M O N R O. 



655 



Vonro, disposition, and the "ennobling dignity of a comprehen- 



Akmtkr, g j ve anc j liberal mind. It was his great object to 



J^-TUJ- P erlornl professional duties with a spirit of true phi- 



fanthropy, endeavouring to make his own experience 



subservient to the knowledge of others, as well as to 



the advancement of the healing art. He endeared his 



patients by an affectionate conduct, and his charitable 



attention to the wants and diseases of the poor secured 



their regard and esteem. 



He performed the duties of a son, a husband, and a 

 father in the most exemplary manner. His father, to 

 whom Edinburgh is much indebted for her prosperity, 

 died in Berwickshire, at the seat of his only son, whose 

 "iiccess as a professor had contributed to gladden his 

 declining years. He was very attentive to the educa- 

 tion of his sons, instructed them in many of the sci- 

 ences himself, and treated them through life with all 

 the familiarity of a friend. 



Dr. Monro frequently laboured under a spitting of 

 blood, when he caught the least cold, and was subject 

 to inflammatory fevers. After an attack of the in- 

 fluenza in the year 1762, he was severely afflicted with 

 a fungous uJcer of the bladder and rectum, which he 

 bore with great patience and Christian resignation, and 

 died with uncommon composure on the 10th of July 

 1767, at the age of seventy. 



The works of Dr. Monro were published after his 

 death by his son Alexander, professor of anatomy, in 

 one 4to volume. The luminous order, and accurate phi- 

 losophical description which characterise his writings, 

 have secured him the admiration of all succeeding ana- 

 tomists. His Osteology, the outlines of which were 

 first road to a medical society when he was student in 

 London, i* yet unrivalled. The methodical and simple 

 arrangement that he has adopted in this work, must 

 continue to be a model for every interpreter of nature 

 who wishes to follow her direction and not his own 

 imagination. After shewing the situation, general ap- 

 pearances, and divisions of the bones, he points out the 

 connection of the one he examines, with those around 

 it, and concludes by enumerating the purposes which 

 the bone serve* in the animal economy, and stating its 

 dinsaes. The Introductory Letter to the first edition 

 of his Comparative Anatomy, is an able defence of this 

 important branch of science. His Comparative Anatomy 

 is excellent ; and nothing affords *o striking a proof of the 

 range of Monro' s mind, and the correctness ot hii reason 

 ing, as the intimate union he assisted in establishing be- 

 tween comparative and human anatomy, from which In- 

 endeavoured to dctluce his phyiologicl observations. It 

 clearly appears from his papers on medicine and surgery, 

 that be was amongst the first, who, by conducting manual 

 operation* according to the light of science, assisted to 

 rescue surgery from barbarism and ignorance, and to 

 restore it to that rank and estimation wlu'ch so useful 

 a part of the medical profession is fully entitled to 

 claim. His last work on inoculation in Scotland, writ- 

 ten at the age of sixty-eight, evinces with what eager- 

 ness he continued to promote improvements in medicine, 

 and to check the progress of prejudices injurious to 

 the health, the comfort, and the lives of bis fellow-men. 



See Life of Dr. Monro, Primus, prefixed to hit Wurkt; 

 Dr. Duncan's Account of hi* Life ; Bowers' Hut" 

 the I of Edinburgh, vol. ii. p. J66 188; Dr. 



Barclay'* I'refac-- to a Srriet of Engravings, renrettnling 

 Ike litnt't, by Edward Mitchell, Engraver, Edinburgh ; 

 and Thr of Edinburgh, 



AI.I \ \ '. bl.lt WON U< >. AVaiw/iw.M.D. the young- 

 est of the three sons of Dr. Alexander Monro, Primut, 



ifcundtit. 



and Isabella M'Donald, second daughter of Sir Donald Monro, 

 M'Donald of M'Donald, in the Isle of Sky, Baronet, was Alexander. 

 born at Edinburgh on the 20th of March 1733. He ac- " 

 quired the first rudiments of classical literature under Mr. 

 Mundell, a distinguished teacher in Edinburgh, whose 

 kindness and exertions were long remembered by his 

 grateful scholars. His father, from a deep conviction 

 that an intimate acquaintance with the principles of ma- 

 thematical, physical, and etliicnl knowledge, is the best 

 preparation for medical inquiries, placed him under the 

 tuition of his bosom friend, Colin Maclmirin, the Pro- 

 fessor of Mathematics, Dr. Stewart, and Sir John Prin- 

 gle. He did not commence the study of medicine un- 

 der his father before he had attained his eighteenth 

 year, when an enthusiastic diligence and ardour soon 

 made him a useful assistant in the dissecting room. It 

 was here, like Cheselden, Haller, and Albinus, that he 

 obtained an accurate acquaintance with the structure 

 and functions of the human body by constant dissection, 

 the only sure basis on which medical and surgical im- 

 provements can be founded. 



He studied the various branches of medicine under 

 Professors Rutherford, Sinclair, and Alston, and pro- 

 secuted his labours with such unremitting persever- 

 ance, that in the' year 1753, at die age of twenty, he 

 assisted his father in his anatomical lectures*. He gra- 

 duated in 1755, when his inaugural dissertation, De 

 Tesliljiis el Semine in variis Animations, displayed a 

 minute knowledge of the physiology of these organs, 

 and of the lymphatic system, which he afterwards inves- 

 tigated with so much success. His superiority as a 

 demonstrator and lecturer, induced the patrons of the 

 University, in consequence of a petition from the fa- 

 ther, to appoint him Professor of Anatomy and Sur- 

 gery, on the 12th July 1" 55, and in the twenty-second 

 year of his age. 



Dr. Monro, Primut, manifested great solicitude in 

 procuring testimonials not only from the different pro- 

 fessors, but also from such students as attended the de- 

 mon-trations of young Monro, with a view to satisfy the 

 patrons in the most effectual manner of his son's dili- 

 gence and talents. 



When Dr. Monro applied on this occasion to the 

 Town Council, and presented the testimonials of his 

 son's character and abilities, Mr. Stuart, son-in-law of 

 the former professor of anatomy Mr. Drummond, and 

 senior magistrate during the absence of Provost Drum- 

 mond, at that time in London, told him ' he had no 

 need or wish to inspect them. Tell me," said Mr. Stuart, 

 " your own sentiments of him, for I am sure every one 

 will trust you rather than any other person." " As 

 you refer to me then,"observed the Professor, "you may 

 believe me when I say, that if the world gives me cre- 

 dit for any ability or effect in promoting the character 

 and usefulness of the University, I think more highly 

 of him than they can think of me." He seems also to 

 have been induced, by an anxiety for the prosperity of 

 the College, to select as a profe.-sor the younger son in 

 preference to the elder, from a conviction that the na- 

 tural and acquired attainments of the former were bet- 

 ter calculated to maintain the honour of the University 

 than those of the latter. 



Dr. Monro, Primut, being yet in the vigour of life, 

 and an enthusiastic leach- r of anatomy, sent his son to 

 prosecute his studies under the nm.-t eminent professors 

 at London, Paris, Berlin, and Leyclen. U hi'st the 

 pupil of the celebrated Profe sor Mn-kcl at Berlin, he 

 resided in his family, and thus enjoyed all the advan- 

 tages of public and private instruction, in 115$, Dr. 



Or. Mooro, rrimm, graduated liter bii Sao. 



