476 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Dr David Maclagan was born in Edinburgh in Eebruary 1785. 
After receiving bis classical education at the High School, he 
entered the University as a student of medicine, and was appren- 
ticed to Mr Andrew Wood, one of the principal surgeons in the 
city. In 1804 he took his surgeon’s diploma, and in 1805 his 
degree of M.D., and he prepared himself for the medical service of 
the army by studying at St G-eorge’s Hospital, and becoming in 
1807 a Member of the Koyal College of Surgeons in England. 
Attached to the 91st regiment, he accompanied it to Walcheren, 
where he had the good fortune to escape the epidemic which deci- 
mated the flower of the British army. In 1811, after his return 
to England, he was under orders for Canada, when he received 
the appointment of staff-surgeon to the 9th Portuguese brigade, 
a part of the 4th division, which, under the Duke of Wellington, 
was investing the fortress of Badajos. He accordingly sailed for 
Lisbon in November 1811, and was present at the storming of 
Badajos, and at the subsequent battles of Salamanca, Yittoria, the 
Pyrenees, the Nivelle, and the Nive, receiving for these services 
the Peninsular medal, with six clasps. The professional skill 
which he exhibited on these occasions, and his active zeal for the 
recovery of the wounded, were frequently acknowledged by his 
military superiors, and led to his appointment as physician to the 
forces. 
In 1816 Dr Maclagan quitted the army on half-pay; and having 
been admitted a Fellow of the Eoyal College of Surgeons, he settled 
in his native city, when his professional skill soon obtained for him 
an extensive practice. In 1826 he was elected President of the 
Eoyal College of Surgeons, and of the Eoyal College of Physicians 
in 1856. He presided also over the Medico-Chirurgical Society, 
and took an active and intelligent part in all our literary, scientiflc, 
and philanthropic institutions. In the cause of medical missions 
he took an early and zealous part ; and the friends of every 
religious movement could always count upon his active and gene- 
rous support. 
To his professional accomplishments. Dr Maclagan added a taste 
for the flne arts, and he was intimately acquainted with the emi- 
nent artists who in his time adorned our metropolis. 
Amid the distractions of his professional life, which lasted more 
