WATT, ROBERT, M.D., the
author of the BIBLIOTHECA BRITANNICA, and of several medical treatises,
was born in May, 1774. His father, John Watt, possessed a small farm,
called Muirhead, in the parish of Stewarton, Ayrshire, which had
belonged to the family for several generations, but which was sold
shortly after his death, in 1810. Robert was the youngest of three sons;
and, with his elder brothers, was employed, during his boyhood, in
attending school, and in assisting his father in the management of the
farm. His early life, it would seem, was subject to considerable
hardships, and afforded few opportunities for cultivating his mind. In a
letter of his now before us, written a short time before his death, we
find the following notanda of his early years, prepared at the request
of a friend. After recording his recollections of an English school, to
which he was sent at the age of five or six, and where he learned to
read, write, and count, the narrative proceeds:— "About the age of
thirteen, I became a ploughboy to a farmer in a neighbouring parish.
After this, I was sometimes at home, and sometimes in the service of
other people, till the age of seventeen. Before this age, I had begun to
acquire a taste for reading, and spent a good deal of my time in that
way. The books I read were such as I found about my father’s house;
among which I remember the "Pilgrim’s Progress," "The Lives of Scotch
Worthies," &c. A spirit for extending my knowledge of the country, and
other things, had manifested itself early, in various forms. When very
young, my great ambition was to be a chapman; and it was long before the
sneers of my friends could drive me from this favourite project. It was
the same spirit, and a wish of doing something for myself, that made me
go into the service of other farmers. I saw more than I did at home, and
I got money which I could call my own. My father’s circumstances were
very limited; but they were equal, with his own industry, to the
bringing up of his family, and putting them to trades. This was his
great wish. I remember he preferred a trade greatly to being farmer’s
servants.
"With a view to extend my
knowledge of the country, I went with a party into Galloway, to build
stone dykes. On getting there, however, the job which we had expected
was abandoned, on account of some difference taking place between the
proprietor of the land and the cultivator; and we went to the
neighbourhood of Dumfries, where our employer had a contract for making
part of the line of road from Sanquhar to Dumfries. During my short stay
in Galloway, which was at Loch Fergus, in the vicinity of Kirkcudbright,
I lodged in a house where I had an opportunity of reading some books,
and saw occasionally a newspaper. This enlarged my views, increased the
desire to see and learn more, and made me regret exceedingly my short
stay in the place.
"On our arrival at
Dumfries, we were boarded on the farm of Ellisland, in the possession of
Robert Burns. The old house which he and his family had recently
occupied became our temporary abode. This was only for a few days. I was
lodged, for the rest of the summer, in a sort of old castle, called the
Isle, from its having been at one time surrounded by the Nith.
While at Ellisland, I formed the project of going up to England. This
was to be accomplished by engaging as a drover of some of the droves of
cattle that continually pass that way from Ireland and Scotland. My
companions, however, disapproved of the project, and I gave it up.
"During the summer I
spent in Dumfries-shire, I had frequent opportunities of seeing Burns
but cannot recollect of having formed any opinion of him, except a
confused idea that he was an extraordinary character. While here, I read
Burns’s Poems; and, from an acquaintance with some of his relations, I
occasionally got from his library a reading of other works of the same
kind. With these I used to retire into some of the concealed places on
the banks of the Nith, and pass my leisure hours in reading, and
occasionally tried my hand in writing rhymes myself. My business at this
time consisted chiefly in driving stones, from a distance of two or
three miles, to build bridges and sewers. This occupation gave me a
further opportunity of perusing books, and although, from the desultory
nature of my reading, I made no proficiency in any one thing, I acquired
a sort of smattering knowledge of many, and a desire to learn more. From
this period, indeed, I date the commencement of my literary pursuits.
"On my return home, the
first use I made of the money I had saved was to purchase a copy of
Bailey’s Dictionary, and a copy of Burn’s English grammar. With these I
began to instruct myself in the principles of the English language, in
the best way I could.
"At this time, my brother
John, who had been in Glasgow for several years, following the business
of a joiner and cabinet-maker, came home, with the design of beginning
business for himself in the country. It was proposed that I should join
him. This was very agreeable to me. I had, at that time, no views of
anything higher; and it accorded well with the first bent of my wind,
which was strongly inclined to mechanics. If of late all my spare hours
had been devoted to reading, at an earlier period they had been equally
devoted to mechanics. When very young, I had erected a turning lath in
my father’s barn; had procured planes, chisels, and a variety of other
implements, which I could use with no small degree of dexterity.
"For some time my mind
was wholly occupied with my new trade. I acquired considerable knowledge
and facility in constructing most of the different implements used in
husbandry, and could also do a little as a cabinet-maker. But I soon
began to feel less and less interest in my new employment. My business
came to be a repetition of the same thing, and lost all its charms of
novelty and invention. The taste for reading, which I had brought from
the south, though it had suffered some abatement, had not left me. I was
occasionally poring over my dictionary and grammar, and other volumes
that came in my way.
"At this time, a
circumstance occurred which gave my mind an entirely new bent. My
brother, while at Glasgow, had formed a very close intimacy with a
student there. This young gentleman, during the vacation, came out to
see my brother, and pass a few days in the country. From him I
received marvellous accounts of what mighty things were to be
learned, what wonders to be seen—about a university; and I imbibed an
unquenchable desire to follow his course."
Here his own account of
himself closes, and what we have to add must of course be deficient in
that interest which attaches itself to all personal memoirs that are
written with frankness and sincerity. The newly-imbibed desire of an
academical education, to which he alludes, was not transient in its
character. To prepare himself for its accomplishment, he laid aside as
much of his earnings as he could spare, and applied himself, in the
intervals of manual occupation, to the Latin and Greek languages. It was
not long ere he thus qualified himself for beginning his course at the
university. In 1793, at the age of eighteen, he matriculated in the
Glasgow college, under professor Richardson; and, from that period, went
regularly through the successive classes in the university, up to the
year 1797. During the summer recesses, he supported himself by teaching,
at first as a private tutor; but latterly he took up a small public
school in the village of Symington, in Ayrshire. It was his first
determination to follow the clerical profession; but after he had
attended two sessions at the Divinity Hall of Glasgow, he turned himself
to the study of medicine; and, in order to have every advantage towards
acquiring a proficiency in that branch of knowledge, he removed to
Edinburgh, which has been so long celebrated as a medical school. Here
he remained until he had gone through the usual studies of the science.
In 1799, he returned to
Glasgow; and, after an examination by the faculty of Physicians and
Surgeons there, he was found ‘a fit and capable person to exercise the
arts of surgery and pharmacy.’ In the same year, he set up as surgeon in
the town of Paisley; and soon began to attain great popularity in his
profession, and to reap the reward of his talents and perseverance. In a
short time he had engrossed so much practice, as to find it necessary to
take in, as partner and assistant, Mr James Muir, who had been his
fellow student at Edinburgh. This gentleman possessed considerable
literary abilities, and was author of various pieces of a didactic
character, which appeared in the periodicals of the day. On his death,
which happened early in life, he left behind him, in manuscript, a
volume of miscellaneous essays, and a poem, entitled "HOME," consisting
of 354 Spenserian stanzas. He was, in particular, greatly attached to
painting, and exhausted much of his time and money upon that art. Dr
Watt, on the other hand, was chiefly attached to that department of
human inquiry which comes under the denomination of experimental
philosophy—particularly chemistry, to which science he, for a
considerable time, devoted his leisure hours almost exclusively. Yet,
with these differences of pursuits, they lived in good harmony during a
partnership of nearly ten years, each following his own course, and both
holding the most respectable station of their profession in the place
where they resided.
The period of Dr Watt’s
residence in Paisley, was perhaps the busiest in his life. He enjoyed,
during it, a better state of health than he ever did afterwards; and
had, besides, all the ardour and enterprise of one newly entered into a
sphere for which he had long panted. The number and variety of
manuscripts which he has left, sufficiently attest the persevering
activity of his mind during this period. The most important, perhaps, of
these is one in quarto, entitled "An Abstract of Philosophical
Conjectures; or an Attempt to Explain the Principal Phenomena of Light,
Heat, and Cold, by a few simple and obvious Laws." This volume contains
some curious and interesting experiments; but, of course, since the date
of its composition (1805) many new lights have been thrown on the
subjects it embraces, which, in a great measure, diminish its
importance, and render its publication unadvisable. The only work which
he ventured to publish while at Paisley, amid the many he composed and
contemplated, was one, entitled "Cases of Diabetes, Consumption, &c.;
with Observations on the History and Treatment of Disease in general."
This appeared in 1803, and excited considerable interest at the time
among the learned of the profession. The method which the author adopted
in treating Diabetes, was venesection, blistering, and an abstemious
diet; and the various cases which he records, were considered at the
time as tending to establish the propriety of this mode of treatment. At
the end of the volume observations are given upon different diseases, as
asthma, English cholera, colic, &c.; and these are also illustrated by
cases which came under his own observation.
Soon after the
publication of this volume, he felt a desire to remove to another
quarter, and commence for himself on a higher scale than he had hitherto
done. There was no place, however, which he had particularly fixed upon;
and, before coming to any decision on this point, he determined to make
a tour through England, with the view of ascertaining whether that
country might not afford an eligible spot. The journey would, at the
same time, be favourable to his health, which was beginning to be
impaired. In 1809, having furnished himself with letters of
recommendation to many eminent in his profession throughout England, he
went to London, by a circuitous route, embracing, on his way, most of
the principal towns in the country. It does not appear, however, that he
found any situation there agreeable to his wishes; for on his return
home, after an absence of several months, he determined on settling at
Glasgow: and, accordingly, in 1810, as soon as matters could properly be
arranged, he removed to that city.
Previously to this, he had
received from the university of Aberdeen the title of doctor in
Medicine, and had been elected member of the Faculty of Physicians and
Surgeons of Glasgow. He had also become pretty well known in the
neighbourhood as an eminent
practitioner, and had every reason top calculate upon success, whatever
rank of his profession he should assume. He, therefore, commenced upon
the highest scale, took a large house in Queen Street, and confined his
profession to that of physician and accoucheur. In the same winter, he
began his lectures on the theory and practice of medicine; and thus at
once placed himself in that station of life for which he was so
eminently qualified.
His success in Glasgow
was complete and immediate. As a physician, he suddenly acquired a most
respectable and extensive practice; and as a lecturer, his popularity
was equally gratifying. The continental war, which was then raging,
occasioned a great demand for surgeons, and increased the number of
students much above the ordinary average. Dr Watt’s lecture-room was
numerously attended; and he spared no pains or expense that might
conduce to the advantage of his pupils. His lectures were formed on the
best models, and from the most extensive sources, and his manner of
delivering them was easy and engaging. During the first course, he read
them from his MSS.; but he afterwards abandoned that method for
extemporaneous delivery, assisting his memory merely by brief
memorandums of the chief heads of discourse. He used to say, that this
method, by keeping his mind in a state of activity, fatigued him less
than the dull rehearsal of what lay before him. With a view to the
advantage of his students, he formed a library of medical books, which
was very complete and valuable, containing, besides all the popular
works of medicine, many scarce and high-priced volumes. Of this library
he published a catalogue, in 1812; to which he appended, "An Address to
Medical Students on the best Method of prosecuting their Studies."
The "Bibliotheca
Britannica" may be said to have originated with the formation of this
library. Besides the catalogue of it, which was printed in the usual
form, having the works arranged under their respective authors in
alphabetical order, he drew out an index of the various subjects
which the volumes embraced, making references to the place which each
held upon the shelf; and thus brought before his eye, at one view, all
the books in his possession that treated on any particular point. The
utility of this index to himself and his students, soon turned his mind
to the consideration of one upon a more comprehensive scale, that would
embrace all the medical works which had been printed in the British
dominions. This he immediately set about drawing out, and devoted much
of his time to it. After he had nearly completed his object, he extended
the original plan by introducing works on law, and latterly works on
divinity and miscellaneous subjects. This more than tripled his labours;
but it proportionably made them more useful. The extent of the design,
however, was not yet completed. Hitherto, all foreign publications had
been excluded from it; and, although a prospectus of the work had been
published, containing very copious explanations and specimens, which
might be supposed to have determined its nature and bounds, he
resolved--when it was on the eve of going to press--to make the work
still further useful, by introducing the more popular and important of
foreign authors and their productions; embracing, at the same time, the
various continental editions of the classics. Thus was another mighty
addition made to the original plan; and it is thus that many of the most
splendid monuments of human intellect and industry originate in trifling
or small beginnings.
In 1813, he published a
"Treatise on the History, Nature, and Treatment of Chincough." He was
led to investigate particularly this disease, by a severe visitation of
it in his own family, in which four of his children were affected at the
same time, the two eldest of whom died. The treatise contains not only
the author’s own observation and experience, but also that of the best
medical writers on the subject. To the volume is subjoined, "An Inquiry
into the Relative Mortality of the principal Diseases of Children, and
the Numbers who have died under Ten Years of Age, in Glasgow, during the
last Thirty Years." In this Inquiry, the author was at infinite pains in
comparing and digesting the registers of the various burying-grounds in
the city and suburbs; and of these he gives numerous tables, so
arranged, as to enable the reader to draw some very important
conclusions regarding the diseases of children, and their respective
mortalities.
In 1814, he issued,
anonymously, a small volume, entitled "Rules of Life, with Reflections
on the Manners and Dispositions of Mankind." The volume was published by
Constable of Edinburgh, and consisted of a great number of apophthegms
and short sentences, many of them original, and the others selected from
the best English writers.
About this time, his
health began rapidly to decline. From his youth he had been troubled
with a stomachie disorder, which attacked him at times very severely,
and kept him always under great restrictions in his diet and general
regimen. The disease had gained ground with time, and perhaps was
accelerated by the laborious life which he led. He, nevertheless,
continued to struggle against it, maintained his usual good spirits, and
went through the various arduous duties of his profession. His duties,
indeed, had increased upon him. He had become a member of various
literary and medical societies, of several of which he was president,
and had been elected physician to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and
president of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. These two latter
situations involved a great deal of trouble and attention. He held them
both for two successive years; the former he was obliged to resign, on
account of the state of his health, just at the period when a handsome
compensation would have followed his holding it; the latter was resigned
at the expiry of the usual term of its continuance.
Although he had long
laboured under that painful disease which we have spoken of, and of
which he eventually died, it was not until the year 1817, that he
totally discontinued his professional pursuits. Nor would, perhaps, his
active spirit have so soon submitted to this resignation, had not
another employment engaged his attention. He had, by this time, brought
his great work, the "Bibliotheca Britannica," to a very considerable
state of forwardness; had become interested in it, and anxious for its
completion. He probably saw that, from the state of his health, the
duration of his life must be but limited, and was desirous, while yet
some strength and vigour remained, to place the work in such a state,
that even his death would not prevent its publication. He retired,
therefore, with his family, to a small country-house about two miles
from Glasgow, engaged several young men as amanuenses, [Among those so
engaged were the late Mr William Motherwell, who distinguished himself
by his beautiful ballads; and the late Mr Alexander Whitelaw, editor of
"The Casquet," "Republic of Letters," &c.] and devoted
himself exclusively to the compilation.
In this literary
seclusion, Dr Watt was for some time able to make great progress in his
undertaking; but, though freed from worldly interruptions, he had to
combat with a disease which was every day becoming more formidable, and
which at last obliged him to discontinue all personal labour. He still,
however, continued to oversee and direct his amanuenses; and nothing
could exceed the kind attention which he paid to their comforts, even
when suffering under his fatal malady. In his own retirement, he
practised every method which his knowledge or experience could suggest
to stem the progress of the disease, but they were all unavailing. In
the hope that travel and a sea voyage might benefit him, he went in one
of the Leith smacks to London, made a considerable tour through England,
and returned more exhausted and emaciated than before. From that period,
until his death, he was scarcely out of bed, but underwent, with
wonderful fortitude, an afflicting and uninterrupted illness of several
months. He died upon the 12th of March, 1819, aged only forty-five, and
was interred in the Glasgow High Church burying ground.
Dr Watt’s personal
appearance was prepossessing. He was tall in stature, and in early life,
before his health declined, robust. His countenance displayed great
intelligence. In private life, he was universally esteemed. His
character was formed on the strictest principles of morality, with which
was blended a general urbanity of manners, that won at once the
good-will of whoever he addressed. His conversation was communicative
and engaging, apart equally from dulness and tediousness, as from what
is quite as intolerable, a continued study at effect. In his habits, he
was extremely regular and persevering. There was nothing from which he
shrunk, if usefulness recommended it, and exertion made it attainable.
This is particularly exemplified in his undertaking and executing such a
work as the "Bibliotheca Britannica," the bare conception of which
would, to an ordinary or less active mind, have been appalling; but
which, beset as he was by professional duties and a daily increasing
malady, he undertook and accomplished. But laborious as the work
is—beyond even what the most intelligent reader can imagine—it is not
alone to industry and perseverance that Dr Watt has a claim upon our
notice. He was ingenious and original-minded in all his schemes; and
while his great ambition was that his labours might be useful, he was
careful that they should not interfere with those of others. His various
works, both published and unpublished, bear this distinction. The whole
plan of the "Bibliotheca" is new; and few compilations, of
similar magnitude and variety, ever presented, in a first edition, a
more complete design and execution, it is divided into two parts; the
first part containing an alphabetical list of authors, to the
amount of above forty thousand, and under each a chronological list of
his works, their various editions, sizes, price, &c., and also of the
papers he may have contributed to the more celebrated journals of art
and science. This division differs little in its construction from that
of a common catalogue, only that it is universal in its character, and
in many instances gives short biographical notices of the author, and
critical opinions of his works. It also gives most ample lists of the
various editions of the Greek and Roman classics, &c., and, under the
names of the early printers, lists of the various books which they
printed. In the second part, all the titles of works recorded in the
first part, and also anonymous works, are arranged alphabetically under
their principal subjects. This part forms a minute index to the
first, and upon it the chief claim of the "Bibliotheca" to novelty and
value rests; for it lays before the reader at a glance, a chronological
list of all the works that have been published on any particular subject
that he may wish to consult, with references to their respective
authors, or with the publisher’s name, if anonymous. While, in short,
the first part forms a full and comprehensive catalogue of authors and
their works, the second forms an equally complete and extensive
encyclopedia of all manner of subjects on which books have been written.
The utility of such a work, to the student and author in particular,
must be obvious; for, with the facility with which he can ascertain in a
dictionary the meaning of a word, can he here ascertain all that has
been written on any branch of human knowledge. Whatever may be its
omissions and inaccuracies, (and these were unavoidable in a compilation
so extensive,) the plan of the work, we apprehend, cannot be
improved; and, amid the numerous and laborious methods that have been
offered to the public, for arranging libraries and catalogues, we are
ignorant of any system that could be adopted, with greater advantage,
both as to conveniency and completeness of reference, without at the
same time affecting the elegant disposal of the books upon the shelves,
than the one upon which the "Bibliotheca Britannica" is founded.
Dr Watt married, while in
Paisley, Miss Burns, the daughter of a farmer in his father’s
neighbourhood, by whom he had nine children. At his death, the
publication of the "Bibliotheca" devolved upon his two eldest sons, who
devoted themselves to its completion with filial enthusiasm. They were
both young men of the most promising abilities; and it is to be feared
that their lives were shortened by the assiduity with which they applied
themselves to the important charge that was so prematurely laid upon
them. John, the elder of the two, died in 1821, at the early age of
twenty; James, his brother, lived to see the work completed, but died in
1829, leaving behind him the deep regrets of all who knew and could
appreciate his high character and brilliant talents.
The printing of the "
Bibliotheca" was completed in 1824, in four large quarto volumes. The
first division or portion of it was printed in Glasgow, and the second
in Edinburgh. Messrs Archibald Constable and Company, of Edinburgh,
purchased the whole for about £2,000, giving bills to that amount, but
before any of the bills were honoured, the house failed, and thus the
family of Dr Watt was prevented from receiving any benefit from a work
to which so many sacrifices had been made, and upon which all their
hopes depended. |