkis gratis ;
And last of all, givene and grantit to the saidis visitors, indwellers of Glasgow,
professors of the saidis airtis, and their bretherene in pr'nt and to cum, immunitie
and exemptioun frae all weipin shawingis, readdis, hostis, wearinge of armour, watching,
wardeing, stenting, taxatiounes, passing on assayesses, inquestis, justice courtis, sheriff
or burrow courtis, in actiouns criminall or civill, notwithstanding of our said umqhil
dearrest father, his hienes actis, calHs and constitutiones made, grantit (exceptin
gieveing y'. counsell in matters appertaining to the saidis airtis), ordeineing all and
sundrie provestis, baillies of burrowes, sheriffs, stewartis, bailyies of regalities, and
oy'. ministers of justice within the saidis boundis, and their deputtis, to assist, fortifie,
concur, and defend the saidis visitours and thair posteritie, professores of the foirsaidis
airtis, and to putt the saidis actis made and to be made to due executioun ; and
that I'res be grantit thairupon to charge them to that effect, within twentie four
hours next after they be chargeit thairto ; as in the saidis I'res of gift and commissioun
under the privie seall, made and grantit yrupon, of the dait above w". in favours
of the saidis visitors in the said airt and calling of chirurgianrie within our said
burgh and citie of Glasgow, and thair successoris att mair lenth is conteint,
q'^upon our lovitt, Mr James Hamiltoun, chirurgian, burges of our said burgh of
Glasgow, p'nt visitor in the said airt and calling of chirurgerie within the samyn
burgh of Glasgow, for himself, and in name and behalf of the remanent bretherin
and freemen of the said airt and calling, and thair successores, obteinit ane decreit
before the Lords of our Counsell and Sessioun, upon the last day of July last
bypast, the zeir of God jayvi and threttie-fyve zieris, against all and sundrie persones
quatever, professing or useing the saidis airtis of Chirurgianrie or medicine within
our said burgh and baronie of Glasgow, sheriffdomes, and burrowes of Renfrew,
Dumbartan, Clyddisdaill, Lanerk, Air, Kyle, Carrick, and Cunynghame, and also
ag', the provestis and bailzies of burrows, sheriffs, stewartis, bailies of regalities, and

GENERAL SIGNET LETTERS 221

other ministers of justice qu'sumevir, within the saidis boundis, decerning and ordaining
thir our I'res of horning to be direct upon ane single charge of three dayes allenarUe,
chargeing all and sundrie the saidis persones qu'sumever professing or using the
saidis airtis of chirurgianrie or medicine within the bounds foresaidis in general!,
or be thair name in speciall as they shall be requirit, to desist and cease frae all
useing or usurping of the saidis artis of chirurgeanrie or medicine within the boundis
forsaidis of our said burgh and barronie of Glasgow, sheriffdomes, and burrowes of
Renfrew, Dumbartane, Clyddisdaill, Lanerk, Air, Kyle, Carrick, and Cunynghame,
except they be examined be the said Mr James Hamiltoune, p'nt visitour foresaid,
in the said airt and calling of chirurgianrie and medicine within our said burgh of
Glasgow, and be his bretherin in the said airt, and thair successors, upon thair
literator, knowledge and practice, and admittit, allowit, and approvit be them as
being fund worthy, and y' testimoniallis given to them according to thair knawledge,
that they shall be fund worthie to exercise y'aftir, thair aithes ressevit, and authorized
be the said visitor and his breitherin of the said airt and their successoris, as accords,
and also discharging them to use anie farder, nor that they have knowledge laist
our leidges and subjectis be abusit, and siclyke dischargeing thaim to exerce ony
medicine in the boundis foirsaidis, without the testimoniall of ane famous universitie
quhair medicin is taught, or at the leif of our, or our deirrest spous' chieff medicinaries,
under the said paine of fourtie pundis, toties quoties to be dystributeit half to the
poore, and half to the judge, and also that they on no wayes sell any droges within
our said burgh of Glasgow, except the samyn be syghtet be the said p'nt visitor, and
his successores visitors of the said airt, under the paine of confiscatioune of the
saidis drogis ; and that they sell no ratone poyson, arsenick, or sublimate, under the
said paine of ane hundreth merkis, — except only the apothecaries wha shall be bund
to take cawtioun of the buyers for cost, skaith, and dammage ; and also that they
usurpe nor doe nothing in contrair the tenour of the saidis I're of gift and commission,
and to obtemper and obey the samyn in all poyntis, after the forme and tenor
thairof : And in like manir, chargeing all and sundrie the saidis Provest and Baillies
of burrowes, Sheriftis, Stewartis, Bailzies of regalities, and utheris Ministeris of Justice
qu'tsumever, within the saidis boundis, and their deputtis, to assist, fortifie, concure,
and defend the said Mr James Hamiltoune, p'nt visitor foresaid, and his breitherin,
and their successoris, professoris of the saidis artis, and to put their actis made
and to be made thairanent to due execution, conforme to the foirssaids I'res of
gift and commissioun grantit thairupon, in all pointis, as in the said decreit att
more lenth is conteinit. — Our will is herefore, and we chairge you straitlie, and
commandis, that incontinent thir our I'res seen you pass, and in our name and
authoritie, command and charge all and sundrie the foirsaidis persones q'tsomevir,
professing and useing, or usurping the saidis airtis of chirurgianrie and medicine,
within the boundis above specified in general, or be their names in speciall, as
they shall be requireit, be open proclamatioun at the mercat croces of our burrowes
of Glasgow, Lanark, Rutherglen, Renfrew, Paislay, Dumbartan, Air, Irving, and uther
places neidfull, to desist and cease frae all useing or usurping of the saidis airtis
of chirurgeanrie or medicine, within the boundis foirsaidis of our sai<i burgh and

222 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

baronie of Glasgow, sheriffdomes burrowes of Renfrew, Dumbartan, Clidisdaill, Lanark,
Air, Kyle, Carrick, and Cunynghame, except they be examined be the said Mr
James Hamiltoiine, p'nt visitor foresaid in the said airt and calling of chirurgeanrie
and medicin within our said burgh of Glasgow, and his bretheren of the said airt,
and thair successores, upon thair literator and knowledge to practize, and admittit,
allowit, and approvit be them, as being fund worthie, and y'r testimoniall given to
them, according to their airt and knowledge, that they shall be fund worthie to
exercise yaireafter, their aithes ressevit, and authorised be the said visitor and his
bretherene of the said airt, and thair successores, as accordis : And also that ye,
in our name and authoritie, inhibit and discharge them to use ony farder nor that
y'rof they have knowledge and capacitie, laist our leidges and subjectis be abuseit ;
and sicklike, that ye discharge them to cxerce ony medicine within the boundis
foirsaidis, without the testimoniall of ane famous Universitie, q'r medicine is taught,
or att the leife of our and our dearrest spous chieffe mediciners, under the said
paine of fourtie pundis, to be distributeit, half to the poore and half to the judge,
toties qjioties ; and also, that they on no wayes sell ony droges within our said
burgh of Glasgow, except the samyn be sightet be the said p'nt visitor, and his
successores visitors of the said airt, under the paine of confiscatioun of the saidis
drogis, — and that they sell no rattoun poysoun, arsenick, or subleim, under the said
paine of ane hundredth merks, except onlie the apothecaries, wha shall be bund
to tak cawtioun of the buyers, for cost, skaith, and dammage ; and also, that they
usurp nor doe nothing in contrair of the tenour of the saidis I'tres of gift and
commissioun grantit be our said umq' dearrest father y'ranent, but to obtemper and
obey the samyn in all pointis, efter the forme and tenour foirsaid : And in like
manner, that ye, in our name and aut'hie, command and charge all and sundrie the
saidis Provestis and Bailzies of burrowes, Sheriffis, Stewartis, Bailzies of regalities,
and uther Ministers of Justice q'tsumever, within the saidis boundis, any y' deputtis,
to assist, fortifie, concur, and defend the said Mr James Hamiltoune, p'nt visitor
foirsaid, and his bretheren, and y' successoris, professores of the saidis airtis, and
to put y"' actis made and to be made y'ranent, to due execution, conforme to the
foirsaidis I'res of gift and commissioun grantit to tliem y'rupon, and decreet abovew",
obteinit be them upon the saymne, in all pointis, within three dayes next after they
be chargeit be you thairto, under the paine of rebellioun, and putting of them to
our home ; qlk if they refuse to doe, the saidis three dayes being bypast, that ye
incontinent y'reafter denounce the disobeyers our rebelles, and put them to our
home, and escheat and inbring all Y moveable goodis to our use, for y'' contemptioun
and rebellioun foirsaid ; and immediatlie after yo' said denounciatioun, that ye use
the haill remanent order prescryvit be our act of Parliament made y'anent. — According
to justice, as ye will answer to us y'rupon. The qulk to doe we co'raitt to you,
conjunctlie and severallie, our full power be thir our I'res of horning, delivering
them be you duely execut and indorsed again to the bearer. Given under our
signett att Edin', the last day of July, and of our reigne the eleventh yeir, r635.

Per Decretu77i Unorimi Concilii.

(Signed) Ja. Wilson.
{Stgneted) \i,th August 1635. Written be Mr William Purves, my Serv".

LETTER OF DEACONRY

223

III.

LETTER OF DEACONRY.

To all and sundrie quhomc it effeiris, to quhois knowledge thir present lettres sail
cum, we, Johne Andersoune, provest, Johne Andersoune, Johne Walkingschaw and
Williame Neilsoune, bailleis, of the brughe of Glasgow, senatouris and counselleris ot
the samyn, greiting in God everlasting. Wit your vniversiteis and all vtheris quhome
it may concerne, that ther compeirit befoir ws, sittand in our counsell hous, Johne
Hall, present headis man or dekine of the chirurgianis and barbouris within the samyn,
for himself and in name and behalf of the saids chirurgianis and barbouris, and did
oft divers and sundrie tymis present to ws and our counsell, gatherit togither, thair
bill and supplicatioune vnderwrittin, off the quhilk the tenour fallowis : — Wnto the
right honourabill the provest, bailleis and counsall of Glasgow, the hunibill petitioune
of your servandis and comburgessis, the chirurgianis and barbouris, residenteris within
the said citie, and humblie scheweth that quhair thes fyftie seaven yeiris past, since
the patent grantit to ws of the dait the penult day of November, j'" v"" [ninety^] nine
yeiris, by the deceist King James, to your awin and your predicessoris knowledge, we
have bein in vse yeirlie to elect ane deacon as visitour and oversiear of the rest of
the members of our calling, as vthers calling have bein in vse be vertew of any
patent letter of dekinheid or seall of caus conferit vpone them heirtofoir by any
authoritie, and that it is incumbent to ws to have ane lettre of dekinrie of your
honowris, as vtheris of this incorporatioune have grantit to them by your predicessoris,
for ane joynt and hermoneus correspondence of brotherhood as brother citizens wiUing
to simpatheise with the rest of the bodie of the citie, wherintill we sail be concernit
to the extent of our power, with the lyk priviledgis and liberteis as that your
authoritie may be interponit thairto, and we authorized thairby to vse such power,
observe such courssis and custumes as vther callings have grantit to them by thair
lettre of deaconheid or scale of caus, that we convein at the ordinarie tyme as vther
callings doe, yeirlie befoir Michaellmes, in our ordinarie place of meiting, in all tyme
cumying, and thair be pluralitie of voitis, as wse is, elect and mack choyse of ane of
our number to be visitour or deacon for ane yeir thairefter to cum, quho sail be
ane of the most fite and qualified and worthiest of the said calling, ane chirurgiane
and burges of the brughe, and he being sworne de fideli administratione may appoynt
meitings for conveining the calling, caus quartermaisters be electit, the one half of his
awin nominatioune and the vther half by the calling itself, quho sail be authoreized
to imped any persoune quhatsumevir, by concurse of your honouris, to presume to
exerceis any poynt of the arte of chirurgianrie or barbourie, or sett out any signis for
ather of them, till he be tryed and admittit be the said calling in maner of tryall as
schall be prescryvit, being first admittit burges of the toune. Nixt, that ane burges
sone serveing his prenteischipe fyve yeiris as ane prenteis and twa yeiris for meit and

^The word "fyftie" is, by mistake, inserted in the record of the Town Council.

224 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

fie, pay [fortie] ^ merkis Scottis at his admissioune for his vpsett, and anie strainger
entering with the said calling, first being burges, to pay for his admissioun four scoir
merkis for the vse of the poore of the calling. Thridlie, that no free mane vsurpe
the haveing of any mae prenteissis nor one during the saids seavin yeiris without
expres warrand from the visitour and quarter maisteris. Fourtlie, that the said calling
may fayne any vsurper that exerceissis the saids artis, without thair admissioune,
toUerance and licentiatioune, in the soume of ten punds Scottis toties quoties, appro-
priating the one half to the bailleis of the citie and the vther half to the box of the
calling. Fyftlie, that the visitour for the tyme appoynt dyets of four heid courtis or
meitings of the calling, and oftner pro re tiata, and cans poynd the absentis in half
ane merk each tyme for the vse of the poore. Sextlie, that no friemane mak vse of
ane vnfrie mane wnder his toUerance, wnder the paine of ane new vpsett ; nather tack
ane vther freamanis prenteis without his former masters leave askit and grantit, vnder
the lyke pain. Seavintlie, that no freamane presume to tack ane vther freamanis cuir
af his hand wntill he be honestlie satisfied and payit for his bygaine painis, and that
at the sight of the bailleis with advyce of the visitour incaice the patient find himself
grived by the chirurgiane, vnder the paine of ane new vpsett, excepting alwayis libertie
to the visitour and quarter masters to tack patientis from ane friemane not fund
qualified for the cuiring of them and to put them to ane more qualified persoune as
sail be thoght expedient efter exact tryall. Eightlie, that if any member of the calling,
of quhatsumevir qualitie, contempner of the visitour and his quartermasters in any of
the poyntis afoirsaid, or of thair officer in executioune of thair ofifice, quho is to be
the last entrant frea men of the calling and is to remaine till ane vther enter, pay
ane new vpsett according to that he payit at his entrie to be qualified be the recordis
of the calling. Nyntlie, that no brother within the said calling presume to meddill
with any mae poyntis of chirurgianrie nor thais they ar fund qualified of at thair
admissioune and conforme as they ar booked, vnder the paine of the soumes above-
writtin respective as ane new vpsett. And, lastlie, that the said visitour or deakin
may judge betwixt maister and prenteis, at the bailleis sight, in caice any differ of
importance aryse, and betwixt brother and brother of the calling in particularis
alien erlie relaiting thairto, and give ordour to poynd absentis from courtis and buriallis,
being warned for that effect, and for not payment of quarter coumptis. May it ther-
fore pleas your honowris, the premissis being considderit, to grant ane lettre of
deaconrie or seall of cans to the said calling, wnder the seall of the brughe, and
that in regaird of our being so long a standing pairt of the craftis of this citie and
contributers yeirlie in a constant proportioune for the supplie of the poore of thair
hospitall, to caus extend the same, conforme to the laudabill custume observit, to ws
and our successoris, chirurgianis and barbouris, burgessis of this citie, and to grant to
ws the priviledges and liberties afoirsaid grantit to vtheris callings, as is above expresit
in all poyntis, for removeing of the disordouris that may aryse. And your lordschipes
ansuer [etc.] Quhilkis articles and statutis above writtin, being oft tymis red, hard,
wnderstand and maturlie advysit be ws, the saids provest, bailleis and counsell of this

^This sum, which is left blank in the record, is inserted in the seal of cause in the possession of
the Incorporation of Barbers.

LETTER OF DEACONRV 225

brughe of Glasgow, and we finding the samyn to tend to the weill of the people als
Weill within as without the brughe, and to the benefeit of the said airte and craft of
chirurgianis and barbouris, wee thairfore, be thir presents, grant, ratifie, approve and
confirme the samyn, for ws and our successours, in the haill headis, articles, and
claussis contained in the said supplicatioune above writtin, to the said Johne Hall,
present deacon of the said chirurgianis and barbouris, and thair present brethrein of
that arte and craft, and to thair successouris, chirurgianis and barbouris, burgessis of
this brughe, in perpetwall memorie in all tyme cumyng, promiseand faithfullie to fortifie
and defend them thairanent be ws and our successouris and office bearers for the
tyme; and thir premissis to all and sundrie quhome it effeiris we mak manifest and
knowin. In witnes of the quhilk, and for the mair verificatioune of the samyn, we
have subscryvit thir presentis, togither with our dark depute of court, our commoune
seall is heirto appendit, at Glasgow, the [sexteenth] day of August ane thousand sex
hundreth fyftie sex yeiris.

IV.

RATIFICATION OF KING JAMES' CHARTER TO THE FACULTY OF
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW.

AT Edinburgh, the elevent day of September one thousand six hundreth seventie-two

years, Our Soverane Lord, with advice and consent of his Estates of Parliament,

now presentlie conveened be his Majestie's speciall authoritie, hes ratified and

APPROVEN, and be thir presents ratifies and approves ane Letter of Gift past under the

privy seal of the date at Halyrudehouse, the penult day of November 1599 years,

whereby his Majestie's grandfather, of blessed memorie, for avoyding of inconveniences,

and for good order to be tane in tyme comeing, within the burgh and baronie of

Glasgow, gave and granted full power to the chirurgeans and professors of medicine

within the city of Glasgow for the tyme, and their successors, to call and convien

before them within the said burgh of Glasgow, or any other place of the bounds

foresaid, contained in the said Gift, all persones professing or using the art of

chirurgerie, to examine them upon their literature, knowledge, and practice; if they

be fund wordie, to admit, allow and approve them, give them testimoniell according

to their arte and knowledge to exerce thereafter, receave their oaths, and authorise

them as accords ; and that it shall not be leisum to any maner of persons within

the forsaids bounds, to exercise medecine, without ane testimoniell of ane famous

universitie, wher medecine is taught, or at leist the persons above mentioned, and

their successors, under the pains contained in the said Gift; and that no maner of

persons sell any drogs within the city of Glasgow, except they be sighted be the

forsaids persons, under the paine of confiscation of the drogs; and that no ratton

poyson be sold, except by the apothecaries, who shall be bund to take caution

226 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

of the buyers, for coast, skaith, and damage, as the said Letter of Gift, in the selft
at more length proports, in the hail heids, clauses, articles, and circumstances of
the samen, and after the forme and tenor thairof, in all points, in so far as the samen
Gift, and this present Ratification thereof, can be extendit in favours of the present
chirurgians, apothecaries and barbours within the said burgh of Glasgow, and their
successors allenerlie, and no further: And his Majestic and Estates of Parliament,
wills, grants and declares, that this present generall Ratification shall be als valeid
and sufficient to the said chirurgians apothecaries and Barbours, and their successors
allenerlie, as said is, as if the said Gift wer word be word heir engrossed, notwithstanding
the samen be not so done, wherewith his Majestic and Estates of Parliament hes
dispensid, and be thir presents dispenses forever.

Extracted furth of the Records of Parliament be me. Sir Archibald Primrose,
of Cairntoun, Knight and Baronet, Clerk to his Majestie's Councill, Registers and

Rolls.

(Signed) A. Primrose,
Clr. Reg.

NOTANDA ANENT THE GLASGOW POOR.

It is noticeable and natural that during the period of the visitations of Glasgow by
the Plague in the seventeenth century, and when infection was threatened from other
quarters, that many Minutes are to be found in the Town Council records of a more
explicit and stringent character respecting the poor than are to be found at any other
time.

It happens also that about this time so great an immigration of Irish takes
place that the number of poor is so appreciably increased that special provision is
made for their support,^ and as the means at command of the bailies was appar-
ently insufficient for this extra charge, they, on the 5th March following, "ordane
ane proclamation to be sent throw the toune to desyre all these who will geve or
contribute any supplie to the distressed people that cum from Ireland, that they
cum upon Wednesday next at the ringing of the Bells."

A great influx of Highlanders also takes place at this time,^ a special collection
being ordered to be made on their behalf in the High, Blackfriar, and New or Tron
Churches, which is supplemented by the bailies, but the Highlanders are much
more summarily dealt with than the Irish strangers; a Minute on 12th December,
1642, peremptorily ordering them "to be removit off the toune on Monday next,"
there being, however, charitably added an order "to give everie one of them some
meil for their supplie."

^ I2th February, 1642. - "jih November, 1646.

NOT AND A ANENT THE GLASGOW POOR

227

Prior to the Reformation the endowments for behoof of the Poor in Glasgow
are said to have been very munificent,^ but with Presbyterianism came the dilapi-
dation of many charitable, as well as religious mortifications.

Little necessity had probably previously existed; but on 30th August, 1583,^ we find
for the first time the appointment of a " Collector for the Poor," to stand at the Laigh
Kirk door " to receive alms of town's folk that go into the said Kirk to hear preaching,"
and on 3rd July, 1595, from the Records of the Session,^ that an assessment termed
on the margin of the Record, " Buttock mail for poor householders," is for the first
time imposed, a Committee being at the same time appointed to consider the Roll
of persons in the town liable to be stented for the purpose. In the year 1652* it
appears that the whole Roll of the Poor amounted to ;^437 Scots (;^36 8s. 4d. stg.),
the Magistrates stenting the town for ;!^3oo, and leaving the balance to be made
good by ordinary collection.

Subsequent to the incursion of Irish and Highlanders, we find in the year
1663,^ before the ravages of the Plague had reduced the number, and when the
population of Glasgow amounted to about 15,000 souls, that ^20 stg. sufficed for
the annual maintenance of such poor — then thought to be very numerous — as could
not support themselves by licensed begging.

In Glasgow at this time, following an ancient custom, under which certain favoured
" gaberlunzies," recognizable by their blue gowns, were accredited as "King's Beggars,"
the Magistrates adopted the principle of the Act, 1579, cap. 74, which declared
each parish in Scotland to be liable only for the support of its own poor, or rather
of that limited number of them below fourteen and above the age of three score
years and ten, whom the Act carefully stipulates must be first found unable to
support themselves all others between these ages seeking aid being designed as
" vagabounds, sturdy and idle beggars."

The Act, somewhat quaintly, points these out to the unwary as to be known
"from their going about the countrie using subtile, craftie, and unlauchful playes,
such as juglarie, fast and lous, ^Egyptians, Minstrells, Sangsters, and Taletellers, not
avowed in special service, vagabound SchoUers of the Universities of Saint Andrews,
Glasgow and Aberdein," and a further category, who are all ordained to be summarily
apprehended, "committed in waird Stokes or irons," and, when convicted, "to be
scourged and burned throw the ear with ane hot irone," for the first, and for the
next offence " to suffer the paines of death as a thief."

The judgment of the Baihe Court in 161 3,*' in the case of Matthew Thomson,
a Highland fiddler, "put out of the town at the West Port, and banist the
same for ever," as being " ane idill vagabond," illustrates the Magistrates' adoption
of the penal portion of the statute. Their enactment of its provisions relative to
pauperism occurs on 5th May, 1586, when it is ordained "that all poor be marked
with the Towns mark, that they have been within this toune, remaining and lodging
for fyve years bypast";'' and again, on i6th December, 1667, when a Minute

iQeland's Statistics, sub voce "Poor,' 107. "^ Ibid., Appendix, 168.

^ Ibid., Appendix, 172. "* 27th December. Cleland's Statistics, Appendix.

514th March. '^Cleland's Statistics, Appendix. ^25111 July.

228 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

appears, narrating " how that this haill citie is greatlie over burdened with ane
number of beggars, all strangers, quhilk ought not to be permitted in any well-
governed citie," and therefore ordaining " the whoill beggars, being strangers, to be
removed off the toune, and that none be permittit to beg therein but such as are
well known to have been borne within the Citie, and to the effect they may be
better known, appoints ane badge with the tounes armes thereon to be raised
and given to each one who is suffered to beg, and that none be suffered to beg except
such as hes the said badge."

Stringent regulations were also enacted on 9th June, 1658, anent "sturdie
beggars," an arrangement being " thocht expedient to be entered into with William
Lightbodie and John Williamsone, twa warkmen, to put the sturdie beggars and
otheris the lyk off the toune, and to punish delinquents by putting them on the
Cock Stool"; but as this office seems to have been attended with personal hazard,
it is enacted "that quhat persone in toune sail wrang or abuis the said William
Lightbodie and John Williamsone for executing of the premises sail be condignelie
and severelie punished be sight of the Magistrates," to whom a remit is accordingly
made to carry this desirable object into effect. Apparently, however, the wage
was considered by the " twa warkmen " as incommensurate with the risk of bodily
harm from the "Sturdy beggars," and a higher rate consequently bargained for.
The next Minute by the Magistrates, on loth April, 1662, reporting that they "had
agreed with John Williamsone and William Lightbodie, to keep the beggars aff the
casay," three men being found necessary to be employed in the fcjUowing year,^ and to
" pay to ilk ane of them monethlie, and ordanis ilk ane of them to carie ane staff
throw the towne as they walk, having the townes armes thereupon." 2

The terms of the following Minute on the Glasgow Poor are so quaint, and, at
the same time, so forcibly illustrate the then condition of the Poor Law establishment
in Glasgow, that it would be a mistake to condense them, viz.: "The same day the
Magistrats and Counsell taking to their consideration hou that, for all the paines takin,
the poor in toune being so numerous, and the contributioune allotit for their monethlie
mentinance being so little, and cannot be gottin in timeouslie, notwithstanding of
all the great paines and expenss waired on upon twa men and several Officers to
attend them in collecting thereof; as also how they are very many persons in the
contribution Rolls who vexis the Magistrats daylie with their complents thereanent,
crying out that they have nothing to pay, and had neid of contributions themselfes,
and zit for all that their pots, pannes, stoups, and uthir their houshold geir is
poyndit for the same, quhairby the said Magistrats are in great vexatioune, and so
the poor are frustrat and so not tymeously payit and suppliet as they ought, qulk
occasiones manye and divers supplicatiounes to be bro' in befor the Counsell for
supplie, quhilk ought not to be." It is therefore concluded that ;^2o stg. be
expended by the Treasurer in monthly payments for the use of the poor, the
maximum allowance to each being is. 6d. per week;^ but that the poor of the town
should first be inspected, the roll of them revised and purged, and all strangers and
unlicensed beggars summarily ejected.

M7th October, 1663. 2 j^th March, 1663.

Cleland's Statistics, Appendix, \). 180.

ACT FOR REGULATING THE FACULTY

229

VI.

ANNO DECIMO TERTIO VICTORL^i REGIN^.

Cap. XX.

An Act for better regulating the Privileges of the Faculty of
Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and amending their
Charter of Incorporation. [loth Jtme, 1850.]

WHEREAS the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow were incorporated charter
by Royal Charter granted by His Majesty YJiwg James the Sixth oi Scotland, ^^^^-^'^'^
under the Privy Seal of tliat Kingdom, on the Twenty-ninth Day of November One
thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, which Charter was ratified by an Act of the
Scottish Parliament passed upon the Eleventh Day of September One thousand six Act of Scot-
hundred and seventy-two : And whereas by the said Charter the said Faculty were ''^^ Pariia-

^ ^ ■' _ , ^ ment, iilh

empowered to call before them and examine all Persons practising Surgery within the Sept., 1672.
City of Glasgow, and the Counties of Lanark, Renfrew, Dttmbarton, and Ayr, to
admit and grant Licences to such of the said Persons as they should find qualified,
and to debar all others from exercising the Profession of Surgery within the Limits
aforesaid ; which Powers the said Faculty have from the Date of the said Charter
exercised, and still enjoy : And whereas the City of Glasgow, and the said Counties
of Lanark, Renfrew, Dttmbarton, and Ayr, over which the Privileges of the said
Faculty extend, comprehend a populous, wealthy, and important District of Scotlafid :
And whereas it would be of Advantage to the Public, and also to the Medical
Profession, if the exclusive Privileges enjoyed by the said Faculty were so relaxed
and amended that all Persons found qualified and licensed to practise Surgery by any
Corporation authorized by Law to grant such Licences might have Right to practise
within the said District, and the Right of all Persons found qualified and licensed by
the said Faculty to practise beyond the said Limits were better defined, and if the
Members of the said Faculty were hereafter designated " Fellows of the Faculty of
Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow:^' And whereas the said Faculty have raised and
established a Fund of Provision for the Widows and Children of the Members thereof,
and it has hitherto been considered obligatory upon all Persons becoming Members
of the said Faculty to become also Contributors to the said Fund; and it is expedient
that such Obligations should cease ; but these Objects cannot be effected without the
Authority of Parliament: May it therefore please Your Majesty that it may be enacted;
and be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice
and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That the present Members

230

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Altering
Name of
Members of
Faculty, and
transferring
Powers and
Privileges.

Fellows and
Licentiates
to have the
same Privi-
leges as
those of other
Colleges.

Fellows and
Members of
other Col-
leges en-
titled to
practise
within the
Limits of the
Charter of
the Faculty.

Fellows not
obliged to
contribute
to Widows'
Fund.

Widows'
Fund to re-
main under
Management
of Contri-
butors there-
to.

Power to
amend Bye-
Laws,

of the said Faculty of Ph3'sicians and Surgeons of Glasgow^ and such Persons as
shall be hereafter admitted into the said Corporation, shall be known by the Name
and Style of "Fellows" thereof; and shall, except in so far as hereby otherwise
provided, possess, exercise, and enjoy the same Powers and Privileges as those
heretofore possessed, exercised, and enjoyed by the Members of the said Faculty.

II. And be it enacted. That the Fellows and Licentiates of the said Faculty shall
respectively enjoy the same Status and Privileges in the Practice of their Profession,
and be equally eligible to the same Offices in connexion therewith, throughout Her
Majesty's Dominions, as if the said Faculty had been specially authorized by Law
to grant Licences or Diplomas in Surgery conferring the same Status and Privileges
as those conferred by any other Corporation or Royal College in Scotla7id which now
is or may hereafter be authorized by Law to grant such Licences or Diplomas : Provided
always, that nothing herein contained or authorized shall interfere with any exclusive
Privileges heretofore granted by competent Authority to any other Corporation or
Royal College, so far and so long as such exclusive Privileges remain in force and
unrepealed.

III. And be it enacted. That the Fellows and Members or Licentiates respectively
of any other Corporation or Royal College which now is or hereafter may be authorized
by Law to grant Licences or Diplomas in Surgery shall, within the City of Glasgow,
and Counties of Lanark, Re7tfrew, Dumbarton, and Ayr, enjoy the same Status and
Privileges in the Practice of their Profession, and be equally eligible to the same
Offices in connexion therewith, as the Fellows and Licentiates respectively of the
Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

IV. And be it enacted, That no Person who shall hereafter be admitted a Fellow
of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgoiu shall be obliged to become
a Contributor to the Fund raised and established by the said Faculty for the Widows
and Children of the Members thereof as aforesaid ; nor shall any such Person, or the
Widow or Children of any such Person, have any Interest in the said Fund, unless
such Person shall voluntarily become a Contributor thereto, according to the Regu-
lations thereof in force for the Time being.

V. And be it enacted. That neither the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of
Glasgow, nor its Office-bearers, nor the Fellows of the said Faculty, in consequence
of their Admission into the said Corporation, shall have any Claim to or Interest in
any Part of the said Fund as presently vested in or under the Management of the
Trustees thereof or Contributors thereto, but the same shall remain the sole Property,
and be under the exclusive Management and Control, of the Contributors to and
Trustees of the said Fund for the Time being; and the said Trustees shall have full
Power to demand, sue for, uplift, and discharge all Sums owing to or invested for
behoof of the said Fund, without the Interference or Concurrence of the said Faculty
or its Office-bearers or Fellows, and to manage and from Time to Time to re-invest
the same in the Name of the Trustees for the Time being of the said Fund, for
behoof thereof.

VI. And be it enacted. That nothing herein contained shall prevent the Faculty
of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow from altering the Rules and Regulations

ACT FOR REGULATING THE FACULTY

231

heretofore made by the said Faculty under the Powers contained in the said Charter,
or from making such new Rules and Regulations as may be necessary for carrying
into effect the Purposes of the said Charter and of this Act : Provided always, that
such new or altered Rules and Regulations shall not be inconsistent with this Act
or with the Laws of the Realm.

VII. And be it enacted, That this Act shall commence and take effect from Commence-
and after the passing thereof. mentofAct.

VIII. And be it enacted, That this Act shall be a Public Act, and shall be Public Act.
judicially taken notice of as such.

VII.

ROLL OF MEMBERS, 1599-1851.

%* In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the entry is to be understood as that of a Surgeon-freeman,

unless the fact is otherwise stated.

I. PETER LOWE, Founder of the Faculty, the Charter being granted to him of date
29th November, 1599. For Memorials of him, see Finlay son's Account of
the Life and Writings of Maister Peter Lowe (Glasgow, 1889), Chapter iv.
of the Text; Dictionary of National Biography, xxxiv, 196; see also
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, Vol. viii. 377. Portrait in the
Faculty Hall.

'^^^^^'^y^

The following shows the Hne of his direct descendants :

Dr. Peter Lowe

and his wife Helen Weems.

I
John Lowe (see No. 28),

Merchant Burgess, Glasgow, died about 1670.

James Lowe (see No. 129),

Writer, Edinburgh.

Robert Lowe, only son (see No. 200),

Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh ; his wife Jean,

daughter of John Gray of Dalmarnock

and Carntyne.

i I

William Lowe, in 1797 only surviving son, Annabella Lowe, daughter,

"late of Newbern, North Carolina," died died unmarried,

without issue in Edinburgh towards
the end of the eighteenth
century.

ROLL OF MEMBERS 233

2. ROBERT HAMILTON, Physician. Grantee of the Charter along with No. i.

Master of Arts. (Query: Graduate of Glasgow University, 1584 or in 1591?
See Munimenta Universitatis Glasguensts, in. 4, 9.) Visitor, 1602-6, 1607-10,
1620-22. Father of No. 20. Portrait in Faculty Hall.

3. WILLIAM SPANG. Appointed under the Charter to "sicht" or inspect the drugs

sold in the burgh. He was in practice in Glasgow as a pharmacist in 1574.
{Burgh Records of Glasgow, Maitland Club, 3.) Visitor, 1606. Father of
No. 9. He was probably related to Rev. Wm. Spang, to whom a large
number of Principal Baillie's letters were addressed. {Bailli^s Letters and
Journals. 3 vols. Edin. 1842.) See Chap. v. of Text. Portrait in Faculty Hall.

4. ADAM FLEMING. Co-opted as a Member at first meeting in 1602.

5. ROBERT ALLASON, Master of Arts (probably the Robert Allanson who graduated

in Arts in Glasgow in 1598). Co-opted as Member at first meeting in 1602.
Visitor, 1611-13.

6. THOMAS THOMSON. Co-opted as Member at first meeting in 1602, but turned

out at the next meeting but one, 22nd June, 1602 — "The qlk day, in
respect of Thomas Thomsone having givein his oath at his entre to beir
burdine w' the rest of the brethren and discharging of his deutie, he being
synsen desired to compeir w' them to ther assistance . . . hes most
wrongously contemptosly disobayed, Therfor they ordaine him to tyne
whatsoever libertie he hes be yem."

7. JOHN LOWE. Co-opted a Member at first meeting in 1602. Apparently not

related to No. i.

8. JOHN HALL. Entered in 1602. Visitor, 1613-15, 1618, 1629, and 1638. Father

of No. 18; grandfather of No, 34. There were thus several generations
of surgeons of this family.

9. WILLIAM SPANG, Younger. Entered in 1602. Son of No. 3.

10. THOMAS READ. Entered in 1604. In the City Burgess Roll of 1605 he is given

as one of the Medicinar Members of the Crafts' House, the other being No. 2.

11. GEORGE BIRRELL. Entered in 1605 "to profes the airt of Barborie w' simple

wounds in the flesh."

12. WILLIAM READ. Entered in 1610.

13. JAMES DUNCAN. Entered in 1610.

14. ANDREW MILL or MYLNE. Entered in 1612. Apprentice (and probably son)

of Thomas Mylne, who feued part of the lands of Peitbog and Dassiegrene
(Town Council Minute, 19th April, 1589), and whom the Council compelled
to do penance at the Cross for slandering the town and bailies. {Memorabilia
of Glasgow, 117.) He was professionally consulted along with Dr. Peter
Lowe in a curious case of assault. {Register of the Privy Council of
Scotland, VIII. 377.) Refer aXso to Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of
Glasgo7e>, 1573-1642, 479.

234 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

15 GABRIEL SYSERF. Entered in 1614 as a "Pothecar . . . to use hes aine calling."

16. JAMES HARPER. Entered in 1618, apparently from outside the burgh, there

being a proviso that if he settled in Glasgow he must make himself a
burgess "for the relieve of the craft."

17. ARCHIBALD LINDSAY. Entered in 1624. Two years later (i 6th September, 1626)

there is a Minute of the Town Council ordering "the deane of gild and
his brethering of Counsell to ressaue doctour Archibald Lindsay, burges
and gild brither of the burghe, and the benefeit thairof to succeid to his
bairnes ... for his service done be him to this burghe and inhabitantis
within the same in his calling and help of the pure, and to gif him the
greater kair to continew thairintill." {Extracts from the Records of the Burgh
of Glasgow, 1876, 356.)

18. ROBERT HALL. Entered in 1624, soon after which his name disappears. Son

of No. 8, and either father or uncle of No. 34.

19. ROBERT ARCHIBALD. Entered in 1627. Visitor in 1635-37.

20. JAMES HAMILTON. Entered in 1627, the minute bearing that "be examination

is fund qualifit to profes the airt of Chirurgerie and Medicine." Son of
No. 2. M.A. of Glasgow University. He is generally styled in the Records
"Professor of Physick." Visitor, 1633-35, I'^ST'S^j 1642, 1646. His house
was in High Street, near the Cross. (Query : Was it in his house the great
fire of 22nd June, 1652, which consumed a third of the town originated?
It is stated to have been "in the house of Mr. James Hamiltoune above
the Croce.")

21. ANDREW MUIR. Entered in 1628. Apparently he must have been in practice

in the burgh several years earlier, as on 20th March, 1622, he was a witness in
the Court of Session in the trial for witchcraft of " Margaret Wallace, spouse
of Johnne Dynning, Merchant burges of Glasgow," when he gives his age
as 42, and is styled " Chirurgine." (The woman, by the way, was convicted,
and sentenced "to be wirreit at ana staik to the deid, and her body thair-
efter to be brunt to ashes." Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, iii., 328.) There
is also mention of a fee paid to him in 1626 by the Town Council. {Extracts
from tJu Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, 1876, 479.) Visitor, 1641, 1649-51.
Father of No. 75.

22. JAMES FLEMING. Entered in 1628 "to be ane barber and to cuir simple wounds."

23. JOHN HAMILTON. Entered in 1630.

24. WILLIAM SWAN, Entered in 1633 on the same terms as No. 22.

25. DANIEL BROUN. Entered in 1634. Visitor, 1640, 1646-48, 1653. On 25th

April, 1646, a Minute of the Town Council " ordaines the thesaurer to pay
Daniel Broun, Chyrurgian, twelf punds money for the helping and cuiring of
certaine poore sojours hurt at Kilsyth." {Extracts from the Records of the

ROLL OF MEMBERS

235

Burgh of Glasgow., 93; Pagan's Sketches, 31.) This doubtless refers to what
was called "the battle of Kilsyth," in which Montrose was successful.

26. WILLIAM CLYDDISDALE. Entered in 1636. Apprentice to No. 14. For the

incident of his expulsion for "railing," see Chap, viii., p. 68. He was
subsequently rehabilitated. Visitor, 1665-66.

27. JAMES BRAIDWOOD, Elder. Entered in 1636 as barber. Father of No. 31.

28. JOHN LOW. Admitted in 1636. "Son lawful to Mr. Peter Low" (No. i),

described as a merchant burgess of Glasgow. (Finlayson's Maister Peter
Lowe, 74.) For the circumstances of his admission, see Chap, iv., p. 32.
Died about 1670. Father of No. 129.

29. GEORGE MICHELSON. Entered in 1637. There is a Minute of 9th April, 1636

of the Town Council: "The provest, baillies, and counsall ordanis the deane
of gild and his bretherine to admit {blank) Michelsone, Chirurgian, wha is
to cum and dwell in this toun, burges and gild brother of the burgh, and
his fynes to be hadin as payit, and the benefeit thairof to succeed to his
childrine." He seems to have left Glasgow for some years, and in September,
1643, there is an "Act" against him for his absence by the Faculty. He
turns up, however, in 1644, and was made Visitor. (It may be a coinci-
dence, but a man of the same name was admitted a member of the
Edinburgh Incorporation of Surgeons in 1639.) On 4th May, 1644, the
City Treasurer obtained a warrant for money advanced by him for horses
"to the lait expeditioune to him and ane of his twa men to ryd on."

30. JAMES THOMSON. Entered in 1638. Apprentice to Mr. Ro'- Rosse,^ doctor

of Physick, who was not a Member. Visitor, 1656, 1662, 1664. A transac-
tion connected with a property of his is stated in Hill's History of the Merchants'
House, 121.

31. JAMES BRAIDWOOD, Younger. Entered in 1643 on the same terms as his

father, No. 27.

32. ROBERT MAINE (or Mayne, Latin Magnus), Physician. Entered in 1645, "Professor

of Medicine of hes aine consent admittit freman w' the calling conform to the
patent." M.A., probably of Glasgow. {Muninienta, iii. 19.) In 1635 he was
appointed Regent in the University, and in 1637 resigned that office on his
being appointed Professor of Medicine. It is not stated from what University
he obtained a degree in medicine. As professor he was to have a yearly
stipend of 400 merks. In 1641 he vacated his house in the College, to be
occupied by Mr. David Dickson, Professor of Divinity. {lb. ii. 305.) His
commission was to " teache ane publict lecture of Medicine in the said Colledge
once or twyse ewerie week, except in the ordiner tyme of vacance." Visitor,
1645. Principal Baillie seems to credit him with poetical abiUties {Baillies

1 Rosse's name is given as a contributor to the University Building Fund in 1632 {Mutiimenta , in. 472),
but it appears in a less commendable connection in the Kirk Session Records, (ist June, 1620, Glasgow,
Ancient and Modern, i. 146.)

236 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Letters and Journals^ iii, 403), and this is also referred to in his epitaph,
on his tombstone in the High Churchyard, as given by M'Ure (2nd Edit.,
p. 209), shows that he died in 1646, aged 42.

" Hie jacet Robertus Cognomento Magnus, multis
Nominibus revera magnus, philosophus, orator, poeta, medicus,

Omnigena virtute ac eruditione clarus,
Medicinae in Academia Glasguensi professor. Obiit nonis

Februarii millesimo sexcentisimo quadragesimo
Sexto, anno aetatis suae sexies septimo climacterico."

[Here lies Robert surnamed Mayne [Magnus], for many reasons truly great, philosopher,
orator, poet, physician, renowned for all manner of virtue and learning. Professor of Medicine
in the College of Glasgow. He died on the 5th February, 1646, in the sixth septennial
climacteric year of his life.]

33. JAMES DUNNING, Physician. Entered on same day and on similar terms as the

last. M.A., probably of Glasgow. {iWunivienta, iii. 18, 78.) The University
at which he graduated in Medicine not stated. Both Dr. Mayne and he
came under obligations " to be asisting to the Visitor and brethrine in all
things belonging to the well of the calling and to beir burdine w' the rest."

34. JOHN HALL, Elder. Entered in 1647 " freman w* the calling as professor of

Chirurgerie," a vagary in the way of phraseology not met with elsewhere in
the Minutes. Apprentice to his "gudsher" (grandfather) No. 8, and son or
nephew of No. 18. Town Councillor and bailie of Glasgow, 1656-57 and
1673-74. Visitor, 1648, 1651-52, 1654-55. In the great plague epidemic of
1645-48 he was very active, giving his services gratuitously to rich and poor,
and by a Minute of the Council, i8th September, 1647, "John Hall is ordanit
to gett fourtie pundis in satisfactioune of all his bygaine paynes in sichting
and viseiting suche as deceasit of the pestilence." (See also Minutes of 26th
August and 2nd October, 1648.) From a subsequent Minute of the Town
Council (23rd April, 1659) we find him " Knocking at the Counsallhous door
desyring to have entrie, and it being granted that he should com in his alone
and speak quhat he pleased, Because he was not permitted to com with any
multitude at his back he refused to com in, but protestit at the door." The
cause of this turbulent conduct is referred to by Principal Baillie who styles
him "a wavering and volage (fickle) man, albeit the Proveists nephew." The
Provost was John Anderson of Dovehill. {Baillie s Letters a/id Journals, in.
362-3.) He was involved in the dispute between the Town Council and the
Faculty mentioned at p. 71, and in one of several Minutes of the Town
Council dealing with it, he was forbidden "to sitt in the dean of gilds Counsell"
till the Faculty Minute book, alleged to have been tampered with, was pro-
duced. Father of No. 103. He was alive in 1696. (M'Ure's History of
Glasgow. 2nd edit., 20^, footnote.) Donor to the University Library in 1693.
{Munimenfa, in. 440.)

35. ADAM GRAY. Entered in 1648.

ROLL OF MEMBERS 237

36. JAMES LYES. Entered in 1648, and re-examined in 1654 for wider licence.

37. ARCHIBALD BOGLE. Entered in 1649. Father of No. 58.

38. THOMAS LOCKART. Entered in 1649 as " Apothecarie " — the words "and

Chirurgian " which follow interlined in the Minute were probably a subsequent
interpolation. It was the election of this man as Visitor in 1658 in violation
of the Seal of Cause, which provided that only a Surgeon freeman could be
so elected, which provoked the interference of the Town Council (p. 71). (See
Town Council Minutes, ist and 22nd November, 1659 ; 3rd and 31st December,
1659.) Father of No. 96.

39. JAMES FRANK. Entered in 1650. According to M'Ure, the Glasgow historian,

he was "the son of an English Esq'- Leicestershire." Visitor, 1660-62 and 1663.
His daughter Mary married Thomas Patoun, Merchant in Glasgow, father of
No. 162. Frank seems to have left Glasgow for some time, as we find the
Town Council (23rd January, 1658) inviting him back, and coming under
obligation to pay him a salary of 100 merks yearly, and they also voted a
sum for his transport to Glasgow. Father of No. 76. Died in Glasgow, 1677.

40. SYLVESTER RATTRAY, Physician. Native of Fife. Date of his entry not

minuted, but about 1657. In that year a Committee was appointed "to goe
to doctour Rotraye and crave a sicht of his letters of graduatione, and if he
refuis that they may have a sicht therof To report." Evidently he had
not refused, for there is no report. His presence at a meeting shortly after
leads to the inference that he had been admitted a freeman. In 1658 he
was the physician who attended the son of Principal Baillie. {Baillies
Letters. Ed. by D. Laing. 111. 373.) For an account of his two Medical
works see Chap. xxi. In the Munimenta of the University a student of the
same name is mentioned (in. 136) who was probably his son. It is not
known where Rattray graduated in Medicine.

41. ANDREW MILLER, " buikit barber" in 1654.

42. JOHN CRICHTON. Entered as a physician in 1654. There is no evidence where

he graduated. His son John was booked apprentice to him in 1657.

43. ROBERT HAREIS. Entered in 1654, "frieman, simple barbor-chirurgiane, onlie

to medell w' simple woundes allenerlie, and on na termes to meddell w' phisik,
tumors, hulsors, dislocanes, fractors, nor nothing y' is composit q" he be furder
qualifit."

44. JOHN HOW, Kilbarchan. Entered or licensed in 1654. One of a medical family

which practised for several generations (pp. 117, et seq.). This particular
member was not bright under examination, and he was only "licentiat . . .
to use and exerce sik pontis of ye airtes and caling of Chirurgianrie and
Medicine as qrof he hes knowlege, experience, and pratize." Probably father
of No. 145, and of Dr. George How, a physician in London. If so, to his
relationship to the latter he owes the distinction of being mentioned with a

238 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

rather sinister allusion in a line of Garth's Dispensary. His son, the physician,
was the " Querpo " of the physician-poet.

"In the design shrill Querpo did agree;
A zealous member of the faculty,
His sire's pretended steps he treads.
And when the doctor fails, the saint succeeds.
A conventicle fleshed his greener years,
And his full age the righteous rancour hears."

45- NATHAN GREY. Entered in 1654 "to exercice and cuir simple woundis, and
in p'ticular in cuting of ye gravell and stone w' ye haill cuir of ye gravell
and stone."

46. ARCHIBALD GRAHAM. Entered in 1654. M.A. Glasgow. He was "licentiat to

profes farmacie and medicine w'in ye boundis (except ye brut of Glasgow
as is content w'in ye Ires of gift, and obleiss him at na tyme heirefter to
use nor exerce any point of Chirurgerie)." The Town Council admitted
him burgess without fee, "and the benefit thairof to redound to his bairnes,
with the provision that he visie the seik poore of the toune . . . they
paying for the Medicaments. {Extracts froin the Records of the Toivn Council,
1881, 304.)

47. JOHN MATHIES, in Cokhue (?). Entered in 1654.

48. WILLIAM WALLACE. Entered as physician in 1654, "for ye present residenter

in Paisley, Professor of Medicine of his awin consent." M.A., probably of
Glasgow. It is not known where he graduated in medicine.

49. JAMES SCOT. Entered in 1654. Only " licentiat and tollerat to cuir simple

wounds," and a few other things.

50. JOHN PATERSON, Paisley. Entered in 1654 "licentiat in barbar-chirurgie,"

which is explained to connote "to cuir simple wounds, fractors q' y' is no
flesh cutt, phlebotomie, applicacione of ventosis and potentiall couteris."

51. WILLIAM KELSO, Ayr. Entered in 1654.

52. JOHN LIES. Entered in 1654, not a full freeman, but only as "licentiat and

tollerat," as in the case of No. 49.

53. JOHNE MILLER, Kilmarnock. Entered in 1654 as apothecary.

54. JOHN TOD. Entered in 1654.

55. ROBERT FERGUSHILL, Ayr. Entered in 1654 "to practise pharmacie and

Medicine," which is said to be "contenit in ye Ires of gift by ye deceist
King James."

56. THOMAS CHISHOLME, Ayr. Entered full Chirurgian in 1654.

57. JOHNE KID, Ayr. Entered in 1654 "licentiat to cuir simple woundis allenderlie"

[only].

ROLL OF MEMBERS 239

58. ARCHIBALD BOGLE. Entered in 1654. Son of No. 37. Visitor 1666-6S, 1669,

1671-73; T674-75.

59. WILLIAM SOUTTER. Entered in 1655 "to exerceis his airt of cuting of people

of the gravell, and preparing of the patientes in reference thereto w'out the
citie of Glasgow, swa far as they have libertie by the gift." Next year
we find from the Town Council Minutes that they made him a burgess
gratis " for service done and to be done be him." He seems to have been
destined as City stone-cutter, but was coy in accepting or remaining at the
post. As late as 14th May, 1659, "It is concludit that Doctour Soutour
be delt with to male his residence heir . . . and to pay him fourtie poundis
be yeir, he being obleist to contract to cure the poore in toune, wha shall be
recommendit to him be the magistrats, of the ston." In September, 1657,
the Faculty ordained his "fyne to be scorit out of the book and remitted
to him."

60. JAMES TOBIAS, Ayr. Entered in 1655, not only for himself, but as representing

his "old aged father, who was not able to travell," on the latter producing
a certificate from the magistrates and freemen of the Corporation, residing
in Ayr.

61. ALLAN KIRKWOOD, Darnley, Entered in 1655. His qualification extended in

1673.

62. TVER M'NEILL. Entered in 1656. The Minute bears that he "hes been in use

these ten yearis or therby bygaine in cutting of the Stone. They upon
sight of severall creditable testificates did licentiat him allenerlie to exerce
the cutting of the Stone." He appears to have received no regular salary
from the town for some years; but on 21st March, 1661, "It was concludit
be the Magistratis and Counsel! to pay yearlie to Evir M'Neill that cuts the
stone ane hundred markes Scots, and he to cut all the poor for that frielie :
wherupon ane contract was subscryvit betwist the toune and him theranent
this day." In the City Accounts for 1684 we find his salary still being paid,
so that he must have pursued his specialty for about forty years. He was
alive, but infirm, in 1688, when his successor, No. 152, was appointed.

63. ROBERT MUIR, Gorbals. Entered in 1657. Barber only.

64. JOHN LIDDELL. Entered in 1657. Barber only.

65. JAMES MO WAT. Entered in 1657. Apprentice of No. 40.

66. DAVID SHARP. Entered in 1658. M.A. Glasgow, 165 1. At first he was

admitted only as pharmacian, afterwards also as surgeon. Married Elizabeth,
sister of Mr. John Young, Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow.
Visitor, 1673. (Ref Munimenta Universitatis Glasguensis^ i. 400.)

67. THOMAS YOUNGER, Ardgowan. Entered in 1659. M.A. Glasgow.

68. JOHN FORSTER, Auchenleck. Entered in 1659.

240 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

69. THOMAS ROBIESON. Entered in 1659.

70. JOHN WEIR, Cambusnethan. Entered in 1659.

71. WILLIAM FLEMING. Entered in 1659.

72. ALEXANDER DUNLOP, Hamilton. Entered in 1659. M.A. Admitted "to use

some small poyntes of Chirurgie, sell drogis, and to give phisikes to patientis
according to ane approven doctours receipt."

73. GILBERT KENNEDY, Maybole. Entered in 1659. Apprentice to David Kennedy,

surgeon, Edinburgh.

74. ANDREW ELPHINSTON. Entered in 1660. Visitor, 1670.

75. JOHN MUIR. Entered in 1 66 1. Son and apprentice of No. 21. M.A. He is said to

have been admitted as " having sealled Patent or Letters of Gradua°ne producet
be him and red over befoir ye sd Court Quho hes fund him efter Exanina°n
qualifiet." This was the first time a Medical Graduate is said to have been
examined. Probably it arose from his having elected to practise surgery
instead of medicine.

76. JAMES FRANK, Younger. Entered in 1661. Son of No. 39.

77. JAMES WILSON, barber, booked in 1661.

78. ROBERT HAMILTON, Cambuslang. Entered in 1661.

79. JOHN SPREULL, Paisley. Entered in 1661 as a pharmacian. He was a keen

Covenanter, and after the battle of Pentland was fined by the Earl of Middleton,
and forced to hide himself. His son, then a lad under twenty, was thereupon
apprehended, but in spite of threats that he would be roasted alive or shot,
he refused to divulge his father's place of retreat. This son, who was sub-
sequently tortured in presence of the Duke of York, and whose long imprison-
ment in the Bass Rock obtained for him the sobriquet of " Bass John,"
does not appear to have been entered, although he was styled pharmacian
and merchant, but the defect in the Records renders this uncertain. Father
of No. 122. (Ref. Cleland's Annals of Glasgoiv, 11. 47.)

80. JAMES WATT. Entered in 1662.

81. JOHN EWING, Paisley. Entered pharmacian in 1661 "to sell drogs and mack

up recepes according to ane doctors direction qch he is to receave frae ye
doctor only in Scots Languadge, because he hes no uyr Languadge."

82. ANDREW BROWNE, Hamilton. Entered in 1662.

83. HUGH MONTGOMERIE. Entered in 1664. M.A. Glasgow, 1649.

84. QUINTIN M'ADAM, Girvan. Entered in 1665.

85. JOHN LOGAN, Gorbals. Entered in 1666.

86. JOHN PANTON, Hamilton. Entered in 1666. Brought up under Letters of

Horning. "He acknowledgit that neir thes fyfteine years bygaine sine he

ROLL OF MEMBERS 24 1

cam from france as he had occasione he profest to cuir all sort of wounds,
impostumes, vlcers, fractors, disloca°ns, — flebotomies, applieca°ne of couters,
and in vse to give physik to woundit persons, etc."

87. ROBERT DUNLOP, in DonCine? Entered in 1667.

88. DAVID FLEMING, in Killelane? Entered in 1667.

89. ADAM GRAY. Entered in 1667. Apprentice of No. 58. Son of Adam Gray,

Maltman, Glasgow.

90. JOHN ROBIESON. Entered in 1667 as an Apothecary, and "exempt from ever

bearing place or office w'in the said facultie," for what reason does not appear.

91. JOHN FLEMING. Entered as barber in 1667.

92. WILLIAM CURRIE, Douglas. Entered in 1667. It was his admission which

roused the ire of No. 26, and brought about the expulsion of the latter for
" blaspheming " (p. 68).

93. JOHN NIVEN, Dumbarton. Entered in 1667.

94. MATTHEW MILLER, Kilmarnock. Entered in 1668. Son of No. 53. (Seep. 52.)

95. THOMAS HARPER, Kilmarnock. Entered in 1668.

96. GEORGE LOCKHART. Entered in 1668. Son of No. 38.

97. CHARLES MOW AT. Entered in 1669. M.A. Glasgow. He was entered as a

pharmacian at first, his qualification being afterwards extended. Visitor,
1675-76, 1680. At the request of the Archbishop of Glasgow, he was admitted
burgess of the City gratis. (Hill's History of the Merchants^ House, 129.)

98. PETER BOGLE. Entered in 1669.

99. GILBERT NELSON, Strathaven. Entered in 1669, and his licence extended on

re-examination in 1672.

100. ROBERT HOUSTON. Entered in 1669, his licence being afterwards enlarged.
Visitor, 1667, 1679, and possibly 1691. Father of No. 175.

loi. HEW HUNTER. Entered as pharmacian in 1670.

102. JOHN HALL. Entered as barber in 167 1. The Minute of his admission states

that " After he had payd his freedom fyne of 40 pounds, Therafter the said
faculte, heaving taken to ther considera°ne the respect, kyndnes, favour,
and courtacie The sd John Hall had shown to the said calling, and guid
deeds done be him to them, they all in one voyce ordainit their collector
To give back Twentie Poundes as the equall half of the same fridome fyne."

103. JOHN HALL, Younger. Entered in 167 1. Eldest son of No. 34. Married, in

1665, Mary, daughter of Peter Gemmell, merchant and bailie of Glasgow.
(For his relationship to another surgeon, James Calder, No. 162A, see
M'Ure's History, 2nd ed., p. 106.) The parsonage house of the Rector of
Carstairs in the Rotten Row, occupied by Rev. David Weems (father-in-law

242 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

of Dr. Peter Lowe), is stated to have come to Hall " by his heir female."
{Glasgow, Past and Present. ii. 23. 1884.) In 1693 he gifted books to
the University Library. {M'umme?ita, iii. 440.) M'Ure mentions that he left
only one daughter, Christian ; in the Faculty Records two of his daughters (or
sisters?), neither of them of that name, are mentioned as beneficiaries.

104. ANDREW RALSTON. Entered in 167 1. Died in 1673, while holding office as

Collector.

105. WILLIAM SEMPILL, of Dalmok. Entered in 1672.

106. JAMES WEIR. Entered in 1672. Apprentice of No. 109. Visitor, 1698. Died

in 1705, when his son-in-law presented to the Library some of his books.
He himself was a donor of books in 1698, when the Library was founded.

107. JOHN TOD, Kilmarnock. Entered in 1672 as apothecary.

108. ALEXANDER PORTER, Beith. Entered in 1672 as apothecary. M.A. Glasgow.

109. JOHN COLQUHOUN. Entered in 1672 as physician. For an account of the

negotiations resulting in his admission see Chap, vii., p. 62. In 1672
he was appointed Rector's Assessor in the University. {Alunmenta, iii. 325.)
Phys. Visitor, 1672-73. It is not stated where he got his medical degree.

no. THOMAS HAMILTON. Entered in 1672 as physician under similar circum-
stances to the last. Phys. -Visitor, 1674-75. He died in 1675, as we find
his daughter Marion entered as his heir to a considerable amount of real
estate, including " in botho mercatorio in dicto burgo ex orientale latere viae
regiae nuncupatae Saltmercat," besides lands in the new Gallowmuir, etc.
{Glasgow, Past and Present, iii. 13. 1884.) Place of his degree not known.

III. MICHAEL WALLACE. Entered as physician in 1673, when he was appointed
"Visitor for the country," being then resident in Ayr, and intrusted with
the exercise of the powers conferred by the charter in his district. He
seems subsequently to have settled in Glasgow. Died 23rd January, 1692,
bequeathing p^ioo to the Merchants' House. His son John, who died
in 1699, made a similar bequest. (M'Ure's History, 2nd ed., 204-5.) No
information as to his degree.

-b'-

112. THOMAS SMITH. Entered in 1673. M.A. Glasgow. He was summarily

removed from the office of Collector in 1677 in view of his "being
denuncit or conveent before the lords of Secret Counsell ffor atten*^ con-
venticls." A year before this he was found guilty of using "vilipending
expressions " against the Visitor, but apologised, admitting that " he had been
then in passion."

113. BRYCE BELL. Entered in 1673 as physician. He was, jointly with No. 11 1,

appointed Visitor for the country, being then resident in Kilmarnock. By
the middle of 1677 he had settled in Glasgow, and was that year elected
Physician-Visitor. No evidence as to^ his degree.

ROLL OF MEMBERS 243

114. JOHN LANG, Hamilton, Entered in 1673.

115. JOHN LENNOX, Greenock. Entered pharmacian in 1673.

116. JAMES SAVES, Douglas. Entered in 1674.

117. JAMES MUTER, Stenhouse. Entered pharmacian in 1674.

118. WILLIAM BOGLE. Entered in 1674. Apprentice and probably son of No. 58.

119. JOHN ROBISON. Entered in 1674. Son of John Robison, Merchant in Glasgow.

Apprentice of No, dd. Appointed town surgeon for the poor; in the burgh
accounts for 1653 there occurs under i8th September the entry: "To John
Robison for his year's fiall as townes chirurgian, 66 lib. 13/4." {Memorabilia of
Glasgow, 241.)

120. JOHN TAP. Admitted barber in 1675. He was subsequently brought up for

" prophanation and abuse of the lord's day by barbourising therupon. . , ,
He denyit the same on his word of honesty and credit, was assoilzied," and
was warned not to do it again.

121. ROBERT BOYD. Entered in 1675. Apprentice of No. no. His freedom fine

was remitted in accordance with the deathbed request of his master,

122. JAMES SPREULL, Paisley. Entered in 1675. Son of No. 79, and brother of

" Bass John." Married his cousin Ann, daughter of John Spreull, Town Clerk
of Glasgow, who was removed from office owing to his disaffection to the
Stewart dynasty. Their daughter Janet married James Shortridge, of a well-
known Glasgow family. Died in 1680,

123. JOHN WHYTE, Paisley, Entered as pharmacian in 1675, ^^f- History of the

Witches of Renfrewshire, App. iv., 71.

124. JAMES MORTON. Entered in 1675.

125. LUDOVIC LINDSAY. Entered in 1676. Visitor, 1681,

126. JOHN HALL, Paisley, afterwards in Gorbals, Entered in 1676, but subsequently

brought up "under caption," and expelled for practising in points beyond
his licence in the way of cancer operations.

127. JAMES FORRESTER, Kilmalcolm. Entered in 1677,

128. THOMAS MELVILL. Booked barber in 1676 "at the request and desyre of

his . . . master, Jon Bell, Provest of Glasgow, w'out any payment."

129. JAMES LOW. Entered in 1677. Son of No. 28, and grandson of No. i. An

Edinburgh Writer to the Signet, Admitted under the same circumstances
as his father (see p. 32). Father of No. 200.

130. SAMUEL LOCKHART, Lanark. Entered in 1677. He is styled "Captain" in

the Minutes of the Faculty as in those of the Lanark Town Council. He
was brother-german to James Lockhart of Cleghorn. Some curious references
to him are given in the Extracts from the Records of the Town Council of
Lanark (1893), 204, 212-215, of which he was a member.

244

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

131. DAVID BAILLIE, Lanark. Entered as pharmacian in 1677. Apprentice to

Robert Campbell, Pharmacian, Edinburgh.

132. JAMES SHIELDS, Lanark. Entered in 1677. Apprentice to Hew Brown,

Chirurgian, Edinburgh. In 1679 removed to Glasgow.

133. JOHN CAMPBELL, in Inerary. Entered in 1677.

134. JOHN CRAWFORD, Kilmarnock, Entered in 1677.

135. ALEXANDER TRAN. Entered in 1678. Apprentice to Wm. Borthwick, Chirur-

gian, Edinburgh. The examinators reported, as regards pharmacy, that his
compositions were not "made secundum artevi'" ; and his licence was subject
to "this qualifie, that they will order his shope to be sichted and visited."
He was alive in 1708.

136. JOHN COUPER, Lesmahagow. Entered in 1678.

137. JOHN ADAM, Inglestoun Bridge. Entered in 1679

138. ANDREW BROWN, Dolphington. Entered in 1679.

139. JOHN STOBO. P:ntered in 1680. M.A. Glasgow, 1666.

140. MARK CLIFFORD, Lanark. Entered in 1680. (Ref. Extracts from the Records

of the Burgh of Lanark, 207, 214.)

141. JOHN OR. Entered in 1680, when under age, in view of his poverty, "and in

regard to his neir rela°ne to the now deceist Mr. Peter Low."

142. JOHN LIDDELL. Entered in 1680; afterwards suspended "for his misbehavior

towards the Visitor, and abusing him, w' several myr (more) members of
the Facultie."

143- JOHN CRAWFORD, Paisley. Entered in 1681 as pharmacian. "Sone to Mr.
Hew Crawford, master at Cumnock."

144. WILLIAM M'GIE. Entered in 1681.

145. JOHN HOW, Yr., of Demptoun, Kilbarchan. Entered in 1681, having been

brought up in "obedienc to a charg of horning." Probably the son or grand-
son of No. 44. (Rff. Crawford's History of Renfrewshire, 378 ; Hector's
Judicial Records of Refifrew shire, 2nd Series, 66.)

146. GEORGE ARMOUR, barber. Booked in 1682.

*^* From this date till 1733 the Records are awanting, having been destroyed
under circumstances stated at p. 91, et seq. But an imperfect list has been compiled
from other documents, printed and manuscript, which have been preserved. The dates
of entry cannot be given in most cases ; and the order of the names makes no pretence
to be their order of enrolment.

ROLL OF MEMBERS 245

147. MATTHEW BRISBANE. Entered as physician about 1684. M.D. Utrecht,

1661 (Thesis, " De Catalepsi"). Son of Rev. Matthew Brisbane, parson of
Erskine, a scion of the house of Brisbane of Bishopton. Held office in the
University as Dean of Faculty, 1675-76; Rector, 1677-81. {Munivmita, in. 326,
356.) In the City Accounts for 1684 his name appears as town's physician,
his salary being the same as that of the surgeon and of the stone-cutter.
He gave a professional opinion in the famous Bargarran Witchcraft case in
1696. {^Witches of Renfrewshire, 129.) Father of No. 195.

148. ROBERT GRAHAM, of Gallengade. Entered before 1698; deceased between 1708

and 17 19. A considerable donor to the Faculty Library.

149. ALEXANDER KNOX, deceased between 1708 and 17 19. Donor to Library.

150. THOMAS HAMILTON. Visitor, 1708; alive in 1733. In 1716 he was ordered

by the Town Council to be paid ;^48 (Scots) " for curing a complicat fracture
of the hand of Robert Russell, the tonne's Master Gunner, which he received by
one of the great guns," and for similar services to various volunteers " contusit,
woundit, and otherwise injured by the firing of their own great guns." (Cleland's
Statistics, 186.) Donor to Faculty Library.

151. JOHN BOYD. Entered before 1698. Ahve in 1719, but not in 1733. He was

the Joannes Bodie who, at the starting of the Library in 1697, presented the
folio book with clasps in which to record donations.

152. DUNCAN CAMPBELL. Succeeded No. 62 as City "Stone-cutter." 27th March,

1688: "The said day there was ane testificat produced in favour of Duncan
Campbell, subscryvit be the haill doctors and most part of the chirurgianes
in toune, of his dexterite and success in cutting of the stone, as also sounding
with great facilitie, and hes given severall proofes therof within the burgh :
Whilk being taken to the said magistrats and counsell ther consideration,
they nominat and appoynt him to cut such poor in towne as he shall be desyred
be the magistrats, in place of Evir M'Neill, who is become unfit to do the
same through his infirmitie. {^Memorabilia of Glasgow, p. 258.) Died before
1708.

153. DAVID HALL. Alive in 1708, but not in 17 19. Donor to Library.

154. JOHN NAISMITH. " Son to the deceasit Mr. James Naismith, sometime Minister

at Hamilton." Apprentice to No. 66.

155. JASPER TOUGH, Kilmarnock. Wodrow, in his History of the Church, describes

how he was subjected to the rigours of military despotism in 1683 for non-
conformity. (See also M'Kay's History of Kilmarnock, 53.)

156. HENRY MARSHALL. Entered after a lawsuit raised by the Faculty against

the Town Council in regard to the assumed right of that body to license

246 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

him to practise in Glasgow. (Chap, ix.) As an example of a Glasgow
medical genealogical tree, the following may be of some interest :

Patrick Marshall,

Surgeon, Kilsyth
(1631-1697).

His son, Henry Marshall, His son, John Marshall,

Surgeon, died 1727. Surgeon, died 1719.

His daughter Lillian,
married Alexander Horsburgh, Surgeon,
who died 1745.

Their daughter, LILLIAN HORSBURGH,
married Robert Cowan, Merchant
(1735-1813).

Their son, Robert Cowan,

Surgeon, Glasgow

(1769-1808).

His son, Robert Cowan, M.D.,

Professor of Medical Jurisprudence,
University of Glasgow
(1706-1841).

His son, John Black Cowan, M.D.,

Emeritus Professor of Materia Medica,
University of Glasgow
(1829-

His son, John Marshall Cowan, M.B. Cantab.

Henry Marshall married (i) Jean Baillie and (2) Margaret Storie, daughter
of Richard Storie, Esq., and Lady Lilias Fleming, the latter being daughter
of the third Earl of Wigton and Lady Jane Drummond, eldest daughter of
the third Earl of Perth. It is this marriage of Richard Storie that is perpetuated
in the ballad :

" The Erie of Wigton had three daughters,
O braw willie they were bonnie ;
The youngest of them and the brawest too,
Has fallen in love wi' Richard Storie."

157. WILLIAM WILSON, Greenock. Father of No. 221. (Ref. Weir's History of

Greenock^ ii4-)

158. NICOL BROWN, Newmilns. Married Marion Campbell of Waterhaughs. Father

of Thomas Brown, surgeon, London, who built Langside, and died in 1739-
The latter was the father of No. 354. (Ref Country Houses of the old Glasgow
Gentry, 160.)

159. JOHN HATTRICK, Merkdaily, Glasgow. Wodrow {Analeda, 11. 370) tells a

story that " he being under very great deepths of exercise, came to a resolution

ROLL OF MEMBERS

247

to put ane end to his dayes, and went resolutely to the Peat-bogg at the
Green of Glasgow and cast himself into the Clyde: That he was caryed, he
did not knou hou, to Govan side of the water ; and was very litle wet when
he came to the shore though he could sweem none."

160. JOHN MELVILL. Entered in 17 18, and died in that or the following year.

i6i. WILLIAM THOMSON. Apprentice to No. 97. Chirurgeon-Visitor, 1 709-11,
1714-15. Died between 1719 and 1733.

162. PETER PATOUN. Entered as physician about 1692. Son of Thomas Patoun,

merchant in Glasgow, whose wife was a daughter of No. 39. Studied medicine
at Leyden, and graduated there as M.D., 1691 (Diss. Inaug., " De partu
difhcili "). Married Anna Hamilton, daughter of the laird of Dalserf. Father
of No. 199. Donor of a considerable number of books to the University
Library i^Munimenta, in. 440), also to the Faculty Library. Contributor to
the Edinburgh Medical Essays (i. 172). Long one of the leading physicians
in Glasgow. President, 1709-10.

163. HUGH FULTON. Entered in or before 1705. Visitor, 1712-13. Wodrow, the

Church historian, says : " He was mighty in wrestling, a great sympathizer, and
had a constant concern about the publick interests, and great apprehensions
of comming and suddain and desolating stroaks. He had a mighty concern
about the matter of purity of doctrine." {A7ialecta, in. 475.) Died in 1728.

161A. HEW COCHRAN, Lanark, Ref. Glaister's Dr. William Smellie, 19.

162A. JAMES CALDER, Senior. Entered before 1705. Married Mary, daughter of

Walter Atchison of RoughsuUoch, she being grand-daughter of No. 103.

(M'Ure's History of Glasgow, 2nd ed., 106.) Father of 184. Donor to
Faculty Library. Visitor, 17 16-18.

163A. JOHN CAMPBELL, Paisley. Apprentice to John Hall, No. 34(?) According to
Wodrow there was a design to appoint him Professor of Anatomy in the
University of Glasgow in succession to Dr. Brisbane. {Analecia, iv. 28.) M.D. (?)
(University unknown). Long the leading practitioner in Paisley. (For a pro-
fessional account of his, containing some curious items, see Hector's Judicial
Records of Renfrewshire, 2nd Series, 59.)

164. THOMAS NAPIER of Ballikinrain. Second son of William Napier, eleventh

of Ballikinrain, and Rebecca Buchanan, his wife. Born in 1684; died in
1 7 18. His father had a house in Glasgow. Li 17 13 married Anna, daughter
of Alexander Napier of Blackstone. In 17 14 he presented to the Faculty a
copy of the Works of Heurnius, the donor being entered as " Thomas Napier
of Ballikinrain, Chyr." Mr. Guthrie Smith, who gives the genealogy of the
family in his History of Strathendrick, does not mention that he was a surgeon
(p. 201); and as he came into the succession in 1702 he may never have
practised. His uncle James had been apprenticed to Wm. Borthwick, an
Edinburgh surgeon. {Ibid., p. 199.)

165. WILLIAM WRIGHT, M.D. Entered as a physician. Donor to Library.

248 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

166. THOMAS KENNEDY, M.D. Leyden, 1682. (Inaug. Diss., " De nutritione

foetus.") In 1703 was called in by the University to act as one of the
assessors to Dr. Sinclare, M.D., Professor of Mathematics, in the examina-
tion of the first (or one of the first) candidates for the degree of M.D.
{Munimenta, iii. 376.) Donor to Library. Died in 1708, aged 48,
bequeathing money to the Merchants' Hospital. (Hill's Merchants' House,
576; M'Ure's History, 2nd ed., 206.)

167. JAMES BAIRD, M.D. Entered as a physician. Donor of books at the start of

the Faculty Library.

168. JOHN BOGLE. Entered before 1708; deceased before 17 18. Son of No.

ii8(?). Donor to Library. (Ref. M'Ure's History, 2nd ed., 128.)

169. HUGH THOMSON. He had been minister of Kilmaurs, which office he demitted

about 17 12, "having no freedom to take the oath of abjuration," says
Wodrow. {Aiialcda, iv. 203.) He then took to the practice of medicine,
which he seems to have learned, and eventually came to Glasgow, where he
practised till his death in 1731. Wodrow states that he used to preach four
or five hours, and was the longest preacher he ever heard.

170. JOHN MARSHALL. Son of Patrick Marshall, surgeon, Kilsyth. After appren-

ticeship he seems to have studied at Paris in 1677, one of the books he gifted
to the Faculty bearing his name with that year and place. Married Christian
Stewart. Brother of No. 156 {q.v.). M.A. 1707. In 1704 he was appointed
by the University to have charge of the Physic Gardens, the entry to which,
curious to say, was restricted to masters and those students who were
the sons of noblemen. {Mtmimenta, 11. 421.) The Minute of his appoint-
ment runs thus: "The Faculty [of the University] having resolved to
prosecute their own act of July 4th anent the improvement of some parts
of their Great Yard for Botany and a Physick Garden, do now think it
necessary to name one who shall have the charge and oversight thereof,
and who may instruct the scholars who shall apply to him for the study
of botany, and being informed that John Marshell, Chirurgeon in Glasgow,
is capable of discharging that trust, and being specially recommended
by the Dean of Faculties letter, Therefore the Faculty does nominate
the said John Marshell to the said employment." Died in 17 19.

171. JOHN SEMPLE of Dalmoak. Donor to Library.

172. MATTHEW LAMB of Rorkwood. Donor to Library.

173. ADAM CUNNINGHAM, Greenock. Donor to Library. Died 1769. (Ref. Weir's

History of Greenock, 114.)

174. ANDREW REID. Entered on or before 1708. Donor to Library. Deceased

before 1719.

175. ROBERT HOUSTON. Son of No. 100, Entered after 1684. Either he or his

father was Visitor in 1691, probably the former. M.A. Glasgow. In 1711

ROLL OF MEMBERS

249

he applied to the University to be examined for the doctorate of medicine,
and in 171 2 this was done, and he received the degree. Previous to this
he seems to have acquired reputation in and around Glasgow as a surgeon.
The exact date of his leaving Glasgow is not known, but seems to be about
1 7 14. He then settled to practise about Westminster. In 1725 he was
admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society, and contributed to their Trans-
actions "An account of an extra-uterine foetus taken out of a woman after
death, that had continued four and a half years in the body." (xxxii. 257,
1725.) Next year he contributed "An account of a Dropsy in the left ovary
of a woman aged 58, cured by a large incision made in the side of the
abdomen" (xxxiii. 8), the operation having been performed a quarter of a
century earlier when he was a surgeon in Glasgow. (See p. 114 of Text.) In
1723 he published, with his initials only, " Lithotomus Castratus : or
Mr. Cheselden's treatise on the High Operation for the Stone thoroughly
examin'd, and plainly found to be Lithotomia Douglassiana, etc., under
another title, in a letter to Dr. John Arbuthnot." (Lond. : T. Rayne.) In
1726 he published, also under initials only, "The history of Ruptures and
Rupture Cures, etc., wherein both are thoroughly and impartially considered.
. . With a genuine receipt of the whole secret, which was lately sold
for an immense sum of money, etc." (Lond. : E. Strahan.) Houston died
in 1734. (Ref Lawson Tait, Diseases of the Ovaries, 239.)

176. ROBERT HAMILTON. Signs the " Letter of Demission and Renunciation " of

the Seal of Cause, 17 19.

177. JOHN HAMILTON. Donor to Faculty Library.

178. ALEXANDER MASON. Signs the "Letter of Demission and Renunciation" of

the Letter of Deaconry, 17 19.

179. WILLIAM ENGLISH. Deceased before 17 19.

180. JOHN MURDOCH. Father-in-law of No. 187.

181. GEORGE THOMSON, M.D. Leyden. Was in practice in Glasgow in 1703, when

he was selected to be one of the assessors to Dr. Sinclare, M.D., Professor
of Mathematics at the first examination for the medical degree. He seems
to have set credulous Wodrow agape with the teratological marvels he had
seen in Holland, of a man whose neck grew out of his side, and of a boy
with " Deus Mens" written on his eye. {Analecta, i. 3, 4.) Physician-Visitor
1733-34.

182. ALEXANDER PORTERFIELD. In 1684 booked apprentice to No. 119. Son

of Alexander Porterfield, who was third son of Alexander Porterfield of that
Ilk. Entered about 1690, and in 1733 was senior surgeon member. (For
his genealogy see Crawfurd's General Description of the Shire of Renfrew,
edited by J. G. Robertson, 18 18, 63. See also Glasgow, Fast and Present,
1884, III. 484).

250 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

183. ANDREW HOW, of Pannell, Kilbarchan. This is another member of the medical

family to which belonged Nos. 44 and 145. For copy of a curious summons
taken out by him against some half-dozen of his patients for the payment
of their bills, see p. 108.

183A. JOHN M'JARROW, Ayr. Born 1688. Entered about 17 12. Eldest son of
Thomas M'Jarrow of Bass. Married Agnes, daughter of Robert Simpson,
at one time Provost of Ayr. (Paterson's History of Carrick, 417.)

184. JAMES CALDER, Younger. Son of No. 162 A. Contributed a number of papers

to the Edinburgh Medical Essays. Died about 1765.

185. JAMES HAMILTON, of Newton. Entered after 17 19. Married Annabella,

third daughter of Sir Robert Pollok of that Ilk (Mearns). He had an only
son, James, who died without issue. Practised as a surgeon in Glasgow.
Visitor 1733-34. (Ref. Crawfurd's Shire of Renfrew (1818), 292,)

186. DUNCAN M'LACHLAN, Dumbarton. " Forasmeikell as Doctor Duncan M'Lach-

lan is content to mak his residence in the burgh, and to use his caUing in
the service of phisick, pottingerie and chirurgerie hier, the burgh furnishing
him ae hous and yaird to him to dwell into. Thairfor finding it necessary
and for the weill of the burgh and commonwealth thairof to have him to
dwell thairin. The sd p'est, baillies and counseill codescends to geve him
yeirlie . . . fourtie pundis Scottis money for paying the maill of ae hous
content that p''eist, baillies and counsaill mak indentures w' him in the same
termes." {Dumbarton Burgh Records, 52.)

187. WILLIAM STIRLING. Entered in 1712, his admission being one of the

occasions of setting the surgeons and barbers by the ears. (See Chap, x.)
Member of an old Glasgow family, being the great-grandson of Walter
Stirling, who married Dr. Peter Lowe's widow, and father of the Walter
Stirling who founded Stirling's Library. His surgery was in the Dispensary
Close, High Street. He was an M.A. of Glasgow, and appears to have re-
ceived at least part of his training in Holland. Partner with No. 191, along
with whom and other two citizens he introduced the linen manufactures into
Glasgow. (M'Ure's History, 2nd ed., 257.) M.axx\e6., first, Janet Smith;
second, Elizabeth Murdoch, daughter of No. 180. Died in 1757.

188. THOMAS BUCHANAN. Entered between 1708 and 17 19. Surgeon-Visitor

i734'36- Married Elizabeth Napier, eldest daughter of Archibald Napier,
of Bankell and Ballocharne. (Guthrie Smith, History of Strathendrick,
185, 186.)

189. ROBERT WALLACE. Entered between 1708 and 1719. Father of No. 252.

Visitor in 1745-48. House in Saltmarket (M'Ure's History, 2nd ed., 126),
and possibly afterwards in Candleriggs {Old Glasgoiv, by Senex, 437).

ROLL OF MEMBERS

251

Mr. Robert Reid says that '* he was at the top of his profession as a
medical man" {Ibid.).

190. ROBERT HUNTER, Kilmarnock. Entered in 1728.

191. JOHN GORDON. Entered before 17 19. Partner with No. 187, and subsequently

with No. 251. Along with the former he set up the hnen works of Grahams-
town Hall, near Glasgow. After practising as a general practitioner for
upwards of thirty years, he graduated at the University in 1754, and limited
his practice to that of a physician. President 1755-56 and 1763-64. Married
Mary, daughter of Patrick Bell, Cowcaddens. Smollett, his old pupil, is stated
to have had Gordon in his mind when drawing the character of " Potion " in
Roderick Random. In 1725 he was one of " The Secret Committy" of three
who drew up for publication in London a vindication of the Magistrates of
Glasgow against aspersions cast upon them in connection with the Shawfield
House Riot arising from the imposition of the Malt Tax. (Wodrow's Analeda^
HI. 248.) Friend and correspondent of Smellie, the obstetrician. Died in 1770.

192. JOHN PAISLEY. Entered between 17 19 and 1724. Educated at the University

of Glasgow. He was long " bibliothecarius " to the Faculty. Thomson states
in his Life of Culleti (i. 3) that he was engaged in extensive practice, was of
a studious turn of mind, and had collected a large and valuable medical
library. When his old pupil-apprentice, CuUen, began as a lecturer on
medicine, Mr. Paisley's library was thrown open to his students. He con-
tributed some articles to the Edinburgh Medical Essays (vi. 283, 296).

193. THOMAS DOUGALD. See p. 91.

194. COLIN M'CALL, Cumbernauld.

195. THOMAS BRISBANE. Son of No. 147. Entered as physician. M.D. (Uni-

versity not ascertained). First Professor of Anatomy and Botany in the
University of Glasgow (1720-42). As far as appears he taught neither of the
subjects, and more than once there was a movement to supersede him.
(Rff. Wodrow's Analecta, iii. 332, iv. 28.) He died in 1742. Father of
No. 290.

196. WILLIAM JOHNSTON, Paisley.

197. JOHN WODROW, M.D. Admitted as a physician. Son of Rev. James Wodrow,

Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow, brother of Rev. Robert
Wodrow, minister of Eastwood, author of the History of the Sufferings
of the Church of Scotland, etc. He was a man of scientific tastes, devoted
to natural history. His physic garden, to the upkeep of which the Faculty
contributed annually, was situated on the east bank of the Molendinar,
about where St. Andrew's Square now is. Married Sophia Douglas, who,
when a widow, presented his botanical books, etc., to the Library. Rff.
Duncan's Literary History of Glasgow, 37 ; Wodrow's Analecta, iii, 185,
188, 339 (the last a story of second sight). Died 1769.

252 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

198. JOHN JOHNSTOUN. Admitted as physician. M.D. Utrecht, 1709. (Inaug.

Diss., " De nutrimento, incremento et detrimento animalium.") His father's
Christian name and profession were the same as his own, but his place of
practice has not been ascertained. Second Professor of Medicine in the
University of Glasgow (17 14-51). Like Dr. Brisbane, he does not appear
to have performed the duties of his Chair, as Wodrow says, "Dr. John-
stounn teaches as little and praelects none." {Atialecta, iii. 333.) President,
i737"38- Resigned his Chair in 1750.

199. DAVID PATOUN. Entered as physician prior to February, 1724. Son of

No. 162. President, 1741-42. Married in 1727 Agnes, daughter of Thomas
Baxter, merchant in Glasgow. M.D. (University not stated). Long a leading
physician in Glasgow. His brother was Colonel Patoun, F.R.S., author of
a once well-known treatise on Navigation \ and his son Archibald was the
Captain Patoun, a familiar figure under the Tontine piazza, the hero of
Lockhart's Lament. Died in 1782.

200. ROBERT LOW. Entered 2nd October, 1721, on the same honorary terms as

his father (No. 129) and his grandfather (No. 28). Writer to the Signet,
Edinburgh.

201. JOHN CAMPBELL, Greenock.

202. WILLIAM MAITLAND. Entered as physician, in virtue of what degree does

not appear. " Minister of the Gospel, Mauchline." His daughter, Mrs.
Mary Stewart, a widow, was admitted a pensioner in 1744.

203. ALEXANDER HORSBURGH. Son-in-law of No. 156. He spent some time in

China, from which place in 172 1 he sent some "rarities" to the Faculty
Museum. Died in 1745, bequeathing to the Faculty a small legacy. His
son Harry, regarding whom the story of a curious litigation turning on
the ownership of a sword is told in some of the histories of Glasgow
{Glasgow, Past and Present, in. 296), was a partner of the firm of Anderson
and Horsburgh, merchants in Glasgow. (See also what is said under No.

156.)

204. JOHN LOCKHART.

205. ALLAN M'RAE.

206. WILLIAM SMELLIE. Entered in 1732-33. Born at Lanark in 1697, in which

burgh he began to practice about 1720, and continued up to 1739. After
visiting Paris, he eventually settled in London, and began to teach midwifery,
his demonstrations being remarkable for the ingenuity of his mechanical
models. He soon became the leading exponent of man-midwifery in the
Metropolis. By his improvement of the forceps, and in other ways, he con-
tributed much to the progress of obstetrics. In 1752 he published A Treatise
on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery, which went through many editions,
and was translated into several languages. It was republished by the New
Sydenham Society, and edited by Dr. M'Clintock of Dublin. This work was
followed by his Anatomical Tables in 1754. In 1745 he received from the
University of Glasgow the honorary degree of M.D. In 1759 he retired to

ROLL OF MEMBERS

253

Lanark, where he died in 1763. (Rff. Glaister's Dr. William Smellie and
his Contemporaries, 1894; M'Clintock's Memoir in Vol. i. of the New
Sydenham Society edition of his Midwifery, 1876.)

207. JAMES GARDINER, Kiimaurs.

208. ROBERT KELSO, Beith.

209. WALTER ALEXANDER.

210. JAMES CORBERTSON.

211. ROBERT FREEBAIRN, Kilbride.

* *

The entries from 2 1 2 omvards are taken from the Minute Books.

212. THOMAS SIMSON, Biggar. Entered in 1735.

213. JOHN LOVE. Entered in 1735, when he was resident in Greenock. Removed

to Glasgow in 1740. Contributed to Edinburgh Medical Essays (v. 735),
"Observations on the effects of Lignum Guaiacum in Cancer."

214. JOHN M'FARLAND. Entered 1735. Resident outside of Glasgow.

215. THOMAS KILPATRICK, Carntyne. Entered in 1735.

216. ROBERT CHISHOLM. Entered in 1735. Practised first at Blairs, afterwards

at Skelmorlie.

217. ARCHIBALD CROSBIE, Carmunnock. Entered in 1735.

218. GEORGE MONTGOMERIE. Admitted as physician in 1735. M.D. Glasgow,

1732. There appears to have been another Dr. Montgomerie practising in
Glasgow in 17 12 {Munimenta Universitatis Glasguensis, 11. 402), who was
also a member of the Faculty, as his daughter became a pensioner in 1745;
his Christian name has not been ascertained. Dr. George Montgomerie was
President in 1743-45. Died 1778, aged 73. (Rff. Glasgow, Fast and Present,
1884, I. 509, 582; II. ^2^, footnote.)

220. JAMES MUIR. Entered in 1736. Practised first in Rutherglen and latterly

in Glasgow. He was probably the earliest lecturer on midwifery in Glasgow,
his advertisement appearing in the Glasgotv Journal, No. 950, Oct. 15-22,
1769. (See p. 134.) For other references to him, see Glasgotv, Past and
Present, 1884, iii. 161 ; Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society,
1883, Vol. II., 305.)

221. NATHAN WILSON, Greenock. Entered in 1736. Son of No. 157. Father

of No. 286. (Ref. Weir's History of Gree?iock, 114.)

222. JAMES GRIER. Entered in 1736. Apprentice to No. 192.

223. ROBERT BOGLE. Entered in 1737.

254 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

224. THOMAS GARVINE, Ayr. Entered in 1738. Apprentice to No. 170.

225. HECTOR M'LEAN, Gorbals, Entered in 1739. Died 1782. He was long

a pensioner of the Faculty.

226. DAVID CORBETT. Entered in 1739. His house or place of business was in

the Faculty's property in Trongate, adjoining the first Faculty Hall.

227. PARLAN M'FARLAN, Dumbarton. Entered in 1739.

228. GEORGE COLQUHOUN. Entered in 1739. Apprentice to No. 203.

229. JOHN CRAWFORD. Entered in 1741. Son of John Crawford, Merchant in

Glasgow. Visitor, 1751-53. The Glasgow Journal for 3rd Nov., 1755,
has the notice — " Last week Mr. John Crawford, Surgeon in Glasgow, had
a prize of ^500 in the present lottery." (Other Rff., Glasgow, Past and
Fresefit, 1884, iii. 157, 161 ; The Regality Club, 3rd Series, 21, et seq.)

230. ROBERT HAMILTON. Entered in 1743 as physician. M.D. Glasgow, 1742.

A cadet of the Hamiltons of Airdrie, a branch of the house of Preston
and Fingaltoun, the baronetcy of which was eventually assumed by his grand-
nephew, Sir Wm. Hamilton, the metaphysician. His father was Rev. Wm.
Hamilton, of Bothwell. Married Molly, daughter of John Baird of Craighton,
described in the newspaper notice as "a beautiful young lady with a hand-
some fortune." {Glasgow Journal, 4th May, 1747.) President, 1745-47. He
succeeded No. 195 as Professor of Anatomy and Botany in the University
in 1742, and in 1756 he was transferred to the Chair of Medicine, and died
the following year. Brother of No. 254. (For the pedigree of the family,
see Crawfurd's General Description of the Shire of Renfrew, 18 18. See also
Veitch's Life of Sir Wm. Hamilton', Strang's Glasgow Clubs, 2nd ed., 21.)

231. THOMAS HAMILTON, Hamilton. Entered in 1743. Two years earlier he had

entered into partnership with No. 234, which continued till Cullen's removal
to Glasgow in 1744. (Thomson's Life of Cullen, i. 15.)

232. ROBERT ANDERSON, Dumbarton. Entered in 1743.

233. JAMES ANDERSON. Entered in 1744. Assistant for some time to No. 182.

234. WILLIAM CULLEN. Entered in 1744 as physician. Born in Hamilton in

1 7 10, he was apprenticed to No. 192. After a voyage to the West Indies
he returned to Hamilton, and began practice in Auchinlee, near his birthplace.
In 1734-36 he went to study medicine at Edinburgh, and started practice
in Hamilton in 1736, having as pupil from 1737 to 1740 William Hunter,
afterwards so celebrated. In 1741 he entered into partnership with No.
231; and in 1744 settled in Glasgow, having taken his medical degree
at the University of Glasgow in 1740. He at once began lecturing on
medicine, chemistry, and other subjects, and in 1751 he succeeded
Dr. Johnstoun as Professor of Medicine in the University, and quickly
transformed the post from a sinecure to a working Chair. In 1755 ^^

ROLL OF MEMBERS

255

transferred his services to the Edinburgh Medical School, and filled succes-
sively the Chairs of Chemistry, Institutes of Medicine, and Practice of
Medicine; but his career in Edinburgh need not here be followed.
President, 1747-49. He died in 1790. For a full Memoir, see Thomson's
Account of the Life and Writmgs of William Cullen, M.D. (Vol. i., 1832;
Vol. II., 1859). For condensed Memoir, see article in the Dictionary of
National Biography, Vol. xiii. 279. Portrait by W. Cochrane in the
Hunterian INIuseum ; replica in the Faculty Hall.

234A. CHRISTOPHER BANNATYNE, Lanark. Entered in 1745.

235. ROBERT CAMPBELL, Paisley. Entered in 1745.

236. ANDREW CRAIG. Entered in 1745. His brother William was one of the city

ministers, father of Lord Craig, one of the Senators of Justice. Married
daughter of Rev. John M'Laurin, minister of Luss and afterwards of St. David's
Parish, Glasgow. One of three daughters, Agnes, wife of a Mr. Maclehose,
a Glasgow lawyer, was the "Clarinda" of the poet Burns, who met her in
Edinburgh when she was living apart from her husband. This lady herself
was a pensioner of the Faculty for some years after her father's death in
1782. Another daughter, Peggy, married Mr. Kennedy of Auchtyfardle,
advocate.

237. JOHN WILSON, Hartridge of Douglas. Entered in 1745.

238. JOHN CARRICK. Entered in 1746. Son of Rev. Robert Carrick, minister of

Houston, and brother of Robert Carrick of Monfode, a well-known Glasgow
banker of his day. He acted as assistant to Dr. Robert Hamilton, Professor
of Anatomy, and in collaboration with Dr. William Cullen, he also lectured
on Chemistry and Materia Medica. He died prematurely in 1750. (Ref to
Thomson's Life of Cullen, i., 29.)

239. ANDREW MORRIS. Entered in 1747. Born in 17 17. M.D. Rheims. Son of

a Bailie Morris, who was also a member of the Faculty, but who has not
been identified. Having failed in a legal suit to establish his claim to practise
as a surgeon in virtue of his degree, he submitted himself to examination,
and was licensed as a surgeon, having been apprenticed to his father. In
1757 he was reported as "now a Surgeon in the Army"; but he soon
returned. In 1764 he applied for and obtained the use of the Faculty Hall for
" Medicall Lectures." He was undoubtedly eccentric, though the story told
about him in some histories of Glasgow of his inducing disease by experi-
menting whether himself or his horse would subsist longest on starvation
diet is probably apocryphal {Glasgoiv, Fast and Present, 1884, i. 350). It is
true, however, that he was for many years paralyzed in his lower limbs, and
became a pensioner on the Faculty. He had an animus against lawyers, and
protested against the Faculty Clerk being of that profession. He edited
an edition of Celsus in 2 vols., 1766. Died in 17S8. (Ref Transactions

256 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

of the Archeological Society of Glasgow, 1883, 11. 304.) His house was in
Dunlop Street.

240. JOHN MORRISON, Old Kilpatrick. Entered in 1747. Combined school-keeping

with surgery.

241. ALEXANDER MOLLISON, Port-Glasgow. Entered in 1749.

242. ROBERT MONTGOMERY, Beith. Entered in 1749. He was one of several

generations of medical members of the family in Beith. (Ref. Czminghajne,
topographized by T. Pont, continued by J. Dobie. Glasgow, 1876.)

243. JOHN GRAHAM, Paisley. Entered in 1749.

244. THOMAS LOGAN, Dalmellington. Entered in 1749.

245. NINIAN HILL, Paisley Entered in 1750. Settled in Glasgow in 1754. Partner

with No. 305. Resided in Trongate. (Ref. Glasgow, Past and Present,
1884, II. 205, 206.

246. WILLIAM MORRIS, Kilmarnock. Entered in 1750.

247. WILLIAM DEANS, Stewarton. Entered in 1750,

248. WILLIAM MUIR, Kilmarnock. Entered in 1750.

249. WILLIAM RALSTON. Entered in 1750.

250. ANDREW RIDDALL, Gorbals. Entered in 1750.

251. JOHN MOORE. Entered in 1751. Son of Rev. Charles Moore, Stirling, and

Marion, daughter of Rev. John Anderson, Glasgow. Educated at Glasgow
University, and apprenticed to Nos. 187 and 191 jointly. In 1747 he was
appointed surgeons' mate, and was at Maestricht when the hospitals were
filled with the wounded from the battle of Laffeldt. He was then promoted
to be assistant surgeon to the Coldstream Guards. In 1747 he returned to
London, attending the lectures of Dr. Wm. Hunter and Dr. Wm. Smellie,
and afterwards studied in Paris. In 1751 he entered into partnership with
his old master, John Gordon, and on the latter restricting himself to the
practice of a physician he took as partner No. 254, and afterwards No. 288.
Married Jane, daughter of Rev. John Simson, Professor of Divinity in the
University. In 1770 he took Ins degree at the University, which limited
him to medical practice while in Glasgow. Two years later he left the town
to travel with the Duke of Hamilton, remaining five years on the Continent,
and returned in 1778, when he settled in practice in London. He re-visited
Glasgow in 1786, and next year corresponded with the poet Burns. In
1792 he visited France, publishing a "Journal" of the visit in two volumes,
1792-1794. He died in 1802. He had several sons, one of whom was Sir
John Moore, the hero of Corunna ; and another, James Carrick Moore, a
London surgeon, author of the History of Vaccination and History of the
Smallpox. Besides his literary works, the best known of which is his novel

ROLL OF MEMBERS

257

Zeluco, he published in 1786 Medical Sketches. While in Glasgow he lived
in Trongate, opposite the Tron Church, and subsequently in Dunlop Street.
(Rff. Thomson's Life of Cullen, i. 585 ; Glasgow, Past and Present, 1884,
II. 436, 461, 482 ; Strang's Glasgow Clubs, 2nd edition, 37, 40.

252. ROBERT WALLACE. Entered in 1751. Son of No. 189. Resided first in

King Street and afterwards in Princes' Street. One of the original Managers
of the Royal Infirmary. He was apprenticed to his father, and also attended
lectures under Cullen, and when an old man he wrote to Dr. Thomson,
Cullen's biographer, a letter containing his reminiscences of Cullen and the
young Glasgow Medical School. {Life of Cullen, i. 3.) Died in 181 2.

253. ANDREW TENNANT, Strathaven. Entered in 1751. Apprentice of No. 161A.

254. THOMAS HAMILTON. Entered in 1751. Brother of No. 230 {q.v.), and father

of No. 309. Born in 1728, his father being Rev. Wm. Hamilton of Bothwell.
Apprentice of No. 229, and, unlike his brother, not a graduate in medicine.
Entered into partnership with No. 251, which continued till 1757. He
succeeded No. 275 as Professor of Anatomy and Botany in the University.
Was an intimate friend of Dr. Black and the two Hunters, William and John,
who much esteemed him. He was a man of social accomplishments, endowed
with wit and humour, and his society was courted by lovers of good fellow-
ship in Glasgow. (Cleghorn in Tra7isactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
Vol. IV. 38.) Married Isabel, daughter of Rev. William Anderson, first
Professor of Church History in the University. Died in 1781. (Rff. Strang's
Glasgow Clubs, 2nd edition ; Veitch's Memoir of Sir Willia7n Hamilton, 16.)

255. JOHN BROWN, Entered in 1751. Apprentice to No. 162A.

256. JAMES ZUILL, Kilbride. Entered in 175:. His father, William Zuill, also a

surgeon in Kilbride, was probably a member, but his name has not been
found.

257. JOHN WEIR, Lesmahagow. Entered in 1751.

258. ROBERT DICK. Entered as physician in 175 1. M.D. Glasgow, 1751. Son of

Mr. Robert Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University. He
succeeded to his father's Chair in 175 1. He may not have been in practice,
but he gave great attention to Faculty business, and was President in 1751-53.
Died in 1757. (Rff. Strang's Glasgow Clubs, 2nd edition, 21 ; Duncan's
Literary History of Glasgow, 68.)

259. GAVIN MARSHALL, Lesmahagow. Entered in 1751.

260. THOMAS STEWART, Pollokshaws. Entered in 1751.

261. THOMAS CLARK, Greenock. Entered in 1752. He united the offices of

surgeon and minister.

258 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

262. JOHN M'LEAN. Entered in 1753. Son of Rev. Archibald M'Lean, Mull.

Apprentice to his uncle, No. 225.

263. JOHN HUNTER, Airdrie. Entered in 1753. Afterwards removed to Port-Glasgow.

264. GILBERT LAWSON, Paisley. Entered in 1754.

266. JAMES ARTHUR. Entered in 1755.

267. JOHN HALL or MAXWELL. Entered in 1755. Partner with No. 274.

268. THOMAS STUART, Pollokshaws. Entered in 1755.

269. JAMES GRAHAM, Paisley. Entered in 1755.

270. JAMES SWAN, Dumbarton. Entered in 1756.

271. JAMES FLINT, Dumbarton. Entered in 1756.

272. ALEXANDER STEVENSON of Dolgain. Entered in 1756 as physician. M.D.

Glasgow, 1749. Son of Dr. John Stevenson, Edinburgh, and uncle of No.
329. Professor of Medicine in the University of Glasgow, 1766-S9. Pre-
sident, 1757-58, 1773-75. Married Jean, only child of John Picken of Ibrox
and Jean Barns his wife. Father of Sir James Stevenson Barns, a colonel in
the army, who assumed the additional surname on succeeding to the estate of
John Barns of Barns. (The estate of Dolgain in Ayrshire, which belonged
to Dr. Stevenson, is now part of the estate of Sorn.) He took an active
part in the preliminary steps for establishing the Royal Infirmary. In 1789
he resigned his Chair from ill-health, and died in 1791. (Rff. Glasgow, Fast
and Present, 1884, 11. 477, 509, 598; in. 410; Strang's Glasgow Clubs, 2nd
edition, 46, in which is given his epitaph by the poet of the " Hodge Podge
Club"; Medical Comtnentaries, xvi. 426; Board of Green Cloth, 73 ^/ seq.)

273. JOHN COOK, Hamilton. Entered as a physician in 1756. M.D. St. Andrews.

He subsequently travelled in the East, and in 1770 published in Edinburgh,
in two volumes, Voyages and Travels through the Russiafi Empire, Tartary,
and part of the Kingdo?n of Persia.

274. ALEXANDER PARLANE. Entered in 1756. Partner with No. 267.

275. JOSEPH BLACK. Entered in 1757 as physician. M.D. Edinburgh, 1754. Pre-

sident, 1759-60. This celebrated chemist was born at Bordeaux in 1728,
and educated in Belfast and at Glasgow University. In 1750 he went to
Edinburgh to complete his medical education begun at Glasgow under
CuUen, who detected his genius for natural science, and made him his assistant
and personal friend. His graduation thesis, "De humore acido in cibis orto
et magnesia alba," which, in a developed form, was published in Essays and
Observations in 1756, established the separation of carbonic acid, thereby
opening up a wide field of research. In 1756 he was appointed Professor
of Anatomy in the University of Glasgow, which Chair he next year

ROLL OF MEMBERS 259

exchanged for that of Medicine on the death of Dr. Robert Hamilton.
Whilst in Glasgow he completed his other great scientific achievement by the
exposition in 1761 of the doctrine of Latent Heat, which, though taught by
him, and expounded to a Literary Society in Glasgow, he did not take
the trouble to publish in the ordinary way. In 1766 he was appointed to
succeed Cullen in the Chair of Chemistry in Edinburgh, which he filled
till his death in 1799. President, 1759-61, 1765-66. (Rff. Grant's History
of the University of Edinburgh, 11. 395 ; Dictionary of National Biography,
V. 112; Biographical Dictionary of E7?iinent Scotsmen, i. 109.)

276. WILLIAM TENNANT. Entered in 1758. Married Margaret Straitton. Died

in 1777.

277. JOHN GIBSON. Entered in 1759 as physician. M.D. Leyden. President,

1761-62. House in Virginia Street.

278. JOHN M'ARTHUR, Pollokshaws. Entered in 1759.

279. ROBERT YOUNG. Entered in 1761.

280. COLIN DOUGLAS. Entered in 1763 as physician. M.D. St. Andrews, and a

fellow-student with Cullen in Edinburgh. He had been surgeon to the

Welsh Fusileers, and had also travelled for some years. President, 1766-69.

Mr. John Dunlop, the elegiac poet of the "Hodge Podge Club," honoured

him with an epitaph, which is given in the Club's Records. (Strang's Glasgow

Clubs, 2nd edition, 46.) Moore's stanza, written while he was still alive, is

however better :

" Despising all airs, detesting all arts,
The thought bursts spontaneous from Douglas's heart ;
Of the dregs of his v-igour the best let us make,
He may do for a leech, though he's done for a rake."

The last two lines refer to his premature physical decay, which ended in an
early death.

281. JOHN HARDIE. Entered in 1764.

282. JAMES PARLANE. Entered in 1764. Residence, Calendar's land, west side

of Stockwell. Died in 1805.

283. JOHN STEVENSON, Paisley. Entered in 1765.

284. GAVIN FULLERTON, Greenock. Entered in 1765. His son John was one of

the "Mediciner" Trustees of Anderson's University, nominated in the will of
the founder. Died in 1795. (Ref. Weir's History of Greenock, 114.)

285. PETER WRIGHT. Entered as physician in 1766. M.D. St. Andrews, 1765.

President, 1771-73, 1777-79, 1785-87, 1795-97, 1804-6 (five times in all).
Residence at the corner of Trongate and the west side of Virginia Street.
First President of Anderson's University, to the Chair of the Theory of
Medicine of which he had been designated by Dr. John Anderson's will. He
is stated to have been the last prominent Glasgow citizen who continued " to

26o FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

walk the plane-stones," as the daily promenade under the Tontine Piazza was
called. {Glasgow, Fast and Present, 1884, i. 350.) He died in 1819. He
had two sons who attained to high rank in the army.

286. WILLIAM WILSON, Greenock. Entered in 1768. Son of No. 221. (Ref.

Weir's History of Greenock, 114.)

287. ROBERT MARSHALL. Entered in 1766 as a physician. M.A. Glasgow, 1749;

M.D. Glasgow, 1765. President, 1769-71, 1779-81, 1787-89. Residence in
Argyle Street.

288. ALEXANDER DUNLOP. Entered in 1765, His grandfather was Alexander

Dunlop, Professor of Greek in the University of Glasgow (1704-46), who was
the son of William Dunlop, Principal of the University (i 690-1 700). Married
Jane Anderson, The Field, near St. Rollox ; (her sister Janet married Andrew
Anderson, Greenock, whose son was No. 436). He resided successively in
Argyle Street, corner of Virginia Street, in 1807 in Queen Street, and in
1 811 in St. Enoch's Square. He was partner, first with Dr. Moore, shortly
before the latter left Glasgow, and afterwards with Mr. John Burns. He
was surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Volunteers, and one of the original
Managers of the Royal Infirmary. Father of No, 356. Died in 1815. (Pvff.
Cleland's Annals, i. 277 ; Glasgoiv, Ancient and Modern, 11. 1249; Board of
Green Cloth, 61, 62.)

289. GEORGE COCHRANE, Strathaven. Entered in 1769. Removed to King Street,

Glasgow, in 1777.

291. CHARLES WILSONE. Entered in 1770. Resided in Stockwell Street, and

afterwards in Buchanan Street. One of the first surgeons to the Glasgow
Royal Infirmary. Surgeon to the " Armed Association," and one of the
original " Mediciner " Trustees of Anderson's University. On 20th January,
1787, he was knocked down at night in Argyle Street and robbed by two
men, who suffered the penalty of death for the crime. Father of No. 396,
and father-in-law of William Brown of Kilmardinny, and grandfather of Charles
Wilsone Brown of Wemyss. Died in 1820. (Rff. Cleland's Annals, i. 287 ;
Glasgow, Fast and Fresent, 11. 204 ; iii. 399 ; Frazer, The Story of the Making
of Bucha7ian Street, 53, 104.)

292. ALEXANDER MURRAY. Entered in 1770.

293. DAVID COLQUHOUN, Greenock. Entered in 1771.

294. WILLIAM WHYTE. Entered in 1771.

295. JOHN HOW, Kilbarchan. Entered in 1771. Another of the medical family of

the house of Dampton and Pennelt, to which belonged Nos. 44, 145, 183.
Writing in 1782, Semple states that the present was the twelfth John in direct
descent, and the eighth who had been engaged in medical practice. He
had a son John who died in 1797. Father-in-law of No. 312. Died in

ROLL OF MEMBERS 26 1

18 1 6. (Ref. Cravvfurd's General Description of the Shire of Renfrew^ by
Robertson, 1818, 378.)

296. JOHN JACK, Hamilton. Entered in 1772.

297. WILLIAM BROWN, Hamilton. Entered in 1772.

298. WILLIAM IRVINE. Entered as physician in 1773. The son of a Glasgow

merchant, he was born in 1743, entered the University in 1756, and studied
chemistry under Black, whom he assisted in his first experiments on the
heat of steam. M.D. Glasgow, 1766. President, 1775-77, 1783-85. In
1766 he was appointed lecturer on Materia Medica in the University, and
in 1770 he also succeeded Robison in the lectureship of Chemistry. In his
experimental work he devoted himself mainly to the improvement of indus-
trial processes, paying special attention to the manufactures of his native city.
It was while he was working at the improvement of glass-making processes
that he was attacked with fever, and died in 1787. By his wife, Grace
Hamilton, he had a son, No. 360, who published after his death his Essays,
chiefly on Che?nical Subjects^ Lond. 1805. Cleghorn describes his lectures as
remarkable for erudition, evincing great capacity and power of elucidation.
(Rff. Black's Lectures on Chemistry, i. 504 ; Preface to his Essays as above ;
Medical Commentary, xii. 415.)

299. WILLIAM M'AULAY. Entered in 1773.

300. THOMAS SMITH. Entered in 1773.

301. WILLIAM ANDERSON. Entered in 1773.

302. JOHN JAMIESON. Entered in 1774. Residence, Jamieson's Land, King Street.

He is stated to have introduced into Glasgow the use of the umbrella.
{Glasgow, Fast and Present, 1884, 11. 182 ; iii. 390.) Died in 1809.

304. JAMES SOMERS. Entered in 1776, having come to Glasgow from Lanark.

Married Margaret, the sister of Denholm, the historian of the City. Somers
died shortly after his admission, his widow and after her his two daughters
becoming pensioners of the Faculty, one of the latter continuing on the list
till about 1854, nearly eighty years after his death.

305. JAMES MONTEATH. Entered in 1777. Son of Mr. James Monteath, a manu-

facturer in Anderston, He was one of the original Trustees nominated by
Dr. John Anderson for his College, being also designated by him as the first
Professor of Practice of Medicine in the institution, of which he was made
President in 1801. His place of practice was long in Leitch's land, Trongate,
where he worked in partnership with No. 245, and afterwards with No. 312.
In 1 781 married Mary, daughter of John Adam, who built the Broomielaw
Bridge in 1768, and also afterwards Adam's Court. Surgeon to the Royal
Glasgow Volunteer Light Horse. For some time about 1778 he appears to
have lectured on Midwifery (p. 134). In 1803 he is styled "Dr." in the

262 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Minutes ; from what University he obtained the degree does not appear ; nor
did he restrict himself to medical practice. President, 1820-22, being the
first President who was not a "pure" physician. Died in 1834. (Rff.
Glasgow, Past and Present, 1884, 11. 116; Cleland's Annals, i. 288.)

306. ROBERT SIMPSON. Entered in 1778, having previously practised in Birmingham.

His residence was in King Street, and afterwards in Princes' Street.

307. ARCHIBALD YOUNG. Entered in 1778. Son of Robert Young, cooper, Candle-

riggs. Residence in Saltmarket, and subsequently in Soaperie Close, east
side of Candleriggs. One of the first surgeons of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
In 1792 the Faculty offered a reward of fifty guineas for the discovery of
the persons who had made a daring attempt on his life, but it does not
appear that the reward was ever claimed. In the same year he married
Isabel, daughter of William Semple, merchant, Port-Glasgow. Died in 18 18.
(Ref. Glasgow, Past and Present, 1884, iii. 449.)

308. ALEXANDER STENHOUSE. Entered in 1779. Had been in America previously.

309. WILLIAM HAMILTON. Entered in 1780. B.A. Glasgow, 1775; M.A., 1776;

M.D. Edinburgh, 1779. Son of No. 254, and nephew of No. 230. He was
bom in Glasgow in 1758, and educated at the University. He also studied
medicine for two years in Edinburgh, and subsequently in London under Dr.
William Hunter, who entrusted him with the charge of his Dissecting Room.
He was recalled to assist his father, and on his death in 1781 he was nominated
to succeed him in the Chair of Anatomy in the University. In addition to
this subject, he taught also Botany and Midwifery, in which last named
branch he had a large consulting practice. Partner with No. 328. Married
Elizabeth, daughter of William Stirling, of the old family of Glasgow Stirlings.
Died in 1790, aged thirty-two. A memorial tablet with a Latin inscription
was erected to him in the Cathedral nave. He left two sons who attained
to eminence ; the elder, Sir William Hamilton, the metaphysician, and Captain
Thomas Hamilton, the accomplished author of Cyril Thornton. (Rff. Veitch's
Memoir of Sir William Hamilton, 10 ; Transactions of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, 6th November, 1792 ; Crawfurd's Renfrewshire, 293-98.

310. JOHN CREE. Entered in 1783. Resided in High Street, and afterwards in

Gallowgate. Died in 1829. (Ref. Glasgow, Past and Present, 1884, 11. 205 ;
III. 493.

311. WILLIAM PARLANE. Entered in 1783. Son of No. 274.

312. WILLIAM COOPER or COUPER. Entered in 1783. Born in 1757. Educated

in Glasgow, he qualified as M.R.C.S. England. President in 1822-24. He was
one of the " Mediciner " Trustees nominated by Dr. John Anderson, and
also designated by him as Professor of Chemistry in his institution. For
some time partner with No. 305. One of the first surgeons of the Glasgow
Royal Infirmary, and surgeon to the 2nd Regiment Trades House Volunteers.

ROLL OF MEMBERS

263

He became a partner of Charles Tennant and Co., of St. Rollox Chemical
Works, and was also an original partner of the Glasgow Apothecaries' Company.
Father of 418. Married the daughter of No. 295. Died in 1843. (Rff.
Cleland's Annals, i. 283; Glasgow, Fast and Present, 1884, 11. 116; Crawfurd's
Shire of Renfrew, 18 18, 378.)

314. JOHN RIDDELL. Entered in 1783. M.D. He was credited with some talent

in painting. Published Remarks on the Nature, Causes, and Cure of Continued
Fevers (Glasgow, Foulis, 1788) Residence in Saltmarket.. Died in 181 9.

315. JAMES MARSHALL. Entered in 1784. Apprentice to No. 289.

316. WILLIAM NIMMO. Entered in 1785. Resided in 1789 above 169 High Street.

Married Janet Hamilton. He is stated by Strang to have been the first

medical man in Glasgow to inoculate with cow-pox. Father of No. 369(?).

Brother of No. 327, who was his partner. Died in 1802. (Ref. Strang's
Glasgow Clubs, and edition, 248.)

317. JOHN SCRUTON. Entered in 1785. Son of Mr. John Scruton, who in 1749

was brought from London to Glasgow at the instigation of the Magistrates
to teach " Italian writing." Apprentice to No. 302. One of the " Mediciner"
Trustees nominated by Dr. John Anderson for his University, and also desig-
nated as "Professor of Clinical Cases." He resided in Candleriggs, his
laboratory being in King Street. Brother and partner of No. 326. Died in
1833. (Rfif. Glasgow, Fast a?id Freseni, 1884, i. 312; 11. 203; Strang's
Glasgow Clubs, 2nd edition, 60.)

318. JAMES FOSTER, Port-Glasgow. Entered in 1785.

319. JOHN FRAZER, Lanark. Entered in 1785.

320. PHILIP WHITESIDE, Ayr. Entered in 1785.

321. WALTER BAIRD. Entered in 1785. Resided in Candleriggs. {Glasgow, Fast

and Present, 1884, 11. 104-5.)

322. THOMAS DUNCAN. Entered in 1785. He left Glasgow and settled in Strath-

aven. Married Marion Tennent. Died in 1808.

323. ROBERT CLEGHORN. Entered in 1786. M.D. Edinburgh, 1783 (Thesis, "De

Somno"). President, 1788-91. Lecturer on Materia Medica in Glasgow
University, 1788-91 ; on Chemistry, 1791-1818. Residence in 1789 in Spreull's
Land, north side of Trongate, afterwards in College Street.

First physician to the Glasgow Royal Asylum for lunatics; one of the
original Managers of the Royal Infirmary, and also one of the two first physicians.
Married Margaret, granddaughter of Andrew Thomson of Faskin. He was a
considerable contributor to the periodical medical press, and his biographical
notices of some of his contemporaries were especially sympathetic and neat.
Died in 182 1. His portrait by Raeburn is in the Royal Lunatic Asylum.

264 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

324. JAMES ALEXANDER. Entered in 1786. Residence in Wallace Court, Bell's

Wynd. Private lecturer on Materia Medica. Died in 18 17. (Ref. Lancet,
1827, XII. 796.

325. DUGALD MACLACHLAN. Entered in 1787. Place of practice, 16 High Street.

He emigrated to the West Indies, where he died in 1807.

326. WILLIAM SCRUTON. Entered in 1787. Brother and partner of No. 317 {q.v.).

Married Mary Scruton, his cousin. Removed to London, where he died in
1803. (Ref. Glasgow, Past and Present, 11. 203, 207.)

327. ALEXANDER NIMMO. Entered in 1787. Brother and partner of No. 316.

328. JAMES TOWERS. Entered in 1787. Educated at the Edinburgh Medical

School. CM. Glasgow, 181 7 ; Licentiate Royal College of Surgeons of
Edinburgh. Partner with No. 309 till the death of the latter in 1790.
Married Helen, daughter of James Maclehose of Newlands. In 181 5 he
was appointed first Professor of Midwifery in the University of Glasgow.
Surgeon to the 2nd Regiment of Glasgow Volunteers. Father of Towers
Clark, a well-known Glasgow solicitor, and of No. 385. Died in 1820.

329. THOMAS CHARLES HOPE, F.R.S. Entered in 1789. Son of John Hope,

Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh, he was born in 1766,
and educated at Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.D. in 1787
(Thesis, " Quaedam de plantarum motibus et vita"). President, 1791-93.
Lecturer on Chemistry in the University of Glasgow, 1787-91; on Materia
Medica, 1788-91. On the resignation of his uncle (No. 272) of the Chair of
Medicine, he was appointed his successor, thus teaching three subjects up to
1791. In 1796 he was appointed colleague to Dr. Black in the Chair of
Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh. He excelled rather as a lucid
teacher and neat demonstrator than as an original investigator, though his
name is associated with the demonstration he gave in a series of experiments
of the existence of a p culiar earth in strontianite, and he also established that
water attains its maxii am density several degrees above the freezing point.
Died in 1844. (Rff. yansactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1844 ;
Grant's Story of the University of Edinburgh, 11. 397 ; Life of Christison, i. 57.)

330. WILLIAM PENMAN. Entered in 1789. His dispensary was on the west side

of King Street. Died in 1835.

331. PATRICK MUSCHET. Entered in 1790. Residence in Stockwell. He went \

to the East Indies, and subsequently settled in Stirling, where he died in
1837.

332. PETER ROLLAND. Entered in 1790. He went to the West Indies for some

years, and on his return settled near Milngavie, subsequently in Maryhill
and Glasgow. Married Helen Colquhoun. By the will of Dr. John Anderson
he was designated to be Professor of Practical Surgery in his institution.
Died in 1825. (Ref. Thomson's Notes on Matyhill, 95.)

ROLL OF MEMBERS

265

333. WILLIAM HENDERSON. Entered in 1790. M.D. Edinburgh, 1784 (Thesis,

" De vita marina "). At his admission he requested that he should be entered
" without an appeal to the Deity," but the Faculty declined to dispense
with the oath sworn on entry, and he took it. Four years after he repented
of his swearing, and requested to be absolved from the oath, and, further,
that as he was leaving town his entrance fee should be returned. Both requests
were refused. He settled in Bo'ness, and died there in 1806. He published
Observations . . . relative to the History and Cure of the Plague. Lond.
1689 (a misprint for 1789); also General View of the Natural Progress of
Htwian Life. Part I. Glasg. 1791.

334. WILLIAM ANDERSON. Entered in 1790. He was Professor designate of

Obstetrics by Dr. John Anderson's will in the Andersonian University. Surgeon
to the Anderston Volunteer Corps. Died in 18 19. (Ref. Cleland's Annals,
I. 286.)

335. JOHN HUME. Entered in 1790. Died in 1825.

339. ROBERT COWAN. Entered in 1790. Born in 176S, son of Robert Cowan of

Carronbank and Lillias Horsburgh, daughter of No. 203. One of the original
" Mediciner" Trustees under Dr. John Anderson's will, and therein designated
Professor of Botany in his institution. Married Helen, daughter of Rev.
John M'Caul, one of the ministers of Glasgow. Surgeon to the Highland
Volunteers. (Cleland's Annals, i. 284.) Father of No. 420. Died in 1808.

340. JAMES JEFFRAY. Entered in 1791. Born at Kilsyth in 1759, he was educated

at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated in Medicine in 1786
(Thesis, " Quaedam de placenta praeponens "). Appointed Professor of
Anatomy in the University of Glasgow in 1790. Married (i) Mary, daughter
of Walter Brisbane, merchant in Glasgow, in 1794; and (2) Margaret,
daughter of James Lockhart, ironmonger, Saltmarket. President, 1793-95.
He was the inventor of the chain saw. In 1835 he published in Glasgow
Observations on the Heart and on the Peculiarities of the Foetus ; and in the
same year he also published there a work giving a translation of the recorded
cases of Excision of Joints, by Park and Moreau, with observations on the
subject by himself. Father of No. 484. Died in 1848.

341. JOHN M'LEAN. Entered in 1791. Married Phoebe Bainbridge. Emigrated to

America, and published, in 1797, Two Lectures on Combustion (Philadelphia).
Died in 1813.

342. JOHN ROBERTSON. Entered in 1791. M.D. St. Andrews. He went to the

West Indies, where he died in 1797.

343. JAMES LAPSLEY. Entered in 1792. Died in 1793.

344. JOHN BURNS. Entered in 1796. Born in 1774, son of Rev. John Burns, D.D.,

of the Barony Church. Educated at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities.
On his appointment as surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, he resolved to give

266 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

clinical lectures, being apparently the first to do so in Glasgow. In 1797
he opened a private Anatomy School in Virginia Street, in which he taught
anatomy, surgery, and latterly also midwifery, and about the end of the century
removed his school to College Street. Eventually he handed over anatomy
to be taught by his brother Allan. In 1799 he was taken under the wing
of Anderson's College, teaching Anatomy and Surgery probably in John Street.
In 181 5 he was appointed first Professor of Surgery of the University. In
private practice his partner was No. 298, and subsequently No. 378. F.R.S.
and Member of the Institute of France.

In 1828 he took the degree of M.D. in the University, having in 1817
received the surgical degree (CM.). In 1833, after the abolition of the rule
making only "pure" physicians eligible for the office, Dr. Burns, though
Professor of Surgery, was appointed one of the hospital physicians. Married
Isabella, daughter of Rev. John Duncan of Alva. Father of No. 471. On i8th
June, 1850, he was drowned in the wreck of the "Orion." Portrait of him
by Graham Gilbert in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow. He published amongst
others :

Dissertation on Inflammation. 2 Vols. Glasgow, 1800. — Observations on Abortions.
Lond. 1806. — Practical Observations on Uterine Haemorrhage, with Remarks on the Manage-
ment of the Placenta. Lond. 1807. — The Principles of Midwifery. Lond. 1809, which went
through ten editions, and was translated. — Popular Directions for the Treatment of the
Diseases of Women and Children. Lond. 181 1. — The Principles of Surgery. 2 Vols.
Lond. 1824-38. — Principles of Christian Philosophy. 1828.
(Rfif. Medical Times, 1850, i. 148-50; Biog. Diet, of Eminent Scots, i. 252.)

346. ROBERT FREER of Essendy. Entered as physician in 1796. Bom in 1745;

studied in Edinburgh, and graduated M.A. 1765, M.D. 1779, King's Col-
lege, Aberdeen. Entering the army, he served as ensign and surgeon in
the American War, and was present at the battle of Bunker's Hill. President,
1 797-1800. In 1796 he was appointed Professor of Medicine in the University
of Glasgow, and in the subsequent year physician of the Royal Infirmary,
an office he intermittently held for several years, his last term of office
being 1813-15. He was Captain in the Armed Association. Married
Margaret Thomson; his only son predeceased him. Died in 1827, a Latin
epitaph marking his grave in the High Churchyard. (Rff". Gordon's Vade-
Mecmn to the Cathedral, Glasg. 1894; Strang's Glasgow Clubs, 2nd edition,
244, 246, 249, 251; Glasgow Medical Examiner, 11. 97-99.)

347. JOHN M'NISH. Entered in 1796. Father of and partner with No. 451. Resided

successively in Argyle Street, Buchanan Street, and latterly in West George
Street. President, 1828-30. Died in i860.

348. JOHN GIBSON. Entered in 1797. Father of and partner with No. 417, the firm

in 1834 being given as John and David Gibson, 17 Gordon Street. Pre-
sident, 1830-32. Died in 1844.

349. JOHN GRIEVE. Entered in 1797. Married EHzabeth Galloway. Died in 1820

ROLL OF MEMBERS 267

350. THOMAS GARNETT. Entered as physician in 1798. Born in Westmoreland

in 1766, he studied at the University of Edinburgh, where he adopted
Brunonian views. Graduated M.D. Edinburgh, 1788 (Thesis, " De Visu").
He practised successively at Bradford, Knaresburgh, and Harrogate. A
casual invitation to lecture in Liverpool, to which city he had gone to arrange
for a passage to America, brought to light his great powers of popular exposi-
tion in science, and this led to his being invited in 1798 to accept the
Professorship of Natural Science in Anderson's University, then in process
of being inaugurated. Both as a lecturer and a medical practitioner he had
much success in Glasgow. In 1799 he was appointed lecturer in the Royal
Institution, but differences arising between him and Count Rumford, the pre-
siding genius of the institution, he resigned in two years, and began practice
in London. Married in 1795 Catherine Grace Cleveland. He was carried
off by typhus fever in 1802.

351. MOSES GARDNER. Entered in 1798. Surgeon- Visitor, 181 5. Died in 1823.

352. WILLIAM WILSON. Entered in 1798. Died in 1799.

353. WILLIAM LECKIE. Entered in 1799. Apprentice of No. 311. Surgeon to

the Volunteeer Light Horse. His labours in the great epidemic of typhus
fever of 1818-20 are appreciatively spoken of by Cleland {Rise and Progress of
Glasgow, 106) and by Strang {Glasgow Clubs, 2nd ed., 369).

354. THOMAS BROWN. Entered in 1799. Grandson of No. 158. Son of Thomas

Brown of Langside, some time surgeon on board an East Indiaman, afterwards in
London, who built Langside House. M.D. Edin., 1798 (Thesis, "De Hydarthro").
Married Marion, sister of Francis Jeffrey of the Edinburgh Review. In 1829
he succeeded to the estates of Waterhaugh and Lanfine; he sold Langside
in 1852. Surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary for several years between
1804-10, and physician 1824-28. He lectured for some years on Botany
in the University, before the foundation of the Chair in that subject. Died
in 1853, bequeathing his large collection of minerals and fossils to the
Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow in equal shares. A paper of 1820
left by him in MS., entitled "Cases of Sore Throat ending in Croup," was
published by Dr. James Finlayson in 1881, as a contribution to the early
history of diphtheria in Scotland. His portrait is in possession of his
daughter, Miss Martha Brown of Lanfine. (Ref. The Old Country Houses of
the Old Glasgow Gentry, 160.)

355. RICHARD MILLAR of Wellhouse. Entered in 1799 as physician. M.D.

Glasgow, 1789 (Thesis, "De morbi venerei natura, atque de facultate
propria"). In 1791 appointed Lecturer on Materia Medica in the University
of Glasgow, his lectureship being made a professorship in 183 1. In 1796
appointed physician to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, a position which he
held, with occasional intervals, till his death in 1833. In the terrible fever
epidemic of 1818-19 his labours were untiring, and by his pen he also
attempted to impress the public authorities with a proper sense of their

268 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

duties in the way of ameliorating measures. He took a prominent part
in the contest waged in the Royal Infirmary in reference to the appointment
of other than "pure" physicians. In 1811 he published Disquisitions on the
History of Medicine, Part i. (Edinburgh). He was also the author of several
pamphlets on fever in Glasgow, and of a volume of Clinical Lectures on the
Contagious Typhus. Glasgow, 1833. President, 1800-2, 1806-8, 1818-20,
1826-28.

356. WILLIAM DUNLOP. Entered in 1799. Son of No. 288. Surgeon to the First

Regiment of Glasgow Volunteers. (Cleland's Annals, i. 281.) He is stated
{Glasgow, Past and Present, 11. 190) to have been the first to deliver
clinical lectures in Glasgow Royal Infirmary; this, however, is an error,
as he was preceded by Mr. John Burns. About 1805 he associated himself
with a Licentiate of the Faculty, Mr. Samuel Hunter, under the firm of
Samuel Hunter & Co., in the conducting and publication of the Glasgow
Herald. Married Anne Ferguson. Died in 1809.

357. JOHN M'ARTHUR. Entered in 1800. Surgeon to the "Glasgow Sharp-

shooters." (Cleland's Annals, i. 284). President, 1832-34. Died unmarried
in 1837. In 1880 his niece. Miss Jean M'Arthur, bequeathed ,:^5oo to
the Faculty to found an University Medical Bursary under their management
in memory of her uncle.

358. ARCHIBALD MILLAR. Entered in 1800. Practised for some years in Ander-

ston, and was subsequently surgeon to the 47th Regiment of Foot, spending
a number of years in India. Died in Edinburgh in 1852.

359. JOHN BALMANNO. Entered as physician in 1801. M.D. Edinburgh, 1798

(Thesis, " De debilium palpitatione "). His mother's drug-shop, at the sign
of the Golden Galen's Head, north end of the Laigh Kirk Close, was well
known and much frequented ; while the old lady's physic garden was situated on
the Deanside Brae, now known as Balmano Street. One of the "Mediciner"
Trustees under the will of Professor John Anderson, and designated to the
Chair of Materia Medica in his institution. During the visitation of the
great fever epidemic in 1818-20 he was honourably distinguished for his
activity and zeal, and his private beneficence was great at all times. He
was physican to the Royal Infirmary, with intervals, from 1804. President,
1802-4, 181 2-14, He was physician to the Royal Asylum for Lunatics,
in which is his portrait, painted by Raeburn. His residence latterly was
in St. Vincent place. Died, unmarried, 31st December, 1840. (Rff. Glasgow,
Past and Present, i. 221; 11. 113, 115; Cleland's Rise and Progress of
Glasgow, p. 106; Strang's Glasgoiv Clubs, 127.)

360. WILLIAM IRVINE. Entered in 1802. M.D. Edinburgh, 1798 (Thesis, "De

Epispasticis "). Son of No. 298. Born in Glasgow in 1776, and educated in
Glasgow and Edinburgh. His thesis on graduating in Medicine is stated to
have been based on an unpublished essay of his father's on "Nervous
Diseases." Entered the army as Physician to the Forces. In 18 10 appeared

ROLL OF MEMBERS

269

his most important contribution to medicine, entitled, Some Observations upon
Diseases, chiefly as they occur in Sicily (Lond.). He died of fever in Malta
in the year following the publication of this work. His Letters on Sicily
were published posthumously.

361. JAMES CORKINDALE. Entered in 1803. M.D. Edinburgh, 1801 ("Thesis,

"De vigore et debilitate eorumque signis in corpore humano"). LL.B.
Glasgow. Surgeon to the Grocers' Corps. (Cleland's Annals, i. 285.) He
was long resident in Glassford Street, and was for many years Medico-Legal
Examiner in Criminal Cases. President, 1834-36. Married Marion Munn.
Died in 1842. Portrait in Faculty Hall.

362. HUGH MILLER. Entered in 1803. Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary. Died

1818. (Rff. text, p. 148; Buchanan's History of Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 13.)

363. ANDREW URE. Entered as physician in 1803. Born in Glasgow in 1778,

and studied at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, at the former
of which he graduated M.D. in 1801. In 1804 he was appointed Professor
in Anderson's University to lecture on physical science to popular classes.
His class-rooms were filled to overflowing, as many as 400 attending. He
specially directed the attention of his students to the industrial applications
of science. In 1809 he made a visit to London to make the scientific
arrangements for the Glasgow Observatory, and during its early years he
had charge, residing in the building. About 18 17 he embarked on a series
of important researches connected with various subjects lying within the
domain of Physics and Chemistry, which found a place in the Philosophical
Transactiotis of the Royal Society, of which he was elected a member in
1822. His Dictionary of Chetnistry, which passed through several editions,
appeared first in 182 1. In 1824 appeared from his pen a translation of
BerthoUet's work on Dyeing and Bleaching (2 vols., Lond.). In 1829
appeared his System of Geology, one of the last text-books on the subject
in which the influence of the Noachian deluge is insisted on. To
his teaching labours in Anderson's College he added that of lecturing on
Materia Medica, probably in the Portland Street School. On this subject
he had published Systematic Tables in 1813. These various labours in
widely differing fields show the great versatility of the man. In 1830 he
removed to London as chemist to the Board of Customs, and there he pub-
lished his encyclopaedic work in 1837, The Dictionary of Arts, Matiufactures,
and Mines, which went through several editions. He died in 1857.

364. GEORGE MACLEOD. Entered in 1803. One of the original members of the

Glasgow Medical Society. Died, unmarried, in 1832. (Ref p. 188.)

365. JOHN STENHOUSE. Entered in 1804. Married Agnes Muir. Died 1817.

366. ARCHIBALD BROWN. Entered in 1804. Died in 1804 or 1805.

367. JOHN DICK. Entered in 1804. Left Glasgow in 1819 for Muiravonside, where

he died, unmarried, in 1838.

270

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

368. ANDREW RUSSEL. Entered licentiate 1803, member 1805. Married Agnes

Scott. Was Lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery in the College Street School,
and, along with No, 397, he was tried in connection with a "resurrectionist"
charge, but acquitted. About 181 8 he left Glasgow for Crawfordjohn,
subsequently taking up his residence in Rothesay. About 1833 he emigrated
to the United States, where he died in 1861.

369. JOHN NIMMO. Entered as physician in 1805. M.D. Edinburgh, 1804 (Thesis,

" De quibusdam foetui propriis "). Physician to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary,
1809. In 1814 he addressed to the Managers of the Infirmary a "Memorial
relative to a motion for establishing a system of out-patients." Married Mary
Gladstone (or Gladestone), sister of Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Gladstone of
Liverpool, father of the Right Hon. Wm. Ewart Gladstone. President,
1808-10. On the death of Dr. Freer in 1827, Dr. Nimmo was spoken of
as his successor in the Chair of Medicine, but he died in the same year.
(Ref. Lancet, 1827, 120.)

370. ALEXANDER PANTON. Entered in 1805. M.A. Glasgow, 1805; M.D.Glasgow,

1805. Died, unmarried, in 1840.

371. ROBERT COUPER. Entered in 1805. M.D. Glasgow, 1805. Died, unmarried,

in 1810 or 1811.

372. ROBERT WATT. Entered in 1807. Born in 1774 in the parish of Stewarton.

In the intervals of labour on the farm, and as a stone mason, he qualified
himself to begin the University course, which he entered on in 1793.
During the summer months he supported himself by teaching. He obtained
the hcence of the Faculty in 1799, and began practice in Paisley. In that
town he published his Cases of Diabetes and Consumption^ in 1808. He had
early taken as a partner in practice No. 378; this left him more time for
experiments in physics and chemistry, to the study of which he was devoted.
After a tour through England in 1809, he settled in Glasgow in 18 10 as a
physician, having received the degree of M.D. from King's College, Aber-
deen. His house was in Queen Street; and in 181 1 he began to lecture
there on the Theory and Practice of Medicine, soon attracting a good attend-
ance of students. For the use of his students he formed a medical library,
of which in 18 12 he printed a catalogue, with subject-index. The utility of
a subject catalogue struck him so forcibly, that he set about enlarging the
scope of that already printed so as to embrace all medical works published
in the United Kingdom. To medical books were eventually added those on
law, divinity, and, latterly, the whole round of science and literature. Such
was the mode of evolution of the Bibliotheca Britannica, one of the most
stupendous monuments existing of the patient labour of a single man. In
18 1 7 he retired from professional work with a view to the completion of his
task, which he accomplished before his death in 18 19, though he did not live
to see the publication of the work. In 1813 he published in Glasgow, A
Treatise on the History^ Nature, and Treatment of Chincough to which is

ROLL OF MEMBERS 2/1

subjoined a valuable statistical enquiry into the mortality of Glasgow for
thirty years. President, i8 14-16. Physician to the Royal Infirmary, 1 814-17.
There are two portraits of him in the Faculty Hall.

373. JOHN BAIRD. Entered in 1807. M.D. Glasgow, 1804. Married Elizabeth

Thompson. Died 1825.

374. BENJAMIN WATTS KING. Admitted in 1808. M.D. Glasgow, 1799. He

had practised for some years in the West Indies. Surgeon to Royal
Infirmary from 1822. Residence in Gordon Street (181 3 and 1820). Died
1841.

375. WILLIAM CULLEN. Entered in 1808. Died, unmarried, in 18 15.

376. DUNCAN BLAIR. Entered in 1808. Married Agnes Blair. President, 1836-38.

About 1840 he retired to Balfron, where he died in 1852.

378. JAMES MUIR. Entered in 1810; licentiate in 1802. Began practice in Paisley

where he was partner with No. 372. He removed to Glasgow, where he
was some time partner with No. 345. Married Margaret M'Farlane. Possessed
considerable artistic abilities, and was especially attached to painting, in
which he had skill. Died in 1815.

379. JAMES WATSON. Entered in 1810. Born in Glasgow in 1787, he was educated

at the Grammar School and University. He graduated M.D. Glasgow in
1828. In 1813-14 he was surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, and in 1842 he
was appointed physician to the hospital. He was also physician to the Fever
Hospital in Clyde Street. President, 1838-41, 1849-52, 1857-60. He took
part in the long preliminary negotiations which terminated in the passing of
the Medical Act of 1858; was appointed first representative of the Faculty
in the General Medical Council; and in 1865 the Faculty instituted a prize
in his honour, subsequently changed to a lectureship. Died in 1871. Father
of No. 508. Portrait by Sir Daniel Macnee in the Faculty Hall.

380. ROBERT GRAHAM. Entered as physician in 1811. Born in Stirling in 1786,

his father being Dr. Robert Graham (afterwards Moir of Leckie). He was
educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D. in 1808
(Thesis, " De effectibus frigoris "). Married Elizabeth, daughter of David
Buchanan of Mount Vernon and Drumpellier. In 1818 he was appointed
first Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. President, 18 16-18.
In 181 2 he was appointed one of the physicians of the Royal Infirmary,
and gave some of the results of his experience in that office in his
valuable Practical Observations on Continued Fever (Glasgow, 1818). The
book is dated from Ingram Street, and contains statistics of fever in
Glasgow from 1795. He was one of the six original members of the
Glasgow Medical Society, founded in 1S15. In 1S20 he was transferred
to the Chair of Botany in the University of Edinburgh, and soon gave a
marked impetus to the teaching of that subject in that city. He set himself

2/2 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

to prepare materials for a work on the " Flora of Britain," but he did not
live to accomplish his task. His published scientific works consist chiefly of
memoirs on rare plants. He died in 1845. (Rff. Biographical Sketch, by
Dr. Charles Ransford. Edin. 1846; Biographical Dictionary of Emitient Scots.,
Vol. II. ; Dictionary of National Biography, xvii. 358.)

381. GEORGE HENDRIE. Entered in 181 1. Married Elizabeth Lamie. M.D. (Uni-

versity of St. Andrews). Died 1840.

382. ROBERT MACKECHNIE, Paisley. Entered in 181 1; licentiate of the Royal

College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, 1803. M.D. Marischall College, Aberdeen,
1820. Died 1853.

383. JAMES WADDELL. Entered in 1811. About 1839 he removed to Airdrie,

where he died, unmarried, in 1850.

384. FRANCIS STEEL. Entered in 1811. M.D. Glasgow, 1805 (Thesis, " De In-

flammatione"). President, 1841-42. Residence in 1834 in St. Enoch's Square,
afterwards in West Regent Street. Died in 1857. Father-in-law of No. 514.

385. JOHN TOWERS. Entered in 1811. CM. Glasgow, 1821 ; M.A., 1828. Surgeon

Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 1815-16. Son of No. 328, whom he succeeded as
Professor of Midwifery in the University of Glasgow in 1820. Died, unmarried,
in 1833.

385a. JOHN BURNSIDE. Entered in 1812. In 1820 removed to Dalserf Married
Mary M'Arthur. Died in 1834.

386. FRANCIS NEILSON. Entered in 181 2. Married Margaret Chalmers. Died

in 1831.

387. ALEXANDER BUCHANAN. Entered in 1812. M.D. Glasgow, 1810. Married

Ann Booth. Died in 1837.

388. ROBERT PERRY. Entered in 181 2. Born in Kilmarnock in 1783, and

educated at Glasgow University, where he graduated M.D. in 1808. One
of the original members of the Glasgow Medical Society. President,
1843-45. Physician to the Royal Infirmary for over thirty years, and also
Physician to the Fever Hospital in Clyde Street. As the result of original
investigations in the latter institution, he submitted to the Medical Society
a series of propositions, which establish a strong case in favour of his priority
in the recognition of the non-identity of typhus and typhoid fever. (See
Chap. XX.) He was an active worker in the great fever epidemic of
1843-44, and embodied his researches in his published Facts and Observations
on the Sanitary State of Glasgow (Glasgow, 1844). Married Helen M'Culloch.
Father of Dr. Robert Perry, President 1889-91. Died in 1848.

389. GEORGE WATSON. Entered in 181 2. Married Isabella M'Kechnie. Presi-

dent, 1845-46. Father of No. 513. Died in 1849.

ROLL OF MEMBERS 273

390. GEORGE CUNNINGHAM MONTEATH. Entered as physician in 181 3. Born

in 1788, his father being Rev. John Monteath, Minister of the Parish of
Neilston. Educated at the Arts Classes of the University, graduating M.A.
1805. Studied medicine at Glasgow University, and afterwards in London
under Sir Astley Cooper. M.R.C.S. Eng., and M.D. Glasgow, 1808. In
1809 he was appointed surgeon to Lord Lovaine's Northumberland Regi-
ment of Militia. About 1813 he settled in Glasgow, lecturing a year or
two in the College Street School, and in Gallowgate, on Anatomy. In
practice he resolved to devote himself to Ophthalmology, being the first
specialist of the kind in the City. He published a translation of Weller's
Die Krcmkheiten der menschlichen Augen, with so many added cases and
observations of his own as to make it a new book, which he styled Manual
of the Diseases of the Human Eye (2 vols., Glasgow, 182 1), and which
remained a standard work till superseded by Mackenzie's text-book on the
subject. In association with the latter he founded the Glasgow Eye Infir-
mary. Married Ann, daughter of John Cunnmghame of Craigend, and this
lady was afterwards the wife of Lord John Campbell, who became seventh
Duke of Argyle. Dr. Monteath died in 1828 from inflammation following
on a night journey. Portrait in possession of Rev. Geo. C. Monteath
Douglas, D.D. Nephew of No. 305. (Rff. Chatnbers's Biographical Dic-
tionary, III. 160; Lancet, ix. 840; Glasgow Medical Journal, i. (1828) 227.

391. JOHN COATS. Entered in 1813. Died, unmarried, in 1827.

392. ANDREW JARVIE. Entered in 1813. Married Margaret Paterson. Died

in 1815.

393. JOHN MAXWELL. Entered in 18 13, when, as a member of the Society of

Friends, he was allowed to make a declaration in lieu of an oath. M.D.
(1822). Married Phoebe Macalister. Brother of No. 436A. Died in 1843.

394. JOHN CAMPBELL. Entered in 1813. Married Hannah Blair. Died in 1835.

395. ROBERT GIBSON. Entered in 1813. Seems to have practised successively in

Glasgow, Belfast, Leith, and latterly again in Glasgow. Married Grace Rankin.
Died in 1841.

396. DAVID HENRY WILSONE. Entered in 1813. Resided first in Stockwell

and afterwards (1820) in Buchanan Street. Son of No. 291. About 1836
he went to Australia, where he died, unmarried, in 1841.

397. GRANVILLE SHARP PATTISON. Entered in 1813. Born in 179 1, the youngest

son of John Pattison of Kelvingrove, and educated in the City. While still
a young man he associated himself with Allan Burns in the teaching of
Anatomy in College Street School. He was, while there, tried in connection
with a body-snatching case, but acquitted. In 1818 he was appointed Pro-
fessor of Anatomy and Surgery in Anderson's College, and held the position
for one session. In his short career as a surgeon of the Royal Infirmary

2/4 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

a quaiTel he had with one of his colleagues led to an alteration of the rules
of the Hospital. (Buchanan's History of Glasgow Royal Infir7nary, p, 13.)
Shortly after, but not in consequence of, this incident he left the City under
a cloud, and betook himself to America, having been promised the Chair of
Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania. In consequence of the fama
preceding his arrival, the promise was not kept, but he taught privately,
and here he also published Experimental Observations on Lithotomy
(1820) j and in the course of a year he obtained an appointment as
Lecturer on Anatomy, etc., in the University of Maryland, where he taught
with distinguished success. He returned to England in 1827, and in 1828
he filled the Chair of Anatomy in the London University (now University
College), which appointment he obtained over the head of Sir Charles
Bell. But a serious misunderstanding having arisen between him and the
Demonstrator (Dr. Bennett) he lost his Chair. On his return to America
he secured the appointment of the Professorship of Anatomy in Jeafferson
College, Philadelphia (1831-40). This position he worthily filled, and
from it he was called, in 1840, to found the Anatomical Department of
the University of New York, which he superintended with success till his
death in 185 1. He edited the second edition of Allan Burns' Surgical
Anatomy of the Head and Neck, to which he prefixed a Memoir of the
author. (Glasgow, 1824.) He also edited the American Recorder and several
other publications. Married Mary Sharp. (Rff. Autobiography of Samuel
D. Gross, M.D., i. 92, 161; 11. 256-60.)

399. JOHN ROBERTSON. Entered in 181 3. M.D., Edinburgh, 1813. Lectured

in College Street on Anatomy, 1814. {Lancet, ix. 840.) Physician to
Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 1822-23; President, 1824-26. About 1827 he
went to Bath, where he lived till 1836, when he settled in Edinburgh, having
apparently retired from practice. He died in Rothesay in 1866.

400. EBENEZER HISLOP. Entered in 1813. Married Margaret Graham. Died in

1820.

401. JOHN YOUNG. Entered in 1814. M.D. Glasgow, 1823, in which year he

removed to Edinburgh, where he died, unmarried, in 1825.

402. SAMUEL CLARKE. Entered in 1814, being the son of Mr. A. Clarke, admitted

a Licentiate in 1785. Residence in George Street. Surgery, west side of
High Street, near George Street. Died in 1862.

403. ROBERT NELSON. Entered in 1814. Married Margaret M'Whinnie. Dispen-

sary in Trongate. Died in 1832. (Ref. Frazer, Story of the Making of Buchanan
Street, 10.)

404. JOHN BROWN. Entered in 1814. Married Ann Campbell. Died in 1858.

405. WILLIAM WYLLIE. Entered in 1814. Married Catherine Miller. Died in

1818.

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275

406. JOHN REID. Entered in 1814. M.l). Glasgow, 1808. Married Jean M'Gavin.

Died in 1830.

407. HARRY RAINY. Entered in 1815. M.D. Glasgow, 1834. In 1828 appointed

one of the surgeons of the Glasgow Eye Infirmary. From 1835-41 he lectured
on the Theory of Medicine in the University of Glasgow by arrangement
with Dr. Badham; and in 1841 he was appointed Professor of Medical Juris-
prudence in the University, which office he resigned in 187 1. Visitor of the
Faculty, 1869-71. In 1817 he was appointed surgeon to the Royal Infirmary
Died in 1872.

408. WILLIAM M'ALPIN. Entered in 181 5. Died, unmarried, in 182 1.

409. WILLIAM WEIR. Entered in 1816. Born in Glasgow in 1794, his father being

Mr. John Weir, a teacher of music and precentor in St. George's Church.
He was educated at the Grammar School and University, and after being
qualified he practised a short time in Lochwinnoch, and then settled in Glasgow.
M.D. Glasgow, 1829. He was appointed surgeon to the Royal Infirmary
in 1829, and physician in 1840. From 1830 to 1842 he was Lecturer on
Medicine in the Portland Street Medical School, and Secretary of the School.
President, 1847-49, and many years Treasurer, and Collector of the Widows'
Fund. He was one of the original promoters and earliest contributors of the
Glasgoiv Medical Joiirjial^ and was editor for several years. He added to
his other offices that of Lecturer on Phrenology in the Andersonian Institution.
He published an address on the Origin and Early History of the Faculty
(1864); and gifted to the Faculty a series of extracts from the Minute Books
of the Faculty, with comments. Married Helen Hunter. Died in 1876.
Portrait by Graham Gilbert in Faculty Hall.

410. WILLIAM CUMIN (Cummin). Entered in 1816. The son of Patrick Cumin,

LL.D., Professor of Oriental Languages, he was educated at Glasgow University,
where he graduated M. A., 1805; M.D., 1813. Appointed Professor of Botany in
Anderson's University, 181 9; and of Midwifery in the University of Glasgow,
1834. Surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 1818, and also surgeon to
the Lock Hospital and the Royal Asylum for Lunatics. Died in 1840.

411. JOSEPH M'LEOD, Paisley. Entered in 18 16. Married Julia Browning. Died

in 1831.

412. JOHN CAMPBELL, Largs. Entered in 1816. M.D. Glasgow, 1830. He was

also a licentiate of the Edinburgh and a member of the London College of
Surgeons. Engraved portrait in the Faculty Hall. Died in 1873.

413. JAMES ARMOUR. Entered in 1816. Born in Fenwick, Ayrshire, he was educated

at the University of Glasgow, and graduated in Medicine in 1827, After
studying for some time in Paris, he began to lecture on Midwifery in the
College Street School about 1820, and some years after he added Medical
Jurisprudence. In 1828 he was appointed Andersonian Professor of Midwifery.
He contributed a number of papers to the Glasgow Medical Journal. Married

2/6 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Rebecca Witterick. He had the reputation of being a good classical (especi-
ally Greek) scholar. Died of typhus fever in 1831. (Rff. Lancet, xii. 796;
Glasgow Medical Joiirnal, (1832) v. no.

414. JAMES WILSON. Entered in 181 6. Born in 1782, he was educated at the

University of Glasgow, the M.D. of which he obtained in 1837. From 1830
to 1838 he lectured on Midwifery in the Portland Street School of Medicine,
and he was mainly instrumental in founding the Maternity Hospital in 185 1.
Contributed a number of papers to the Glasgow Medical Journal. Father of
Dr. J. G. Wilson, Andersonian Professor of Midwifery (1863-81). Died in 1857.

415. WILLIAM COUPER. Entered in 181 7. Educated at Glasgow University, where

he graduated M.A., 181 1, and M.D., 1816. Appointed Professor of Natural
History in the University of Glasgow, 1829. He early abandoned medical
practice to devote himself to the special studies of his Chair. He had a
wide and accurate acquaintance with Mineralogy, and added considerably to
the mineralogical collection of the Hunterian Museum. President, 1822-24.
He died in 1857. (Rff. Glasgow, Fast and Present, 1884, i. 516; 11. 116;
Glasgow Medical Jour 7ial, 3rd series, Vol. v. 378.)

416. MOSES STEVEN BUCHANAN. Entered in 18 18. Born in Glasgow, he was

educated at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, graduating M.D.
at the latter in 181 6 (Thesis, " De concoctione ciborum "). In 1830
he was appointed surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, an office which
he filled at intervals for a number of years. From 1836 to 1841 he lectured
on Anatomy in the Portland Street Medical School, and in the latter year
was appointed Professor of Anatomy in the Andersonian Institution. Married
Agnes Leechman. He published a History of the Glasgow Royal hifirmary
(4to, Glasgow, 1832) — a storehouse of information regarding the hospital, and
also of the epidemiology of the City during the early part of the century.
He also published various clinical lectures, papers on surgical subjects, medical
reform, etc. Father of Dr. George Buchanan, Professor of Clinical Surgery
in the University of Glasgow. Died in i86o.

417. DAVID GIBSON. Admitted in 1818. M.D. Edinburgh, 1817 (Thesis, " De

diabete mellito"). Son of No. 348. Educated at the Universities of Glasgow
and Edinburgh, and studied also in Paris. Lectured on Botany in Portland
Street School, 1840-42. Married Margaret Laird. Medical visitor to the Blind
Asylum; surgeon to the Lower Ward of Lanarkshire Prisons. Died in i860.

418. JOHN COUPER. Entered in 1818. Son of No. 312. Born in Glasgow in 1794,

and educated at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities, at the latter of which
he graduated in Medicine in 181 6 (Thesis, "De acidorum constitutione ").
Appointed surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1824; Assistant
Physician, 1827 ; and Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Glasgow
in 1834. "He collected at his own expense a most complete museum of the
Materia Medica." {Memorabilia of the Old College, 125.) Died in 1855.

]

ROLL OF MEMBERS 277

419. ALEXANDER ANGUS. Entered in 181 9. Son of the teacher of an academy

in Ingram Street. Surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1831. Married
Helen Hanna. Died of fever in 1832.

420. ROBERT COWAN. Entered in 1819. Born in 1796, being son of No. 339,

and educated at the University of Glasgow, where he took his Medical degree
in 1834. Appointed surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1825, he
filled the office for a number of years, giving the result of his surgical
experience in contributions chiefly to the Glasgow Medical Journal; physician,
1836-38. In 1839 appointed Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the Uni-
versity of Glasgow. He pubhshed several papers on the "Epidemiology and
Vital Statistics of Glasgow" from 1835 to 1840. Married Margaret, daughter
of Mr. John Black, merchant, Glasgow, their son being Dr. John Black Cowan,
Professor of Materia Medica, University of Glasgow, 1865-80. (See under
No. 156.) Died in 1841.

421. THOMAS WALKER. Entered in 181 9. Son of Josiah Walker, Professor of

Humanity iu the University of Glasgow, and descended from a long line of
ministers of the Church of Scotland, including John Knox. He was born in
1796 in Dumfriesshire, and studied medicine in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London,
and Paris, being admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of
Edinburgh in 181 5, and M.D. Edinburgh, 1843. After practising for a short
time in Glasgow, he settled in 1819 in Peterborough. He filled the office of
surgeon to the Peterborough Infirmary for forty-three years. In 1876 he
retired from practice, and died in 1887 at the age of ninety-one. (Ref.
British Medical Journal, 1887, I. 43.)

422. BENJAMIN M'NAIR. Entered in 1819, Educated at Glasgow University, where

he graduated in Medicine in 181 5. Married Mary Miller. Died in 1844.

422A. JOHN LOCKE. Entered in 1819. M.D. Edinburgh, 1817 (Thesis, "De capite
vulnerato"). Died, unmarried, in 1824.

423. JAMES DRYSDALE. Entered in 181 9. Married Euphemia Thompson. Died

in 1829.

424. WILLIAM GIBSON, New Lanark. Entered in 1819. Married Euphemia

Bannatyne. Died in 1831.

425. JAMES HAMILTON, Paisley. Entered in 18 19. Married Janet Faichney. Died

in 1825.

426. JOHN STIRLING. Entered in 1819. Lecturer on Anatomy in the Portland

Street School, 1830-36; surgeon to the Royal Infirmary from 1832. Married
Helen Rose. Died in 1836.

427. WILLIAM YOUNG. Entered in 18 19. M.D. Glasgow, 1815. Surgeon to the

Glasgow Royal Infirmary from 1822. Died, unmarried, in 1837.

428. WILLIAM MACKENZIE. Entered in 1819. Licentiate, 1815. Born in Glasgow,

1 791, he was educated at the Grammar School and University of his native

2/8 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

City. In 1815 he made a long tour on the Continent, and while in Vienna
he studied the eye under Beer. In 1818 he returned home, and was admitted
M.R.C.S. that year. After an abortive attempt to begin practice in London,
he settled in Glasgow, and within a year or two we find him lecturing on
various subjects — anatomy, surgery, materia medica, medical jurisprudence,
and diseases of the eye. The lectures on anatomy and surgery were given
in Anderson's College, of which he was appointed a Professor. In 1824
he co-operated with Dr. G. C. Monteath in founding the Eye Infirmary,
and on the death of the latter in 1828, he resolved to devote himself
to this specialty. In 1833 he graduated M.D. Glasgow University, and in
1843 hs "^^^ made F.R.C.S. England. He was appointed surgeon oculist to
the Queen in Scotland in 1838, and till his death he stood in the front rank
of European oculists. Married Sophia Christina Napier. The hst of his
published writings is too long to be here given, but the work on which his
reputation mainly rested was his Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Eye,
published first in 1830, which ran through four English editions, and was translated
into German and French ; whilst a supplement, corrected by the author, was
published in Brussels in 1866. He was the first editor of and a copious
contributor to the Glasgow Medical Journal. Died in 1868. Portrait in
Faculty Hall (replica of one by A. Keith in the possession of Mrs. Mackenzie) ;
and another by Macnee in the Eye Infirmary ; while the cast of a marble
bust by G. Ewing is also in the Faculty Hall. (Rff. Memoirs and Portraits
of One Hundred Glasgow Men; Glasgow Medical Journal, 5 th series, i. 63
Dictionary of Medical Biography, xxxv. 164.)

429. JOHN MACFARLANE. Entered in 18 19. Born in 1796, he was the son of a

Relief Minister of Glasgow, and received his medical education mainly at the
University, where he graduated M.D. in 1824. Married Mary Gray Edington.
He began practice in the east end of the City, gradually moving westward
as he made sure his footing. He was surgeon to the Royal Infirmary from
1826, and in 1832 he published the results of his surgical experience under
the title of Clinical Reports, which greatly added to his reputation in that
department of practice. In 1852, on the death ^B(|(^William Thomson, he
succeeded him in the Chair of Medicine in the University of Glasgow.
President, 1832-34. Owing to failing health he retired from the duties of
his Chair, as well as from practice, in 1862, spending the last few years
of his life in Helensburgh. Died in 1869, aged seventy-three. Portrait in
the University of Glasgow.

430. JAMES M'LEOD. Entered in 1819. Died, unmarried, in 1821.

431. WILLIAM FERGUSON. Entered in 1819. M.D. Edinburgh, 1819 (Thesis, "De

vaccinia"). Died, unmarried, in 182 1.

431A. GEORGE SMITH. Entered in 1819. Married Jane J. Henry. Died in 1848.

432. WILLIAM RICHARDSON GIBB. Entered in 1820. Son of Rev. Gavin Gibb,

D.D., Professor of Oriental Languages in the University of Glasgow, he

ROLL OF MEMBERS

279

was educated at Glasgow University, where he graduated M.D. in 181 1. He
served in the Peninsular War as a surgeon under Wellington. He was sub-
sequently stationed in Canada, and was quartered at Paris during the occupation
of the City by the Allies after Waterloo. Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary
from 182 1. Residence latterly in India Street. Died in 1855.

433. THOMAS THOMSON. Entered as physician in 1820. He was born at Crieff

in 1773; educated at Stirling Grammar School and the Universities of St.
Andrews and Edinburgh, and graduated M.D. at the latter in 1799 (Thesis,
" De aero atmospherico "). In 1796 he succeeded his brother as editor of
the third edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, to which he also contributed
a number of articles. He opened in Edinburgh a Chemical Laboratory for
pupils, and taught the subject with success, introducing into it the system of
symbols, and later a new nomenclature of oxides and acids, with the number
of atoms of an oxide expressed in numerals. He was the inventor of the
oxy-hydrogen blowpipe; and by a series of original investigations laid the
foundation of Scottish excise legislation. In 1802 he published his System of
Chemistry (Edinburgh, 4 vols.), which went through seven editions. His
Eleinents of Chemistry (Lond. 1810) and his History of the Royal Society
(Lond. 181 2) were published while he was in Edinburgh, and there also he
started the Annals of Philosophy (Lond. 1813-22). In 1817 he was appointed
Lecturer, and in 18 18 Professor, of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow.
Though physician to the Royal Infirmary for two years, he was probably
never engaged in private medical practice in Glasgow. Some of his other
works are : An Attempt to Establish the First Principles of Chemistry by
Experiment (2 vols., London, 1825); Outlines of Mineralogy and Geology (2
vols., Lond.) ; History of Chemistry (2 vols., Lond. 1830). During the
last eleven years of his life his nephew, Dr. R. D. Thomson, was associated
with him in the duties of the Chair. Died in 1852. Portrait by Graham
Gilbert (engraved by Faed) in the Hall of the Philosophical Society.

434. LORIMER CORBETT. Entered in 1821. Married Janet Gibson. Died in 1829.

435. WILLIAM THOMSON. Entered in 182 1. M.D. Edinburgh, 1819. Lectured

on Anatomy and Physiology, Pathology and Surgery in the College Street
School. Died in 1832. (Ref. Glasgow Medical Journal, May, 1895, p. 323.)

436. ALEXANDER DUNLOP ANDERSON. Entered in 1821. Son of Mr. Andrew

Anderson, merchant, Greenock, who was brother-in-law of No. 288 {q.v.),
he was born in 1794, and studied medicine in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and
London; graduated M.D. at Edinburgh in 1819 (Thesis, " De Pneumoiiia ").
Nephew of Dr. John Anderson, founder of the " Andersonian." He was
admitted M.R.C.S. Eng. in 18 16, and Fellow of the same College in 1844.
He entered the Army Medical Service, and was assistant-surgeon to the
49th Regiment. In 1820 he settled in practice in Glasgow, and in 1823
he was first appointed surgeon to the Royal Infirmar)', an ofiice he after-

28o FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

wards held for a good many years. In 1838 he was appointed physician
to the Hospital. President, 1852-55. Married Sarah, daughter of Thomas
M'Call of Craighead. Father of Dr. T. M'Call Anderson and uncle of
No. 495. Died in 1871. Portrait by Sir Daniel Macnee in the Faculty Hall.

436A. ROBERT GRAY MAXWELL. Admitted in 182 1. Licentiate 1820. Brother of
No. 393. Practised in Duke Street. Died in 1865.

437. ROBERT HUNTER. Entered in 1822. Born in 1795, he was educated at

Glasgow Grammar School and University, taking the degree of M.D. in
1828. He began his career as a teacher by lecturing on Anatomy and
Surgery in College Street School, and in 1828 he was appointed Professor
of Anatomy in Anderson's College. In 1841 he removed to London to fill
the appointment of Lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology in the Westminster
Hospital School. Not finding this post to his liking he returned to Glasgow,
where in 1851 he was appointed to the Chair of Surgery in the "Ander-
sonian." He filled the office of surgeon to the Royal Infirmary for a
number of years from 1857; President, 1855-57. Author of a Text-Book
of Hufnatt Anatotny, the second edition of which is dated 1838. He was
also a contributor on surgical subjects to various medical periodicals. Died
in 1864. (Rfif. Lancet^ 22nd Sept., 1827, 746 ; Glasgow Medical Journal,
XII. 3rd Series, 383.)

438. JOHN RITCHIE WALLACE. Entered in 1822. M.A. Glasgow, 1816; M.D.

Glasgow, 1822. Died, unmarried, in 1825.

439. DAVID ANDERSON. Entered in 1822. M.D. Glasgow, 1830. Died, unmarried,

in 1 83 1.

440. WILLIAM AUCHINCLOSS. Entered in 1822. Educated at the University

of Glasgow, where he graduated M.D. in 1828. Surgeon to the Royal
Infirmary lor many years, beginning in 1829. Lectured on Surgery in Port-
land Street Medical School from 1830 to 1838, the published outline of his
course bearing date 1832. Died in 1841.

441. JOHN AITKEN. Entered in 1823. Graduated M.A. and M.D. Glasgow, 1815.

He was some time a member of the Glasgow Town Council. Married Margaret
M. Thomson. Died in his house in Blythswood Square in 1861. (Ref.
Glasgow, Fast and Present, 1884, i. 216.)

442. WILLIAM HALL. Entered in 1823. Educated at Glasgow University, where

he graduated M.D. in 1822, having previously taken the Arts degree.
Assistant-physician Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 1S21-22. Left Glasgow in
1829, and travelled for several years on the Continent, and was entered as
member of a number of scientific societies. He took up his residence in
Exeter about 1848, and died there in 1869. Brother of No. 507.

443. ANDREW REID. Entered in 1824. M.D. St. Andrews, 181 2. Married

Margaret Railton. He was one of the Doctors of Medicine against whom

ROLL OF MEMBERS 28 1

the Faculty raised a lawsuit in 18 16 (p. 163). Quarantine surgeon, Glasgow,
and practised on the South-side. Died in 1868.

444. ANDREW BUCHANAN. Entered in 1824. Born in Glasgow in 1798, his
father being senior partner of the well-known firm of Buchanan, Falconer
& Co., of which Dr. Buchanan's eldest brother, Walter Buchanan, M.P.,
was afterwards head. He was educated at the Grammar School and
University, and graduated M.D. 1822, After a period of post-graduate study
in Paris, he was appointed surgeon to one of the parochial districts of
Glasgow, and in that field of practice he contracted the first of three attacks
of typhus in which he all but lost his life, as actually did one of his pupil
assistants. He was one of the projectors of the Glasgow Medical Journal,
and succeeded Mackenzie as editor, but had to resign owing to some papers
on the medical management of the sick poor giving offence in some quarters.
In 1832 he threw himself with ardour into the crusade against the cholera
epidemic, publishing the results of his experience. In 1835, he was appointed
one of the surgeons of the Royal Infirmary; and in 1848 published his
notable paper on Lithotomy as performed with a Rectangular Staff. In 1828
he was appointed Professor of Materia Medica in Anderson's University,
and in 1839 Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in the University of
Glasgow, resigning his Chair in 1876. His contributions to medical literature
were very numerous, one of the most notable being some papers on The
Coagulation of Fibrinous Liquids, includtJig the Blood, in 1 844-45 ; and one
of the latest was his work on The Forces which carry on the Circulation of
the Blood, 1874. President, 1877-80. Died in 1882. Engraved portrait in
Memoirs and Portraits of Otte Hundred Glasgow Men, i. 45.

445. GEORGE MURRAY MACLACHLAN. Entered in 1824. (Probationary essay,

"The Medical Uses of Iodine.") M.D. St. Andrews. He served for a few
years as Army surgeon, and was appointed surgeon to the Royal Infirmary in
1827. In 1830 he went to Demerara, where he died in 1832, (Ref. Lancet,
1827-28, II. 569.)

446. ROBERT MANN SMITH. Entered in 1S25. Died, unmarried, in 1827.

447. ALEXANDER JOHN HANNAY. Entered in 1826. (Probationary essay, "On

some important points connected with Puerperal Fever.") Educated at the
University of Edinburgh, where he graduated in Medicine in 1823 (Thesis,
" De tartratis antimonii usu externo "). Elected as surgeon to the Glasgow
Royal Infirmary in 1844. He lectured in the College Street School on the
Theory and Practice of Physic {Lancet, 22nd Sept., 1827), and in 1828
he was appointed the first Professor of Medicine in the Andersonian Institu-
tion, which office he held till his death in 1846. Portrait by Macnee in
possession of his son, Mr. Maxwell Hannay.

448. JAMES SMITH CANDLISH. Entered in 1S26. He was apprentice or pupil

to No. 361 and studied medicine in Glasgow, London, and on the

282 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Continent, settling to practise in Glasgow about 1825. In 1829 he was
appointed Professor of Surgery in Anderson's University, but he died before
he could enter on his duties. Brother of Rev. Principal Candlish of Edin-
burgh. He was an accomplished scholar and a man of great promise. Died
of typhus fever in 1829.

449. CHARLES RITCHIE. Entered 1827. He was educated in Glasgow, and

began practice in Neilston on his obtaining the Faculty Licence in 1815.
While here he published an account of the medical topography of the
parish. In 1827 he came to Glasgow to practise, devoting himself largely
to Medicine and Gynaecology. In 1838-40 he lectured on Midwifery in
the Portland Street Medical School, graduating also M.D. Glasgow in 1839.
In 1843-45 he published a series of 19 papers on "The Ovaries" in the
Londofi Medical Gazette, which were published in book form by his son.
Dr. Charles G. Ritchie, along with some papers of his own, under the title
of Contributions to assist the Study of Ovarian Physiology and Pathology
(Lond. 1865). In 1841 he was appointed physician to the Royal Infirmary,
and he published the results of his clinical experience in a series of papers
on Chronic Diseases of the Heart, Scorbutus, Fevers, etc. President, 1862-65.
Died in 1878 at Bays water, London, to which place he had retired several
years previously.

450. JOHN SPITTAL. Entered in 1827. (Probationary essay, "Summary View of the

Practical Utility of the Stethoscope.") M.D. Glasgow, 1826. Appointed
assistant-physician to the Royal Infirmary in 1830, and in 1837 surgeon
to the Hospital. Residence in 1834 in Trongate. Died, unmarried, in 1840.

451. ROBERT M'NISH. Entered in 1827. (Probationary essay, "The Anatomy of

Drunkenness.") Son of No. 347, he was born in Glasgow in 1802, and studied
medicine at the University, where he graduated C.M. in 1820 and M.D.
in 1825. After serving as an assistant in Caithness, he studied in Paris,
and finally settled to practise in Glasgow. He early devoted himself to
literature,' contributing articles to Blackwood's Magazine and other periodicals.
His Meteinpsychosis, probably the most important of his contributions in pure
literature, appeared in Blackivood in 1828. His most ambitious work. The
Philosophy of Sleep, the preface of which was contributed by his friend
D. M. Moir ("Delta"), was pubhshed in Glasgow in 1830, and a second
edition in 1834. His Anatomy of Druftkenness, the subject of his proba-
tionary essay, was published in 1827, and went through many editions. In
1833 he published his Book of Aphorisms, and in 1835 his Introduction to
Phrenology, and next year appeared Brigham's Remarks on the Influence of
Alental Cultivation and Mental Excitement upon Health, with annotations
by Dr. M'Nish. On his death in 1837 his friend "Delta" collected his
tales and sketches, and published them with a Memoir in 2 vols. (Edin. 1838),
under the title of The Modern Pythagorean, which M'Nish had used as a
no)n de plume. Bust by Dobbie in the Faculty Hall.

ROLL OF MEMBERS

283

453. JOHN M. PAGAN. Entered in 1827. (Probationary essay, "Remarks on the

Pathology of Apoplexy.") Born at Halglen, parish of Auchinleck, Ayrshire, the
son of a sheep-farmer, he was educated at Irvine Academy, and studied medicine
at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1823 (Thesis, " De Syncope
Anginosa"). In 1825 he began practice in Preston, Lancashire, and settled in
Glasgow two years later. In 1833 he was appointed one of the surgeons of
the Royal Infirmary. In 1830 he began to lecture on Medical Jurisprudence
in Portland Street Medical School, continuing this post till his appointment to
the Chair of Midwifery in Glasgow University in 1840. He was Librarian to
the Faculty for several years, and compiled a catalogue of the collection. He
published The Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity (Lond. 1840). Died in 1868.

454. JOHN M'DOWALL. Entered in 1827. Licentiate 1819. M.D. Glasgow, 181 7.

Married Caroline Shaw. Died in 1857.

4S4A. JAMES BROWN. Admitted in 1827. A native of Paisley and educated in
Glasgow. Married Jean Macome. Lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology in
the Mechanics' Institution ; Professor of Midwifery in Anderson's University,
1834-41. His surgery in Argyle Street at the head of York Street. Died in
1846. (Ref. p. 170.)

455. THOMAS GRAY. Entered in 1828. Married Isabella Gilchrist. Died in 1848.

456. WILLIAM LYON. Entered in 1828. (Probationary essay, "On Dehrium

Tremens.") Licentiate 181 6. Educated at Glasgow University, he began
to practise a few miles to the east of the City, but eventually settled in
Glasgow, gradually moving westward as his practice increased. In 1839
he was elected a surgeon of the Royal Infirmary, and with intermissions
held this ofiice for many years. In 1841-43 he lectured on Surgery in the
Portland Street Medical School. In 1859 he graduated in medicine in the
University of Glasgow. President, 1860-62. He made several contributions
on surgical subjects to the periodicals, and was long one of the best known
medical men in Glasgow. Died in 1874.

457. WILLIAM DAVIDSON. Entered in 1828. L.R.C.S. Edinburgh, 1816. M.D.

Glasgow, 1825. In 1838 he was elected a physician to the Royal Infirmary.
He was Lecturer on Materia Medica in the Portland Street Medical School
from 1830 to 1840. About 1846 he removed to Largs, and two years later
to Greenock. Married Elizabeth Williamson. He was the author of Lectures
on Pharmacology (Glasgow, 1834), the Thackeray Prize Essay on Fever (Lond.
1 84 1, and Glasgow 1846), Treatise on Diet, 1843. He also contributed a
series of Clinical Lectures to the London Medical Gazette, 1840, and other
papers. Died in 1859.

458. PETER MACFARLANE. Entered in 1828. He removed to Gartmore in 1835.

Married Jean Hunter. Died in 1837.

459. WILLIAM CHALMERS. Entered as physician in 1828. M.D. Aberdeen, 1805;

M. R.C.S. Eng., 1805. In 1805 he entered as surgeon in the service

284 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

of the East India Company, remaining in India for twenty years. In 1829
he was elected assistant-physician to the Royal Infirmary. About 1832
he removed to England, and for the last eight years of his life he lived in
Brighton, where he died in 1862.

460. WILLIAM M'KAY. Entered in 1828. Died, unmarried, in 1831.

461. WILLIAM M'TYER. Entered in 1829. (Probationary essay, "Observations on

the Pathology and Treatment of Cancer.") He was born in Glasgow, and
studied medicine at the University, where he graduated in 1826, and next
year was admitted M.R.C.S. About 1830 he removed to Ayrshire, and for
upwards of forty years practised in Maybole, having a connection as consultant
in the surrounding district. Married Janet Rowan. He was devoted to
the study of Microscopy and Natural History. Died in 1878.

462. WILLIAM SHIRREFF. Entered in 1829. (Probationary essay, "On the

Pathology of Excretion.") In 1831 he removed to India as a surgeon in
the East India Company. Married Frances EHzabeth Wood. Died in 1840.

463. JAMES JOHN KNOX. Entered in 1829. (Probationary essay, " On the Treat-

ment of Strumous Iritis.") Died in 1837.

464. GEORGE WATT. Entered in 1829. (Probationary essay, "The Pathology of

Pulmonary Consumption.") He was born in Glasgow and educated at the
Grammar School, the University, and Anderson's College. In 1849 ^^ was
appointed surgeon to the Royal Infirmary. In 1831 he was elected Professor
of Medical Jurisprudence in the " Andersonian," resigning the office in 1842.
He was Parliamentary Inspector of Madhouses in Lanarkshire, and was
Representative of the Faculty to the General Medical Council, 1860-63.
Married Margaret Monteith. Died in 1863.

465. JAMES ADAIR LAWRIE. Entered in 1830. Born at Loudon Manse in 1801,

he studied in the University of Glasgow, and on his graduating M.D. in 1822
he went out to India in the East India Company's service. Having returned
to this country he began practice in Glasgow in 1828, was appointed surgeon
to the Royal Infirmary, and in 1829 was elected Andersonian Professor of
Surgery. In 1832 he devoted himself with ardour to the study of cholera,
visiting, for this purpose, Sunderland, Newcastle, and Gateshead, publishing
the results of his investigations, and of his Indian experiences of the disease.
In 1850 he was appointed Professor of Surgery in the University of Glasgow,
and in 1858-59 he was the Representative of the Universities of Glasgow
and St. Andrews to the General Medical Council. His contributions to
surgery appeared chiefly in the Glasgow Medical Journal, which he edited
for some time. Died in 1859.

466. JOHN A. FULLARTON. Entered in 1830. (Probationary essay, "On Croup.")

He practised only for a short time, joining the publishing firm of Archibald

ROLL OF MEMBERS 285

Fullarton & Co., and removed to Edinburgh in 1843. Married Helen Frew.
Died in 1882.

467. THOMAS GRAHAM, F.R.S. Entered in 1830. (Probationary essay, " On the tend-

ency of Air and the different Gases to Mutual Penetration.") Born in Glasgow
in 1805, he studied at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, devoting
himself largely to physical and chemical science. In 1828 he lectured on
Chemistry in Portland Street School, and next year in the Mechanics' Institu-
tion ; and in 1830 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry in the Andersonian,
in succession to Dr. Ure. His distinguished career as a chemist cannot be
followed here in detail. In 1837 he was appointed Professor in the London
University (University College), and in 1854 Master of the Mint. It was in
1833, while in Glasgow, that his most important contribution to pure chemistry
was published, entitled Researches on the Arse?tiates, Phosphates, and Modifi-
cations of Phosphoric Acid, which formed the starting point of the theory of the
basicity of acids, which memoir was reissued as No. 10 of the "Alembic Club
Reprints," 1895. His name will ever be associated with his researches on
the diffusion of gases. His memoir on the Diffusion of Liquids appeared in
1849-50. His friend, Mr. James Young of Kelly, published his collected
Chemical and Physical Researches after his death, which happened in 1869.
(Ref. Thorpe's Essays on Historical Chemistry, 1894, 160-235.) Statue in
George Square, Glasgow.

468. JOHN M'EWAN. Entered in 1831. (Probationary essay, "On the Physiology

and Pathology in the Non-vascular Tissues, especially those of the Eye.")
M.D. Glasgow, 1827. Married Isabella Clow. Died in 1856.

469. WILLIAM NIMMO. Entered in 1831. (Probationary essay, " Illustrations of the

Theory of Mental Derangement.") M.D. Glasgow, 1835. Assistant-surgeon
to the Eye Infirmary; lecturer on Surgery in College Street. In 1836 he
went out to Demerara, where he died in 1841. Author of Description of the
Anatomy of Inguinal aiid Femoral Hernia (4to, Glasgow, 1835).

470. JAMES MILLER. Entered in 1832. (Probationary essay, "On the Nature and

Treatment of Mania a Potu.") Born in Glasgow, and educated in the Univer-
sity, he left the profession to enter the firm of Miller and Son, wrights and
builders. Married Jane Blair. Author of Architecture, Architects and Builders
of the Middle Ages (Glasgow, 1851), History, Nature a?id Objects of Masonry
(London, 1853). Died in 1861.

471. ALLAN BURNS. Entered in 1832. (Probationary essay, " On Tetanus.") Born

in Glasgow in 18 10, he was the youngest of the four children of No. 344.
Educated at the University of Glasgow, he studied afterwards for some years
on the Continent. Began practice in Glasgow about 1832, and having a great
liking for anatomical pursuits, he gave promise of future eminence when he
was cut off by intermittent fever in 1843.

286 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

473. JOHN DRUMMOND. Entered in 1832. (Probationary essay, "On Diabetes

Mellitus.") Married Elizabeth Arneil Paterson. Died in 1843.

474. DAVID WARK. Entered in 1832. (Probationary essay, "Practical Remarks on

Fever.") Went out to Australia, where he died in 1862.

475. JAMES M'CONECHY. Entered in 1832. Born at Kilblane in 1796, he was

educated at the University of Glasgow. M.D. Glasgow, 1858. He lectured
on Chemistry in the Portland Street School in 1833-35. Lieutenant, Royal
Marines. For twenty-three years he was editor of a newspaper, the Glasgow
Courier. Died in 1866.

476. JOSEPH FLEMING. Entered in [834. Contributed a series of articles on

" Ventilation as a Means of Preventing Infection," to the Glasgow Medical
Examifier, 1832. Latterly chiefly engaged in practice under the Factory Act.
Surgeon to the Police Force, Western District, in connection with which
ofiice he gave expert evidence in the Sandyford murder trial. Died at
Dunoon in 1879,

477. JOHN GIBSON FLEMING. Entered in 1833. (Probationary essay, "Pathology

and Treatment of Ramollisement of the Brain.") Born in 1809, descended
from an old Glasgow family, he was educated at the Grammar School and
University of his native city, and graduated M.D. in 1830, studying subsequently
in Paris. Having begun practice in Glasgow, he was appointed a surgeon
of the Royal Infirmary in 1846, and for a number of years after he had
ceased to be surgeon he was connected with the hospital as Manager, In the
latter capacity he published a pamphlet in the form of a letter to the Managers,
which eventuated, in 1870, in some changes in the organization of the House.
It was on his initiative that on the removal of the University to Gilmorehill a
Medical School was affiliated to the Infirmary. This school he inaugurated
by an address in 1874. President, 1865-68, 1870-72. He was representative
of the Faculty to the General Medical Council, 1863-78, and Examiner in
Glasgow University. He published The Medical Statistics of Life Assurance
(Glasgow, 1870) founded on the experience of the Scottish Amicable Company,
of which he was medical adviser. Died in 1879. Father of William James
Fleming, M.D., surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 1886-95. Portrait
by Sir Daniel Macnee in the Faculty Hall, and engraved portrait in Metnorials
and Portraits of One Hundred Glasgoiv Men.

478. CHARLES BRYCE. Entered in 1833. (Probationary essay, "On Cholera.")

M.D. Glasgow, 1824. After practising in various places he was attached to
the Army Medical Staff on special service at Scutari hospitals. On his return
from the East he settled at Brighton, where he died in 1874. His most
important contributions to medical literature were a Memoir on the Remittent
Fever of the Levant, which was prepared at the request of the Army Medical
Department for the special use of the Medical Staff of the Crimean army;
and England and France before Sebastopol, looked at fro?n a Medical Point of
View (Lond. 1857).

ROLL OF MEMBERS 287

479. WILLIAM CRAIG. Entered in 1833. (Probationary essay, "On the Use of the

Stethoscope in Diseases of the Chest.") M.D. Glasgow, 1828. Lecturer on
the Theory of Medicine in the Portland Street Medical School, 1833-36.
Died in 1836.

480. FRANCIS PARKER. Entered in 1834. (Probationary essay, "On Pericarditis.")

M.D. Glasgow, 1833. In 1837 he went to India in the service of the East
India Company, where he died in 184 1.

481. JAMES DOUGLAS. Entered in 1835. (Probationary essay, "On Phlebitis,

particularly as connected with Secondary Abscesses.") Lecturer on Anatomy
in the Portland Street School, 1841-43. Married Agnes D. Atkinson. Author
of A Popular View of the Anatomy of the Human Body. Died in 1844.

482. JOHN JACKSON. Entered in 1835. (Probationary essay, "On Apoplexy.")

M.D. Glasgow, 1838. Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence in the Portland
Street Medical School, 1842-43. Died in 1844.

483. PETER STIRLING. Entered in 1835. (Probationary essay, "On Uterine

Haemorrhage occurring during Pregnancy.") M.D. Glasgow, 1832. Died
in 1846.

484. JAMES JEFFRAY, Jun. Entered in 1836. (Probationary essay, "On Pleurisy.")

M.D. Glasgow, 1834. Son of No. 340, whom he assisted in the duties of
the Anatomy Chair in the University some years before his father's death.
Did not practise. Died, unmarried, in 1886.

485. NINIAN HILL. Entered in 1836. (Probationary essay, "Notes on the In-

sufficiency of the Aortic Valves of the Heart.") M.D. Glasgow, 1830.
Married Marion Lancaster. In 1842 removed to London, and in 1847 to
Guernsey, where he died in 1852.

485A. HANDASIDE DUNCAN. Entered in 1836. (Probationary essay, "Remarks on
Hydrocephalus.") M.D. Glasgow, 1835. About 1838 he removed to Adelaide,
South Australia, where he died in 1878.

486. ROBERT M'GREGOR. Entered in 1837. (Probationary essay, "Experimental

Enquiry into the Comparative State of Healthy and Diseased Urine.")
L.R.C.S. Edinburgh, 1833 ; M.D. Glasgow, 1842. In 1848 appointed physi-
cian to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and in connection with his previous office
of apothecary to the Hospital, published Pharmacopoeia in usum Nosocomii
Regii Glasgwensis (2nd ed. Glasgow, 1835), which went through several editions.
He lectured on Chemistry in the Portland Street Medical School from 1836
till it closed about 1844, and subsequently in a room in College Street up
to about 1850. Died in 1855.

487. WILLIAM DAWSON HOOKER. Entered in 1839. (Probationary essay, "On

the Cinchonas, their History, Uses, and Effects.") Born in 181 6, the son
of Sir William Jackson Hooker, Professor of Botany in the University,
and subsequently Director of the Kew Gardens, he was educated at the

288 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

University, graduating M.D. in 1839. Married Isabella Smith. He visited
Norway in 1837, and in 1839 published Notes on Norway, containing some
shrewd observations on Natural History. In 1839 he was appointed Professor
of Materia Medica in Anderson's University, but died before the completion
of the session, on ist January, 1840, at Kingston, Jamaica. He had made
a considerable ornithological collection.

488. JOHN D. MUTER. Entered in 1839. (Probationary essay, "On Dissection

Wounds.") Lecturer on Materia Medica in the Portland Street School,
1841-42. Father of Mr. John Muter, editor of The Afialyst, and author
of works on Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Died in 1862.

489. ARCHIBALD BROWN. Entered in 1839. (Probationar}' essay, "On Creasote.")

Married Jane M'CoU. Died in 1848.

490. JOHN PANTON. Entered in 1840. (Probationary essay, "On Uterine Phlebitis.")

M.D. Edinburgh, 1838. Served as surgeon to the Royal Navy. Married
Mary Eliza M'Bride. Died in 1864.

491. ALEXANDER MAXWELL ADAMS. Entered in 1840. Probationary essay, "On

Scarlatina." M.D. King's College, Aberdeen, 1849. Married Eliza Craig.
Lecturer on Midwifery in the Portland Street Medical School, 1840-42.
Professor of the Institutes of Medicine, Anderson's University, 1846-50.
Surgeon to the Lock Hospital. Brother of No. 506. Removed to Lanark
about 1850 where he died in 1867.

492. HUGH MORRIS LANG. Entered in 1840. (Probationary essay, "On Delirium

Tremens.") M.D. Glasgow, 1832. Practised in Largs, but for many years
has lived retired on his estate in Selkirkshire.

493. HENRY WILSON CLELAND. Entered in 1840. (Probationary essay, "On the

History and Properties, Chemical and Medical, of Tobacco," a repertory of
out-of-the-way information, recondite references, and quaint conceits, in which
not only the historical and scientific aspects of his theme are discussed, but
its position in literature considered, the whole having a good deal of the
flavour of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.) Son of James Cleland, LL.D.,
the annalist, historian, and statistician of Glasgow. He was educated at the
University of Glasgow, where he graduated M.D. in 1840. Lecturer on
Medical Jurisprudence in the Portland Street Medical School 1840-42.
Died, unmarried, in 1844. Sketch Portrait on the cover of his "Essay."

494. JOHN ALEXANDER EASTON. Entered in 1840. (Probationary essay, "Cursory

Remarks on the Action of Medicines.") Licentiate 1828. M.D. Glasgow,
1828. He was bom in India (his father being in the Indian Medical Service),
and educated in Glasgow. Appointed physician to the Royal Infirmary in
1852; he was also medical officer to the Glasgow Police. He was appointed
Professor of Materia Medica in Anderson's University in 1840, and was
elected to the Chair on the same subject in the Glasgow University in

ROLL OF MEMBERS

289

1855. He is perhaps most widely known for the introduction of what is
now known as "Easton's Syrup." He contributed a number of papers to
the medical periodicals. Died in 1867.

495. ANDREW ANDERSON. Entered in 1840. (Probationary essay, "Observations

on Typhus.") Eldest son of James A. Anderson, Esq., of Carlung, Manager
of the Union Bank, and nephew of No. 436, he was educated at Glasgow
University, graduating M.D. in 1839. In 1840 he was appointed Professor
of the Institutes of Medicine in Anderson's College, in 1844 assistant-surgeon
and afterwards surgeon and consulting surgeon to the Eye Infirmary, and in
1846 Professor of Practice of Medicine in Anderson's College, resigning the
office in 1863. Married Jane, daughter of Mr. James Reddie, Town Clerk
of Glasgow. President, 1868-70, filling the office at his death in 1870.
Contributed copiously to the medical journals, and published Five Lectures
Introductory to the Study of Fever (Lond. 1861). Examiner in the University
of Glasgow.

496. ALEXANDER MACLAVERTY. Entered in 1841. (Probationary essay, "Com-

parison of the Advantages of Lithotomy and Lithotrity.") M.D. Edinburgh,
1838; L.R.C.S. Edinburgh, 1839. Removed from Glasgow to Ross, Here-
fordshire. Retired from practice.

497. ALEXANDER FORBES. Entered in 1841. (Probationary essay, "Nature and

Treatment of Anasarca and Ascites.") M.D. Glasgow, 1833. About 1861
removed to Auchterarder, where he died in 1877.

498. JAMES PATERSON. Entered in 1841. (Probationary essay, "On Cancer ot

the Uterus.") CM. Glasgow, 1834; M.D., 1836. In 1841 appointed
Professor of Midwifery in Anderson's University, resigning the Chair in 1863.
In 1865 his name was prominently before the public in connection with his
evidence in the Pritchard trial, and his claim to have detected poisoning from
the symptoms during life. Died in 1881.

499. WILLIAM HUTCHESON. Entered in 1842. M.D. Edin., 1838; F.R.C.P.

Edinburgh, 1844. The first Resident Physician-Superintendent to the
Glasgow Royal Asylum for Lunatics. In 1850 he removed to London, and
in a year or two thereafter to Troon. Married Jane F. M'Rorie. Died
in 1863.

500. ALEXANDER FISHER. Entered in 1842. (Probationary essay, "Observations

on Hooping-Cough.") M.D. Married Elizabeth Roxburgh. Died in George
Street in 1855.

501. ALEXANDER KING. Entered in 1842. (Probationary essay, "Remarks on

Amputations.") M.D. Glasgow, 1843. Married Jane D. Cleghorn. Died
in 1859.

502. JOHN FINDLAY. Entered in 1842. (Probationary essay, "On Peritonitis.")

M.D. Glasgow, 1841. Married Elizabeth Robertson. Died in 1849.

290 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

503. JOHN CRAWFORD. Entered in 1842. (Probationary essay, "On the ex-

pediency of abolishing mechanical restraint in the treatment of the Insane
in Lunatic Asylums.") M.D. Glasgow, 1838; M.R.C.S., 1840. Medical
Officer of the Town's Hospital. Physician to the Glasgow Cholera Hospital,
1854-55. Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in Anderson's College, 1842-56.
In the latter year removed to Carstairs, where he died in 1879.

504. CHARLES CRAWFORD, Gourock. Entered in 1843. (Probationary essay, "On

Asphyxia.") M.D. Glasgow, 1845; CM., 1827. Died in 1855.

505. JOSEPH BELL. Entered in 1844. Probationary essay, "On the Treatment of

some forms of Incipient Phthisis.") Licentiate, 1837 ; M.D. St. Andrews,
1832. Born in 181 7, and studied medicine at Anderson's University. Prac-
tised first in Barrhead, whence he removed to Glasgow. Appointed physician
to the Royal Infirmary in 1853, and Professor of Botany in the Andersonian
College in 1847. Married Elizabeth Stephen. He was a considerable con-
tributor to periodical medical literature. Died in 1863.

506. JAMES ADAMS. Entered in 1846. (Probationary essay, "On Tubercle of the

Brain in Children.") L.R.C.S. Edinburgh, 1841 ; M.D. Aberdeen, 1849.
Born in 18 18, and educated at the Edinburgh School. Has served the Faculty
as Councillor, Librarian, Examiner, etc. President of the Glasgow Medical
Society; Secretary of the same society, and President and Secretary of the
Glasgow Medico-Chirurgical Society ; has contributed copiously to periodical
medical literature, chiefly in the department of hygiene. In 1865, in con-
junction with Dr. F. Penny, he instituted a series of experiments on animals,
with a view to the detection of aconite by its physiological actions, in connection
with the Pritchard murder trial. Brother of No. 491. Father of Dr. James
A. Adams and Mr. F. V, Adams, both Fellows.

507. ALFRED HALL, Brighton. Entered in 1847. (Probationary essay, "On the

great prevalence of Venereal Diseases in Great Britain.") Brother of No. 442.
M.D. Edinburgh, 1840; F.R.C.P. London, 1873. Formerly Vice-president
Obstetrical Society of London.

508. EBENEZER WATSON. Entered in 1849. (Probationary essay, " On the

Organ of the Human Voice.") Son of No. 379, he was born in 1824, and
educated at the University of Glasgow, where he graduated in Arts in 1844,
and in Medicine in 1846. In 1850 he was appointed Professor of the
Institutes of Medicine in Anderson's University, and resigned the Chair in
1876. In 1856 he was appointed surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, and filled
the office for many years. President, 1872-74. Married Mary Ferrier
Young, daughter of J. H. Young, Esq., of Ruchill. He contributed copiously
to periodical medical literature, mainly on surgical subjects, and published a
treatise On the Topical Medication of the Larytix in certain Diseases of the
Respiratory and Vocal Organs (Lond. 1854). Died in 1886.

509. ANDREW RISK. Entered in 1850. (Probationary essay, "On Iron and its

Preparations.") Married Louise A Grenet, a French lady. Died in 1861.

ROLL OF MEMBERS 29 1

510. ROBERT TELFER CORBETT. Entered in 1850. Licentiate, 1841. M.D.

Glasgow, 1 84 1. Appointed surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 1855.
Medico-legal Examiner for Glasgow, and latterly engaged chiefly in aural
practice. He emigrated to New Zealand, where he died in 1877.

511. WILLIAM DRURY. Entered in 1850. Licentiate, 1822. M.D. Glasgow, 1840.

Physician to Garngad Asylum. He retired to Shrewsbury, where he died in 1855.

512. ANDREW FERGUS. Entered in 1850. Born in 1822. Son of a Presbyterian

clergyman in Newcastle-on-Tyne, he was educated at University College,
London, and in medicine at Glasgow University and King's College,
London. Admitted M.R.C.S. England, 1845. In 1847 he was appointed
in Glasgow as one of the district surgeons of the city. In 1854 he had con-
siderable experience of the cholera epidemic, his treatment consisting of
large doses of opium at the onset, with rest. He also made investigations
into the relations of typhoid fever and diphtheria to a corroded condition
of the soil pipes, and other sanitary subjects. From 1870 to 1874 he was a
member of the Town Council. President, 1874-77 and 1883-86. In 1883 he
received the appointment of Queen's Representative for Scotland on the
General Medical Council. For the years 1877-80 he was President of the
Glasgow Philosophical Society. He was also on the governing bodies of the
Western Infirmary, the Eye Infirmary, Anderson's College, etc., and Examiner
in the University. Father of Dr. A. Freeland Fergus. Died in 1887.
Portrait in the Faculty Hall.

513. THOMAS WATSON. Entered in 1851 ; Licentiate, 1836. M.D. Glasgow, 1846.

Son of No. 389, and father of Mr. G. L. Watson, the well-known naval
architect. Appointed physician to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 1857.
He was also Examiner in the University of Glasgow. Died in 1867.

514. ROBERT DUNLOP TANNAHILL. Entered in 185 1. L.R.C.S. Edinburgh,

1840; M.D. King's College, Aberdeen, 1854. Born in Kilmarnock in 1811.
Studied medicine at Glasgow, and practised some time in Kilmarnock and
Campsie before settling in Glasgow. Appointed physician to the Royal
Infirmary in 1856, and subsequently also physician-accoucheur to the Maternity
Hospital, surgeon to the Lock Hospital, and medical officer to the Old
Man's Institution. Son-in-law of No. 384. Died in 1887.

515. JAMES STEVEN. Entered in 185 1. Born in Hamilton in 1827, and educated

at Hamilton Grammar School, and at Glasgow University, where he graduated
M.D. with Honours in 1848. In that year he volunteered to act in the
cholera epidemic in Dumfries, and on his return began practice in Glasgow
in 1849. Appointed physician to the Royal Infirmary in 1865. He acted
for some time as one of the editors of the Glasgotv Medical yournal. Died
of renal disease in 1873.

516. JAMES ERASER. Entered in 185 1. Licentiate, 1843. M.D. King's College,

Aberdeen, 1854. Medical officer for the Clyde under the Passengers' Act.

2Q2 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Author of The Emigranfs Medical Guide (Glasgow, 1853). Appointed
physician to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in i860. A few years before
his death he removed to Gatehouse of Fleet. Died in 1870.

517. ROBERT PARKER. Entered in 185 1. Licentiate, 1844; M.D. St. Andrews,

1 85 1. Practised in Tradeston district. Died in i860.

S17A. JOHN BURNS. Entered in 185 1; Licentiate 1848; Governor of St. Mungo's
College Medical School.

518. GEORGE ROBERTSON. Entered in 1851. Licentiate, 1836, M.D. Glasgow,

1840. A native of Paisley, he was educated in medicine in Glasgow, and
latterly practised chiefly as a specialist in eye diseases. Appointed physician
to the Royal Lifirmary in 1855. Died in 1869.

519. JOHN COATS. Entered in 185 1. L.R.C.S. Edinburgh, 1836; M.D. Glasgow,

1836. He was a native of East Kilbride, and was educated at the University
of Glasgow. He was for many years Examiner in Arts and in Medicine,
and also Treasurer of the Faculty, and also an Examiner in Medicine in
the University of Glasgow. Father of Surgeon Lieut.-Col. James Coats.
Died in 1879. Portrait in the Faculty Hall.

520. JAMES MORTON. Entered in 1851. L.R.C.S. Edinburgh, 1844; M.D. St.

Andrews, 1845. ^^ ^^^ born at Ochiltree, Ayrshire, in 1820, and to a
great extent was self-educated. When about twenty-one he entered Anderson's
University, and on being qualified commenced practice on the south-side of
the Clyde in Glasgow, changing to the north-side in 1851. In 1855 he was
appointed Professor of Materia Medica in Anderson's University and held the
position till 1888. In 1859 he was appointed surgeon to the Royal Infirmary,
and, with an intermission of two years, held office till 1885. In 1871 he
introduced the treatment of Spina Bifida by the injection of iodo-glycerine
solutions. On this subject he published a monograph. The Treatment of
Spina Bifida by a New Method (Lond. 1877), a second edition of which
appeared in 1887. In 1885 he had the gratification of seeing his method
endorsed by the Special Committee of the Clinical Society of London as the
best and the only method they felt justified in recommending. President,
1886-89. LL.D. Glasgow, 1888. Died in 1889. Portrait, by his son, in the
Faculty Hall.

VIII.

ROLL OF HONORARY MEMBERS AND FELLOWS.

I. JAMES STEVEN. Enrolled 7th June, 1736. "Surgeon to the Honourable
Generall Wytham's Regiment of Foot now in lying-in quarters in Glasgow."

2 WILLIAM HUNTER. Enrolled 4th March, 1751. The eminent Anatomist,
Physician, and Obstetrician, founder of the Hunterian Museum of Glasgow.
M,D. Glasgow, 1750. Died in 1783. Portrait by Reynolds in the Hunterian
Museum, and another in the Faculty Hall.

3. WILLIAM HASTIE. Enrolled 6th January, 1755. "Surgeon to the Honourable

Edward Skelton's Regiment of Foot now quartered in Glasgow, as descended
from Mr. Peter Low, the Faculty's great benefactor."

4. JOHN BRISBANE. Enrolled 4th December, 1768. Son of Dr. Thomas Brisbane,

the first Professor of Anatomy and Botany, University of Glasgow: No. 195
Roll of Members. M.D. Edinburgh, 1750. Physician to the Middlesex
Hospital, 1758-73. Author of The Anatomy of Painting {'Londi. 1769). Died
about 1776.

5. SIR JAMES M'GRIGOR. Enrolled 3rd January, 1825. Director-General of the

Army Medical Department, 1815-51. Died in 1858,

6. SIR WILLIAM BURNETT, K.C.B. Enrolled 3rd January, 1842. M.D. Aberdeen.

Physician-General of the Navy. Introduced Burnett's Disinfecting Fluid.
Died in 1861.

7. SIR ANDREW SMITH, K.C.B. Enrolled 6th August, 1855. Director-General of

the Army Medical Department, 1851-58, Died in 1872.

8. DAVID LIVINGSTONE. Enrolled 5th January, 1857. The celebrated African

Missionary and Explorer. Student of Anderson's College. Licentiate of
the Faculty, 1840. Died in 1873. Portrait in Faculty Hall.

9. SIR JOHN LIDDELL, K.C.B. Enrolled 6th September, 1858. M.D. Edinburgh,

1794. Director-General of the Medical Department of the Navy, 1854-64.
Died in 1868.

10. CHARLES EDOUARD BROWN-SEQUARD. Enrolled 7th November, 1859. The
eminent experimental Physiologist and Pathologist. In 1859 he delivered
a course of lectures in Glasgow. Died in 1894.

294

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

11. ALEXANDER BRYSON, CB. Enrolled ist July, 1867. Director-General of the

Medical Department of the Navy, 1864-69. A native of the parish of
Houstoun. Educated in Glasgow. Licentiate of the Faculty, 1825; M.D.
Glasgow, 1837. Died in 1869.

12. JAMES HENDERSON. Enrolled 6th December, 1869. Inspector-General of

Hospitals to the Army. A native of Glasgow, and educated there. Licentiate
of the Faculty, 1809: also M.D. Glasgow, 1822. Died in 1871.

13. JAMES SYME. Enrolled 3rd January, 1870. The eminent Scottish Surgeon.

Professor of Clinical Surgery, University of Edinburgh. Died in 1870.

14. ALLEN THOMSON. Enrolled 3rd September, 1877. Bom in 1809, his father

being Professor John Thomson of Edinburgh, and his brother Professor
William Thomson of Glasgow. M.D. Edinburgh, 1830; F.R.C.S. Edinburgh,
1 83 1. After teaching for some years in Edinburgh in association with
Mr. William Sharpey he filled in succession the offices of Professor of
Anatomy in Marischal College, Aberdeen (1839), Professor of Institutes of
Medicine, Edinburgh University (1842), and Professor of Anatomy, Glasgow
University (1848-77). As a teacher of Anatomy in Glasgow he earned great
reputation, whilst he took an active interest in everything which concerned the
University and the medical profession. He was President of the Medico-
Chirurgical Society, and Representative of the Universities of Glasgow and
St. Andrews in the General Medical Council. He was one of the editors of
the 7th and 8th editions of Qiiai)is Anatomy, and a contributor of a number
of the articles in Todd's Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology. As an
investigator he was best known by his researches in Embryology, chiefly
published in the last-named work. He retired from office as a teacher in
1877, and in the same year he was President of the Plymouth Meeting of the
British Association. He was a Fellow, Member of Council, and Vice-President
of the Royal Society, and received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the
Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Died in 1884.

15. SIR BENJAMIN WARD RICHARDSON. Enrolled 3rd June, 1870. The well-

known London Physician. Educated at Anderson's College ; Licentiate of
the Faculty, 1850. Faculty Lecturer, 1877. M.D. St. Andrews, 1854.
F.R.S., F.R.C.P., etc.

CORRIGENDA.

Page 182, line 7, for "Dr. John Nimmo on Medicine" read
" Mr. Andrew Nimmo on Surgery."

Page 185, tliird column, headed " Portland Street School," for

" Peter Stirling" read "John Stirling."
Page 246, lines 8 and 11, for " LilHan " read " LilHas."

INDEX.

Abercorn, Earl of, 35.

Aberdeen, early teaching of medicine at, 41 ;

medical graduates of, 163 ; the glengore in, 14 ;

alleged scarcity of anatomical material in, 176.

Abernethie, James, 17.

Absentees from meetings, 97, 224.

Act, anent apprenticeship, 78 ; of adjournal, 90,
160.

Adam, John, 244.

Adams, Dr. A. Maxwell, 185, 186, 288.

Adams, Dr. James, 190, 290 ; his sons, 290.

Adams, Dr., Banchory, 52.

Adulteration of drugs, 44 and note.

Aitken, Dr. John, 280.

Alexander, James, 187, 264.

Alexander VI., Pope, 41.

Alexander, Walter, 253.

" Aliquis " on the lifting of the dead, 177.

Allason, Mr. Robert, 45, 233.

Anaesthetics, discussion on, 191.

Anatomical tables by Smellie, 252.

Anatomy, statistics of students of, in Glasgow,
172, 183 ; supply of material for, 176 et scq. ;
teachers of, early in the present century, 181,
182; Warburton's Act, 178.

Anderson, Dr. A. D., 198, 279.

Anderson, Dr. Andrew, 185, 186, 289.

Anderson, Dr. David, 280.

Anderson, George and Andrew, Glasgow Printers,
199.

Anderson, Dr. John, Founder of Anderson's Col-
lege, 178 et scq.

Anderson, T. M'Call, 280.

Anderson, William, 261.

Anderson, William, 265.

Anderson's College (formerly Anderson's Univer-
sity), origin and constitution, 178 ct seq. ; first
lecturers of, 180 ; the medical school, 181, 182 ;
statistics of students of, 183 ; merlical professors
of, 1 8 5, 186.

Andersoune, John, bailie, 45.

Anderson, Robert, 254.

Anderson, William, 179.

Andersoune, Will, bailie, 45.

Aneurism, case of, treated by a barber, 38.

Angus, Alexander, 277.

Antipathy. See Sympathy.

Antiseptic system, beginning of, 194.

Apothecaries, origin of, 5.

Apprenticeship of surgeons, 49, 50, 95 ; act to

limit to members only, 190.
Apprentices, 49, 224 ; of barbers found qualified

as candidates for licence in surgery, 87.
Archer, Thomas, 18.
Archibald, Robert, 234.
" Arellian," doubts as to meaning of, 23.
Armour, George, 244.
Armour, Dr. James, 183, 185, 186, 275.
Arnott, G. A. Walker, 186.
Arthur, James, 258.
Astruc, Jean, 21, 23 note., 24, 34 note.
Asylum, first Glasgow lunatic, 150 ; the Gartnavel,

150.
Auchincloss, Dr. William, 185, 280.
Auchmowtie, Robert, 49.
Avenzohar, 52.
Ayr, medical men of, 65.

Bachelor of surgery, institution of degree in Glas-
gow, 165 note.

Bacon's belief in sympathetic cures, 200 ttote.

Badham, Dr. Charles, 141, 174, 185, 275.

Baillie, A., bailie, 20.

Baillie, David, 244.

Baillie, Robert, 216.

Baihes, Glasgow, their work during the plague, 12.
See Water Bailie.

Baillie's Institution, 152.

Baird, Dr. James, 216, 24S.

296

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Baird, Dr. John, 271.

Baird, Walter, 263.

Balfour, Dr. Bayley, 174.

Balfour, Dr. John H., 173, 186.

Balmanno, Dr. John, 141, 150, 179, 268.

Balmanno, Mrs., 268.

Bannatyne, Christopher, 255.

Barbers, as practitioners of surgery, 2 ; in Paris, 4
and 42 7iote ; adopted in Glasgow as a pendicle of
surgery, 48 ; not associated with the surgeons by
Royal Charter, 42 ; date of incorporation of, 58,
60 ; forbidden to use their calling on Sunday,
72 ; complaints of, against the surgeons, 84 ;
their apprentices declared admissible to trial as
surgeons, 87 ; separation of, from the surgeons,
88 ; Glasgow barbers fined, 88 ; of Edinburgh, 89.

Barber-surgeons, origin of, 2 ; decline of, 3 ; of
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, 4 ; terms of
the licence of, 52.

Barclay, Dr. John, of Edinburgh, 177.

Bargarran witchcraft case, 112.

Barrowfield, Lady, elder, 216.

BartholomiEus Anglicus, 214.

" Bass John," 240.

Battalion of soldiers, contribution for, 97.

Bayle, Captain, 38.

Beaton, Archbishop, 41.

Beer's Diseases of the Eye, 207.

Beggars in Glasgow, 227, 228 ; sturdy, 228.

Bell, Dr. Bryce, 65, 242.

Bell, James, 216.

Bell, Dr. Joseph, 186, 208, 290.

Belwell, Michael, 3 note.

Benion, Samuel, M.D., 125.

Bible, Ray's, 206.

Bibliography, early Glasgow medical, 198.

Bibliothecarius, office of, 94.

Birkbeck, Dr. George, 180.

Black, Dr. Joseph, 129, 185, 258.

Blackfriars Kirk, 44 and tiote, 226; "steepling"

in, 26.
Blair, Duncan, 271.
Blair, Rev. Hugh, 216.
Blackwood, Dr. Henry, 6.
Blakburne, John, minister, 20.
" Blaspheming," the crime of, 66-68.
Bogill, John, 216, 248.
Bogill, Peter, merchant, 216.
Bogill, Peter, 241.
Bogle, Archibald, 76, 237.
Bogle, Archibald, 238.
Bogle, Robert, 93, 243.
Bogle, William, 243.
" Book of the infantment," 34.
Botanic Garden, the Faculty's connection with, 151.

Botany, Glasgow teachers of, 173, 174, 186.

" Bowelling," process of, 29.

Boxmaster, office of, 56, 94.

Boyd, John, 216, 245.

Boyd, Robert, 216, 243.

Braidwood, James, 29, 235.

Braidwood, James, younger, 235.

Brisbane, Dr. John, 212, 292.

Brisbane, Dr. Matthew, 53, 62, 112, 113, 216, 245.

Brisbane, Dr. Thomas, 92, 93, 185, 251.

Brougham, Lord, 168.

Broun, Daniel, 54, 234.

Brown, Archibald, 269.

Brown, Archibald, 288.

Brown, Andrew, 244.

Brown, James, 186, 190, 283.

Brown, John, 257.

Brown, John, 274.

Brown, Nicol, 246.

Brown, Dr. Thomas, 189, 267.

Brown, William, 261.

Browne, Andrew, 240.

Brown-Sequard, C. E., 194, 293.

Bryce, Dr. Charles, 286.

Bryson, Alexander, 294.

Buchanan, Dr. Alexander, 272.

Buchanan, Dr. Andrew, 155 note, 175, 186, 193,

208, 281.
Buchanan, Dr. George, 172, 177 note, 183 note, 276.
Buchanan, Dr. Moses Steven, 141 note, 142 note,

185, 276.
Buchanan, Thomas, 92, 93, 250.
Burghs, Royal and Barons', 41.
Burials, obligation to attend, 59 and note.
Burning of a minute book, 91^/ seq.
Burnett, Sir William, 293.
Burns, Allan, 178.
Burns, Allan, 285.
Burns, John, 292.

Burns, Dr. John, 145, 147, I73> I79, 185, 205, 265.
Burns, Robert, the poet, his correspondence with

Dr. John Moore, 256; "Clarinda" of, 121.

Burnside, John, 272.
Bursary, the M 'Arthur, 268.
Burrell, George, 45, 233.
" Buttock Mail," 26 note, 227.

Calder, James, 102.

Calder, James, elder, 91, 93, 216, 247.

Calder, James, younger, 91, 93, 250.

Campbell, David, 195.

Campbell, Duncan, 53, 54, 245.

Campbell, James, of Mains, 216.

INDEX

297

Campbell, John, 273.

Campbell, Dr. John, 275.

Campbell, John, 216, 252.

Campbell, John, Paisley, 107, 123, 247.

Campbell, Robert, 255.

Carbolic acid dressings, 194.

Carbonic acid, separation of, 129.

Carrick, John, 128, 255.

Castration, 53 note.

Cathedral (or Hie Kirk), 7, 16, 31, 226.

Cerecloths, preparation of, 107.

Chalmers, Dr. William, 283.

Champerius, his Rosa Gallica, 214.

Charities, Medical, of Glasgow, 136-151.

Charity, the Faculty, 48, 96, 153, 158.

Charleton, Ternary of Paradoxes, 200.

Charter of the Faculty, 217 ; provisions of, 39-43 ;
ratification of, 61, 225.

Chemical laboratory of Cullen, 128.

Chemistry, early Glasgow teachers of, 128, 173, 182.

Chincough, Dr. Robert Watt's work on, 206, 214

Chirurgeon-Apothecaries, 5.

Chirurgerie, Lowe's, 35.

Chirurgiae Magister, institution of degree, 165, 175.

Chisholm, Robert, 253.

Chisholme, Thomas, 238.

Chloroform, discussion on, 191.

Circulation of the blood, Glasgow edition of Har-
vey's work on, 204.

" Clarinda " of Burns, 121.

Clark, Thomas, 257.

Clarke, A., licentiate, 274.

Clarke, Samuel, 274.

Cleghorn, Dr. Robert, 104, 130, 132, 150, 185,

186, 204, 263.
Cleland, Dr. Henry Wilson, 186, 288.
Clement, Julian, 19.
Clergymen, prescribing, 96, 192.
Clerical physicians, I, 2.
Clerk, office of Faculty, 56, 255.
Clifford, Mark, 244.
CUft, William, 214.
Clinical examinations, early, 51.

Clinical lectures, beginning of, in Royal Infirmary,
145, 266; disputes concerning, 145-147; by Dr.
R. Whytt, 214; in Towns' Hospital, 137.

Clubs, Medical, of Glasgow, 197.

Clyddisdale [Cliddesdaill], William, 67, 68, 235.

Coats, John, 273.

Coats, Dr. John, 292.

Cochrane, George, 260.

Cointret, John, 36.

Collector, office of, 94.

College of St. Come, 25.

College Street Medical School, 181, 182, 266.

CoUot, Fran9ois, 54.

Colquhoun, David, 260.

Colquhoun, Dr. John, 62-64, "2, 242.

Colquhoun, John, clerk, 92.

Committee of privileges, 1 59.

Consultants in Glasgow, 189.

Cook, Dr. John, 258.

Corbertson, James, 253.

Corbett, David, 93, 254.

Corbett, Lorimer, 279.

Corbett, Dr. R. Telfer, 291.

Corkindale, Dr. James, 269.

(^ornaro, L., on long life, 204.

Coulter, James, 149.

Couper, John, Lesmahagow, 244.

Couper, Dr. John, 117, 186, 276.

Couper, Dr. Robert, 270.

Couper, Dr. William, 141 note, 186, 276.

Couper, Dr. William, 140, 262.

Covenanting treasurer, 69 ; member, 240.

Cowan, Dr. John B., 186, 208, 246.

Cowan, Mr. John Marshall, 246.

Cowan, Robert, 140, 246, 265.

Cowan, Dr. Robert, 174, 186, 246, 277.

Crafts' Hospital, 81.

Craftsmaster, 94.

Craig, Andrew, 121, 255.

Craig, Dr. William, 186, 287.

Crawford, Dr. Charles, 290.

Crawford, Dr. John, 186, 290.

Crawford, John, 244.

Cree, John, 262.

Crichton, Dr. John, 112, 237.

Cromwell, Oliver, his visit to Glasgow, 69.

Crosbie, Archibald, 253.

Cross, Dr. John, 207.

Cullen, Dr. William, 127, 128, 129, 185, 254, 257.

Cullen, William, 271.

Cumbernauld, the minister of, 96.

Cumin or Cummin, Dr. William, 185, 186, 275.

Cunningham, Adam, 216, 248.

Currie, William, 67, 241.

Dalrymple, Hugh, 80.

Darlingism, 193.

Davidson, Dr. William, 186, 283.

Deacon of the Faculty, see "visitor."

Deaconry, see letter of deaconry.

Deans, William, 256.

Degrees, in medicine, in reference to the practice
of surgery, 163 ct seq. ; cosmopolitan character
of, 164; no examination in surgery for, 164.

298

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Degrees, in surgery, institution of, in Glasgow, 165 ;
powers of the University to grant, 165, 167;
decision of House of Lords on, 170; validated
by the Scottish University Commissioners, 170.

"Denner," the, 49, 50.

Dick, John, 269.

Dick, Dr. Robert, 122, 257.

Dickson, Dr. Alexander, 174.

Digby, Sir Kenelm, 200.

Diphtheria in Glasgow, 189, 267.

Disruption of surgery from medicine, i.

Dissection, supply of subjects for, in Glasgow, 177;
plea of Dr. William MacKenzie for legalized
supply, 178.

Doctor, "in the Facultie of Chirurgerie," 25.

Doctors of Medicine, acting as surgeons, 94; at
first "pure " physicians, 141 ; betake themselves
to general practice, 141 ; requirements for, 162;
lawsuit to exclude from practice of surgery in the
bounds of the Faculty, 162 et seq. ; the suit suc-
cessful, 164.

Dothienenteritis, 190.

Dougald, Thomas, 91, 251.

Dougall, Dr. John, 194.

Douglas, Archibald, 240.

Douglas, Dr. Colin, 122, 259.

Douglas, Dr. James, 212, 216.

Douglas, James, 185, 287.

Douglas, Mrs., 103.

Drugs, adulteration of, 44 and note; "sichting"
of, 44.

Drummond, John, 286.

Drury, Dr. William, 291.

Drysdale, James, 277.

Duncan, Dr. Handaside, 287.

Duncan, James, 233.

Duncan, Thomas, 263.

Dunlop, Alexander, 104, 140, 260.

Dunlop, Robert, 241.

Dunlop, William, 100, 145 note, 268.

Dunning (D wining). Dr. James, 61, 236.

Dureau, Dr. A., 24 note.

Dyers and bonnetmakers, craft of, 88 note.

Easton, Dr. John A., 186, 288.

Ecclesiastes, last chapter of, medical glosses on,
36 and note.

Ecclesiastics as medical practitioners, i.

Edict of Innocent III., 2.

Edinburgh, Grangore Act of, 14; Medical School
of, 125; Royal Infirmary, 138; College of
Surgeons, 42 ; College of Physicians, 69, 70.

Edwards, Alexander, deacon of the barbers, 90.

Election, mode of, in case of praeses, etc. , 94.

Electro-biology, 193.

Elphinstone, Sir George, 44 and note.

Embalming, as a subject of surgical licence, 29,
52; of a Glasgow provost, 29.

Embassy to France in 1601, 28.

English, writing of medical books in, 36.

English William, 249.

Epidemiology, early, of Glasgow, 10.

Eskgrove, Lord, 105.

Essex, Earl of, 33.

Ether as an anaesthetic, discussion on, 192.

Ethics, medical, code of, 195.

Etiquette, professional, 189.

Examinations, early, 50; in writing, 51 ; sometimes
clinical, 51; in eighteenth century, 95.

Examining Board, first medical in Glasgow, 27 ;
evolution of the Faculty, 96.

Extramural medical teaching, non-recognition of,

175-
Ewing, James, 240.
Eye Infirmary, 151.

Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow —
the corporate name, 57, 59; charter, 39-44, 217;
territory assigned to, 4 ; points of analogy to the
Paris medical bodies, 43; inauguration of, 44;
relations of, to medicine, 41, 45 ; early places of
meeting, 56, 57 ; ratification of charter, 61, 225 ;
office-bearers of, 56 ; obtain a letter of deaconry,
59; confusion from the two charters, 60; ex-
tension of operations of, beyond (ilasgow, 65;
negotiations with the Edinburgh physicians, 69,
70; vitiation of their minute book, 71 ; pass act
limiting apprenticeship to members, 78 ; raise an
action of declarator against Town Council, 80;
erect their first hall, 81; intestine feuds within,
84 et seq.; renounce letter of deaconry, 88;
their earliest extant minute in the eighteenth
century, 90 et seq.; election of oftice- bearers,
94; business at the meetings, 96; quorum of,
97 ; terms of admission of freemen, 98 et seq. ;
origin of the licentiates, 99; some noted licen-
tiates, 100; license midwives, loi ; prosecutions (
by, loi et seq.; public burdens of members of,
105; medico-legal functions of, 106; rates of
professional fees of,' 106 et seq.; position taken
up in regard to cHnical teaching, 145 et seq.;
contribute to the Lying-in Hospital — to the
Western Infirmary— connection of, with the
Royal Botanic Institution, 151; their "visita-
tion" of the sick poor, 153; start free vaccine
station, 154; proposed change of name of, 156;
institute a widows' fund, 158; "members" of,
changed to "fellows" of, 159; lawsuit of, against
doctors of, medicine, 162 et seq.; position of, as
a corporation challenged, 169; commencement
of their library, 211; general signet letters in
favour of, 219; act for regulating privileges of,
229; separation of widows' fund, 230; abandon-
ment of territorial jurisdiction, 230; roll of
members, 232 et seq. ; honorary members,

293-

INDEX

299

Falconer, Thomas, clerk, 216.

Farrell, David, 75.

Fees, professional, 106, 107; of physicians in
eighteenth century, 107; tariff of in 1794, 107;
nature of physicians, 167.

Fellows, institution of grade of, 159, 230.

Fergus, Dr. Andrew, 291.

Fergus, Dr. A. Freeland, 291.

Fergushill, Robert, 238.

Ferguson, Dr. William, 278.

Fever in Glasgow, 190, 269; as a cause of mor-
tality of medical men, 159.

Findlay, Dr. John, 289.

Fines of unqualified practitioners, 96; absentees
from meetings, 97. See also Freedom Fine.

Finlay, Kirkman, 148, 156, 170.

Finlayson, Dr. James, 21, 23 note, 34, 37, viii,
ix, pref.

Fisher, Dr. Alexander, 2S9.

Fleming Adam, 45, 233.

Fleming, David, 241.

Fleming, James, 234.

Fleming, John, 68, 241.

Fleming, Dr. John Gibson, 140, 286, vi, pref.

Fleming, Joseph, 286.

Fleming, Sir William, of Farme, 210.

Fleming, William, 240.

Fleming, Dr. Wm. James, 286.

Forbes, Dr. Alexander, 289.

Forrester, James, 243.

Ferret, James, bailie, 20, 44.

Foster, James, 263.

Foster, John, 239.

Foulis Press, The, 204.

Frank, James, 113, 237.

Frank, James, younger, 240.

Fraser, Dr. James, 291.

Frazer, John, 263.

Freedom Fine, 98, 157; abolition of, for Licenti-
ates, 209.

Freer, Dr. Robert, 133, 147, 185, 266.

Freland, Kate, midwife, 19.

Frere Jacques, 54.

Fullarton, John A., 284.

FuUerton, Gavin, 259.

Gaberlunzies, 227.

Gaddesden, John of, 214.

Galen, Medicine and Surgery in time of, i.

Gardner, James, 253.

Gardner, Moses, 267.

Garnett, Dr. Thomas, 153 note, 180, 267.

Garth's Dispensary, 204, 238.

Garvine, Thomas, 254.

Gibb, Dr. William R., 278.
Gibson, Dr. David, 186, 276.
Gibson, John, 259.
Gibson, John, 266.
Gibson, Robert, 273.
Gibson, William, 277.
Gladstone, Mary, 270.
Glaister, Dr. John, '\K,pref., 123.

Glasgow, physicians and surgeons of, in one
corporation, I ; description, sanitation, and
epidemiology of, about 1600, 7-16 ; population
of, 7 ; leper hospital of, 8 ; insanitary districts
of, 13; turbulence of the burghers, 15; incor-
porated crafts of, 16 ; slander of, by a surgeon,
18 ; movements in, towards medical reform, 19 ;
first medical examining board of, 20 ; cathe-
dral of, 16 ; medical societies and clubs of, 187
et seq, ; medical charities of, 144 et seq. ; rise
and progress of the medical school of, 124, et
seq. ; 171 et seq. ; medical men of, in seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, 113 1?^ seq. ; medical
bibliography and journalism of, 199 et seq. ;
notanda anent poor of, 226.

Glasgow Courier, 286.

Glasgow Faculty of Medicine, 195 ; constitution
and features of, 196.

Glasgow Medical Club, 197 ; members of, 198.

Glasgow Medical Examiner, 157, 209, 210.

Glasgow Medical Journal, 208.

Glasgow Medical Society, 187 ; founders of, 188 ;
constitution and rules, 189 ; some of the papers,
189; discussions on fever, 190 : Dr. Perry's
opinions on typhus and enteric, 191 ; inocula-
tion of typhus, 191; transactions of, 189, 214;
amalgamation with Medico-Chirurgical Society,
192.

Glasgow Pathological Society, 196.

Glasgow Pathological and Clinical Society, 197.

Glasgow Teachers of Medicine removed to other
centres, 133, 174.

Glen, J. P., 209.

Glengore [Grangore] in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and

Glasgow, 14, 1 5. J
Goff, Dr. Bruce, 31.

Gordon, Dr. John, 91, 93, 95, 120, 216, 251.
Gordonius, his Lilium Medicine, 209.
Goudie, John, 195.
Graham, Archibald, 54, 55, 69, 238.
Graham, James, 258.
Graham, John, 256.

Graham, Robert, of Gallengade, 216, 245.
Graham, Dr. Robert, 73, 186, 187, 207, 271.
Graham, Thomas, 182, 185, 285.
Granfield, Margaret, 75.
Gray, Adam, 236, 241. (^

Gray, Rev. John Hamilton, 31. Ik

Gray, Thomas, 283.

300

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Gregory, Dr. James, his "Memorial," 139.

Gregory, Dr. John, 214.

Gregory, Dr. William, 185.

Grey, Nathan, 238.

Grier, James, 253.

Groux, M., case of, 193.

Guilds, Trade, origin of, 3; of Glasgow, 16.

Guillemeau, Jacques, 18.

Hall, Dr. Alfred, 290.

Hall, David, 216, 245.

Hall, John, Paisley, 243.

Hall, John, elder, 12, 18, 113, 236.

Hall, John, 233.

Hall, John, 258.

Hall, John, younger, 18, 241.

Hall, John, barber, 241.

Hall, Robert, 234.

Hall, Dr. William, 280.

Hall, the first Faculty, 81, 85; second Faculty, 82,

108; third Faculty, 109.
Hamilton, James, 18.
Hamilton, Mr. James, 44, 56, 234.
Hamilton, James, Paisley, 277.
Hamilton, James, of Newton, 92, 93, 250.
Hamilton, John, 234.
Hamilton, John, 216, 249.
Hamilton, Dr. Mathie, 177.
Hamilton, Mr. Robert, grantee of Faculty Charter,

27, 28, 39, 43, III, 222, 233.
Hamilton, Robert, Cambuslang, 240.

Hamilton, Dr. Robert, as Professor of Anatomy,
126; as Professor of Medicine, 129; 185, 254.

Hamilton, Dr. Thomas, 62, 64, 112, 242.

Hamilton, Thomas, Surgeon in Hamilton, 254.

Hamilton, Thomas, Professor of Anatomy, 130,
185, 257.

Hamilton, Thomas, 91, 93, 245.

Hamilton, Captain Thomas, 131.

Hamilton, Dr. William, Professor of Anatomy,
130, 185, 262.

Hamilton, Sir William, 131.

Hannay, Dr. A. J., 183, 281.

Hardie, John, 259.

Hareis, Robert, 54, 237.

Harper, James, 234.

Harper, Thomas, 241.

Harvey, Dr. William, work on the circulation,
203, 204.

Hastie, William, 33 note, 293,

Hattrick, John, 246.

Hay, Alexander, 17.

Heat, Latent, doctrine of, 129.

Henderson, James, 294.

Henderson, James, Fordoun, 193.

Hendrie, Dr. George, 272.

Henry IV. of France, 6, 23.

Henry, Prince, 39 and note.

Henderson, Dr. William, 205, 265,

Herald, The Glasgow, 268.

Herbertson, Robert, clerk, 45.

Highlanders, influx of, into Glasgow, 226 ; order
for their expulsion, 226.

Hill, Ninian, 97, 256.

Hill, Dr. Ninian, 287.

Hill, Dr. William H., vi, vii, pref. ; on the Glas-
gow poor, 226.

Hippocrates, i ; presages of, 37 ; oath of, 53.

Hislop, Ebenezer, 274.

Hodge Podge Club, 130.

Hogisyard, Robert, 29.

Homoeopathy, discussion on, 192 ; practitioners of,
as insurance referees, 192.

Home, Sir Everard, 214.

Hooker, Sir William Joseph, 173, 174.

Hooker, Dr. William D., 186, 287.

Hope, Dr. Thomas C, 131, 132, 140, 185, 186,264.

Hopkirk, Thomas, younger, of Dalbeth, 206, 214.

Horning, letters of, 74, 217, 219.

Horsborough, Alexander, 92, 93, 216, 246, 252.

Hospitals, special, usual mode of origin of, 150.

Houston, Robert, 216, 241.

Houston, Dr. Robert, 114, 116, 216, 248.

How, Andrew, 108 note, 250.

How, John, no, 237.

How, John, 260.

How, John, younger, 244.

Hows, of Kilbarchan, 117.

Humane Society, The Glasgow, 149.

Hume, John, 265.

Hunter, Hew, 241.

Hunter, John, 130, 214.

Hunter, John, London, 258.

Hunter, Dr. Robert, 185, 280.

Hunter, Robert, Kilmarnock, 251.

Hunter, .Samuel, 100.

Hunter, Dr. William, London, 128 note, 130, 262,

293-
Hutcheson, Dr. William, 289.
Hutchesons' Hospital, 81.
Hypnotism, 193. *

Illuminating open cavities of the body, 192.

Inchkeith, those affected with grangore banished
to, 14.

Index Funereus Chirurgorum Parisiensium, 30.

Innocent HI., Pope, 2.

Inoculation of small-pox, 155.

INDEX

301

Insane, the, in Glasgow, 149.

Insurance Companies, med. referees of, 192.

Irish, immigration of, into Glasgow, 226.

Irvine, Dr. William, 131, 185, 186, 261.

Irvine, Dr. William, 268.

Irvine, college authorities boarded at, 11.

Jack, John, 261.

Jackson, Dr. John, 186, 287.

James VI. of Scotland, 27, 32.

Jameson, Rev. William, 216.

Jamieson, John, 104, 261.

Januensis, Simon, 214.

Jardine, Professor George, 137.

Jarvie, Andrew, 273.

Jeffray, Dr. James, 105, 133, 147, 173, 185, 265.

Jeffray, Dr. James, Jun., 287.

Jews as mediciners, i.

Johnston, William, 251.

Johnstoun, Dr. John, 91, 93, 128, 185, 252.

Kelso, Robert, 253.

Kelso, William, 73.

Kennedy, Gilbert, 240.

Kennedy, Dr. Thomas, 216, 248.

Kid, John, 238.

Kilbarchan, the Hows of, 117.

Kilmarnock, medical men of, 65.

Kilpatrick, Thomas, 253.

King, Dr. Alexander, 2S9.

King, Dr. B. Watts, 271.

King, William, deacon of the barbers, 90.

King's beggars, 227.

Kirkwood, Allan, 239.

Knox, Alexander, 216, 245.

Knox, James John, 284.

Knox, Dr. Robert, 184, 185.

Lamb, Matthew, 216, 218.
Lang, Dr. Hugh M., 288.
Lang, John, 243.
Lapslie, James, 265.
Laskey, Captain, 206.
Lawrie, Dr. J. A., 185, 192, 208, 284.
Lawson, Gilbert, 258.
Leckie, William, 267.
Lee, Dr. Robert, 174, 185.
Leech, Dr. John, 195.
Lees, John, 238.
Leishman, Dr. William, 208.
Lennox, Duke of, 28.
Lennox, John, 243.
Leper Hospital of Glasgow, 8, 9.
Lepers in Glasgow, 8 ; hospital for, 8 ; under
supervision of the water bailie, 8 ; rules for, 9.

Letter of Deaconry, 59, 60, 222, alleged violation

of, 71 ; renunciation of, 89.
Letter of Guildry, 29, 60.
Letters, general signet, 219.
Lewis, Thomas, Jun., 102.
Librarian, 94.

Library, the Faculty, 211; donations to, 216;

catalogues of, 212; Stirling's, 151.
Licensing, partial, 51.

Licentiates, institution of grade of, 99 ; some

noted counti-y, 99, 100; town, 157.
Liddell, John, 239.
Liddell, Sir John, 293.
Lilhim ^/t*(//rwf of Gordonius, 214.
Lindsay, Archibald, 234.
Lindsay, Ludovic, 243.
Lindsay's Port, 13.
Lister, Sir Joseph, 194.

Lithotomy, as a specialty, 52-55 ; forbidden by
the Hippocratic Oath, 53; with rectangular staff,
281.

Littre, E. , 53 note.

Livingston, David, 100, 293.

Lochow, Lady, 8.

Locke, Dr. John, 277.

Lockhart, George, 241.

Lockhart, Mr., 18.

Lockhart [Lockart], Thomas, 54, 71, 72, 237.

Logan, John, 240.

Logan, Thomas, 256.

London, barber surgeons of, 4.

Longmore's treatise on wounds, 214.

Love, John, 253.

Lowe, Annabella, 232.

Lowe, James, 32, 232, 243.

Lowe, John, 32, 36, 54, 232, 235.

Lowe, John, 45, 233.

Lowe, Peter, 6, 15, 20; memoir of, 21-38; advent
in Glasgow, 21 ; residence on the continent, 22 ;
services as military surgeon, 22 ; religious per-
suasion, 23 ; nationahty, 23 ;v " Doctor in the
Facultie of Chirurgerie," 24 ; " Arellian," 24 ;
return to London, 25 ; town's surgeon of
Glasgow, 21, 26 ; offends the presbytery, 26 ;
grant to him of charter, 27 ; submits it to town
council, 27 ; visit to France, 28 ; transferred
chartered powers by co-option of other members,
44 ; commissioner in dispute between merchants
and craftsmen, 29; bowelling of the laird of
Houstoun, 29 ; date of his death, 30 ; epitaph,
31; memorial in cathedral, 31; his wife, 32;
his descendants, 32, 232 ; his works : Spanish
Sickfics, 33, 214; Chirurgerie, 35; Presages
of Hippocrates, 37 ; unpublished works, 34 ;
personal qualities, 38 ; other references, 36, 39,
41. 43. 49. 53. 62.

Lowe, Robert, 33 note, 232, 252.

302 FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Lowe, William, 33, 232.
Lowery, Blais, minister, 20.
Lyes, James, 237.

Lying-in-hospital, abortive attempt to found, 150 ;
foundation of, 150.

Lyle, Thomas, 100.

Lyon, Dr. William, 185, 283.

M'Adam, Quintin, 240.

M'Alpin, William, 275.

M'Arthur, Duncan, 100.

M'Arthur, John, 268.

M'Arthur, John, 259.

M'Aulay, William, 261.

M'Call, Colin, 251.

M'Cluir, Dr., 12.

M'Conechy, Dr. James, 185, 189, 286.

M'Crae, Allan, 252.

M'Dougall, Dr., 144.

M'Dowall, Dr. John, 283.

M'Ewan, Dr. John, 285.

M'Farlan, Parian, 254.

M'Farland, John, 253.

Macfarlane, Dr. John, 278.

Macfarlane, Peter, 283.

M'Ghie, Dr. James, 208.

M'Ghie, William, 244.

Macgillivray, P., sculptor, 31.

M'Gregor, Dr. Robert, 185, 287.

M'Grigor, Sir James, 293.

M'Jarrow, John, 250.

M'Kay, William, 284.

M'Kechnie, Dr. Robert, 272.

MacKenzie, Dr. William, 151, 178, 185, 186, 208,
213, 214, 215, 277.

MacKinnon, Professor, 53 note.

M'Lachlan, Dugald, 264.

M'Lachlan, Duncan, 250.

Maclachlan, Dr. George M., 281.

Maclaverty, Dr. A., 198 note, 289.

M'Lean, Hector, 93, 254.

M'Lean, John, 258.

M'Lean, John, 265.

Maclehose, Mrs., 121, 255.

Macleod, George, 187, 188, 269.

Macleod, James, 278.

Macleod, Joseph, 275.

M'Murrich, Dr. M., 209.

M'Nair, Dr. Benjamin, 277.

M'Nair, Robert, of Belvidere, 149.

M'Neill, Evir, 53, 54, 55, 239.

M'Nish, John, 266.

M'Nish, Dr. Robert, 282.

M'Tyer, Dr. William, 284.
Maitland, Hon. Charles, 216.
Maitland, William, 252,
Malpraxis, 75.

Malt, vote for increasing duty on, 69.
Man-Midwifery, origin of, 18, 19 note,, in London,
252 ; growth of, in Glasgow, 134.

Manuscripts in Faculty library, 214.

Marshal [Marshall], Dr. Robert, 123, 260.

Marshall, Gavin, 257.

Marshall, Henry, 79, 80, 84, 85, 113, 114, 216, 245.

Marshall, James, 263.

Marshall, John, 216, 246, 248.

Marshall, Dr. Thomas, 173 note.

Mason, Alexander, 249.

Masters, election of, 56.

Masters of Surgery, degree of, 165, 175; debarred
from practising in West of Scotland, 168.

Mathie, John, 238.

Matthias, Georgius, 23.

Maxwell, John, 258.

Maxwell, Dr. John, 273.

Maxwell, Robert G., 280."

Mayne [Maine, Magnus], Dr. Robert, 61, in,
125 and note, 235.

Mayne, Dr. Robert G., 100.

Medical bibliography, early, of Glasgow, 199.

Medical Clubs of Glasgow, 197.

Medical School of Glasgow, rise of, 124 ; at the
end of the 18th century, 133 ; progress of, 171 ;
effect of Continental war on, 171 ; statistics of,
172; table of teachers in, 185, 186; suggestion
of Dr. William Hunter, \2.% note.

Medical I School, extramural, of Glasgow, non-
recognition by the University, 175.

Medical teaching, the earliest, in Glasgow, 50.

Medicine, original unity of I ; chair of, in Glas-
gow University, in, 127, 128; relation of the
Faculty to, 55 ; defined as including surgery, 70.

Medicine, Institutes of, as a separate subject of
teaching, 174.

Mediciners, early Glasgow, 17-20.

Medico-Chirurgical Society of Glasgow, origin of,
192 ; some papers read at, 193 ; case of alleged
plagiarism, 193 ; contributions made by, 194 ;
papers by Professor Lister and Dr. E. Watson,
on the germ theory, 194.

Medico-Chirurgical Society of the University, 187.

Medico-Chirurgus, 37.

Melville, John, 247.

Melville, James, 16.

Melville, Thomas, 243.

Melvin, John, 216.

Michelsoune, George, 79, 235.

Merchants of Glasgow, dispute with Trades' House,
29.

INDEX

303

Midwifery, early Glasgow lecturers on, 134 ;
Smellie's treatise on, 252. See Man-Midwifery.

Midwives in Glasgow, 19; examining and licensing
of, by the Faculty, loi.

Millar, Archibald, 268.

Millar, Dr. Richard, 132, 141, 186, 267.

Miller, Andrew, 237.

Miller, Hugh, 148, 269.

Miller, James, 285.

Miller, John, 238.

Miller, Matthew, 52, 241.

Minute book, burning of, 92 ; vitiation of, 71.

Mollison, Alexander, 256.

Monteath, Dr. G. C, 151, 182, 187, 207, 273.

Monteath, Dr. James, 134, 179, 261.

Montgomerie, Dr. George, 93, 253.

Montgomerie, Hugh, 240.

Montgomery, Robert, 256.

Montrose, Duke of, 174.

Moore, James Carrick, 256.

Moore, Dr. John, 95, 120, 121, 256.

Moore, Sir John, 256.

Moore, Dr. Norman, 39 note.

Moorhead, John, 216.

Morris, Dr. Andrew, 94, 95, 119, 135, 204, 255.

Morris, William, 256.

Morrison, John, 256.

Morton, Dr. James, 186, 243, 292.

Mowat, Mr. Charles, 114, 241.

Mowat, James, 239.

" Mr.," prefix of, 45, 113.

Muir, Andrew, 234.

Muir, James, 134, 253.

Muir, James, 271.

Muir, John, 240.

Muir, Robert, 239.

Muir, Thomas, Town councillor, 27.

Muir, William, 256.

Muir, the, for the plague-stricken in Glasgow, 11,12.

Muirhead, L., 186.

Muiris, Archibald, 11.

Murdoch, John, 249.

Murray, Alexander, 260.

Muschet, Patrick, 264.

Museum, abortive effort to found, 215 ; the Glas-
gow Hunterian, 206.

Muter, James, 243.

Muter, John D., 186, 288.

Myln (Mill), Andrew, 55, 233.

Myln, Thomas, 18.

Naismith, John, 216, 245.

Napier, Thomas, of Ballikinrain, 2i6, 247.

Neilson, Francis, 272.

Nelson, Gilbert, 241.
Nelson, Robert, 274.
Nimmo, Alexander, 264.
Nimmo, Dr. John, 270.

Nimmo, Dr. William, 182 {read " William " for

"John"), 285.
Nimmo, William, 153, 263.
Niven, John, 241.

Officer, the Faculty, 49 note.
Or, John, 33 note, 244.
Orr, Mr., Town clerk, 106.
Orleans, Medical School of, 24.
Ovariotomy, first case of, 114-116, 249.

Pagan, Dr. John M., 185, 186, 213, 283.

Painter, John, 8.

Paisley, visited by the plague, lo; the Glasgow

College migrate to, 13 ; medical members of

the Faculty in, 64, 65.

Paisley, John, 91, 92, 93, iiS, 251.

Panton, Dr. A., 270.

Panton, Dr. John, 288.

Panton, John, 240.

Pare, Ambroise, 23, 30, 36.

Paris, College or Confrairy of Surgeons of, 4 ; Lowe

a member of, 23 ; status of the members, 25.
Paris Faculty of Medicine, 4 ; members of, at

funerals, 59-
Parker, Dr. Francis, 287.
Parker, Dr. Robert, 292.
Parlane, Alexander, 258.
Parlane, James, 259.
Parlane, William, 262.
Partnerships, medical, in i8th century, 123.
Paterson, Dr. James, 185, 289.
Paterson, John, 238.
Patients, surgeons debarred from taking each

others', 45, 59, 75-
Patoun, Dr. David, 91, 92, 93, 113, 118, 252.
Patoun, Dr. Peter, 91, 92, 93, 118, 216, 247.
Patronage of chairs in Glasgow University, 174.
Pattison, Granville Sharp, 148, 177, 180, 185, 187,

273-
Paul in.. Pope, 41.
Pender, Mrs. Marion, 216.
Penman, William, 264.
Pensions from the town to mediciners, 17 ; the

practice of giving discontinued in (ilasgow, i8.
Pensioners of the Faculty, 97, 15S.
Penny, Frederick, 185.
Perry, Dr. Robert, 187, 190, 191, 198, 272.
Petrequin on Lithotomy, 53 ftote.
Pettigrew, Thomas, bailie, 20.
Phlebotomy practised by barbers, 2 ; in syphilis, 189.

304

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Physic Gardens, of the University, 248 ; Dr. Wod-
row's, 118, 251 ; Mrs. Balmanno's, 268.

Physicians, nature of degree of, 5 ; educated
abroad, 6 ; admitted as members of the Faculty,
6, 64 ; freedom fines paid by, 98, 99 ; as con-
sultants in Glasgow, 190; of Edinburgh, attempt
to incorporate, 69, 70; College of, 216; of
London, 5 ; of Glasgow, sometimes originally
general practitioners, 95 ; fees of, 107, 167 ;
"Pure," 141.

Physicians and Surgeons, united in one body in
Glasgow, I ; in London, i note ; disputes be-
tween, in Paris, 25.

" Physiologia" of the Nova Ereciio, 123.

Pillar, the, the punishment of standing at, 26 and
7iote.

Pitcairn, Dr. Archibald, 212, 216.

Pitcairn, Mr., 103.

Plagiarism, alleged case of, 193.

Plague, epidemics of, in Glasgow, 10 ; statistics
anent, 10 ; in Paisley, 10 ; fast held in view of,
1 1 ; visit of, 1645-6, 1 1 ; action of College autho-
rities during, ii, 13; seclusion of Glasgow
patients to the " muir," 12.

Poor of Glasgow, in the Town's hospital, 137 and
note ; notanda anent, 226 ; early endowments
for, 227 ; minute of Town Council anent, 228.

Poor, the sick, gratuitous medical advice to, 43,
94, 136 ; medical treatment of, 153.

Poore Mans Guide, 34, 53.
Porter, Alexander, 242.

Porterfield, Alexander, 91, 92, 93, 118, 216, 249;
of that ilk, 216.

Portland Street Medical School, 183, 185; statistics

of, 184; teachers of, 185, 186.
Portuguese army surgeons, 3 note.
Post-mortem examinations, 106.
Praeses or President, office of, 93.
Printing, early Glasgow, 199, 204.
Prism, reflecting, for illuminating open cavities, 192.
Privileges, Committee of, 159.
Procurators, Faculty of, 68 ; members apt to be

"boisterous," 68 ; injunctions for, 68.

Prognosis, Rattray's work on, 202.

" Propynes" by Glasgow Town Council, 29.

Prosecutions, 73-75; difficulty of in i8th and 19th
centuries, loi, 105, 155; revival of, 160; of
Thomas Lewis, 102; of James Calder, 102; of
Mr. Pitcairn and Mrs. Douglas, 103 ; of Alex-
ander Dunlop, 104 ; of doctors of medicine, 162 ;
of masters of surgery 165 et seq. ; of women, 75,
103.

Provosts of Glasgow, propynes to, 29.

Putrefaction, germ theory of, 194.

Quacks and quackery in i6th century, i ; raids
against, 74, 96, 103 ; see also Prosecutions.

Quartermaster, office of, 56 ; filled by Dr. Peter
Lowe, 28.

" Querpo," of Garth's Dispensary, 238.
Quorum of the Faculty, 97.

Rae, Doctor, 12, 112.

Rainy, Dr. Harry, 174, 186, 275.

Ralston, Andrew, 242.

Ralston, William, 236.

Rattan poyson, 105, 218.

Rattray, Dr. Sylvester, 61, 112, 199-202, 237.

Ray's bible, 206.

Read, Thomas, 233.

Read, William, 233.

Reid, Andrew, 216, 248.

Reid, Dr. Andrew, 280.

Reid, John, licentiate, 193, 210.

Reid, Dr. John, 275.

Reid, Dr. Thomas, 131.

Renfrew, the parson of, 16.

Renunciation of the letter of deaconry, 88.

" Resurrectionism," in Glasgow, 127 ; defence of,
177.

Rheims, Glasgow medical graduate of, 95.

Richardson, Sir Benjamin Ward, 294.

Riddall, Andrew, 256.

Riddell, John, 205, 263.

Risk, Andrew, 290.

Ritchie, Dr. Charles, 185, 282.

Ritchie, Dr. Charles G. , 282.

Robertson, Dr. George, 292.

Robertson, Dr. John, 265.

Robertson, Dr. John, 1S2, 187, 274.

Robertson, Robert, clerk, 216.

Robertson, William, 216.

Robiesoune, James, baxter, 12.

Robinson, John, 243.

Robison, James, 216.

Robison, Sir John, 131.

Robisoune, John, town's surgeon, 53, 241.

Robison, Thomas, 240.

Rodger, James, 75.

Rogers, H. D., 186.

Rolland, Peter, 179, 264.

Rosa Anglka, The, 214.

J\osa Gallica, The, 214.

Royal Infirmary (Glasgow), origin of, 137, con-
tributions to by the Faculty, 138; proposal for
rotation of surgeons in, 138, 139 ; plan adopted,
140; physicians of, 140-143 ; contest regarding
" pure " physicians, 142; appointment of a non-
fellow as surgeon, 144; origin and progress of
clinical teaching in, 145 ; disputes as to clinical
lecturers, 145 ; medical officers disqualified to
be managers, 148.

Russell [Russel], Andrew, 182, 270.

INDEX

305

Sabbatarian zeal, 73 and note.

Sailors, old, as practitioners of medicine, 104.

St. Andrews, early teaching of medicine in, 41.

St. C6me ; see Paris College of Surgeons.

Sayes, James, 243.

Scaliger, the elder, 5.

Scot, Andrew, 38, 49.

Scot, James, 238.

Scot, Sir John, Scotstarbet, 199.

Scotland, intellectual barrenness in 17th century,

no.
Scotsmen in France, 6.

Scouler, Dr., 182.

Scruton, John, 179, 263.

Scruton, William, 264.

Scuile Wynd, the, 13.

Seal of Cause ; see Letter of Deaconry.

Seal keeper, 94.

Serapionis Liber, 214.

Sempill, Lord Robert, 37.

Semple, John, 216, 248.

Semple, William, 243.

Session, the Glasgow General, move in the matter
of medical reform, 19 ; inquisitorial powers of,
16 ; summon Peter Lowe before them, 26.

Sharp, Mr. David, 72, 113, 239.

Shaving, on Sabbath, 72, 73 ; by surgeons, 3 note.

Shaw, Christian, Bargarran, 112.

Shawfield House riot, 251.

Sherriff, William, 284.

Shields, James, 244.

" Sichting " medicines, 40, 44.

Simpson, Sir James, 14.

Simpson, Dr. P. A., 209,

Simpson, Robert, 262.

Simpson, Thomas, 253.

Simson, Rev. John, 256.

Simson, Robert, 104.

Skirban, Mr. George, 216.

Slandering the town, 18.

Small-pox, Moore's history of, 256.

Smellie, Dr. William, 123, 252.

Smith, Sir Andrew, 293.

Smith, George, 278.

Smith, John, youngest, 10.

Smith, Dr. John, 36 note.

Smith, R, Mann, 281.

Smith, Thomas, 261.

Smith, Thomas, 69, 242.

SmoUet, Tobias, 120.

Societies, Medical, of Glasgow, 187 et seq.

Soldiers, quartering of, 105 ; old, as practitioners

of medicine, 104.
Somers, James, 261.

Souttar, William, 53 note, 79, 239.

Southern Medical Society, 194 ; features of, 195.

Spang, William, apothecary, 27, 40, 45, 233.

"Spanish sicknes," 25, 32, 214.

Spittal, Dr, John, 282.

Spottiswoode, Rev. John, 28, 37.

Spreull, James, 243.

Spreull, John, 240.

Stable nuisance, 193.

Steel, Dr. Francis, 272.

Stenhouse A., 262.

Stenhouse, John, 269.

Sternum, case of congenital deficiency of, 193.

Steven, James, 293.

Steven, Dr. James, 208, 291.

Steven, Dr. J. Lindsay, \x, pref., 210.

Stevenson, Dr. Alexander, 131, 137, 185, 257.

Stevenson, James, 73.

Stevenson, James, Ayr, 73.

Stevenson, John, 259.

Steward, Marion, 30.

Stewart, Dr. James, 195.

Stewart, Sir James, 80.

Stewart, Thomas, 257.

Stirling, John, 185; 277(read "John"for "Peter").

Stirling, Dr. Peter, 287.

Stirling, Walter, 30.

Stirling, Mr. William, 86, 91, 93, n8, 119, 216,
250.

Stirling's Library, 151.

Stobo, John, 244.

Stone, cutting for, 52-55.

Strontianite, peculiar earth in, 264.

Stuart, Marjory, 8.

Stuart, Thomas, 258.

Sunday shaving, 72, 73.

Suppuration, theory of, by Dr. E. Watson, 194.

Surgeons, of Edinburgh, College of, 42; of London
Commonality of, 104.

Surgeons, socially below the physicians, 5 ; gown,
6; terms of admission as freemen, 49; negotia-
tions with physicians, 61 et seq. ; contests with
the barbers, 84 et seq.; renunciation of letter of
deaconry by, 88 ; fee paid by, on entering, 98,
99-

Surgery, divorce of from medicine, 2, 3, 163.

Swan, James, 258.

Swan, William, 234.

Swedish navy surgeons, 3 note.

Syme, James, 294.

Sympathetic cures, 200, 201.

Sympathy, powder of, 2cxj.

Syphilis, phlebotomy in treatment of, 189. See
Glengore ; Spanish Sicknes.

3o6

FACULTY OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF GLASGOW

Talbot, Sir G., 200.

Tannahill, Dr. R. D., 291.

Tap, John, 243.

Taxation, mode of imposing, 69.

Tempill, Arthur, 79.

Tennant, Andrew, 287.

Tennant, WilUam, 259.

" Ternary of Paradoxes," 200.

Theoria medicinae, 214.

Thomson, Dr. Allen, 173, 185, 294.

Thomson, Dr. George, 91, 92, 93, 249.

Thomson, Hugh, 248.

Thomson, James, 54, 70, 235.

Thomson, Matthew, 227.

Thomson, Dr. Thomas, 141 note, 173, 185, 192,279.

Thomsoune [Thomson], Thomas, 45, 233.

Thomson, William, 216, 247.

Thomson, Dr. William, 182, 279.

Thomson, Dr. William, 185, 294.

Tobias, James, 239.

Tod, John, 238.

Tornamira, Johannes de, 214.

Tough, Jasper, 245.

Towers, James, 140, 185, 264.

Towers, John, 185, 272.

Town and Country Club, 198.

Town's Hospital, 92, 136; clinical instruction in,
137 and note.

Town Council of Glasgow, licensing of a surgeon
by, 79; lawsuit with the Faculty, 80 ; arbitrate
on complaints of barbers, 84 et seq. ; another
lawsuit, 105; depose a visitor of the Faculty, 71 ;
minutes of, 77 ; require the president to make a
post-mortem examination, 106; minutes of,
quoted, 17, 19, 21, 28, 29, 71, 228.

Tran, Alexander, 216, 244.

Treasurer of the Faculty, 56.

Trades' House, dispute with the merchants, 29;
representation of the Faculty on, 57; withdrawal
from, 81 ; arbitrates on complaints of barbers,
84 et seq.

Tron church, 226.

Trongate, first Faculty hall in, 81.

Typhoid fever, diagnosis of from typhus, 190;
death of Prince Henry from, 39 note.

Typhus fever, experimental inoculation of, 191 ;
large medical mortality from, 1 59.

Unity of medicine, I.

Universities of Aberdeen, 41.

University of Edinburgh, 163.

University of Glasgow, migration of, to Irvine, 1 1 ;
to Paisley, 13; origin of the Medical School,
124, 163; medical graduates, 95 note; teachers
of, in nineteenth century, 173, 174; non-recog-
nition of extramural teaching by, 175; position

taken up as to clinical teaching, 145 et seq,',
institutes degrees in surgery, 165.

University of St. Andrews, 5, 41 ; medical gradu-
ates of, 163.

" Upset," the, 50, 224.

Ure, Dr. Andrew, 180, 269.

Ure, David, preacher, 179.

Urie, Robert, printer, 204.

Vaccination, beginning of, in Glasgow, 153; first
station, 154; progress of, 155; history of, by
Moore, 256.

Valiere, Mile, de la, 19 note.

Van Helmont, 201.

Vennail, The Stinking, 13.

Vesalius, first edition of his anatomy, 214.

Visitation of the University of Glasgow, iii.

Visitor, office of, 37, 45, 93, 94; the crime of blas-
pheming, 67 et seq. ; for the country, 65 ; illegal
election of, 71 ; deposition by the town council,
72 ; physician-, 93 ; official head of surgeons,
160; vice-president, 161;

Waddell, James, 272.
Walker, Marionne, il.
Walker, Dr. Thomas, 277.
Wallace, Dr. John Ritchie, 280.
Wallace, Dr. Michael, Ayr, 64, 65, 74.
Wallace, Robert, elder, 91, 92, 93, 122.
Wallace, Robert, younger, 122, 140, 250, 257.
Wallace, William, 216.
Wallace, Dr. William, 61, 238.
Wappenschawing, application for exemption from,

90.
Warden, Dr. A., 192.

Warding, application for exemption from, 90.
Wark, David, 286.

Watching, application for exemption from, 90.
Water bailie, his charge of lepers, 8.
Water, searching for, round Glasgow, 132 note.
Watson, Dr. Eben., 186, 194, 290.
Watson, George, 272.
Watson, Dr. James, 271.
Watson, Dr. Thomas, 192, 291.
Watt, George, 186, 190, 284.
Watt, James, 240.

Watt, Dr. Robert, 180, 187, 188, 206, 214, 270.
Wedderburn, Sir John, 202 and note.
Weir, James, 216, 242.
Weir, John, 257.

Weir, Dr. William, 184, 191, 208, 275, v,pref. 186.
Wemyss [Weems], Mr. David, 16, 32.
Wemyss [Weems], Helen, 30, 32,
Western Infirmary, 151.
Western Medical Club, 198.

INDEX

307

Whiteside, Philip, 26.

Whyte, John, 243.

Whytt, Dr. Robert, 214.

Widows' Fund of the faculty, 158, 159; separation
of from the faculty, 230.

Wigtown, Earl of, 13.

Wilson, Dr. James, 150, 185, 189, 192, 276.

Wilson, Dr. J. G. , 276.

Wilson, James, 240.

Wilson, John, 255.

Wilson, Nathan, 253.

Wilson, William, 246.

Wilsone, Charles, 140, 260.

Wilsone, David Henry, 273.

Wiseman's treatise on wounds, 214.

Witchcraft, the Eargarran case, 112, as an alleged

cause of disease, 202.
Witkowski, G., 19 note.

Wodrow, Dr. John, 91, 92, 93, 118, 216, 251.

Wodrow, Rev. Robert, 126, 204 note, 245, 247,
249, 251.

Women, prosecution of, 75, 103.

Wounds, Wiseman's treatise on, 214.

Wright, Dr. Peter, 122, 259.

Wright, Dr. William, 216, 247.

Wyllie, William, 274.

Young, Archibald, 140, 262.
Young, Dr. John, 274.
Young, John, 187.
Young, Robert, 259.
Young, Dr. William, 277.
Younger, Thomas, 239.

Zuill, James, 257.

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