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Photofhoto by]2>y] [<7as. Bacon & Sons, Edinburgh JAMES HAIG FERGUSON OBITUARY

JAMES HAIG FERGUSON LL.D., M.D., F.R.C.P.E., F.R.C.S.E., F.C.O.G., F.R.S.E. The death of James Haig Ferguson has brought a sense of loss of a Peculiarly personal nature to the large circle of his friends and patients. It was known to many that his health had been slowly failing for some Months, but the end came suddenly and gently on the morning of 2nd May in his house at 7 Coates Crescent. Dr Haig Ferguson, who was born in December 1862, was a son ?f the manse, his father being minister of the parish of Fossoway in Kinross-shire. His mother was a Haig of Dollarfield, and through her he was distantly related to Earl Haig?a fact which gave him no little gratification during the dark days of the War. After attending the Collegiate School in Charlotte Square, he entered the University of Edinburgh and graduated M.B., C.M., in 1884. Immediately thereafter, he spent eighteen months in resident hospital appointments?first, as House Physician to Dr Claud Muirhead in the Royal Infirmary, then in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and, lastly, in the Royal Maternity Hospital. He then became private assistant to Dr Sir Halliday Croom, and there is little doubt that the connection and friendship thus started kindled his special interest in midwifery and gynaecology and determined his future career. Dr Croom was then coming into the hey-day of his fame as a specialist, and Dr Ferguson not only assisted him in his pnvate work and in his famous extra-mural class in Minto House, but also fell heir to much of the family practice which Croom was relinquish- es* In 1887, he became a Member and, two years later, a Fellow ?f the Royal College of Physicians. For some twenty years Dr Haig Ferguson carried on a large family Practice, with an ever-growing reputation for skill in midwifery, and his emergence as a specialist and consultant was, as was not unusual ln those days, a gradual process punctuated largely by hospital appoint- ments. The principal milestones were his appointment, in 1898, as to Leith Hospital, a post which he held for twelve years; ingynaecologist i899j as Assistant Physician to the Royal Maternity Hospital; and, ln 1906, as Assistant Gynaecologist to the Royal Infirmary. In 1902, that gynaecology was becoming more and more surgical yecognisingln its practice, he sat the examination and was duly elected a Fellow the Royal College of Surgeons. After his appointment to the rmary he relinquished his general practice and confined himself ?bstetrics and gynaecology. In both the Royal Infirmary and the ?yal Maternity Hospital Dr Haig Ferguson was fated to serve the term of fifteen years as assistant before succeeding to the charge of Wards, and, although he was burdened by a very large private practice, yet he was scrupulously conscientious in carrying out the duties of both 455 Obituary appointments even at the cost of much personal sacrifice. In 1927, his hospital work was terminated by the inexorable action of the age limit. In the golden age of the Extra-Mural School?the "nineties" and the early years of this century?when teaching was looked on as the highroad to professional success as a specialist, Haig Ferguson started a class on Midwifery and Gynaecology in the "New School" and continued it for many years. His gifts as a teacher were, however, seen to greater advantage clinically in the hospitals than in systematic lecturing. He always remained a loyal supporter of the Extra-Mural School, and at the time of his death he was Chairman of its Board of Governors and representative of the Royal College of Surgeons on the Triple Qualification Committee of Management. In 1919 he became a member of the President's Council of the Royal College of Surgeons and ten years later was elected President, an office which he held until 193*- On his retiral from the Staff of the Royal Infirmary, the University recognised his services as a clinical teacher and the high reputation which he held in the profession by conferring upon him the degree of LL.D. Although neither a voluminous writer nor a fluent speaker, Dr Haig Ferguson took an active part in medical societies, making a good beginning by becoming a Member and later a President (1884) of the Royal Medical Society. In 1885 he became a Fellow of the Obstetrical Society, and throughout the long period of his membership he contributed many papers, mainly of a clinical and practical nature. On two occasions he was elected President of the Society, a fact which is eloquent of the respect and affection in which he was held in it. Perhaps the most valuable of his contributions was on "A Modification of the Midwifery Forceps1'?the instrument described being one which has since come largely into vogue by reason of its lightness and convenience. Dr Ferguson also collaborated in two books?with the late Dr W. F. N. Haultain in A Handbook of Obstetric Nursing, and, more recently, with colleagues in Edinburgh and Glasgow in a Combined Text-book of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In 1889 Dr Haig Ferguson married a daughter of the late Sir Patrick Heron Watson and is survived by her and by one son and in three daughters. His eldest son, who graduated in Medicine Edinburgh in 1915, entered the R.A.M.C. and served with gallantry and distinction in the War. He was awarded the Military Cross with bar, and was within a week of attaining the rank of Major when, in 1928, he died after an operation. This was a vital blow to his father, who never wholly recovered his former buoyancy of spirit and always seemed to bear with him a hint of underlying sorrow. Dr Haig Ferguson was a man of wide human interests, and his vivid sense of the duty of service led to his willingly undertaking membership of numerous boards. The Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Donaldson's Hospital, Merchiston Castle School and the Queen's Institute of District Nursing are some of the institutions with ? 456 Obituary which he was actively connected. Special mention must be made of the Lauriston Home for Unmarried Mothers, an unobtrusive but invaluable charity whose affairs were his almost daily care for many years. He was a member of the Central Midwives Board for Scotland from its inception, and, on the retiral of Sir Halliday Croom, succeeded to the important office of Chairman which he held to the time of his death. He gave endless time and thought to the work of the Board and showed a wide and statesman-like grasp of its interests. This work brought him into close association with the intricate problems ?f maternal mortality, and at the time of his last illness he was with difficulty dissuaded from trying to continue the laborious process of analysis of many hundreds of records of maternal morbidity, which he ^d undertaken for the Department of Health for Scotland. Naturally a lover of open-air sports, such as fishing and climbing, he never allowed them to compete with the claims of his work, and, accordingly, had insufficient time to enjoy these activities. Archery also interested him greatly, and he was a member of the Royal Company of Archers (the King's Bodyguard for Scotland). Some years ago his skill in archery gained him the King's Prize?a matter ?f legitimate and natural gratification to a man of his deep loyalty. No one who came in contact with Dr Haig Ferguson could fail to be impressed by the attractiveness of his personality, and it is the iovableness of the man that will remain the most precious and lasting memory in the minds of his friends. His courtesy and graciousness were unfailing, and one felt at once that these attributes were but the outward garment of an absolute sincerity of character. There was no element of weakness in the charm which he exercised. He had a strong temper (his hair, until age whitened it, was red), but it was under superb control and few suspected its existence. He also had a degree of determination which can only be described as dogged and without which he could not possibly have got through all the work which he compelled himself to undertake. Towards womankind he held to instinctively views so purely chivalrous that he felt it his duty ?? to the rescue of any woman who needed his help, and in the inter- " " pretation of his duty the question of self-expenditure never entered into his consideration. His friends, irrespective of sex, received the same measure of generosity, and the many who turned to him for counsel in all manner of difficulties never failed to receive a patient and sympathetic hearing and such help as he could give. His was patients loved him. His mere presence in the sickroom a source of confidence and courage, and, as one of them recently said iu a beautiful tribute to him, he was to many in their time of greatest need " as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Such characteristics when combined with great professional skill are surely all that could be desired in any doctor, but most of all in the obstetrician. K- W. J. 457