A prominent physician of early colonial times was Dr. Gustavus Brown
(1689-1765), born in Dalkeith, and died in Maryland. Dr. Gustavus
Richard Brown (1747-1804), born in Maryland and educated at Edinburgh
University, his son, also made a reputation for himself as a physician
of ability. Dr. Gustavus Brown (1744-1801), grandson of the first
named, was summoned to attend President Washington in his last
illness. Dr. John Lining (1708-1760), born in Scotland, settled in
Charleston, S.C., in 1730, gained a large practice through his skill
as a physician, and a distinguished reputation in Europe as a
scientist from his experiments in electricity, etc. His meteorological
observations were probably the first ever published. In 1751 he issued
his "History of the Yellow Fever," "which was the first that had been
given to the public from the American continent." Dr. Lionel Chalmers
(1715-1777), born in Argyllshire, practised in South Carolina for more
than forty years, and was the first to treat of the soil, climate,
weather, and diseases of that state. He "left behind him the name of a
skilful, humane physician." Dr. James Craik (1731-1814),
physician-general of the United States Army, was born at Arbigland,
near Dumfries, and for nearly forty years was the intimate friend of
Washington, and his physician in his last illness. One of the earliest
introducers of vaccination into America and an original investigator
into the cause of disease was Dr. John Crawford (1746-1813), of Ulster
Scots birth. As early as 1790 he had conceived what is now known as
the germ theory of disease. Dr. Adam Stephen, born in Scotland, died
at Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1791, took part in the French and
Indian wars and was an active participant in the Revolutionary War on
the side of the colonists. The town of Martinsburg in Berkeley County
was laid out by him. Dr. George Buchanan (1763-1808), founder of the
Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, was a grandson of George
Buchanan, the Scot who laid out Baltimore town in 1730. Dr. John
Spence (1766-1829), born in Scotland, educated at Edinburgh
University, settled in Virginia in 1791, and obtained a high
reputation as a judicious and successful practitioner. The "father of
ovariotomy," Dr. Ephraim McDowell (1771-1830), was born in Virginia of
Scots ancestry and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
James Brown McCaw (1772-1846), one of the leading surgeons in
Virginia for over thirty years, studied medicine in Edinburgh. He was
one of the first, if not the first, to tie the external carotid
artery, an operation he performed in 1807. He came of a race of
doctors, being the great-grandson of James McCaw, a surgeon who
emigrated from Wigtownshire in 1771. George McClellan (1796-1847) the
eminent surgeon and founder of the Jefferson Medical College at
Philadelphia, was of Scottish descent. His son, John Hill Brinton
McClellan (1823-74), was professor of anatomy in Pennsylvania Medical
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account