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DOUGLAS, JAMES, M.
D., a skilful anatonsist and surgeon, and accomplished physician, was born
in Scotland in the year 1675. Having completed his preliminary education,
he proceeded to London, and there applied himself diligently to the
studies of anatomy and surgery. Medical science was at that period but
little advanced, nor were the facilities of acquiring a proficiency in any
branch of it, by any means considerable. Dr Douglas laboured with
assiduity to overcome the difficulties against which he had to contend;—he
studied carefully the works of the ancients, which were at that time
little known to his contemporaries, and sought to supply what in them
appeared defective, by closely studying nature. The toils of patient
industry seldom go unrewarded; and he was soon enabled so far to advance
the progress of anatomy and surgery, as to entitle himself to a
conspicuous place in the history of medicine. His "Descriptio
Comparativa Musculorum Corporis Humani et Quadrupedis"was
published in London in 1707. The quadruped he chose for his analogy was
the dog; and he thus appears to have proceeded in imitation of Galen, who
left on record an account of the muscles of the ape and in man. "As
for the comparative part of this treatise, or the interlacing the
descriptions of the human muscles with these of the canine, that"
says Dr Douglas, "needs no apology. The many useful discoveries known
from the dissection of quadrupeds, the knowledge of the true structure of
divers parts of the body, of the course of the blood and the chyle, and of
the use and proper action of the parts, that are chiefly owing to this
sort of dissection; these, I say, give a very warrantable plea for
insisting upon it, though it may be censured by the vulgar." His
descriptions of the muscles, their origin and insertion, and their various
uses, are extremely accurate; and to them many recent authors on myology,
of no mean authority, have been not a little indebted. It soon obtained
considerable notice on the continent, where, in 1738, an edition appeared
in Latin, by John Frederic Schreiber. His anatomical chef d’oeuvre, however,
was the description he gave of the peritonaeum, the complicated course and
reflections of which, he pointed out with admirable accuracy. His account
entitled "a description of the Peritonaeum, and of that part of the
Membrana Cellularis which lies on its outside," appeared in London in
the year 1730. Nicholas Massa, and others of the older anatomists, had
contended that the peritonaeum was a uniform and continuous membrane, but
it remained for Dr Douglas to demonstrate the fact; in which, after
repeated dissections, he satisfactorily succeeded. Ocular inspection can
alone teach the folds and processes of this membrane;—but his
description is perhaps the best and most complete that can even yet be
consulted. Besides his researches in anatomy, Dr Douglas laboured to
advance the then rude state of surgery. He studied particularly the
difficult and painful operation of lithotomy, and introduced to the notice
of the profession the methods recommended by Jacques, Rau, and Mery. In
the year 1726, he published "a History of the lateral operation for
Stone," which was republished with an appendix, in 1733, and embraced
a comparison of the methods used by different lithotomists, more
especially of that which was practised by Cheselden. Dr Douglas taught for
many years both anatomy and surgery; and his fame having extended, he was
appointed physician to the king, who afterwards awarded him a pension of
five hundred guineas per annum. It may be worth noticing, that while
practising in London, he seems to have obtained considerable credit for
having detected the imposition of a woman named Maria Toft, who had for
some time imposed successfully on the public. This impostor pretended,
that from time to time she underwent an accouchement, during which, she
gave birth—not to any human being—but to rabbits; and this strange
deception she practised successfully on many well educated persons. Dr
Douglas detected the fraud and explained the mode by which it was enacted,
in an advertisement which he published in Manningham’s Journal. During
the period that Dr Douglas lectured on anatomy, he was waited upon by Mr,
afterwards the celebrated Dr William Hunter, who solicited his advice in
the direction of his studies. Pleased with his address, and knowing his
industry and talents, Dr Douglas appointed him his assistant, and invited
him to reside under his roof; an invitation which Mr William Hunter could
not accept, until he had consulted Dr Cullen, with whom he had previously
arranged to enter, when he had finished his education, into partnership,
for the purpose of conducting the surgical part of his practice—but his
friend Dr Cullen, seeing how important to him would be his situation under
Dr Douglas, relinquished cheerfully his former agreement; and young Hunter
was left at liberty to accept the situation he desired. He thus became the
assistant of, and found a kind benefactor in Dr Douglas; who must have
been amply rewarded, had he lived to see the high fame to which his pupil
attained. Thus often it happens, that the patron and preceptor of an
obscure and humble boy, fosters talents which afterwards rise and shine
even with greater brilliancy than his own. Dr Douglas not only attended to
the practical duties of his profession, but excelled in what may be termed
its literary department. He was an erudite scholar, and published a work
entitled "Bibliographiae Anatomicae specimen, seu Catalogus pene
Omnium Auctorum qui ab Hippocrate ad Harveium rem Anatomicam ex professo
vel obiter scripsit illustrarunt." This work appeared in London
in the year 1715, and was republished in Leyden in 1734, which edition was
enriched by several important additions from the pen of Albinus. Portal,
in his history of anatomy and surgery, thus eulogises this valuable work—"c’est
le tableau le plus fidele, et le plus succinct de l’anatomie ancienne.
Douglas fait en peu de mots l’histoire de chaque anatomiste, indique
leurs editions, et donne une légere notice de leurs ouvrages; sa liste
des ecrivains est tres étendue. . .c’est ouvrage est une des meilleurs
modelles qu’on puisse suivre pour donner l’histoire d’une science et
j’avoue que je m’en suis beaucoup servi." Haller, when
in London, visited Dr Douglas, and informs us that he was highly pleased
with his anatomical preparations; particularly with those which exhibited
the motions of the joints, and the internal structure of the bones. A
tribute of admiration from such a man as the illustrious Haller cannot be
too highly appreciated;—he observes, that he found him "a learned
and skilful person; modest, candid, and obliging; and a very diligent
dissecter." Besides devoting his attention to those departments of
his profession in the exercise of which he was most particularly engaged,
Dr Douglas seems to have pursued botany, not only as a recreation, but as
a graver study. In the year 1725, he published " Lilium Sarmiense,"
or a description of the Guernsey lily. His work, descriptive of this
beautiful flower, appeared in folio, illustrated by a plate, and is an
admirable monograph. He also analysed with peculiar care the coffee seed,
and published a work entitled "Arbor Yemensis," a
description and history of the coffee tree, which may still be consulted
as containing a great deal of curious and valuable information. We also
find in the Transactions of the royal society of London that he
contributed to that work, a description of the flower and seed vessel of
the Crocus Autumnalis Sativus; and an essay on the different kinds
of Ipecacuanha. In addition to these labours, more or less connected with
his immediate professional avocations, we find that he collected, at a
great expense, all the editions of Horace which had been published from
1476 to 1739. Dr Harwood, in his view of Greek and Roman classics,
observes, that "this one author multiplied, must thus have formed a
very considerable library." An accurate catalogue of these is
prefixed to Watson’s Horace. [See also Haller Bib. Anat. and Chirurg.]
In addition to the works we
have mentioned, Dr Douglas projected a splendid design of one on the
bones, and another on Hernia, which, notwithstanding the great advancement
of medical science since his time, we regret that he did not live to
complete. He died in the year 1742, in the sixty-seventh year of his age;
and when we consider the period in which he lived, and the essential
services he rendered towards the advancement of medical science, the
homage of the highest respect is due to his memory.
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