14 FOTHERGILL'S BIRTH AND TRAINING CHAP. 



mater of Leyden ; Boerhaave was " the master " in their 

 discourses. Some of them lectured in Latin and some 

 in English. 1 



Fothergill has celebrated the virtues of his teachers in 

 his essay on the character of Dr. Alexander Russell, his 

 fellow-student. He tells of Sinclair, who lectured on the 

 Theory of Physic ; of his noble simplicity of manners, 

 the elegance and precision of his discourse, and the 

 modesty of his opinions. John Rutherford, professor 

 (with the learned Innes) of the practice of Medicine, lived 

 to an old age to enjoy the praise and esteem of his pupils. 

 He was the father of Dr. Daniel Rutherford, and Sir 

 Walter Scott was his grandson. Chemistry was allotted 

 to the gentle Plummer, a man of universal knowledge, 

 so that, says Fothergill, " the great Maclaurin always 

 appealed to him, as to a living library." Alston presided 

 over Botany and Materia Medica, the learned and inde- 

 fatigable Alston, whose enthusiasm in his subject probably 

 had much to do with his young pupil's life-long devotion 

 to those sciences. " What care " the lecturer showed 

 " to separate truth from falsehood ! How cautious in 

 advancing speculation ! How laborious in experiment, 

 and chaste in forming his conclusions ! " 



But Monro was the acknowledged leader of this gifted 

 band ; and it was his fame as a teacher of anatomy that 

 drew men together from all parts of the three kingdoms, 

 and even from the plantations, as the colonies were then 

 called. He won, says Fothergill, " the grateful regard 

 of those who studied under him," by " his singular 

 attention to instruct and encourage his pupils, as well as 

 to act the part of a parent to every stranger." 



Fothergill's own abilities were not unmarked by his 

 teacher, and it was by Monro's encouragement that he 

 came to alter his aim in life, and to seek the status of a 

 physician, remaining at Edinburgh long enough to take 

 his degree. 2 He was a most diligent student. It was his 



1 Manuscript notes of the Lectures of Monro, Rutherford, and Alston are 

 in the Library of the Medical Society of London. 



2 According to Lettsom, Monro availed of Fothergill's assistance in pre- 

 paring the fourth edition of his work on the Bones, published in 1746. 



