134 Dr. Wm. Baird on the late Dr. Robert D. Thomson, 



noble fleet of vessels known as the East India Company's 

 Maritime Service, was at an end. Upon his quitting the 

 service, he established himself in practice in Gower Street, 

 London, where he continued for eight years. While there, 

 he was instrumental in founding and establishing the 

 Blenheim Street Free Dispensary, an institution which has 

 conferred great benefits upon the poor of that crowded 

 neighbourhood, and for several years he acted gratuitously 

 as one of its physicians. In connection with the Blenheim 

 Street School of Medicine he also gave a course of lectures 

 on Chemistry, which was well attended. His leisure time 

 he devoted to conducting a monthly periodical entitled 

 ** Records of General Science;" and in conjunction with 

 Dr. W. Farr, now statician of the Registrar General's Office, 

 he edited the " Annals of Medicine." 



Upon his marriage to his cousin, the daughter of Professor 

 Thomas Thomson, he removed from London to GlasgOAv, 

 and for 10 years assisted his uncle, who was now becoming 

 enfeebled by age, in the active duties of the Professor's chair. 

 In the lectures he there delivered in connection with this branch 

 of education, he gave such satisfaction, that at the death of 

 the aged Professor, be was generally expected to succeed 

 him in the chair of chemistry His politics, however, were 

 distasteful to the government of the day, and he was doomed 

 to disappointment in the object of his ambition. 



He soon after returned to London, and was appointed 

 Professor of Chemistry to the Medical School of St. Thomas's 

 Hospital. In 1856, on the " Metropolis Management Act " 

 coming into operation, which empowered the vestries of the 

 different parishes to choose medical officers of health for their 

 respective districts, he was elected by the Vestry of Maryle- 

 bone to that office, in that large and influential parish. This 

 responsible appointment he continued to hold till his death, 

 performing the duties of it with great satisfaction to the 

 public. 



Dr. Thomson was connected with many scientific societies. 

 He was a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and 

 Edinburgh, a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, 

 Examiner in Chemistry on the Council of the University of 

 London, and President of the British Meteorological Society. 

 He was also one of the physicians to the Scottish Hospital, 

 and to it his services were always most heartily rendered. 



Dr. Thomson was well known for the great attention he 

 paid to the analysis of the drinking waters supplied to the 



