XX. QUATERCENTENARY STUDIES IN PATHOLOGY 



own country. Bacteriology had commenced to blossom forth as 

 a new department of the subject — the year of foundation of the 

 Aberdeen Chair will ever be memorable as that of the discovery 

 of the tubercle bacillus. Physiology, moreover, had advanced 

 to such an extent that an experimental pathologist such as 

 Cohnheim or Strieker had become a possibility. 



We were no worse off, however, than the Universities of 

 Glasgow and St. Andrews. Edinburgh at that time was the 

 only Scotch University, indeed the only University in the United 

 Kingdom, which possessed a Chair of Pathology, and even the 

 efficiency of this Chair had been for long stultified by its being 

 occupied by one who, in theory as well as in practice, was a 

 declared homeopath. 



Opinion was thus ripe for the establishment of a Chair of 

 Pathology in our midst, the only thing wanting being the money 

 necessary for a foundation, and this was procured through the 

 liberafity of Sir Erasmus Wilson. 



Erasmus Wilson was the son of Dr. Wilson, a native of the 

 parish of Gartly, in Aberdeenshire. His father was in the 

 King's navy, and was educated at Aberdeen University. 

 While, however, his son Erasmus was still in his boyhood, he 

 removed to London, in order to be nearer his ship, and Erasmus 

 accordingly owed his medical education to the southern 

 metropolis, having become a pupil of St. Bartholomews 

 Hospital in the year 1825, under Mr. Abernethy, with whom 

 he soon became a special favourite. 



It may be conjectured, however, that, like all true Scotsmen, 

 Sir Erasmus had a warm side for his birthplace and scene of his 

 early youth. Amidst the distractions of a large practice, and 

 after the greater part of a life spent in London, he did not 

 forget Aberdeenshire, and in a princely manner established 

 the present Chair of Pathology by the gift of ^10,000 to 

 the University. 



