CULLE N. 



487 



time by the theory of phlogiston, Dr Cullen displayed 

 uncommon talents for distinct philosophical arrange- 

 ment, for extraordinary vivacity and clearness of il- 

 lustration, for eloquent language, and apt experiment. 

 By these he rendered his lectures exceedingly interest- 

 ing to his pupils, and soon acquired a popularity 

 among the students far beyond what the other medical 

 professors enjoyed — a circumstance which is said to 

 have engendered no small degree of envy among them. 



Besides acquiring fame in the discharge of his acade- 

 mical duties, Cullen rose rapidly in reputation and prac- 

 tice as a physician ; and, in 1751, at the age of thirty, 

 was appointed Regius Professor of Medicine. In this 

 new situation he displayed the same qualities which 

 had already distinguished him, and with the same suc- 

 cess ; and his celebrity, both as a professor and a phy- 

 sician, continued to increase. 



In 1756, by the death of Dr Plummer, the chair of 

 chemistry in the University of Edinburgh became va- 

 cant, and Cullen received an unanimous invitation from 

 the Magistrates and Town Council of that city, to sup- 

 ply the vacancy, which he accordingly accepted. Till 

 then the study of chemistry had been of small account 

 in the University of Edinburgh, and the lectures on 

 that science were attended by a very inconsiderable 

 number of students. The scene was now entirely 

 changed, and the new professor became so popular, 

 that the chemical lectures were more numerously at- 

 tended than any other in the university, those on ana- 

 tomy excepted. To the students, Cullen presented a 

 new and fascinating source of instruction, in the lumi- 

 nous arrangement which he adopted, the easy flowing 

 eloquence with which he expressed himself, and the 

 well devised experiments which he employed to illus- 

 trate his subject ; and he is said to have been praised on 

 all occasions by his pupils in such rapturous strains of 

 eulogy, as to give much dissatisfaction to his less popular 

 colleagues. 



A party is said to have been formed at this time 

 among the students for injuring his fame and character, 

 by misrepresenting his doctrines ; and so successful were 

 they, that some even of the most intelligent professors 

 in the university thought it their duty publicly to im- 

 pugn the doctrines that were imputed to him, and some 

 time elapsed before they discovered the low and scanda- 

 lous arts by which they had been deceived. During 

 this strange ferment, Cullen steadily continued his pro- 

 gress without taking the smallest notice of what was 

 going on ; nor did he ever listen to any tales respecting 

 his colleagues, or advert to any of the doctrines they 

 taught, considered personally as theirs, though he cer- 

 tainly opposed, and finally overturned the general me- 

 dical theories which they had embraced, and which 

 were then universally followed by the disciples of 

 Boerhaave. These mean and unprincipled attempts to 

 injure the reputation of Cullen, at his first appearance 

 in the university of Edinburgh, completely failed, as 

 the other professors were at length sensible that they 

 had been misled and imposed upon by false represen- 

 tations ; and that harmony which had thus been mali- 

 ciously disturbed, was at length happily restored. Dis- 

 putations, indeed, always carried on with keenness, and 

 sometimes with singular acrimony, long prevailed among 

 the students in their societies, respecting the contending 

 doctrines ; but these were confined to the students, and 

 in the main tended much to their improvement, by 

 urging them to study with increased energy, that they 

 might make a better figure in the debate. 



4 



In February 1 763, the professorship of Materia Me- Cullen, 

 dica and Pharmacy became vacant by the death of Dr s """~*i 

 Alston, in the middle of the session. The patrons of 

 the university appointed Dr Cullen to the vacant chair, 

 and requested him to finish the course of lectures of 

 that season, already half elapsed. Although thus un- 

 der the necessity of proceeding to teach this new 

 branch of medical science only a few days after his 

 nomination, he determined to deliver an entire new- 

 course of lectures of his own composition, instead 

 of reading those already prepared by his predecessor ; 

 and such was the high estimation in which he was held 

 by the students, that the original eight or ten who had 

 entered to the course of his predecessor, were soon join- 

 ed by above an hundred others, even at that advanced 

 period of the course. 



By the death of Dr Whytt, in 1766, the chair of 

 the Institutes of Medicine, usually called the Theory of 

 Physic, became vacant, and Cullen was appointed by 

 the Magistrates to that professorship also. On this oc- 

 casion, he resigned the chemical chair in favour of the 

 celebrated Dr Black, formerly his pupil, and his suc- 

 cessor as lecturer on chemistry in the university of 

 Glasgow. l 



Either in the same year with the death of Dr Whytt, 

 or in that immediately following, Dr Rutherford, who 

 had long given lectures on the Practice of Medicine, 

 with great reputation, resigned that chair, to which Dr 

 John Gregory was elected, though we believe Dr Cul- 

 len was also a candidate. For two subsequent sessions 

 of the university, Dr Gregory and Dr Cullen continued 

 to lecture respectively on the Practice and Theory ; but 

 we have been informed, that, in summer 1769, Dr Cul- 

 len opened a private course of lectures on the Practice, 

 and before the conclusion of that course, a compromise 

 took place between him and Dr Gregory, in consequence 

 of which they were elected joint professors of the Prac- 

 tice and Theory, each to give lectures in alternate ses- 

 sions on these two branches during their joint lives, and 

 the survivor to have the choice of either chair at the 

 decease of the other. 



This was a wise and most beneficial arrangement — 

 advantageous at once to the individuals more immedi- 

 ately concerned, and to the seminary in which they la- 

 boured. Both professors possessed superior talents, and 

 they happily co-operated to forward the pursuits of 

 the medical students, and to extend the reputation of 

 the university ; which, by their great abilities and ex- 

 cellent methods of teaching, combined with the emi- 

 nence of their other colleagues in the medical faculty, 

 rose rapidly to very high and well-merited celebrity as 

 a school of medicine, annually attracting great num- 

 bers of students from all parts of the British dominions 

 and colonies, and many from foreign countries, by 

 whom its fame was diffused through all the civilized 

 parts of the globe. 



A period, however, was soon put to this arrangement, 

 by the sudden death of Dr Gregory, who was cut off 

 in the flower of his age and usefulness, to the great loss 

 of medical science, and to the infinite regret of a nu- 

 merous circle of friends and admirers. From that 

 period, Dr Cullen continued to give lectures on the 

 Practice of Medicine, till within a few months of his 

 death, which took place at Edinburgh on the 10th 

 February 1 790, at the advanced age of seventy-seven 

 years and two months. 



Besides the lectures on the Practice of Medicine, and. 

 the other courses he before delivered from the several 



