MONRO, ALEXANDER, M.D.,
usually called Secundus, to distinguish him from his father, an
eminent medical writer and teacher. Before entering upon the memoirs of this
individual, it is necessary to give some account of his father, Dr. Monro,
Primus, the founder of the medical school of Edinburgh, who, having
been born in London, is not precisely entitled to appear in this work under
a separate head.
Dr Monro, Primus, was
born in London, September 19, 1697. He was the son of Mr John Monro, a
surgeon in the army of king William, descended from the family of Monro of
Milton, in the north of Scotland. His mother was of the family of Forbes of
Culloden. Having retired from the army, Mr Monro settled in Edinburgh about
the beginning of the eighteenth century, and entering the college of
surgeons, soon acquired considerable practice. His favourite employment,
however, was to superintend the education of his son, whose talents he
perceived at an early period. Though medical and anatomical chairs at that
time existed in the university of Edinburgh, they were quite inefficient,
and hence it was found necessary to send young Monro elsewhere for the
completion of his education. He went successively to London, Paris, and
Leyden, and became the attentive pupil of the great men who then taught at
those universities, among whom were Cheselden, Hawksby, Chowel, Bouquet,
Thibaut, and Boerhaave. Not content with listening to the instructions of
these teachers, he studied assiduously by himself, especially in the
department of anatomy. While attending Cheselden in London, he made numerous
anatomical preparations, which he sent home; and, while here, even laid the
foundation of his important work on the bones, a sketch of which he read
before a society of young surgeons and physicians, of which he had been
elected a member. Before his return, his father had presented several of his
preparations to the college, so that his skill was already well known. The
titular professor of anatomy to the college of surgeons had even formed the
resolution of relinquishing his appointment in favour of this promising
young anatomist, who, he thought, would be able to convert it into a useful
profession. Accordingly, on his arrival in Edinburgh, in 1719, when only
twenty-two years of age, he was nominated to this dignity. Early in the
ensuing year, he commenced the first regular course of anatomical and
chirurgical lectures and demonstrations, which were ever delivered in that
city. From his abilities and zeal, and the preparations with which he
illustrated his discourses, success could hardly fail to attend his labours.
It could not, however, be expected that an anatomical and surgical course
alone, however valuable, or a single professor, however great his abilities,
could be sufficient to raise the fame of a medical school, which had to
combat many rival seminaries of deserved eminence. It became, therefore, a
matter of the utmost consequence to obtain such associates as could second
and support his labours. His father, to whose zeal for the establishment of
a medical school in Edinburgh, much of his son’s success is to be
attributed, prevailed on Dr Alston, then king’s botanist for Scotland, to
begin a course of lectures on the materia medica. He also took an expedient
for improving his son’s mode of lecturing. Without the young teacher’s
knowledge, he invited the president and fellows of the college of
physicians, and the whole company of surgeons, to honour the first day’s
lecture with their presence. This unexpected company threw the doctor into
such confusion, that he forgot the words of the discourse, which he had
written and committed to memory. Having left his papers at home, he was at a
loss for a little time what to do; but, with much presence of mind, he
immediately began to show some of the anatomical preparations, in order to
gain time for recollection; and very soon resolved not to attempt to repeat
the discourse which he had prepared, but to express himself in such language
as should occur to him from the subject, which he was confident that he
understood. The experiment succeeded; he delivered himself well, and gained
great applause as a good and ready speaker. Thus discovering his own
strength, he resolved henceforth never to recite any written discourse in
teaching, and acquired a free and elegant style of delivering lectures.
The want of lectures on other
branches, which still remained as an obstacle to the creation of a medical
school, was soon altogether overcome by the zeal of the elder Monro, through
whose influence his son and Dr Alston were put upon the college
establishment, together with co-operative lectureships, undertaken by Drs
Sinclair, Rutherford, and Plumer. Such was the origin of the medical school
of Edinburgh, which for a century has been one of the most eminent and most
frequented in Europe. The system was completed in the course of a few years,
by the establishment of the Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh, which was chiefly
urged forward by Dr Monro, with a view to the advantage of his pupils, and
by George Drummond, the lord provost of the city. In this institution, Dr
Monro commenced clinical lectures on the surgical, and Rutherford a similar
course on the medical cases. The former, in his various capacities of
physician, lecturer, and manager, took an active part in the whole business
of the Infirmary. He personally attended the opening of every body; and he
not only dictated to the students an accurate report of the dissection, but,
with nice discrimination, contrasted the diseased and sound state of every
organ. Thus, in his own person, he afforded to the students a conspicuous
example of the advantages of early anatomical pursuits, as the happiest
foundation for a medical superstructure. His being at once engaged in two
departments, the anatomical theatre and the clinical chair, furnished him
with opportunities for experiment both on the dead and living body, and
placed him in the most favourable situation for the improvement of medicine;
and from these opportunities he derived every possible advantage which they
could afford.
None of the professors
connected with medicine in the Edinburgh university, contributed so much to
the formation of the school as Dr Monro, who was indefatigable in the
labours of his office, and in the cultivation of his art, and soon made
himself known to the professional world by a variety of ingenious and
valuable publications. During a period of nearly forty years he continued,
without any interruptions to deliver a course of lectures, extending from
the end of October to the beginning of May; and so great was the reputation
which he acquired that students flocked to him from the most distant parts
of the kingdom. His first and principal publication was his Osteology, or
Treatise on the Anatomy of the Bones, which appeared in 1726, when he was as
yet under thirty years of age. This treatise, though intended originally for
the use of his pupils, speedily became popular among the faculty in general,
and was translated into most of the languages of Europe. The French edition,
in folio, published by M. Sue, demonstrator of sculpture to the Royal
Academy of Paris, was adorned with masterly engravings. In the later
editions, Dr Monro added a concise Neurology, or description of the
nerves, and a very accurate account of the lacteal system and thoracic duct.
In every society at
Edinburgh, for the improvement of arts, or of letters, Dr Monro was one of
the most distinguished ornaments. He was a member of the Colleges of
Physicians and Surgeons; of the Medical Society; of the Philosophical
Society; of the Select Society for questions in morality and politics; and
of the Society for promoting arts, sciences, and manufactures in Scotland.
He was also a member of several foreign societies, to which he had been
recommended by his great reputation. It was to his zeal and activity that
the world was chiefly indebted for the six volumes of Medical Essays and
Observations, by a society at Edinburgh, the first of which appeared in
1732. Dr Monro acted as editor of this work, and contributed to it many
valuable papers on anatomical, physiological, and practical subjects; the
most elaborate of which was an Essay on the Nutrition of the Foetus, in
three dissertations. On this society being afterwards revived under a
different title, Dr Monro again took an active part in its proceedings as
one of the vice-presidents, and was a liberal contributor to its
publications, of which three volumes appeared, under the title of Essays,
Physical and Literary. His last publication was an Account of the Success of
Inoculation in Scotland, written originally as an answer to some inquiries
addressed to him from the committee of the faculty of physicians at Paris,
appointed to investigate the merits of the practice. It was afterwards
published at the request of several of his friends, and contributed to
extend the practice in Scotland. Besides the works which he published, he
left several manuscripts, written at different times, of which the following
are the principal: A History of Anatomical Writers,—an Encheiresis Anatomica,—Heads
of many of his Lectures,--a Treatise on Wounds and Tumours,—a Treatise on
Comparative Anatomy,--and an oration De Cuticula. The last two were printed
in an edition of his whole works, in one volume, 4to, published by his son,
Dr Alexander Monro, 1781.
The advance of age and
infirmity, induced Dr Monro to resign his chair, in 1759, in favour of his
son; but he continued almost to the close of his life to perform his duties
in the Royal Infirmary. Several of his latter years were imbittered by a
severe disease, a fungous ulcer in the bladder and rectum; but he bore his
distresses with great patience and resignation, and at last died in perfect
calmness, July 10, 1767, in the seventieth year of his age.
Dr Monro had in early life
married Miss Isabella Macdonald, daughter of Sir Donald Macdonald of Sleat,
by whom he had eight children, four of whom, three sons and a daughter,
reached maturity. Two of his sons became distinguished physicians—namely, Dr
Donald Monro, who attained an eminent practice in London, and became the
author of several valuable treatises,—an Essay on Dropsy, 1765—on the
Diseases of Military Hospitals, 1764—on Mineral Waters, 1771--on preserving
the Health of Soldiers, &c.,—and died in 1802; and Dr Alexander Monro
secundus, of whose life we shall proceed to give an extended notice.
Dr Monro secundus, was
the youngest son of Dr Alexander Monro primus, whose life has just
been commemorated, and was born at Edinburgh, on the 20th of March, 1733. He
learned the first rudiments of classical education, under the tuition of Mr
Mundell, then an eminent teacher of languages, at Edinburgh. At the
university of his native city, Dr Monro went through the ordinary course of
philosophy, preparatory to his medical studies. During that course, he was a
pupil of the celebrated Maclaurin, for Mathematics,—of Sir John Pringle, for
ethics,—and of Dr Matthew Stewart, for experimental philosophy. About the 18th
year of his age, he entered on his medical studies under his illustrious
father, who, from his lectures and writings, had, by that time, justly
obtained very great celebrity. Young Monro soon became a very useful
assistant to his father in the dissecting-room, and was highly respected for
his early acquirements, among the companions of his studies; several of
whom, Dr Hugh Smith of London, Dr Matthew Dobson of Liverpool, Dr William
Farr of Plymouth, and some others, were afterwards justly celebrated in the
annals of medicine, by their writings.
Dr Monro, after completing
the academical course of medical study at Edinburgh, under Drs Rutherford,
Plumer, Sinclair, Alston, and other eminent men, obtained the degree of
Doctor of Medicine, on the 17th of October, 1755. On that occasion, he
published and defended an inaugural dissertation, De Testibus et Semine in
variis Animalibus. That dissertation, which manifests his accurate knowledge
of minute anatomy, was illustrated by five capital engravings, each plate
containing several different figures; and it laid the foundation of the
important discoveries which he afterwards made with regard to the lymphatic
system. The public testimony which Dr Monro thus gave of his anatomical
knowledge, and the reputation which he had acquired both as a demonstrator
and lecturer, when occasionally assisting his father, naturally attracted
the attention of the patrons of the university of Edinburgh; and to secure
to the seminary under their care a young man of such distinguished
abilities, he was, on the 12th of July, 1755, when he had but just entered
on the twenty-third year of his age, admitted into the university as
professor of anatomy and surgery, in conjunction with his father; but that
father, still in the vigour of life, and fully able to execute every part of
the duties of his office, did not require the immediate assistance of his
son. Accordingly, young Monro, after finishing his academical studies at
home, resolved to prosecute them abroad. With this intention, he visited
both London and Paris, where he had an opportunity of being a pupil of the
most eminent professors in these cities. But his foreign studies were
principally prosecuted at the university of Berlin. There he had every
opportunity of improving himself under the celebrated professor Meckell, who
was at that time justly esteemed one of the first anatomical teachers in
Europe. During his residence in Berlin, he was not only a pupil at the
prelections of Meckell, but lived in his house, and thus enjoyed the benefit
of his instructions both in public and private. That from these sources his
natural and acquired abilities were much improved may readily be supposed;
and he himself was so fully sensible of what he owed to so eminent a
preceptor as Meckell, that, during the long period for which he taught
anatomy at Edinburgh, he allowed not a single year to pass without
repeatedly expressing his gratitude for the instruction he had received
under the roof of this justly celebrated professor.
From Berlin, Dr Monro
returned to Edinburgh in summer 1758. Immediately upon his return he was
admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and entered upon
actual practice. As soon as the regulations of the college would permit, he
was raised to the rank of Fellowship, and took his seat as a member of that
respectable body on the 1st of May, 1759. After that date, for more than
half a century, he continued to exert himself with unwearied activity, not
only as a professor and practitioner, but as an improver of the healing art,
and of our knowledge of the philosophy and structure of the animal frame.
This will abundantly appear from a short review of the different
publications with which he has enriched the treasury of medical philosophy,
conveying important instruction both to his contemporaries, and to the
latest posterity.
Very soon after he settled in
Edinburgh, he not only became a colleague of his father in the college, but
succeeded him also as secretary to the Philosophica1 Society of Edinburgh.
In the volumes published by the society, Dr Monro first appeared as an
author. His first publication was printed in the first volume of a well
known and justly celebrated work, entitled, Essays and Observations,
Physical and Literary, read before a Society in Edinburgh, and published by
them. This volume of their memoirs appeared in 1754, and contains two
anatomical essays by Alexander Monro, student of medicine in the university
of Edinburgh; from both of which he obtained very great credit as an
intelligent and industrious young anatomist. In their second volume,
published in 1756, are contained also two articles from his pen; the
dissection of a monster, and the history of a genuine volvulus of the
intestines; both of which served materially to improve the philosophy of
medicine, and to do credit to the author. His next three publications were
more of a controversial nature than calculated to extend our knowledge of
the structure or philosophy of the human body. From a very early period, as
appears from his inaugural dissertation, he had adopted the idea that the
valvular lymphatics over the whole of the animal body, were one general
system of absorbents: and, with the view of promulgating this doctrine, he
published at Berlin, in 1758, a short treatise, De Venis Lymphaticis
Valvulosis. The grand idea, however, which this short treatise contained,
was afterwards claimed by Dr William Hunter of London; and this claim drew
from the pen of Dr Monro two other publications,--Observations, Anatomical
and Physiological, wherein Dr Hunter’s claim to some Discoveries, is
examined,—and, Answer to the Notes on the Postscript to Observations
Anatomical and Physiological. Here, the only difference between these two
men was, not with regard to the extent or use of the valvular lymphatics,
but with regard to the merit of being the discoverer of their use. A
judgment on that controversy is now of very little importance; and perhaps
neither of them is justly entitled to the merit of the discovery. For, prior
to either, that the lymphatics were a general system, had been explicitly
stated by the illustrious Hoffman. But that the anatomical labours, both of
Monro and Hunter, independently of any information which the one derived
from the other, tended very much to extend our knowledge of the lymphatic
system, will not be denied by any intelligent reader.
In the year 1771, the
Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, which Dr Monro tended not a little to
support, by fulfilling all the duties of an intelligent and active
secretary, published the third and last volume of their Essays and
Observations, Physical and Literary. This volume, among many other valuable
essays, is enriched by a production of Dr Monro, entitled, An Attempt to
Determine, by Experiments, how far some of the most powerful Medicines,
Opium, Ardent Spirits, and Essential Oils, affect Animals, by acting on
those Nerves to which they are primarily applied, and thereby bringing the
rest of the Nervous System into sufferance, by what is called Sympathy of
Nerves; and how far these Medicines affect Animals after being taken in by
their Absorbent Veins, and mixed and conveyed with their Blood in the course
of circulation; with Physiological and Practical Remarks. This elaborate
dissertation, highly interesting in the practice of Medicine, afforded ample
proofs of the genius, the judgment, and the industry of the author.
In 1783, Dr Monro published a
large folio volume, entitled, Observations on the Structure and Functions of
the Nervous System. This volume, which was illustrated by numerous
engravings, was soon afterwards translated into German and into other modern
European languages; and, high as his reputation was before, it tended both
to support and to increase his fame.
The same consequences also
resulted from another folio volume which he published in the year 1785,
entitled, The Structure and Physiology of Fishes, explained and compared
with those of Man and other Animals, illustrated with Figures. In 1788, he
published a third folio volume, entitled, A Description of all the Bursae
Mucosae of the Human Body; their Structure explained, and compared with that
of the Capsular Ligaments of the Joints; and of those Sacs which line the
cavities of the thorax and abdomen, with Remarks on the Accidents and
Diseases which affect these several Sacs, and on the operations necessary
for their cure.
For these three works, the
folio form was necessary, on account of the size of the plates with which
they were illustrated, and which had been engraved at a very great expense.
Although all these three folios were presented to the learned world within
the short space of five years, yet they may be considered as the
scientific fruits of the best part of Dr Monro’s life. For, although a large
portion of his time was necessarily occupied in teaching anatomy to numerous
classes, and in extensive practice as a physician, yet, amidst all his
important avocations, he prosecuted with unwearied assiduity the extension
of discovery, and neglected no opportunity of increasing our knowledge of
the philosophy of the human body. Of his success in these interesting
pursuits, the three works now mentioned, will transmit incontrovertible
evidence to the latest posterity.
Dr Monro primus, as
already noticed, had officiated for more than thirty years as secretary to a
Medical Society in Edinburgh, which was formed of the most eminent
physicians of the city at that time. During this period, he had published in
their name, six volumes of Medical Essays, which had obtained the
approbation of the most eminent physicians in every country of Europe,
insomuch, that the illustrious Haller had represented it as a book quem
nemo earere potest. But about the year 1750, a proposal was made to
unite the physicians and philosophers of Edinburgh into one Society. This
proposal was strenuously supported by Henry Home, afterwards lord Kames, and
Mr David Hume. The union was accordingly accomplished; and in place of the
Medical, they assumed the name of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh. Dr
Monro primus still continued to be one of their secretaries, and had
conjoined with him Mr David Hume, the historian, for the philosophical
department. This society published three volumes of Essays and Observations,
Physical and Literary. The first volume, as has already been observed,
contains some papers written by Alexander Monro secundus, when a
student of medicine. But after his return from his studies on the continent,
and after his conjunction with his father in the professorship of anatomy,
he was also conjoined with him as secretary to the Philosophical Society of
Edinburgh; and although Mr Hume still retained the name of the philosophical
secretary, yet Dr Monro secundus may justly be considered as the
editor of the two last volumes. With the venerable lord Kames as their
president, and Dr Monro secundus as their acting secretary, (for Mr
Hume, not long after his appointment, left Edinburgh, to act in a diplomatic
character in France,) the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh had regular
meetings. The physicians and philosophers, who were then the greatest
ornaments of Edinburgh,—lord Kames, Sir George Clerk, Mr John Clerk, Drs
Cullen, Home, Hope, Black, Young, Monro, and many others,—constituted the
strength of the association; and the Essays and Observations, Physical and
Literary, which they published to the world, will ever hold a distinguished
place in marking the progress of science. The third and last volume
published by the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh in 1771, contains
several papers from the pen of Dr Monro secundus. Besides the
interesting experiments on opium, ardent spirits, and essential oils, of
which mention has already been made, it contains important observations,
communicated by him, on Polypus in the Pharynx and Esophagus, and on the use
of mercury in convulsive diseases. Soon after the publication of this third
volume, a plan was projected for putting the Philosophical Society of
Edinburgh upon a still more respectable footing and extensive scale, and of
comprehending not only medical and physical science, but every species of
literary and philological discussions. This extension was particularly
enforced by Dr Robertson, then principal, and Mr Dalzell, then professor of
Greek, in the university of Edinburgh. The negotiation terminated in the
Philosophical Society as a body, with the addition of many other eminent
scholars, being incorporated by royal charter in the year 1782, under the
title of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
On the establishment of the
Royal Society, Dr Monro, whose time was much occupied with extensive
practice in medicine, declined any longer officiating as secretary; but he
continued not only to be one of their councillors, but to be an active and
useful fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; and he enriched their
transactions with several valuable communications, particularly with the
description of a human male monster, with an elaborate series of experiments
on animal electricity or galvanism, which, from the discoveries of Galvani,
professor of anatomy of Bologna, has engaged the attention of almost every
philosopher in Europe, and with observations on the Muscles, particularly on
the effects of their oblique fibres.
The last publication with
which Dr Monro enriched medical science, was a quarto volume, consisting of
three treatises, on the Brain, the Eye, and the Ear, published at Edinburgh
in the year 1797. And although these organs had before been examined with
the utmost attention by anatomists of the first eminence, yet, from careful
examination, he made no inconsiderable addition to our knowledge, both of
the structure and functions of these important organs.
Dr Monro’s talents extended
his fame over all Europe, and he had the honour of being admitted a member
of the most celebrated medical institutions, particularly of the royal
academies of Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Moscow, and other learned Societies. His
eminence as an author was not superior to his fame as a teacher of medicine.
For a long series of years his class room was attended by crowded audiences;
and no hearer of real discernment could listen to him without being both
pleased and instructed by his prelections. He began to teach medicine
immediately upon his return from the continent, at the beginning of the
winter session 1758-59. During that winter, his father, Dr Monro primus,
gave the introductory lectures, and a very few others. But by much the
greater part of the course was given by the young professor; and for forty
succeeding years he performed the arduous duties of the anatomical chair
without any assistants. No teacher could attend to the business of his chair
with more assiduity. Indeed, during the whole of that period, he made it an
invariable rule to postpone to his academical duties every other business
that could possibly admit of delay.
While we thus state Dr
Monro’s character as an author and a teacher, his worth as a man and a
citizen must not be forgotten. With his brethren of the profession, and his
colleagues in the university, he lived on the most amicable terms. He seems
to have had constantly in his mind the admirable observation of Seneca: "Beneficiis
humana vita consistit et concordiâ; nec terrore, sed mutuo amore, in foedus
auxiliumque commune constringitur." No man could enjoy to a higher degree,
or more successfully lead others to enjoy, innocent mirth at the social
board. He was one of the earliest members, and most regular attendants of,
the Harveian Society,—a society which was formed with the intention of
encouraging experimental inquiry among the rising generation, and in
promoting convivial mirth among its living members. In every respect Dr
Monro was an honest and an honourable man. He was no flatterer; but he did
not withhold applause where he thought it was merited. Both the applause and
the censure of Dr Monro upon all occasions, demonstrated the candid, the
open, and the honest man. As a citizen, a friend, and a parent, his conduct
was amiable and affectionate in the highest degree; and as a medical writer
and teacher, he had few equals among his contemporaries. His various
published works may be recapitulated as follows: Treatise on the Lymphatics,
1770; On the Anatomy of Fishes, 1785; On the Nerves, 1783; On the Bursae
Mucosae, 1788; and three Treatises on the Brain, the Eye, and the Ear, 1797.
Dr Monro’s chief amusements lay in the
witnessing of dramatic performances, and in the cultivation of his garden.
Not many years after his establishment in Edinburgh he purchased the
beautiful estate of Craiglockhart, on the banks of the Water of Leith,
within a few miles of the city. He planted and beautified some charmingly
romantic hills, which afforded him such delightful prospects of wood and
water, hill and dale, city and cottage, as have seldom been equalled; and
here he spent many hours stolen from the labours of his profession. In 1800,
finding his health declining, he began to receive the assistance of his son,
Dr Alexander Monro, tertius, who succeeded him as professor of
anatomy; but he continued to deliver the most important part of the lectures
till 1808-9, when he closed his academical labours, to the regret of his
numerous students. At the same time he gave up his medical practice, but
survived till the 2d of October, 1817, when he died in the 85th year of his
age. |