powers of those who came under its influence. His own mind was comprehensive, the extent of his acquired information even outside of his special profession was vast and varied, and his knowledge of recorded philosophic thought was remarkable.

Dr. John Gregory succeeded his father as professor of medicine in King's College, Aberdeen, in 1755; and, in 1766, he was appointed professor of the practice of physic in the University of Edinburgh. In his introductory lectures he treated on "The Duties and Qualifications of a Physician," and these were afterwards published. In 1770, he published his Elements of the Practice of Physic, for the use of his class. He died in 1773, in the forty-ninth year of his age; and was succeeded in the chair by Dr. Cullen. He was the author of the well-known work, A Comparative View of the Faculties of Man with those of the Animal World. His son, James Gregory, also became a professor.

James Gregory was born at Aberdeen in 1753, and went to Edinburgh with his father; he was the great grandson of James Gregory the celebrated Professor of Mathematics, and himself the sixteenth Professor that had sprung from the loins of David Gregory of Kinairdy.16 He was appointed Professor of Institutes of Medicine in 1776; and in 1788, he published a text-book for the use of his class, entitled Conspectus Medicine Theoretica, which was much admired for its elegant Latinity; it was adopted as a text-book in several of the German Universities. On the retirement of Dr. Cullen, Gregory was transferred to the Chair of the Practice of Physic, which he held till his death in 1821. Thus he had taught in the University for the long period of forty-five years. He took an active part in questions touching Infirmary management, and engaged in hot disputes with his brethren on these matters.

Dr. Andrew Duncan, a son of a merchant, was born at St. Andrews on the 17th October, 1744. He entered the University of St. Andrews, and graduated Master of Arts in 1762. He then proceeded to the University of Edinburgh and pursued his medical studies, and completed his course in 1769. In the absence of Dr. Drummond, during the sessions of 1774-5 and 1775-6, Duncan delivered lectures on the theory of medicine in the University of Edinburgh, while he undertook the editorship of a periodical work entitled Medical and

16 It appears to me that an account of the careers of the distinguished members of this family of Gregories would form a very interesting subject for a volume or two among the tomes to be printed by the New Spalding Club.

Philosophical Commentaries. This publication contained an account of the best new books on medicine, and the cognate branches of science; medical cases and observations; and the most recent medical intelligence. It was published quarterly, forming one volume annually, and continued till 1795 under his editorship, when it had extended to twenty volumes. Subsequently he continued it under the title of Annals of Medicine to 1804, when he ceased to act as editor. In 1805 its title was changed to the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, and under the editorship of Dr. Duncan's son, it became one of the leading medical Journals in Europe.

On the transference of Dr. Gregory to the chair vacated by Dr. Cullen, Dr. Duncan was appointed to the chair of the Institutes of Medicine in 1790. He was an able and successful professor, and much esteemed. The style of his lectures was clear and direct, and excellent specimens of instructive exposition. He showed great interest in his pupils, often inviting them to his house, and cultivating a kindly intercourse with them. His sympathies were wide and warm. Having often seen the sad condition and suffering of insane persons, he originated a plan for the erection and endowment of a Lunatic Asylum, which he brought before the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1792. After many difficulties had been surmounted, a petition was presented to the King, who granted a royal charter in April 1807, under which a Lunatic Asylum was built and opened at Morningside. In September 1808 the Town Council. of Edinburgh presented Dr. Duncan with the freedom of the City, as a public recognition of his services to the community by the establishment of the Lunatic Asylum, and also a public Dispensary. After a long and useful life, he expired on the 5th of July, 1828, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was the author of a considerable number of works, including Elements of Therapeutics, Medical Commentaries, Medical Cases and Observations, Heads of lectures on the Theory and Practice of Physic, Essay on Consumption, and other treatises. He bequeathed to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, one hundred volumes of practical observations in his own hand-writing, which he had used as notes for his clinical lectures.

His son, Andrew Duncan, was born at Edinburgh on the 10th of August, 1773. While a boy, he had pored over medical books; and at the age of fourteen he entered on an apprenticeship of five years with Messrs. A. & G. Wood, Surgeons. Afterwards he went through the courses of Arts and Medicine, at the University of Edin

burgh, and graduated M.A. in 1793, and M.D. in 1794. Subsequently he studied a winter in London; and made two sojourns to the Continent, staying in each of the notable medical schools of Germany and Italy long enough to study under the professors, visit the hospitals, and acquire some knowledge of the languages and literatures of these countries. On returning to Edinburgh, he joined the College of Physicians; and issued his great work on materia medica, entitled the Edinburgh Dispensatory, which for many years was a standard authority in the medical schools of Europe. He was appointed professor of Medical Jurisprudence in 1807; as stated in a preceding page, he was editor of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal. His lectures in the chair, and the papers which he produced in his Journal on this subject excited much interest both among his students and the medical profession. He taught in this chair for thirteen years; and in 1819 he was appointed professor of the institutes of medicine, which he held for two years. In 1821 he was transferred to the chair of materia medica, of which he was an able and careful teacher till 1832. As a professor in three chairs, he was remarkably successful and industrious; and made continual additions to his courses of lectures. He was also a very active and efficient member of the Senatus; and rendered invaluable service as a member of "the College Commission" for rebuilding the University. Besides the important work mentioned above, he contributed many articles on medical subjects to his own Journal, to the Encyclopædia Britannica, and the Edinburgh Review. His experiments on Peruvian bark, and on other substances contributed to advance pharmaceutical science. After a career of incessant and useful work, he died in 1832, at the age of fifty-nine.

As stated in a preceding page, Dr. Monro, the first Professor of Anatomy, was succeeded by his son, Alexander Monro. He was born in 1733, and educated in Edinburgh. After taking his degree. in the University, he proceeded to London, Leyden, Paris, and Berlin, and in these cities he spent two years and a half in extending and completing his medical studies.

He returned to Edinburgh in 1758, and shortly after entered on his duties as Professor of Anatomy. He began his course of instruction in the University with vigour and boldness, and it was at once seen that he was master of his subject and of the art of expounding knowledge. His style was easy, clear, argumentative, and impres

sive; and from the first his career through half a century was a marked success.

The number of students attending his courses of lectures continued to increase; yet he found time to carry on a large practice, being one of the leading physicians of his day, and he was often consulted in important surgical cases. He also found time to produce works of original research in anatomical science; and thus raised his fame at home and abroad, and contributed to extend the reputation of the Edinburgh medical school.

Omitting several of his papers and minor publications, Monro's chief works are:-(1) Observations on the Structure and Functions of the Nervous System, which appeared in 1783; (2) The Structure and Physiology of Fishes explained and compared with those of Man and other Animals, 1785; (3) Experiments on the Nervous System, relative to the Nature and Effects of Animal Electricity, 1793; (4) Observations on the Muscles, and particularly on the Effects of their Oblique fibres, 1794; (5) The Brain, the Eye, and the Ear, 1794.17 These works gave him a reputation as an able anatomist. But it may be remarked that he had no difficulties to overcome, that he had only to step into a readymade position and every advantage to start with, and that in such circumstances success was comparatively easy; nevertheless, he held his place with distinction and merit, alongside a body of able and brilliant colleagues and contemporaries, which is the greatest praise that can be given him. He died in 1817, at the advanced age of eighty-four years.

His son Alexander was appointed Joint-Professor and successor to his father in the Chair of anatomy, and from 1808 to 1846 he discharged the duties of the Chair. Thus the three Monros in succession held the Chair of Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh for a period of one hundred and twenty-six years: the first Monro occupied it from 1720 till 1758, the second from 1758 to 1808, and the third from 1808 till 1846, when he retired.

The third Monro was an accomplished man, fond of paintings, and spoke Latin fluently. But it was recorded that his talents as a teacher of anatomy were not equal to that of his father or his grandfather. The circumstances, however, were changed: there was then a greater number of men well qualified to teach anatomy and surgery,

17 Professor Struthers in his Historical Sketch of the Edinburgh Anatomical School, states that MS. volumes of notes of Monro's lectures on anatomy, physiology, and surgery are preserved in many private and public libraries.-P. 32. VOL. IV.

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and the spirit of the time had become more critical and exacting than it was a hundred years before. Remembering this, there seems to be some ground, not for reversing the accepted verdict, but of somewhat modifying the opinion of the merits of the third Monro.

His writings are numerous and manifest great industry, if not original powers. The following are his most important works :— (1) Dissertation on the varied direction of the Fibres of the Muscles, 1812; (2) Elements of the Anatomy of the Human Body, in two volumes, 1825; (3) The Anatomy of the Brain, with some Observations on its Functions, 1831; (4) Observations on the Different Kinds of Small Pox, 1818. died in 1859, at the great age of eighty-five years.

He

On the retirement of Monro, in 1846, Mr. John Goodsir was appointed professor of anatomy. He had gained some experience as an extra-mural lecturer, and was a remarkably successful teacher; he rendered his special subject more interesting by extending the scope of illustration to allied branches of science. He died in 1867, and was succeeded by William Turner.

During the greater part of the period under review, there was much extra-mural teaching in Edinburgh, and sometimes very able men engaged in it; I can only, however, notice a few of them. The elder Dr. Duncan, noticed in a preceding page, was among the first extra-mural lecturers on medicine in Edinburgh. He commenced lecturing extra-murally on medicine in 1775, and continued it for fifteen years, and attracted a considerable number of students to his class. John Bell, a distinguished anatomist and surgeon, was born in May, 1763. After finishing his medical education in Edinburgh, he travelled for some time in Russia and the north of Europe, but returned to Edinburgh in 1786, and was entered as a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1787, he commenced lecturing on surgery and midwifery, and his lectures were numerously attended. But it seems that some jealousy existed among a few of the professors of the University towards the lecturers of the Surgeons' Hall; accordingly Bell was vehemently assailed by pamphlets and squibs spread over the city. The assailants, as often happens, had greatly under-estimated the powers of their enemy; for in his replies to their attacks he wielded his weapons with such force and effect that his blows staggered some of them and surprised them all, insomuch that on the main issue he won the day. Bell continued to teach anatomy and surgery till the last year of the eighteenth century, when he was deprived of his connection with the Surgical Hospital; he then

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