486 



C U L L E N. 



Culleti. Glasgow, during which service lie would doubtless at- 

 tend such medical lectures as were then given in the 

 university of that city. 



On the expiry of his apprenticeship, he made seve- 

 ral voyages as surgeon to a West India ship which 

 sailed from the port of London : but, not relishing that 

 mode of life, he settled, while yet very young, as a 

 country surgeon in the parish of Shotts, a rural dis- 

 trict only a few miles east from Glasgow, where he 

 could merely have earned a scanty and precarious in- 

 come by his practice among poor farmers and cottagers. 

 Even here his uncommon attainments in science, the 

 well-tempered vivacity of his conversation, and the rare 

 urbanity of his manners, soon acquired him a respectable 

 acquaintance among tlit? gentlemen of the neighbour- 

 hood, by whom he was considered as an attentive, 

 enlightened, and humane practitioner, and a most 

 engaging and instructive companion in the hours of 

 social intercourse. At this early period, an incident oc- 

 curred that had considerable influence on his future 

 fortunes, and shews the extensive progress he had al- 

 ready made in the branches of study connected with his 

 professional pursuits. Archibald Duke of Argyle, who 

 long bore almost unrestrained sway in the politics of 

 Scotland, happened to visit a gentleman of some conse- 

 quence near Shotts. The Duke, who did not confine 

 his attention to politics, was, at that time, engaged in 

 some chemical research that required elucidation by 

 experiment, and was in want of apparatus for the pur- 

 pose. On stating his difficulties to his host, Cullen was 

 immediately mentioned as a person who might pro- 

 bably be able to assist him, and was accordingly in- 

 troduced to his Grace, who was much pleased with the 

 scientific attainments and polite address of the young 

 village doctor, and afterwards promoted his views of 

 professional advancement on several occasions. 



After a short residence in the parish of Shotts, he 

 removed to the town of Hamilton, entering into co- 

 partnery with William Hunter, a young man in simi- 

 lar narrow circumstances with himself, and of conge- 

 nial talents. One chief object of this connection was 

 to enable the contracting parties to prosecute their 

 studies, by means of the emoluments arising from their 

 joint practice. Cullen is said to have engaged chiefly 

 in the medical department, while Hunter devoted him- 

 self to surgery and midwifery, to which it seems the 

 nerves of Cullen were not adequate. It was agreed be- 

 tween them, that they should prosecute their studies in 

 alternate winters, that while the one was thus employ- 

 ed the other should conduct the business at home, and 

 that each should be at liberty to attend the medical 

 school that he might prefer. Cullen had the first turn 

 in this singular agreement, so honourable as well as 

 advantageous to both, and made choice of the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, which was then fast rising into 

 fame as a school of medicine, and to the celebrity of 

 which he afterwards so largely contributed. Next 

 winter, Hunter gave the preference to London, proba- 

 bly attracted by the superior advantages which it af- 

 forded for the study of anatomy, surgery, and mid- 

 wifery. And meeting with great encouragement and 

 success, he continued to reside and practice there dur- 

 ing the remainder of his life. Thus soon terminated a 

 copartnery, perhaps unexampled in the annals of science, 

 between two young men who both rose to the summit 

 of professional eminence, though in different lines, in 

 the two British capitals. Cullen and Hunter continued 

 ever .after to correspond on the most cordial terms of 



friendship • but it is believed they never afterwards met, 

 though each of them lived to an advanced age. 



Left by himself at Hamilton, Cullen soon rose above 

 the ordinary estimation of a village practitioner, by 

 the unembarrassed elegance of his manners, the kind 

 and soothing attentions which he paid to his patients, 

 and his superior, yet unassuming displsy of social 

 talents and scientific acquirements. Soon after his re- 

 moval to that town, the Duke of Hamilton, who oc- 

 casionally resided in what is called the Palace, was ta- 

 ken suddenly ill, and young Cullen was called to visit 

 him. In the course of his attendance, the Duke was 

 much pleased with his professional assiduity and unex- 

 pected display of ingenious, sprightly, and instructive 

 conversation. The disease with which the Duke was 

 at this time afflicted, was of such a nature as to resist 

 the effects of the first applications, and Dr Clerk, then 

 a physician of great eminence at Edinburgh, was sent 

 for. This circumstance, far from injuring the character 

 of Cullen, tended greatly to his advantage; as Clerk 

 expressed entire satisfaction with his previous treat- 

 ment, and became his eulogist upon every occasion. 

 Cullen never forgot this kindness ; and when Clerk 

 died, delivered a public oration in his praise in the 

 L T niversity of Edinburgh. 



Thus early introduced, almost by accident, to the 

 notice of the two noblemen of highest rank and influ- 

 ence in the country at that time, and acquiring the 

 esteem and favour of both, Cullen soon emerged from 

 the humble sphere in which he had been hitherto pla- 

 ced, to move in a more brilliant circle, as a physician 

 and professor successively, in the two principal cities 

 and most celebrated universities of Scotland. While 

 he continued to reside at Hamilton, and was still in 

 early life, he married Miss Johnston, a young lady 

 nearly of his own age, and the daughter of a neigh- 

 bouring country clergyman. This lady is said to have 

 been sensible, beautiful in her person, amiable in her 

 disposition, elegant in her manners, and of uncom- 

 mon equanimity of temper. She also brought a small 

 fortune, which would at that time be no small help to- 

 wards the establishment of a young man. After be- 

 coming the mother of a numerous family, and partici- 

 pating with her husband in the rise of character and 

 fortune, which he so richly merited, Mrs Cullen died 

 at an advanced age in the summer of 1786, not quite 

 four years before the Doctor. 



Cullen took the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the 

 University of Glasgow, on the 4th September 1740; 

 and, in 1746, when about 25 years of age, he was re- 

 moved from being a country practitioner at Hamilton, 

 to the more exalted situation of Lecturer in Chemis- 

 try in the University of Glasgow. In that university, as 

 in some others, a lecturer gives lessons to the students 

 exactly as a professor, but is not admitted into the 

 corporate body, and has no participation in the funds, 

 except in so far as a limited salary may be granted to 

 him by the Senatus Academicus, with whom alone 

 the management of them is entrusted. 



Chemistry was then in a great measure a nascent 

 art, hardly deserving the name of a science, but had 

 escaped from the mystic trammels and wild reveries of 

 the alchymists, and was beginning to put on somewhat 

 of the garb of a department in physical science, in 

 consequence of the ingenuity of Becker and Stahl, and 

 the industry of Boerhaave. In teaching the almost 

 unconnected and chaotic midtitude of facts then be- 

 longing to chemistry, which were held together at that 



Cul'en. 



