| GREGORY, JAMES, M.D., an eminent modern
medical teacher, was the eldest son of Dr John Gregory, equally celebrated
as a medical teacher, by the honourable Elizabeth Forbes, daughter of
William, thirteenth lord Forbes. He was born in 1753, at Aberdeen, where
his father then practiced as a physician, being removed in boyhood to
Edinburgh, where his father succeeded Dr Rutherford as professor of the
practice of physic, he received his academical and professional education
in that city, and in 1774, took his degree as doctor of medicine, his
thesis being "De Morbis Caeli Mutatione Medendia." An education
conducted under the most favourable circumstances had improved, in the
utmost possible degree, the excellent natural talents of Dr Gregory,
though he had the misfortune to lose his father before its conclusion.
Notwithstanding the latter event, he was appointed, in 1776, when only
twenty-three years of age, to the chair of the theory of physic in the
Edinburgh university. As a text book for his lectures, he published in
1780-2, his "Conspectus Medicinae Theoretica," which soon became
a work of standard reputation over all Europe, not only in consequence of
its scientific merits, but the singular felicity of the classical language
with which it was written.
In consequence of the death of Dr Cullen,
the subject of this memoir was appointed, in 1790, to the most important
medical professorship in the university, that of the practice of physic;
an office upon which unprecedented lustre had been conferred by his
predecessor; but which for thirty-one years he sustained with even
superior splendour. During this long period, the fame which his talents
had acquired, attracted students in Edinburgh from all parts of the world,
all of whom returned to their homes with a feeling of reverence for his
character, more nearly resembling that which the disciples of antiquity
felt for their instructors, than anything which is generally experienced
in the present situation of society. Descended by the father’s side from
a long and memorable line of ancestors, among whom the friend and
contemporary of Newton is numbered, and by the mother’s from one of the
oldest baronial families in the country, the character of Dr Gregory was
early formed upon an elevated model, and throughout his whole life he
combined, in a degree seldom equalled, the studies and acquirements of a
man of science, with the tastes and honourable feelings of a high-born
gentleman. By these peculiarities, joined to the point and brilliancy of
his conversation, and his almost romantic generosity of nature, he made
the most favourable impression upon all who came in contact with him.
Dr Gregory had early bent his acute and
discriminating mind to the study of metaphysics and in 1792, he published
a volume, entitled "Philosophical and Literary Essays," in which
is to be found one of the most original and forcible refutations of the
doctrine of Necessity, which has ever appeared. His reputation as a
Latinist was unrivalled in Scotland in his own day; and the numerous
inscriptions which he was consequently requested to write in this tongue
were characterized by extraordinary beauty of expression and arrangement.
His only philological publication, however, is a "Dissertation on the
Theory of the Moods of Verbs," which appears in the Transactions of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1790. Dr Gregory’s eminence as a man of
science, and his fame throughout Europe, were testified by his being one
of the few British honoured with a seat in the Institute of France.
While officiating for nearly fifty years as
a medical teacher, Dr Gregory carried on an extensive and lucrative
practice in Edinburgh. As a physician, he enjoyed the highest reputation,
notwithstanding a certain severe sincerity, and occasional brusquerie of
manner, which characterized him in this capacity. It is probably that, but
for the pressure of his professional engagements, he might have oftener
employed his pen, both in the improvement of medical knowledge, and in
general literature. His only medical publication, besides his matchless
"Conspectus," was an edition of Cullen’s "First Lines to
the Practice of Physic," 2 vols. 8vo. It is with reluctance we advert
to a series of publications of a different kind, which Dr Gregory allowed
himself to issue, and which it must be the wish of every generous mind to
forget as soon as possible. They consisted of a variety of pamphlets, in
which he gave vent to feelings that could not fail to excite the
indignation of various members of his own profession; the most remarkable
being a memorial addressed, in 1800, to the managers of the Royal
Infirmary of Edinburgh, complaining of the younger members of the college
of surgeons being there allowed to perform operations. A list of these
productions is given in the preface to Mr John Bell’s Letters on
Professional Characters and Manners, 1810, and we shall not therefore
allude further to the subject, than to say, that the language employed in
several of them affords a most striking view of one of the paradoxes
occasionally found in human character, the co-existence of the same bosom
of sentiments of chivalrous honour and benevolence, with the most
inveterate hostility towards individuals.
Dr Gregory died at his house in St Andrew’s
square, Edinburgh, April 2, 1821, leaving a large family, chiefly in
adolescence.
|
