ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. IxV 



the same year. Having thus spent upwards of three years on the 

 Continent, devoting his time almost exchisively to professional studies 

 and in the society of many of the most eminent professors of the 

 day, he came to London and established himself as a surgeon, be- 

 coming a member of the Royal College of Surgeons (7th May, 1789), 

 but renounced the practice of surgery tv^^o years after, as he never 

 liked the operative part : and, taking advantage of the Leyden degree 

 of M.D., he became a licentiate of the London Royal College of 

 Physicians (25th June, 1 791). He was soon appointed Physician to 

 a respectable Dispensary in Featherstone Buildings, Holborn, where, 

 with the co-operation of Dr. Bradley, he established a School of Me- 

 dicine "upon a plan similar to that at the University of Gottingen,'* 

 and gave clinical lectures twice a week upon the more remarkable or 

 instructive cases that presented themselves. Subsequently he was 

 elected Physician to the Westminster Hospital, and there for many 

 years gave courses of lectures to the students on the Practice of 

 Medicine, on the Materia Medica, and on Chemistry. 



He married, in September 1800, Miss Dodwell, the daughter of 

 Mr. Edward Dodwell of West Moulsey, Surrey. 



In the same year he was elected a member of the Royal Society. 

 He had been appointed Physician to the Duke of Cambridge, a title 

 he was kindly permitted to retain, notwithstanding his subsequent 

 long absence in Russia. In 1803 Dr. Crichton was invited to be 

 Physician to the Emperor Alexander of Russia, but it was not until 

 August 1804, that, after repeated promises of encouragement and of 

 remuneration, he was induced to quit the advantageous position he 

 had attained in London. He was most kindly received, and enjoyed 

 the full confidence of the Imperial Family to the last. The indif- 

 ferent state of health of Mrs. Crichton, as well as of his own, result- 

 ing chiefly from the severity of the climate, and in the Doctor's case 

 from constant fatigue and anxiety of mind, forced him to petition for 

 permission to retire from the service of his Imperial Majesty. In 

 the hope of obtaining the confirmation of an implied leave of absence, 

 Mrs. Crichton in 1809 went to London with her children, leaving 

 her husband to settle matters in St. Petersburgh and follow as soon 

 as he could. But to his utter dismay, in every interview with the 

 Emperor, his Majesty seemed more and more determined to bind 

 him by the fairest of promises to his service. All this occupied more 

 than a year ; at last the separation, so painful to both of them, was 

 terminated only by the return of Mrs. Crichton to St. Petersburgh. 

 At length, after repeated refusals and many delays, Dr. Crichton ob- 

 tained permission to retire in the summer of 1819. During his ser- 

 vice of fifteen years many honours and decorations were bestowed 

 upon him, and he also received testimonials of high esteem and 

 friendship from other members of the Imperial Family. He was re- 

 called the following year in consequence of the illness of the Empress 

 Alexandrina, but returned in the course of a few months. Sir Alex- 

 ander Crichton was Knight Grand Cross of the Russian orders of 

 St. Vladimir and of St. Anne, and Knight of the Red Eagle of 

 Prussia. 



VOL. XIII. e 



