C 240 ) [oa. J, 



MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 



MEMOIR of the late DR. CURRie of 



LIVERPOOL. 



JAMES CURRIE, M. D. was born 

 at Kii'kpatiick-Fleming in Dumfiies- 

 fllire, on Mav 3rft, J756. His father 

 was the eliahlifheil miniller of th^t pti i(h, 

 v'hence lie aftei waiHs removed to tiiat of 

 IVIiddlrbie. Dr. Ciiirie was an only Ion : 

 of fix fiittis, two alone sren-^w furviving. 

 He received the rudinients of lean ing at 

 the parifh fchool of his na ive place, 

 whence he wpsuanifentd to the granimar- 

 fchool of Dumfries, one of the moli repu- 

 table feniinaries of the kind in Scotland. 

 His original A. Ilination was for a co unier. 

 cial life, and he paflVd feme years of his 

 youth in Viininia in a mercantile ftation 

 Didiking this prof./rion, and unwilPng to 

 be a witnefs of ihe impending troubles in 

 the American colonics, he quitted that 

 country in 1776, and in the following 

 year commenced a courre of n edicnl liudy 

 at tile iiniverfi:y of Edinburgh, which oc- 

 cupied liim alm.ift without interruption for 

 three years. A prof;ie6l of an appoint- 

 ment in the medical i^afF of the army, 

 which would not sdmit of the uiual delay 

 of an Edinburgh graduation, induced him 

 to take the degree of D- £tor of Phylic at 

 Glafgo'v. He arrived, hjwever, in Lon- 

 don too late fcr the expefled place ; but 

 ftlll determining to go abroad, he had 

 taken his paff-.ge in a fliip for Jamaica, 

 when a fevere indifpofitirn prevented his 

 failing, and entirely cliaii;;cd his lot in 

 life. He renounced his firlt intention; 

 and, after fome co' I'deraticn refpefling an 

 eligible fettlement, he fixed upon the com- 

 mercial and rspidly increafing tcvi'n of 

 Liverpool, which became his rtfidcnce 

 from the year I/81. 



The liberal and enlightened chara(5ter 

 which has long di'.tirguiflied mary of the 

 leading inhabirants of that place, rendered 

 it a peculiarly favourable 'theatre for the 

 difplay of the m r;'.l and i.itelleftual en- 

 dowments for which Dr. Currie was con- 

 fprcuous, and he fcon rofe into general 

 eftecm. Indeed, it was not pnfllble, even 

 upon a cafual acquaintance, for a judge 

 of mankind to fail of beint^-ftruck by his 

 manly urbanity of behaviour, bv the ele- 

 gance and variety of his converl'aiion, by 

 ihe folid fenfe and ftgaciiy of his remarks, 

 and by the tokens oi a feeling heart, which 

 graced and dignified the qualities of his 

 underftanding. No man was ever more 

 highly regarded by his friends j no phyii- 



cisn ever iafpired more confidence and at- 

 tachment in his patients. 



In 1783, Dr. Curriomsdea very defira- 

 blc matrimonial comvexin with Lucy, the 

 d/iughter of William Wallace, Efq. an 

 Irlfli merchant in Liverp > 1. Of th'S 

 m;irriar;e a nu- .;rous and amiable family 

 was the fruit, by which his name pro- 

 miCes ro be worthily ptrpernated. His 

 profefli tnal tmpioyment rapidly incieaferl; 

 he A-as elefled one of the phvficiars of the 

 Infirmiiy, and tojk his (ta;ir)n among the 

 diftirguifhed charaflers of the pUceof his 

 refidervce. 



His fir!^ appearance from the prefs was 

 on occafion of the lamented death of his 

 intimate friend Dr. Bell, a yt ung phyfi- 

 ciaii vf great hopes fettled at Manciieflei'. 

 His elegant and intereliing tribute to the 

 memoiy of this perfon was publifhed in 

 J 785, in the firft volume of the Tranfac- 

 tions of the Manchelf er Philofophical and 

 Literary S.ciety, of which they were both 

 members. He was eleffed a member of 

 the London Medical Society in 1790, and 

 communicated to it a paper." On Te- 

 tanus and Convulfive Diforders," publifli- 

 ed in the third volume of its Memoirs. 

 In 1792, he became a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society. A very curious and' inlhuilive 

 " Account of the remarkable EfFeiifsof a 

 Shipwreck," communicated by him to 

 that body, was puWlifiied in the Philofo- 

 phictl Tranfaftions of that year. 



The mind of Dr. Currie was not made 

 to be confined to a narrow range offpecu- 

 Istion, and nothing interefting to huinaa 

 fociety vvas indifferent to, or unconfidered 

 by, him. The war with France confe- 

 quent to its great revolutionary ftruggle 

 was regarded by him, as it was by many 

 other philanthropies, with difapprobation, 

 with refpeft as well to its principles, as to 

 its probable effefton the happinefs of both 

 countries. A pamphlet which appeared 

 in 1793, tinder the title of " A Letter 

 Commercial and Political addrefled to the 

 Right Hon. William Pitt, by Jafper 

 Willbn, Efq," was generally underftood 

 to proc.-ed fioni his pen. The energy of 

 language, the weight of argiiment, and 

 the extent of information, difplayed in it, 

 drew iipon it a large fliare cf notice. It 

 foon attained a lecond edition, and v.irious 

 anfwers attefted the degree of importance 

 attached to it in the public eflimation. 

 One of the refpondents to"k the unv\ar- 

 rantable liberty of directly addreflin^ Dr. 

 Curne, 



