WILLIAM CULLEN, M.D., F.R.S., L. & E.

FIRST PHYSICIAN TO HIS MAJESTY IN SCOTLAND,

&c., &c., &c.

"Death openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy."

BACON.

THE name of Cullen is closely identified with the Edinburgh School of Medicine, and no one of its professors has exerted a greater, or perhaps, an equal influence in the establishment of its high character. His opinions and practice have been spread throughout civilized Europe, by the great number of pupils who received from him the principal part of their medical education. It is rather surprising, therefore, that the biographers of such a man should be so scanty; it has been owing, however, to the neglect of his son, Lord Cullen, who himself having in view to write the life of his father, prevented others from entering upon it, and he died before he had executed the duty he had proposed to himself. Dr. John Thomson, the distinguished Professor of Medicine and General Pathology in the University of Edinburgh, has, since the death of Lord Cullen, been put in possession of his papers, and in 1832 he printed the first volume of the Life of the great teacher. The manner in which this is executed, the extent of knowledge of medical science which it displays, and the unquestionable competency of the biographer, renders it a matter of great regret that the work should, at this distant time, remain in an unfinished state.

WILLIAM CULLEN was born at Hamilton, April 15, 1712. His father was an attorney and factor to the Duke of Hamilton. He was one of nine children, and received the rudiments of his education at the grammar school of his native place, where he is reported to have distinguished himself by the liveliness of his manner, by an uncommon quickness of apprehension,

and by a most retentive memory-qualities which he continued to possess, in an eminent degree, to the latest period of his life. Having acquired the previous necessary knowledge, he went to the University of Glasgow, where, among other lectures, he attended those of Dr. Simson, on Mathematics, in 1727. He was apprenticed to Mr. Paisley, a surgeon in Glasgow, a gentleman of studious habits, possessed of a good practice, and having an extensive library. In 1729 he went to London to obtain further knowledge of his profession, and he was afterwards, upon the interest of Commissioner Cleland (Will Honeycomb of the Spectator), appointed surgeon to a merchant ship, trading to the settlements in the West Indies, of which Mr. Cleland, of Auchinlee, his relation, was the captain. In the course of this voyage, the only one he made, he directed his attention to the general effects of diversity of climate on the human constitution, and to observing those diseases which particularly distinguish the West Indies. He used to make frequent allusions to tropical diseases in the lectures he afterwards delivered. He returned to London, was in the employ of Mr. Murray, an apothecary in Henrietta Street, manifested great diligence, and turned his attention especially to the Materia Medica. His father, and his elder brother, being dead, he was obliged to return to Scotland in 1731 or 32, to arrange for the education of his brothers and sisters. Captain Cleland engaged him to reside at Shotts, and take the care of his son, who was an invalid. Here he practised medicine for nearly two years, when, being desirous of further mental improvement, he went to live with a clergyman in Northumberland to gain information in general literature and philosophy.

The winters of 1734-5 and 1735-6 were occupied in attendance upon the medical classes of Edinburgh, where regular lectures, upon an extended plan, had been lately established by Drs. Monro, Rutherford, Sinclair, Plummer, and Alston. The zeal of the teachers inspired the pupils with a strong desire of improvement, and they formed a medical society to meet weekly, to read and discuss essays on the subjects of their studies. Cullen was one of the members of this body, and thus became associated with Dr. George Cleghorn, and others, of considerable talents and merit, who obtained distinction in after life. This formed the commencement of the Royal Medical Society, which still continues to flourish, and in which a very large proportion of the men most remarkable for medical knowledge in the present day, have often exercised their talents, and trained themselves for professional disputation.

In 1736 Cullen commenced practice as a surgeon in Hamilton, and was in attendance on the Duke of Hamilton and his family, as well as upon other

influential persons in the neighbourhood. He was very successful in his treatment of the Duke in an alarming attack of disease. Dr. John Clerk, of Edinburgh, was sent for, and he highly approved of Cullen's skill. This circumstance tended greatly to advance his medical character, and he was ever grateful for the liberality evinced by Dr. Clerk on this occasion, and upon his decease, in 1757, he made a public oration in praise of him in the hall of the Royal Infirmary, which is said to have been the first of the kind delivered in Edinburgh.* At Hamilton, Cullen became acquainted with William Hunter. Their dispositions were congenial, their studies of the same character, and their friendship for each other of the most lively description. They contemplated an union in practice, which however did not take place, Hunter preferring to remain in London, where he pursued the most brilliant career.

In 1740 Cullen took the degree of M.D. at Glasgow. He must have been held in much respect prior to this time, as it appears that he was elected a magistrate in 1738, and again in 1739. The riots of this time, from the high price of grain, induced Cullen to turn his attention to agricultural subjects, and he took an active part in the introduction of several improvements into the west of Scotland. In 1741 he united his fortune to that of an amiable lady, the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Johnstone, of Kilburchan, with whom he lived most happily for forty-six years, and by whom he had a family of eleven children. In 1744 he removed to Glasgow, and commenced as a lecturer in medicine; and in 1746 he made arrangements with Dr. Johnstone, to deliver a course of lectures on the Theory and Practice of Physic, in the University. Besides these, he gave lectures on Materia Medica, and Botany, with Mr. Carrick. He also delivered lectures on Chemistry with the same gentleman, which were much more fully attended than the other courses, as many, not of the medical profession, attended them.

* Dr. Clerk began the profession as an apothecary, and rose to its highest grade. By this course, Dr. Cullen conceived he acquired an accurate knowledge that is sometimes neglected by the student, but the want of which is always deeply regretted by the practitioner. He sagaciously observes, that "however great the fame of a practitioner of physic is, we may always suspect the foundation of it, unless we know him to be possessed of that learning and knowledge which is the only sure foundation of medical skill." Dr. Clerk, he tells us, was the person who chiefly introduced into Scotland judgment, accuracy, and elegance in private prescription; and by this talent he was selected to direct the formation and arrangement of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, and also that of the Royal Infirmary. Of this institution he was one of the original promoters, and he befriended it in every way in his power, and mainly contributed to its success.

From a letter of Dr. Wallace it is shown that his opinions on the Theory of Fever, the Humoral Pathology, and the Nervous System, were the same at this time as afterwards appeared in his writings. He was much liked by the pupils; and upon the resignation of Dr. Johnstone, he was made the Professor of Medicine in the University. He was at this time esteemed the first physician in Glasgow. He displayed an originality in his views, and was bold in rejecting the institutions and aphorisms of Boerhaave, which generally formed the text-book of lectures on Medicine. Cullen had not, at this time, composed any text-book, as was usual with other lecturers. He felt that he should be much more competent to the task after he had been some further time engaged in teaching; and he appears to have kept steadily this object in his view, and ultimately produced his celebrated "First Lines," which still ranks as an authority and an important work in medicine. Cullen's disregard of the doctrine of Boerhaave, occasioned him to be called "a Paracelsus, a Van Helmont, a whimsical innovator;" and great efforts were made, publicly and privately, to disparage him and his opinions. He was even requested by the Lord Provost Drummond, to speak respectfully of the celebrated Leyden Professor, and to avoid differing with him. Cullen did not entertain any disrespect for Boerhaave, or slightly esteem his knowledge; on the contrary, he says, in one of his Introductory Lectures, “I truly esteem Dr. Boerhaave as a philosopher, a physician, and the author of a system more perfect than any thing that had gone before, and as perfect as the state of science in his time would permit of."

Dr. Cullen's style of lecturing was easy and familiar, and delivered from short notes. He was looked upon by some, as a heinous innovator, as he abandoned the delivery of his lectures in the Latin language; and from this circumstance, some attempts were made to detract from his reputation, and to lay to his charge an imperfect acquaintance with the Latin tongue. Dr. Thomson states that many Latin notes in his hand-writing are among his papers, and that his lectures on Botany were delivered in Latin. His lectures delivered viva voce, were remarkable for their vigour, their vivacity, and their variety. His hearers were equally captivated with the manner in which they were given, their artless execution, and the valuable matter of which they were composed. His character for liberality towards the students has been recorded by many of his pupils. No man ever took greater pride in the progress of an emulous student. Dr. Cullen did much towards increasing the reputation of the University of Glasgow. He not only introduced his own method of teaching medicine; but in Botany, he adopted the system of Linnæus, as given in the outlines in the "Systema Naturæ,"