M O N R O. 
(fone, what to do ; but, with much prefence of mind, he 
immediately began to fliow fome of the anatomical pre¬ 
parations, in order to gain time for recollection ; and 
very loon refolved not to attempt to repeat the difcourfe 
which he had prepared, but to exprefs himfelf in fuch 
language as fliould occur to him from the fubjeft, which 
he was confident that he underftood. The experiment 
iucceeded : he delivered himfelf well, and gained great 
applaul'e as a good and ready fpeaker. Thus dil'caverin^ 
his own ftrength, he refolved henceforth never to recite 
any written difcourfe in teaching, and acquired a free 
and elegant ftyle of delivering lectures, extempore. . 
"In the fame year, 1720, a regular feries of medical in- 
ftruCtion was inllituted at Edinburgh, through the in- 
tereft of Dr. Monro's father: thefe two lefturelhips were 
put upon the univerfity-eftablilhment, to which were foon 
after added thofe of Drs. Sinclair, Rutherford, Innes, and 
Plummer. This fyftem of medical education w r as, how¬ 
ever, incomplete, without affording fome opportunity to 
the ffudents of witneffing the progrel's and treatment of 
dileafes, as well as of hearing leftures. A propofal was, 
therefore, made to ere£t and endow an hofpital by fub- 
fcription ; and Dr. Monro publifhed a pamphlet explain¬ 
ing the advantages of fuch an inftitution. The royal in¬ 
firmary was fpeedily raifed, endowed, and eftablilhed by 
charter; and the inftitution .of clinical leCtures, which 
were commenced by Dr. Monro on the furgical cafes, and 
afterwards by Dr. Rutherford, in 1748, on the medical 
cafes, completed that admirable fyftem of inftruttion, 
upon which the reputation and ufefuinefs of the medical 
fchool of Edinburgh have been fubl'equently founded. 
None of the new profefi'ors contributed fo much to the 
celebrity of this fchool as Dr. Monro, who was indefati¬ 
gable in the labours of his office, and in the cultivation 
of his art, and foon made himfelf known to the profeffional 
world by a yariety of ingenious and valuable publications. 
During a period of nearly forty years he continued, with¬ 
out any interruption, to deliver a courfe of leCtures, ex¬ 
tending from the end of OCtober to the beginning of 
May ; and fo great was the reputation which he acquired, 
both for himfelf and the univeriity, that ffudents flocked 
to him from the moft diftant corners of the kingdom. 
His firft and principal publication was his “ Ofteology, 
or Treatife on the Anatomy of the Bones,” which ap¬ 
peared in 1716, and w’as intended for the ufe of his pu¬ 
pils ; but it became a very popular work among the fa¬ 
culty in general; for he had the fatisfaCiion of leeing it 
pafs through eight editions during his life, and it was 
tranflated into moft of the languages of Europe : the • 
French edition, in folio, publifhed by Mr. Sue, demon- 
ftrator of fculpture to the Royal Academy at Paris, was 
adorned with moft elegant and mafterly figures. To the 
later editions of this work he fubjoined a concife neuro¬ 
logy, or defcription of the nerves, and a very accurate ac¬ 
count of the laCteal fyftem and thoracic duff. 
Dr. Monro was alfo the father and aCtive fupporter of 
a fociety, which was eftablifiied by the profeifors and 
other practitioners of the town, for the purpofe of col¬ 
lecting and publifhing papers on profeffional lhbjecls, and 
to which the public is indebted for fix volumes of “ Me¬ 
dical Elfays and Oblervations by a Society at Edinburgh,” 
the firft of which appeared in 1732. Dr. Monro was the 
fecretary of this fociety ; and, after the publication of 
the firft volume, when the members of the fociety became 
remifs in their attendance, the whole labour of collec¬ 
tion and publication was carried on by himfelf, and by 
him many of the moft valuable papers were written. The 
moft elaborate of thefe is an “ Efl'ay on the Nutrition of 
the Fcetus,” in three difl'ertations. Haller, fpeaking of 
thefe volumes as highly valuable to the profeflion, adds, 
Monrous ibi eminet. 
After the conclufion of this publication, the fociety 
was revived, at the fuggeftion of Maclaurin, the celebrated 
mathematician, and was extended to the admiffion of li¬ 
terary and philofophical topics. Dr. Monro again took 
Von. XV. No. iof6. 
697 
an aCtive part in its proceedings, as one of its vice-prefi- 
dents, efpecially after the death of Maclaurin, when two 
volumes of its memoirs, entitled “ Effays Phylical and 
Literary,” were publifhed, and fome materials fora third 
collected, to which Dr. Monro contributed leveral ufeful 
papers. The third was not publilhed during his life. 
His laft publication was an “ Account of the Succefs of 
Inoculation in Scotland,” written originally as an anfwer 
to fome inquiries addreffed to him from the committee of 
the faculty of phyficians at Paris, appointed to inveitigate 
the merits of the practice. It was afterwards publilhed 
at the requeft of fome of his friends, and contributed to 
extend the practice in Scotland. Betides the works which 
he publilhed, he left feveral manufcripts, written at dif¬ 
ferent times, of which the following are the principal: 
viz. A Hiftory of Anatomical Writers; An Encheirefis 
Anatomica ; Heads of many .of his LeCtures ; A Treatife 
on Comparative Anatomy; A Treatife on Wounds and 
Tumours; and, An Oration de Cuticula humana. This 
laft, a-s well as the ihort traCt on comparative anatomy, 
has been printed in an edition of his whole works, in a.to. 
publifhed by his fon, Dr. Alexander Monro, at Edinburgh, 
in 1781. This traCt had been publilhed furreptitiouily, 
in 1744, from notes taken at his leCtures; but is here 
given in a more correCt form. 
In the year 1759, Dr. Monro refigned his anatomical 
chair, which he had fo long occupied with the higheft 
reputation, to his Ion, juft mentioned; but he ftill con¬ 
tinued to leCture as one of the clinical profeifors on the 
cafes in th£ infirmary. His life was alfo a lcene of conti¬ 
nued activity in other affairs, as long as his health per¬ 
mitted. For he was not only a member, but a moft affi- 
duous attendant, of many locieties and inftitntions for 
promoting literature, arts, fciences, and manufactures, in 
Scotland ; he was alfo a director of the bank of Scotland, 
a juftice of the peace, a commiflioner of high roads, &c. 
and was punctual in the difcharge of all his duties. His 
character in private life was as amiable and exemplary as 
it was ufeful in public. To the literary honours which 
he attained at home, were added thofe of a fellow of the 
Royal Society of London, and an honorary member of the 
Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris. 
Dr. Monro was a man of middle ftature, mufcular, and. 
poffefled of great ftrength and activity; but was lubjeCt 
for many years to a fpitting of blood on catching the lealfc 
cold, and through his life to frequent inflammatory fe¬ 
vers. After an attack of the influenza, in 1762, he was 
affliCted with fymptoms of a-difeafe of a painful and te¬ 
dious nature, which continued ever after, until it termi¬ 
nated his exiftence. This was a fungous ulcer of the 
bladder and reCtum, the diftrefs of which he bore with 
great fortitude and refignation, and died with perfect 
calmnefs, on the 10th of July, 1767, at the age of 
feventy. 
Two of his fons became diftinguifhed phyficians. Dr. 
Alexander, his fuccefl'or, filled the anatomical chair with 
great credit to himfelf and to the univerfity, for upwards 
of forty years, and became known throughout Europe by 
his valuable publications; efpecially by his Treatife on 
the Lymphatics, in 1770 ; On the Anatomy of Fifties, 
1785 ; On the Nerves, 1783 ; On the Bur fas Mucofas, 1788 ; 
and three treatiles on the Brain, the Eye, and the Ear, in 
17 97- 
Dr. Donald Monro, the other fon of the firft Alexander, 
fettled as a phyfician in London, and attained confider- 
able eminence. He became known as the author of an 
Effay on the Dropfy, in 1765; on the Dileafes of Military 
Hofpitals, 1774; on Mineral Waters, 1771 ; 011 preferv- 
ing the Plealth of Soldiers ; and fome other works ; and 
died iii the year .1802. Life of Dr. Monro, prefixed to Iris 
Works. 
MONRO' (Rev. Thomas), a nephew of the preceding, 
an efteemed clergyman and mifcellaneous writer, was 
born about the year 1750. He was educated by Dr. Parr 
at Norwich, and was afterwards of Magdalen College, 
S P Oxford, 
