Page images
PDF
EPUB

MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.

101

jesty's late ministers, who first considered it, at the recommendation of the Right Hon. Henry Erskine, then Lord Advocate for Scotland; in consequence of which a professor was appointed, with a salary of one hundred pounds per annum, in the person of Dr. Duncan, jun. whose father commenced a private course of about twelve lectures, eight or nine years since, with much ability, but without any appointment or salary..

[ocr errors]

In our own criminal courts, the value of applying to medical gentlemen, to aid the judge and the jury in their opinion and verdict, in criminal cases, is already felt; and in two recent trials for murder committed upon the highway, at the Old Bailey, which have much excited the interest of the public, two medical gentlemen gave their opinions, upon oath, of the cause of the deaths of the deceased, grounded upon the evidence produced on the part of the crown. This subject has occupied more of my journal than I originally intended, on account of its being so much misconceived, and to many so little known.

The library of the college was founded before the univer-sity, by Clement Little, Esq. Advocate, and has been considerably augmented by subsequent donations. It is now a very good and substantial one, and contains a complete collection of medical and classical books. The funds arise,.

102

COLLEGE LIBRARY.

-as I was informed, from fees paid by professors upon taking their chairs, and by students upon their being matriculated. The money paid by medical students is laid out in the purchase of medical books, except that now and then the medical professors will give some of these contributions to the librarian for purchasing other books. The medical students are by far the most numerous. The librarian is paid by the town.

7

The societies, or clubs, of the students, for their improvement in medicine, natural history, and general literature, are powerful auxiliaries of the college. Their objects are to improve their members in composition and in public speaking. Some of these associations have been formed for many years, and have had for their members men who have afterwards shone with great merit and distinction in life. Amongst them, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, erected into a corporate body in 1783, is entitled to precedence. The discoveries, writings, experiments, and observations of this learned body, are well known to the world, and confer great honour upon their respective authors.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small]

THE MEDICAL AND PHYSICAL SOCIETIES-THE SPECULATIVE SOCIETY-CONTROVERSIAL SPIRIT AMONGST THE PROFESSORS -THE BOTANIC GARDEN-LEITH WALK-FLESHERS-LEITH -THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL-SAIL TO INCHKEITH-HOW FORMERLY APPLIED THE BELL ROCK—THE TRADE OF LEITHITS SHIPPING FRENCH WOMEN ANECDOTE OF SIR HUGH PALLISER DISTILLERIES EFFECTS OF ALE AND WHISKY

CONTRASTED-SCOTTISH CARRIAGES-STAGE COACHES-HE

RIOT'S HOSPITAL-THE CHARITY WORK-HOUSE-INSTITUTION FOR THE RELIEF OF THE BLIND—ANECDOTE OF A BLIND MAN.

AMONGST the many literary institutions of Edinburgh, the Medical and Physical Societies deserve to be mentioned, particularly the former, which is attended not only by students, but by many respectable inhabitants of the town. At their meetings, essays, composed by the members, are read, and subjects are frequently discussed with much spirit and eloquence.

The Speculative Society was instituted in 1764, for improvement in composition and public speaking, in metaphysics, political economy, jurisprudence, and the belleslettres. The reputation of this association is next in rank

104

SPECULATIVE SOCIETY.

to that of the Medical Society. Many of the members maintain a high character in the political and literary world. There is also the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, projected in 1780, composed of noblemen and gentlemen, to whom the antiquities of their native country are interesting, and which form the objects of their investigation: a volume of their transactions was published in 1792.

In the Natural History Society also, established in 1782, the members have obtained considerable reputation in branches of those sciences which form the objects of their investigation. The meetings of those societies are in general weekly; and the subjects discussed afford constant exercise and expansion to the intellect of the student, which enable him, with increased facility, to profit by the lectures which he has selected for his attention, and frequently to sit in judgment upon their merits. These sources of information are also considerably increased by the natural effect of the high controversial spirit which reigns amongst the professors themselves, and the physicians and surgeons of Edinburgh, who are generally engaged in literary warfare.

In my way to Leith, about a mile and a half from Edinburgh, I saw the Botanic Garden, which stands about midway between the city and that port-town, and supported, as I was informed, by Government. This garden covers about

BOTANIC GARDEN.

105:

five English acres, has a green-house and hot-houses for exotics, and contains a variety of curious plants, arranged after the Linnæan system, and also a monumental vase, erected in honour of Linnæus by the late Dr. Hope, with this plain inscription

LINNEO POSUIT

¡JO, HOPE.

1779.

Botanic lectures are given here by Dr. Rutherford, from the 1st of May to the 1st of July, annually.

1

The walk to Leith is very agreeable, and generally a scene of much bustle, the interest of which is not a little increased by the number of fine women walking from one town to the other, and the many handsome equipages passing and repassing. Leith is to Edinburgh what Dock is to Plymouth, or Scheveling to the Hague, in Holland. The entrance to Leith, and the streets of Leith in general, are narrow and dirty. In this town I observed, for the first time, that butchers are called fleshers. It is divided into two parts by the water of Leith, called the North and South Leith. It is a tide harbour; and at low water the sands are very extensive, and highly inconvenient to the shipping, and particularly to the passage-boats which sail from this port to Kinghorn, in Fife. The magistrates of Edinburgh have done much to correct the great difficulties

[ocr errors]

P

« PreviousContinue »