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DUNCAN, ANDREW, SENR. M.D.,
an esteemed physician and professor of the institutions of medicine in the
university of Edinburgh, was born at St Andrews on the 17th
October, 1744. His father, who was formerly a merchant and shipmaster in
Crail, was descended from a younger branch of the Duncans of Ardownie, in
the county of Angus; and his mother, a daughter of professor Villant, was
related to the Drummonds of Hawthornden. He received his preliminary
education for the profession of medicine at St Andrews, from the
university of which city he obtained the degree of master of arts in May,
1762. He then transferred his residence to Edinburgh, where he pursued his
medical studies under the happiest auspices, being the pupil, as he was
afterwards the friend, of Dr Cullen, Dr John Gregory, Dr Monro the second,
Dr John Hope, and Dr Black. The university of Edinburgh was at this period
beginning to hold a prominent position in the scientific and literary
world; for although the many discoveries that have since been made, lay
then concealed like precious stones in their mines, unknown and
unsuspected, yet the general and visible advancement of the progressive
sciences which were here taught and cultivated by their respective
professors, began to be duly felt and appreciated both at home and abroad.
The professors, who held not their offices as sinecures, toiled
incessantly and indefatigably to advance the interests and extend the
known boundaries of science; and the students, emulating their examples,
were likewise animated by a spirit of zeal and inquiry, which in turn
reflected back honour on the university. It is not, then, to be supposed
that our young candidate for medical honours, who had already
distinguished himself by his talents and acquirements at St Andrews, would
be less active than his fellow-students; and accordingly, we find that he
soon obtained their suffrages of respect and esteem, in being elected a
president of the Royal Medical Society in the session of 1764, the second
year after the commencement of his medical studies in Edinburgh. In the
welfare of this society he ever afterwards took a warm interest, nor did
he hesitate to declare, that he considered it an essential part of the
medical school of Edinburgh. In the year 1768-9, having completed his
studies, he went a voyage to China, in the capacity of surgeon to the
honourable East India company’s ship Asia, under the command of captain,
afterwards Sir Robert Preston. So much to the satisfaction and advantage
of the ship’s company did he discharge his professional duties, that when
the vessel returned to England on the termination of the voyage, the
captain offered him the sum of 500 guineas to go out with him a second
time; but this offer, however complimentary, he thought it expedient to
decline, for the purpose of pursuing a different and more congenial tenor
of life. In the October, therefore, of the same year (1769), he received
the diploma of doctor of medicine from the university of St Andrews, and
in the month of May following, was admitted a licentiate of the royal
college of physicians in Edinburgh. Dr Duncan immediately sought to
distinguish himself in his profession, and in 1770 came forward as a
candidate for the professorship of medicine in the university of St
Andrews, that chair having become vacated by the death of Dr Simpson. On
this occasion he produced flattering testimonials from all the members of
the medical faculty of the university of Edinburgh, and from other eminent
members of the profession; but his application proved unsuccessful, the
rival candidate being duly elected. In the four sessions succeeding that
of 1769-70, he was annually re-elected one of the presidents of the royal
medical society, and during this period exerted himself in completing the
arrangements for the erection of the medical hall, now occupied by the
society. About this time he became attached to, and married a lady with
whom he enjoyed an uninterrupted union of upwards of fifty-seven years,
and by whom he had twelve children. She was a Miss Elizabeth Knox, the
daughter of Mr John Knox, surgeon in the service of the East India
company, who, it may be added, was the eldest son of the Rev. William
Knox, minister of Dairsie, in the county of Fife, and great-grand-nephew
to the illustrious reformer.
On the death of Dr John Gregory,
professor of the theory of medicine in the university of Edinburgh, which
occurred in February, 1773, Dr Drummond was appointed to that chair, but
being absent from the country, Dr Duncan was chosen to supply the
temporary vacancy. He, accordingly, during the sessions 1774-5 and 1775-6,
delivered lectures on the theory of medicine; in addition to which he
revived the judicious plan adopted by Dr Rutherford, of illustrating the
select cases of indigent patients labouring under chronic complaints, by
clinical lectures. Dr Drummond still failing to attend to his duties, the
magistrates and town council, on the 12th June, 1776, declared the chair
to be again vacant, and on the 19th of the same month elected Dr James
Gregory, the son of the late professor, to the professorship, the duties
of which had been for two years discharged by Dr Duncan. The life of every
man is more or less chequered by disappointment, and assuredly this could
not be otherwise than keenly felt by Dr Duncan, who, in his concluding
clinical address, after reviewing the records of the hospital, and
alluding to the successful practice he there adopted, thus proceeds: "I
have the satisfaction of being able to retire from this arduous task with
ease in my own mind, and I hope not without some additional credit in your
estimation. My academical labours have not indeed in other respects been
attended with equal advantage. I was not without hopes that by my
exertions here, I should still have been able to hold the office of a
teacher in the university, and I had no hesitation in offering myself a
candidate for the chair lately vacant. In that competition I had indeed no
powerful connexion, no political interest to aid my cause; but I thought
that my chance for success stood on no infirm basis when it was rested on
what I had done to deserve it. Although, however, I can no longer act in
an equally conspicuous capacity, yet I hope I may hereafter be employed;
as a teacher in one not less useful. I am neither arrived at that age
which requires ease, nor am I placed in those circumstances which will
allow of it. It is therefore my present intention, still to dedicate my
labours to the service of the students of medicine. * * * * I have already
lived long enough to have experienced even advantages from disappointment
on other occasions, and time alone can determine whether the present
disappointment may not yet afford me the strongest instance of the favour
of heaven." The human mind often acquires additional strength and activity
from the fruits of adversity; and in the present instance, Dr Duncan
immediately determined on delivering an independent course of lectures on
the theory and practice of physic, without the walls of the university;
besides which, as his clinical lectures had been so numerously attended,
he also announced his intention of continuing them. "While these
lectures," said he, in announcing his intention, "are more immediately
intended for the instruction of students, they will be also the means of
furnishing the indigent with advice and medicines gratis, when subjected
to chronical diseases." He soon found that the number of sick poor who
applied to him for relief was so considerable, that he was. induced to
project a scheme for the establishment of a dispensary for the purpose of
alleviating the sufferings of those whose diseases were not of a nature to
entitle them to admission into the royal infirmary. When, in addition to
the gnawing miseries of poverty, the victims of ill fortune have to writhe
under the tortures of slow and lingering, disease, sad indeed are the
endurance of suffering humanity; and no wonder therefore it is that when
the objects of this institution, by the unwearied exertions of Dr Duncan,
were brought fully and fairly before the public, a sufficient fund was
raised to carry his views into effect. In Richmond Street, on the south
side of the city, a commodious building for this charity was erected, and
in 1818, the subscribers were incorporated by royal charter.
Notwithstanding the increasing number of similar institutions, this
dispensary continues to flourish, and a picture of the venerable founder
is in its hall.
In the same year that Dr
Duncan commenced lecturing (1773), he also undertook the publication of a
periodical work, entitled "Medical and Philosophical Commentaries," which
was avowedly on the plan of a similar publication of a periodical work,
entitled "Medical and Philosophical Commentaries," which was avowedly on
the plan of a similar publication at Leipsic;—the "Commentarii de Rebus in
Scientia Naturali et Medicina gestis,"—which obviously could only be a
very imperfect channel for the communication of British medical
literature. The Medical and Philosophical Commentaries contained an
account of the best new books in medicine, and the collateral branches of
philosophy; medical cases and observations; the most recent medical
intelligence, and lists of new books: it appeared in quarterly parts,
forming one volume annually, and continued until the year 1795 under his
sole superintendence, when it had extended to twenty volumes. It was
afterwards continued by him under the title of "Annals of Medicine," until
the year 1804, when it consisted of eight volumes more, after which, Dr
Duncan ceased to officiate as editor, and changing its appellation, it
became the "Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal," which, under the care
of his son, became subsequently one of the most influential medical
journals in Europe.
In the year 1790, Dr Duncan
was elected president of the college of physicians in Edinburgh, and in
the same year, his venerable friend Dr Cullen having resigned the
professorship of the practice of medicine, Dr James Gregory was translated
to that chair. The object of Dr Duncan’s former ambition he now obtained,
for after having lectured with increasing reputation for fourteen years
without the walls of the college, he was elected successor to Dr James
Gregory as the professor of the institutions of medicine.
The life of a physician,
unlike that of a statesman, a soldier, or adventuring artist, whether poet
or painter, is seldom diversified by any stirring or remarkable incidents;
it flows equably and unobtrusively along, never coming immediately under
the gaze of the public, and although in ministering to the wants of the
afflicted, human nature be seen often under the most varied and touching
aspects, yet over every scene that speaks to the heart of charity, a veil
is drawn; the secrets of the sick chamber being always esteemed sacred and
inviolable. No class of men are brought so closely and so continually into
contact with human wretchedness; yet even this charity, which constitutes
perhaps the most estimable feature of the human mind, can seldom be duly
appreciated, for it is manifested only in secret, and seeks not the empty
approbation of the multitude. Fortunately, in the instance of Dr Duncan,
his actions speak for themselves, and prove him to have been always
actuated by the most philanthropic, generous, and humane motives. The cast
of his mind was truly benevolent. In 1792, perceiving how destitute was
the condition of those unhappy beings suffering under the bereavement of
reason, he brought forward a plan for the erection and endowment of a
lunatic asylum, which he laid before the royal college of physicians of
Edinburgh. It is said that the idea of such an institution was suggested
to him by the death of the poet Ferguson, who in 1774, a few years after
Dr Duncan had settled in Edinburgh, expired in the cells of the common
charity work-house, in a state of the most abject and appalling
wretchedness. After much time had elapsed, and many difficulties been
surmounted, a petition was presented to the king, who granted a royal
charter, dated the 11th April, 1807, under which, a lunatic asylum was
erected and opened at Morningside. In September, 1808, the magistrates and
town council of Edinburgh presented Dr Duncan with the freedom of the
city, as a public acknowledgment of the sense they entertained of the
services he had rendered the community by the establishment of the public
dispensary and lunatic asylum; and assuredly this honour was never more
deservedly conferred.
In 1809, Dr Duncan brought
forward a scheme for another public association for the purpose of
contributing to the interests and happiness of society. He observed that
the study of horticulture had been too much neglected in Scotland, and
proposed therefore the institution of a society which should receive
communications and award prizes to those who distinguished themselves by
making discoveries, or promoting the interests of this science. His
proposal, and exertions in accomplishing this favourite object, he lived
to see amply rewarded; for the horticultural society soon attaining
considerable importance in the estimation of the public, was incorporated
by royal charter, and among the number of its members will be found the
names of many who are an ornament and an honour to their country. "The
latest public object undertaken by Dr Duncan," says his friend Dr Huie,
"was connected with this society, in the success of which he ever took the
warmest interest. This was the establishment of a public experimental
garden, for the purpose of putting to the test various modes of
horticulture, and also for collecting specimens and improving the method
of cultivating every vegetable production, from every quarter of the
globe, which could either be agreeable to the palate, or pleasing to the
eye. By means of private subscriptions, assisted by a loan from
government, this object was at last attained; and the venerable promoter
of the scheme had the satisfaction, before his death, of seeing his views
on the subject in a fair way of being realized." [Harveian Oration for
1829, by R. Huie, M.D., who succeeded Dr Duncan as secretary to the
Harveian Society.] On the death of Dr James Gregory, which happened in
1821, Dr Duncan, who had long served his majesty when prince of Wales in
that capacity, was appointed first physician to the king for Scotland.
The royal college of
physicians in 1824, as a signal mark of respect and favour, re-elected Dr
Duncan president; but he had now attained that advanced age when men find
it necessary to retire from the more active cares and anxieties of the
world. He, however, continued so long as he could command bodily strength
to participate in the business of those institutions which had been his
pride in earlier life. More especially it was his pride to continue his
physiological lectures in the university; and to pay that attention to his
pupils which always showed the natural kindness of his heart. He made a
point, like his venerable preceptor Dr Cullen, of inviting them to his
house, and cultivating a friendly and confidential intercourse with them.
It was his custom to invite a certain number to be with him every Sunday
evening, which he intimated by little printed circulars, twenty or thirty
of which he would issue at a time, taking his pupils in the order they
entered to his class, until every one had been invited. On these occasions
he conversed cheerfully and freely with them on all subjects; a practice
which is surely encouraging to the pupil, and calculated to increase
rather than diminish his respect and attachment towards the professor. His
kindness of heart was indeed unbounded. He never heard of a pupil having
to struggle against the ills of poverty, or being in any kind of distress,
that he did not exert himself to emancipate him from such difficulty; and
many now live whose feelings of silent gratitude are the most appropriate
homage to his memory. "While his benevolence fell with the warmth of a
sunbeam on all who came within the sphere of its influence, it was more
especially experienced," says Dr Huie, "by those students of medicine who
came from a distance, and had the good fortune to attract, or be
recommended to his notice. Over them he watched with paternal solicitude.
He invited them when in health to his house and his table. He attended
them when in sickness, with assiduity and tenderness, and when they sunk
the victims of premature disease, the sepulchre of his family was thrown
open for their remains." [Ibid, p. 24.]
He was in some respects
eccentric; but there was not an eccentricity or custom he adopted which
did not indicate that some generous or good feeling was the ruling
principle of his actions. In addition to the institutions to which we have
alluded, of a grave character, Dr Duncan established the Esculapian and
Gymnastic clubs, at which, by assembling round the social and convivial
board, it was intended to soften down those asperities and inimical
feelings which, proverbially and from the most ancient time, have been
imputed to medical men. With the same object in view, and to encourage a
taste for experimental research, in the year 1782 he founded the Harveian
Society, to which, for a period of forty-seven years, he discharged the
duties of secretary. This society, which still flourishes, proposes
annually a question, or the subject for an essay; and an honorary reward,
consisting of a gold medal and a copy of the works of the great exemplar,
is awarded to the successful candidate. The adjudication takes place
publicly on the anniversary of Harvey’s birthday, which is afterwards
commemorated by an elegant convivial entertainment. Before adjudging the
prize, the secretary is appointed to pronounce an eloge on some
deceased ornament of the profession; and among others, those read by Dr
Duncan on the lives of Alexander Munro primus, Alexander Munro
secundus, and Sir Joseph Banks, merit particular notice. Dr Duncan
occasionally stepped aside from the ordinary avocations of his profession
to indulge in effusions - both prose and verse—little consonant with the
more general tenor of his occupations. Among these we may notice, a work
he published entitled, "Elogiorum Sepulchralium Edinensium delectus—Monumental
inscriptions selected from burial grounds near Edinburgh ;"
in the preface of which, speaking as the editor, he observes: "Since the
death of an amiable son, the editor has made it a religious duty to
pay a visit to his grave every Christmas-day, the period of his death.
This visit he has also extended to other church-yards, where the dust of
several of his best friends is now deposited His meditations, during these
mournful visits, have led him to imagine that he was invited by the calls
of gratitude, to take this method of promulgating commemorations of
departed worth." He then adds, that he has selected the inscriptions and
printed them in that form for the benefit of "an able scholar, who,
depressed by accidental misfortunes in the mercantile line, now supports a
young family by his knowledge of ancient and modern languages." This is
peculiarly characteristic both of the affectionate and charitable
disposition of his nature. He always, even to the very latest period of
his life, looked back with satisfaction and pride at the period when he
participated in the proceedings of the royal medical society; and it was
his custom to go down to the medical hall one night or more every season,
for the purpose of hearing the discussions, in which he always expressed
great interest. In the winter of 1827, he visited it for the last time,
being then in the eighty-third year of his age. The members of that
society had two years previously testified the high esteem in which they
held his memory, by subscribing for a fall length portrait of him, which
was admirably executed by Mr Watson Gordon, and now adorns the hall of the
institution. It had been Dr Duncan’s custom for more than half a century
to pay an annual visit to the summit of Arthur’s Seat every May-day
morning. This feat of pedestrianism he accomplished as usual on the 1st of
May, 1827; but he was obliged from a feeling of physical infirmity to
relinquish the attempt in May, 1828, on which day he had invited some
friends to dine with him; finding himself rather unwell in the
morning, he was under the necessity of retiring and confining himself to
his chamber. From this period he was never able to go abroad. His appetite
and flesh failed him, and without having suffered any acute distress, he
expired on the 5th of July, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.
His funeral was attended by
the magistrates and town council of Edinburgh; the principal and
professors of the university, the royal college of physicians, the
managers and medical officers of the royal public dispensary, the royal
medical society, the royal physical society, the Caledonian horticultural
society, and a large assemblage of private gentlemen, and friends of the
venerable deceased.
He published numerous works
during the course of his life; among which, Elements of
Therapeutics—Medical Commentaries—Heads of lectures on the Theory and
Practice of Physic—Annals of Medicine - Essay on Consumption— Medical
Cases and Observations, may be regarded as important additions to the
medical literature of that period. To the royal college of physicians he
bequeathed seventy volumes of MS. notes from the lectures of the founders
of the Edinburgh school of medicine, Drs Munro primus, Rutherford, Alston,
St Clair, and Plummer, together with one hundred volumes of practical
observations in his own hand writing, which he had employed as notes for
his clinical lectures. His exertions in his profession, and in the general
cause of humanity, obtained for him the highest respect of his
contemporaries, both at home and abroad. He was elected a corresponding
member of the medical society of Denmark in 1776, and of the royal medical
society of Paris in 1778; he was chosen a member of the American
philosophical society of Philadelphia in 1786, and of the medical society
of London in 1787; he was appointed an honorary member of the Cesarian
university of Moscow in 1805, and first president of the
medico-chirurgical society of Edinburgh at its institution in 1821. As a
professor in the university of Edinburgh, he was deserved and esteemed.
His lectures were written in a perspicuous and unadorned style, and the
physiological doctrines he promulgated, were those which were considered
the best established at that period; and these he explained in so clear a
manner that his course of lectures may even yet be regarded as valuable,
notwithstanding the additions that have been since made to our knowledge
in this department of medical science. His style of lecturing was simple
and unaffected, and no man could discharge more conscientiously the duties
of his office. Both as a professor and a man, in his public and private
career, his many estimable qualities endeared him to society, where all
who had the good fortune to know him, yet justly venerate his memory. |
