OBITUARY

ALEXANDER CRUM BROWN, M.A., M.D. Edin.

F.R.C.P.Edin.; D.Sc.Lond.; LL.D. Aberd., Glas., Edin., St And.; F.R.S.Edin. ; F.R.S. Lond. ; Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh.

Emeritus Professor Crum Brown had been in poor health for some years during which time he had been unable to go out of doors. On Saturday, 28th October 1922, he passed peacefully to rest at his house, in Edinburgh. Although he had long passed the ordinary span of human life and many of his friends had predeceased him, a very large number followed with affectionate reverence to their resting place, the mortal remains of one whom they had so highly esteemed. He was born in Edinburgh on 26th March 1838. His great- grandfather, Dr John Brown of Haddington, and his father, Dr John Brown of Broughton Place, were both distinguished theologians. His mother was the daughter of Alexander Crum of Thornliebank, Glasgow. Dr John Brown, M.D., author of Rab and His Frietids, was his step- brother. He was educated at the Royal High School and Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.D. in 1861. His thesis was on "The Theory of Chemical Combination." At the time when Crum Brown studied, great advances were being made in Chemistry; the Atomic Theory was being developed. Possibly these were determining factors on the mind of the alert young student and led him to choose Chemistry as his life's work. He was at that time hopeful that it might be possible to form a mathematical theory of chemistry applicable to all cases of decomposition and recomposition. He went to Germany to study under Bunsen and Kolbe, and after his return to Edinburgh became an Extra-Mural Lecturer on Chemistry, and when Lyon Playfair resigned his Chair, Crum Brown was elected Professor of Chemistry. About that time, and for several years thereafter, the University Court was deeply moved by questions relating to the medical education of women. For a short time Crum Brown conducted separate classes for men and women, but this was too arduous and he discontinued his teaching of women. He was " affectionately known among his students as Crummie." He was not only distinguished in Chemistry but in all natural sciences, was fond of mathematics, and was a good linguist. He had special facility in French, German, and Italian, and had also some knowledge of other languages. It has been said that so wide and deep was his acquaintance with all kinds of knowledge that Crum Brown could have undertaken the teaching of any of the University Chairs. In 1864 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, Edinburgh; 310 Obituary for twenty-six years he acted as one of the Secretaries of that Society, and he served as Vice-President for the full term of six years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, London, in 1879. Although he graduated M.D. he never practised either medicine or surgery, but he retained throughout his long life an active interest in the Science of Medicine. He characterised medical practice as " a Scientific Art," possessed an extensive knowledge of the natural sciences, and in a Graduation Address delivered in 1875 he indicated to the new graduates that no fact in anatomy, histology, or thera- peutics is unimportant;' that each individual case is a new problem requiring investigation for itself; that no amount of careless practice will produce skill; and that the qualities they should cultivate are are the honesty, truth, courage, modesty, kindliness. These very qualities which he possessed in a great measure along with a sympathetic nature, and he had also a wonderful faculty of finding the fundamentals of any proposition. In an Inaugural Address which he delivered in 1896 to the Royal Medical Society, of which he had been one of the Annual Presidents, he emphasised the necessity for every practitioner of medicine to have a thorough practical training in Obstetrics. He also gave it as his experience that the beloved physician of most households is the General Practitioner. In 1868 and 1869 Crum Brown, in conjunction with Dr Thos. R. Fraser, carried out an extensive series of observations, the results of which he communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh on the "Chemical Constitution in relation to the Physiological Action of various salts of the Ammonium Bases derived from Strychnia and other drugs." These papers were awarded the Macdougall Brisbane Biennial Prize. In 1874-5 he communicated papers "On the sense of rotation and the anatomy and physiology of the Semicircular Canals of the Internal Ear." For the elucidation of the function of these canals he made interesting experiments by means of a rotating table, ordinarily used for revolving lights. In 1881-2 he read a paper also of some before the Royal Society on a "Case of Dyspeptic Vertigo In weeks' duration," and in 1895 "A Note on Normal Nystagmus." Scientific Club the same year he delivered before the Oxford Junior Movements of the a lecture on the "Relationship between the Eyes not and the Movements of the Head." Our space does permit special bottle. notice of experiments with the phonograph and speaking was the Fellow on At the time of his death Crum Brown Senior the Roll of Attendance of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. work of the Medical He took a deep interest in the Edinburgh his as President Missionary Society, and from 1912 to 1917 guidance of the Society was highly valued. 311 Letter from Vienna

At social gatherings he was a charming member, he was a good raconteur of humorous stories. He was lenient in his judgments of others, and was never known to say an unkind word of anyone. He had such a wide and deep knowledge of science that in his life science and religion each supported the other. He was for thirty-five years a highly esteemed Office-Bearer of Eyre Place U.F. Church. He was a humble man because he was so great. He lived his religion, which appeared to be to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. J. R-