ijIqe r ~rotti54 ~oriett! Io, of t4e ~i5tort! of 4'lff£~irin£ (Founded April, 1948) REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS I• SESSION 1990 - 91 and 1991 - 92 mIre ~.cottisIr ~o.ciet~ of tIre ~istor~ of 4'1R.ebi.cin.e OFFICE BEARERS (1990-91 ) (1991-92) President Mr. J. S. G. BLAIR Mr. J. S. G. BLAIR Vice-Presidents Prof. D. A. G. WADDELL Prof. D. A. G. WADDELL Dr. ELIZABETH ROSE Dr. ELIZABETH ROSE Hon. Secretaries - Miss FIONA WATSON Miss FIONA WATSON Mrs. BRENDA WHITE Mrs. BRENDA WHITE Treasurer Dr. M. A. EASTWOOD Dr. M. A. EASTWOOD Auditor Dr. N. H. GORDON Dr. N. H. GORDON Hon. Editor Or. DAVID WRIGHT Or. DAVID WRIGHT Council Dr. J. FORRESTER Dr. B. ASHWORTH Dr. MARK FRASER Dr. M. DUPREE Prof. R. A. GIRDWOOD Dr. l. FORRESTER Dr. A. H. B. MASSON Dr. MARK FRASER Dr. lOAN MCALPINE Dr. lOAN MCALPINE Dr. S. McGOWAN Dr. S. McGOWAN Dr. H. T. SWAN Or. H. T. SWAN w:q.e ~rottisq ~ori.etll of tq.e ~istorllof 4ffiI.eb-iriu.e (Founded April, 1948) Report ofProceedings CONTENTS Papers Page (a) Robert Fergusson's Illness Revisited 1-11 Alan Beveridge (b) William MacGillivray and his association with 12-15 John James Aububon John Chalmers (c) Theodore Billroth -A Short Biography 16-19 lain Macintyre (d) Yellow Fever in Europe in the Early 19th Century - Cadiz 1819 20-34 David Waddell (e) A Backward look at 43 years of Hospital Medicine 34-43 John Tulloch (f) James Maxwell Adams, (1817-1899), Physician, 45-49 Forensic Scientist and Engineer John Lenihan (g) Stonning the Citadel: The International Campaign for 49-57 Women Doctors Johanna Geyer-Kordesch (h) The First Haldane Tait Lecture: The Medina Portraits 58-68 Alastair Masson SESSION 1990 - 91 and 1991 - 92 The Scottish Society of the History ofMedicine REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS SESSION 1990-91 THE FORTY SECOND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Forty Second Annual General Meeting was held in the Jardine Day Hospital ofthe Royal Edinburgh Hospital on 10th November 1990. It was attended by 62 members or guests and the President, Professor David Waddell, was in the chair. The minutes of the Forty First Meeting were approved and the Treasurer's report accepted. Two grants had been made from the Guthrie Trust. These were £500 to Professor Girdwood to assist with the publication of his book, "Travels with a Stethoscope" and £500 towards the work of the Soutra Hospital Project. The following Office Bearers were elected; President, Mr. John Blair; Vice-Presidents, Prof. D. A. G. Waddell and Dr. Elizabeth Rose; Treasurer, Dr. Martin Eastwood; Auditor, Dr. N. H. Gordon; Honorary Secretaries, Miss Fiona Watson and Mrs. Brenda White; Editor of Proceedings, Dr. David Wright. Three new council members were elected, Dr. Mark Fraser, Dr. Stuart McGowan and Dr. Alastair Masson, to replace Prof. Bernard Lennox, Dr. Sheila Milne, Dr. Stalker and Dr. Scott Wilson, whose terms of office had expired. The outgoing members were warmly thanked for their contributions. THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIRST ORDINARY MEETING This meeting directly followed the Forty Second Annual General Meeting at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. The President, Mr. J. S. G. Blair, introduced Dr. Alan Beveridge who talked on Robert Fergusson. ROBERT FERGUSSON'S ILLNESS REVISITED Two episodes towards the end of the 18th Century - one national, one local- greatly affected people's attitudes to mental illness. The national event concerned George Ill. In 1788 the King went mad. As a result people's view of madness slowly changed. The old view of insanity as a state akin to bestiality had to be revised when it was seen that the highest in the land was subject to mental derangement. The local event concerned Edinburgh's greatest poet, Robert Fergusson, who died in the city bedlam in 1774 at the age of 24. It was Fergusson's tragic death that led Dr. Andrew Duncan to campaign for an asylum to be built in Edinburgh - a campaign that led to the creation of Royal Edinburgh Hospital. 1 While George Ill's illness has been admirably documented by Hunter and MacAlpine, (1) Robert Fergusson has suffered comparative neglect. He has often been ill-served by his biographers who have seen his short, tragic life in terms ofa moral parable, illustrating the sin of dissipation. The myth of 'the poor, white-faced, drunken, vicious boy that raved himself to death in the Edinburgh madhouse' - as Robert Louis Stevenson (2) put it - has frequently been repeated uncritically in later accounts of his life. However, an examination of the available facts concerning Fergusson's last days suggests a rather different explanation for his early demise which I hope to show. Firstly I will briefly describe Fergusson's background. Secondly I will detail the events of his last days and thirdly I wi11look at the various explanations for his illness. Brief Biographical Sketch Robert Fergusson was born on 5th September, 1750 in the Cap-and-Feather Close, a narrow alley off the High Street. His parents had moved from Tarland, in Aberdeenshire, two years earlier. His father, William, who was said to have had some literary talent, worked in a succession of low paid derking jobs. There were five children, although one son died in infancy. Significantly there is no evidence that any of Fergusson's immediate family suffered from mental illness. Biographers are agreed that Fergusson was a sickly child. For example Gleig (3) wrote: 'During the years of infancy and childhood the constitution ofour poet was so weak that little hopes were entertained of his arriving at manhood'. Fergusson was initially taught in a private school in Niddry's Wynd before attending the Edinburgh High School. Obtaining a bursary he spent two years at Dundee Grammar School until at the age of 14 he enrolled at St. Andrews University. Accounts of his time there portray Fergusson as a lively, intelligent student much given to practical joking and writing comic verses. Fergusson left St. Andrews in May, 1768 without formally graduating - this was very common in the 18th Century as it cost money to graduate. He returned to Edinburgh to find his family's circumstances changed. His father had died in 1767, his elder brother Harry had joined the Navy to escape from 'his past follies' as one biographer (4) put it, and his sister Barbara was married. To provide for his mother and younger sister Fergusson was compelled to accept the dull, monotonous work ofa copying clerk in the Commissary Office, transcribing papers at the rate of a penny a page. Fergusson had been writing poetry ever since his student days and his poems now began to be published, appearing in 'The Weekly Magazine' from 1771 onwards. A volume of poetry appearing in 1773 was warmly received (5). Fergusson was now partaking in the social life ofEdinburgh - that 'hotbed ofgenius' as Smollett (6) had dubbed the Capital, where the leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment enjoyed 'a familiar fraternity' in the clubs and taverns of the City (7). Fergusson himself was a member of the Cape Club which attracted a wide spectrum of Edinburgh society - and his company was eagerly sought. Fergusson's first biographer, Thomas Ruddiman has left this engaging portrait: 'For social life he possessed an amazing variety of qualifications... he was always sprightly, always entertaining ... When seated with some select companions ... his wit flashed like lightning, struck the heavens irresistibly, and set the table in a roar' (8). 2 Thus at the time when illness struck in 1773 Fergusson was writing the most innovative and powerful poetry ofthe day in Scotland and cutting a popular figure in the social life of the Capital. Robert Fergusson's Dlness: In considering Robert Fergusson's illness we should bear in mind the three commonest explanations that have been put forward. Firstly that he suffered from venereal disease. Secondly that he was a drunkard and thirdly he suffered from a manic depressive illness. Robert Fergusson's illness falls into two distinct phases. The first phase appears to have begun in October of 1773. The first indication we have is from a letter Fergusson wrote to his friend in which he states: 'The town is dull at present; I am thoroughly idle, and that fancy which has so often afforded me pleasure almost denies to operate but on the gloomiest subjects' (9). Fergusson's gloom continued and in a second letter of November, 26th Fergusson writes: 'When teased with vapours urged with spleen, And clouds of gloomy thoughts conveen; When youthful blood, once child of fun, Weeps o'er the mirthful glass that's run.' (10) Acquaintances found him to be much more preoccupied. By 30th December, 1773 Fergusson had been forced to give up his duties as a clerk in the Commissary Office. By February ofthe following year, 1773, he made a brief recovery but unfortunately took part in some festivities during the Fife elections. This had disastrous consequences. According to Peterkin's 1807 biography: 'While his physical system was under the influence of medicine, for his recovery from the consequences of ebriety and folly, he was unfortunately enticed to accompany some gentlemen, who were interested in an election business. On this expedition he was much exposed to the riotous enjoyments incident to health, produced a feverishness and decrepitude of mind amounting nearly to insanity' (11). From this stage - February, 1774 - until July of that year Fergusson underwent mental and physical deterioration. He was noted to be 'emaciated' (12), 'sleep now forsook his eyelids' (13) and he became a social recluse. He became preoccupied with religion and the study of the Bible.