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The Early History of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

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The Early History of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Edinburgh Medical Journal September 1948 THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH By J. N. J. HARTLEY, O.B.E., F.R.C.S. TOWARDS the end of the fourteenth century, Edinburgh was confined to the immediate vicinity of the ridge running east from the Castle. The Burgh was only about one mile long and half a mile in breadth. Narrow closes and wynds extended from the High Street down each slope to the King's Wall, which served as a protection against the " frequent assaults of the Common Enemy." The houses were piled to enormous heights, some having twelve stories, with dark, steep and dangerous common stairs. Here, the early Barber-Surgeons carried out their primitive surgery?dressing wounds, arresting bleeding, drawing blood, adjusting fractures and extracting teeth. Seal of Cause of Barber-Surgeons Various Crafts had been recognised as civic incorporations, such as Skinners, Masons and Wrights, Candlemakers, Tailors, Cordiners, and the great Society of Hammermen who wrought in metal, Goldsmiths, Blacksmiths, Pewterers, Lorimers, Cutlers and Armourers. The Crafts were closely linked with the Church : the chief official of each Craft was called Deacon or Kirkmaster and the members were bound to support a chaplain and altar in the Kirk of St Giles. The Crafts had certain privileges and were protected, no one being allowed to enter a Craft without having served an apprenticeship. In 1505 the Barber-Surgeons, anxious to secure these privileges, made a joint " application to be incorporated." The Town Council granted the request and the Seal of Cause was confirmed the following year by James IV. The Barber-Surgeons were now allowed to dissect each " " year one condemned prisoner efter he be deid for the purpose of instructing their apprentices in anatomy. Though legal permission to dissect the human body had been granted at an earlier date in certain foreign schools, the Edinburgh Incorporation of Barber- Surgeons had the distinction of being the first to acquire this privilege in Britain. A curious clause in the Charter gave the Barber-Surgeons " the exclusive right to make and sell aqua vitae." Thus was formed the Society which eventually became the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. vol. lv. no. 9 513 2 K 514 J. N. J. HARTLEY It is interesting to note that the site of future great activity of the Surgeons was already well-defined in the open country to the south- east of the Burgh. The Cowgate at that time was a narrow green valley. On its southern slope was the Monastery of the Black Friars which had flourished for nearly three centuries. The Priory and large Guest House were near the lane leading down the valley. The rising ground to the south of the Priory was walled off into four portions, known as the Friars' Yards. On the eastern Yard, the Barber-Surgeons, nearly two centuries later, built their first Hall, and in another half- century the Old Royal Infirmary was built on the western Yard. Immediately to the west of the Friars' Yards was the Kirk o' Field, and here the Town Council, in 1583, opened their College which later was replaced by the present University, the foundation stone being laid in 1789. The Barber-Surgeons did not begin to record their Proceedings until 1581, but did so continuously thereafter. The early records are far from easy to read as is evident from the first entry, the College Prayer, ascribed to John Knox, and still read by the Secretary at the opening of each Statutory Meeting of the College :? " O Eternal God, and our loving and merciful Father in Christ Jesus, seeing we are conveenit heir to treat upon these things that concernis our calling, we beseik thee, O Lord, to be mercifull to us, and giff us grace to proceid thereintill without malice, grudge, or partialitie ; sua that the things we may do may tend to the glorie of God, the weill of our vocation, and comfort of every member of the samen ; throw Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour.?Amen." Gilbert Prymross' Mortar When the Proceedings began to be recorded the Barber-Surgeons had already taken first place among the Crafts. It is generally accepted that their advancement was due to the activities of Gilbert Prymross (Gilbert Primrose), Chirurgeon to James VI, and three times Deacon of the Incorporation. Prymross was a member of a Perthshire family, the present representative of which is the Earl of Rosebery. In the Museum of the College there is an interesting copy of Gilbert Prymross' brass mortar found on the Borders and believed to have been lost by Deacon Prymross while in action against the invaders. Though the Barber-Surgeons had begun well, they contributed little or nothing to the advances made in anatomy and surgery during the next two centuries. There was no pioneer in Edinburgh to share the fame of Vesalius, Fallopius, Spigelius, Vidius, Pare and others who flourished on the Continent during the sixteenth century, or of Harvey, Cooper, Warton, Willis, De Graaf, Malpighi, Stensen and Wirsung in the seventeenth century. It must, however, be remembered that the Craft in Edinburgh was small and served only the Burgh, and the people were miserably poor and were constantly distracted by war and internal strife. THE MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS 515 Towards the end of the seventeenth century, two centuries after the granting of the Seal of Cause, conditions in Scotland became more propitious. The association of the Surgeons with the Barbers had not been happy and, in 1695, this was dropped, and the Surgeons were then called Chirurgeons and Chirurgeon-apothecaries. By Royal Grant the Incorporation extended its power from the City to the three Lothians, and to the Counties of Perth, Selkirk, Roxburgh, Berwick and Fife, and more young men were seeking an entry to the Craft. The Physicians at this time for the most part had had to obtain their education abroad, and after repeated application had, in 1681, formed the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. One of the most distinguished of the Physicians at the end of the seventeenth century was Archibald Pitcairne. After obtaining the M.D. of Rheims in 1680, he returned to Edinburgh and became a member of the College of Physicians and also had the distinction of being elected a member of the Incorporation of Surgeons. His eminence, due to contributions to literature, procured for him, in 1692, an invitation to assume the Chair of Physic in the celebrated University of Leyden. The language difficulties in those days were solved by Latin being the common medium for both writing and lecturing. In his class at Leyden were Boerhaave, who later was to wield such an influence over the Edinburgh School, and John Monro, father of Alexander Monro, Primus. Old Surgeons' Hall, 1697 Pitcairne returned to Scotland with the idea that if more material were available in Edinburgh an Anatomical School could be developed comparable to that of Leyden. He instigated Alexander Monteith, Deacon of the Incorporation, to approach the Town Council with a view to obtaining more bodies for dissection. This request was granted and almost immediately thereafter, in 1694, the Incorporation itself made a similar application which was also granted, but with a condition " that the petitioners shall before the term of Michaelmas 1697 build, repair and have in readiness an anatomical theatre, where they shall once a year (a subject offering) have ane public anatomical dissection as much as can be shown upon one body." To comply with this con- dition the Incorporation built their first Hall on the site of the East Friars' Yard, in 1697. There is no definite evidence that Monteith availed himself of the privilege of teaching anatomy. Subsequently he commenced a course of chemistry in the basement of the College Hall. Early Collection of Rarities and Curiosities After the erection of the Hall, provision was made for housing such books as the College possessed as well as certain rarities which formed the nucleus of a museum. Two years later it was decided to record all donations and in a long list are found :?" A large African Gourd, with a silver head ; a case containing ten old German lancets ; 516 J. N. J. HARTLEY a large eel skin stuft and taken in Cramond Water ; a pair of Scots cocks spurs decked in Fife, prodigiously long ; several shells, plants of Spongie marina got in the North of Scotland ; an American Wasps' nest ; an Allegatory, or young Crocodile." An advertisement was " ordered to be put in the Edinburgh Gazette, asking for naturall and artificial curiosities." Donors if they thought not fit to bestow them gratis were to be paid reasonable prices for them. Systematic Teaching of Anatomy In 1708 the Surgeons entrusted the entire duties of dissection and instruction to one of their members, Robert Eliot. He made application to the Town Council for pecuniary help and was granted ? 15 yearly, but with the express provision and condition that the petitioner take exact notice and inspection of the order and condition of the rarities of the College, and that an exact inventory be made of the same and given in to the Council. During the ensuing fifteen years the appointment was held con- jointly by Robert Eliot and Adam Drummond, and by Adam Drummond and John McGill. These two resigned in 1720 in favour of Alexander Monro, Primus, whose father, John Monro, was a distinguished army surgeon of King William's Army, and a former Deacon of the Incorporation, and had long cherished the desire that a School of Physic and Surgery should be instituted in Edinburgh.
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