DEP/ACH/1 | Notes of unknown individual from lectures of Charles Alston on materia medica | The volume starts with part 2 but any previous volumes are wanting. In part 2 the subject headings are of fruits, of seeds and of inspissated juices and in part 3 the subject headings are of animals and of parts of animals. There then follows a section titled 'Methodus Prescribendi'. After this, two-thirds of the way through the volume, is a section titled 'An Introduction to Botany being excerpts from the lectures of Doctor Charles Alston' dated 11 June 1736. If the notes were taken by a student, their name is not known. | 1736 |
DEP/ACH/2 | Notes of unknown individual from lectures of Charles Alston on materia medica | Title as given on volume is: 'Pharmacologia or an Introduction to the Materia Medica being excerpts from the lectures of Dr Charles Alstone [Alston]'. The inscription on the flyleaf continues '...King's Professor of Botany and Materia Medica in the University of Edinburgh 1738'. If the notes were taken by a student, their name is not known. | 1738 |
DEP/ACH/3/12 | Notes of unknown individual from lectures of Charles Alston on materia medica, volume 12 | Title on engraved title page is 'Lectures on Botany by C Alston Volume XII'. Chapters are 'Introduction', 'The Object of Botany', 'On Vegetation', 'The Structure of Flowers', 'The Structure of a Seed', 'Of Studying Botany', 'The Division into Classes', 'The Authors to be Read' and 'The Description of a Tulip'. The flyleaf is signed 'A [Andrew] Duncan'. | c1740 |
DEP/ALW/4/1 | Certificates of Merit of William Alister Alexander | The certificates were awarded by the University of Edinburgh Faculty of Medicine for practical chemistry, anatomy, practical zoology, experimental physiology, elementary botany, intermediate practical anatomy, practical materia medica, practical histology, surgery (junior), practical pathology, medicine (junior division), midwifery and gynecology, forensic medicine, public health, mental diseases, clinical surgery, diseases of the skin, diseases of the eye and diseases of the larynx, ear and nose. | 1908-1912 |
DEP/ALW/4/2 | Class tickets and certificates of attendance of William Alister Alexander | The certificates were awarded by the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, Local Government Board, Edinburgh City Hospital for Infectious Disease and Glasgow Maternity and Women's Hospital for forensic medicine, surgery, public health, public vaccination, clinical medicine, diseases of the skin, mental diseases, diseases of the ear nose and throat, practical anaesthetics, diseases of the eye, medicine, clinical surgery, midwifery and gynecology, materia medica, practical pathology, practical materia medica including pharmacy, anatomy, practical chemistry, physics, elementary botany, physiology, practical histology, zoology, and acting as clinical clerk and attending the hospital. | 1908-1912 |
DEP/ANO/6 | Notebook of a variety of material - journal entries, poems, natural history notes, author unknown | From the front the volume contains notes from 'Physiologie des passions, ou, Nouvelle doctrine des sentimens moraux' Jean-Louis-Marc Alibert, 1826 and 'The Book of Nature' by John Mason Good, 1834 (with sample of grass); poem by Elizabeth Leslie Findlater, obtained from her mother July 11th 1827; notes on the inhabitants of the moon based on Olbers' theory; further poems by Findalter including one on the proposed move of Wallace's sword; notes on plants and birds with their Latin names; the affect of the mind on the body with notes from Dr M Bailie and Dr Brown's 'Philosophy of the Human Mind', 1838; notes on the fate of female children of Indians from 'Criticism of Franklyn's Second Expedition'; description of petrified trees in Ohio [United States of America] from Silliman's Journal (American Journal of Science), June 1827; a poem from 'Bishop Heber's India', 1828; and (almost at the end of the volume) a list of references to scientific works. The front section also contains the following inserts: the definition of an animal secretion (written on the reverse of a torn envelope addressed 'To Will[iam]') and a slip with references to works on natural history (both next to the page with Findlater's poem on Wallace); Thatcher's diagnosis of puerperal fever (written on the reverse of a prescription signed by Will[iam] F Browne) and book references to Ulysses Aldrovandus and Barton's 'Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania' (both after Bishop Heber's India); list of birds with their Latin names and book references on botany and medicine (three quarters through the volume); and list of animals with their Latin names and habits (a few pages before the last entry).
From the rear is a journal entry for May 1826 in which the writer reports the responses of Grant and Dr Milligan to plane trees near Lover's Lane and a conversation with RG on love.
From evidence in the volume the writer may be a William F Browne. | c1838 |
DEP/AWP/5/2/83 | [U] - [Notes on various subjects by William Pulteney Alison] | Includes sensation, intuition and extracts from Brodie's 'Psychological Inquiries', Dr A Brown's 'Botanical and Physiological Memoirs' and 'The Progress and Spirit of Physical Science' from the Edinburgh Review, 1858. | c1858 |
DEP/AWP/5/7/2 | Extracts of notes from different writers from the collection of William Pulteney Alison | Includes: 'Facts from Mirbel' (Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel (1776-1854) was a French botanist and politician); 'Notes from Knight's papers' (Joseph Knight (1778-1855) was a horticulturist); 'Authors on Vegetable Physiology'; and 'Miscellaneous notes from Duchamel's Physique des Arbres 1758' (Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-1782), was a French physician, naval engineer and botanist). Also included are some pages with headings on botanical topics but no notes. | 1820s-1850s |
DEP/AWP/5/7/5 | [Extracts of notes on medical and psychological subjects by William Pulteney Alison] | Includes: extract from lectures on histology; extract from 'Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation' by Cash and Dickie; extract from 'Botanical and Physiological Memoirs consisting of the phenomenon of rejuvenescence in nature, especially in the life and development of plants' by Alexander Braun; extract from 'The Plant - A Biography' by Professor Schlieden; extract from a review of 'Rambles of a Naturalist' by Quatrefages; extract from 'Microscopical Researches into the Accordance in the Structure of Animals and Plants' by Schwaan and Schlieden; extract from Mr Knight's 'on the causes which influence the direction of the growth of roots' 1811; Knight's 'on the expansion and contraction of timber' 1817; extract from 'The World of the Mind' by Isaac Taylor; extract from Paley's 'Natural Theology'; extract from Raspail's 'Nouveau système de chimie organique' 1833; extract from 'Lectures on Painting' by Sir Joshua Reynolds; extract from 'Life and Correspondence of Dr Arnold'; 'On Judgements; Prescriptions from Pemberton's Diseases of the Abdominal Viscera'; a list of Hippocrates' works; and speech of Sir William Somerville. | 1820s - 1850s |
DEP/AWP/6/14 | Letter from Henry [Goode?] to William Pulteney Alison | He lists the medical subjects he studied 1844-1845: Dr Handyside's anatomy; Dr Fyfe's chemistry; Dr Clarke's anatomy and physiology; Professor Cumming's chemistry; Dr Fisher's materia medica; Professor Henshaw's botany; and Professor Haviland's practice of physic and pathology. He had also attended clinics at a hospital in Cambridge and the Edinburgh Infirmary and practiced pharmacy at the Old Town Dispensary. He was either asking Alison for a testimonial or applying for a post. | 31 Jul 1845 |
DEP/COJ/3/74 | Papers relating to the university records of James Skeoch | From the collection of John Dixon Comrie. Comrie thanks Dr Struthers for the envelope of class tickets of Glasgow College and University of Edinburgh issued to James Skeoch 1808-1815 and addressed to Miss M L Hyndman. These include Anatomy and Surgery with James Jeffray; chemistry with R Cleghorn; materia medica with R Millar; botany with Thomas Brown; anatomy with Allan Burns; midwifery with John Burns; medicine with James Gregory; principles and practice of surgery with John Thomson; anatomy and surgery with John Barclay; military surgery with John Thomson; midwifery with James Hamilton; and the theory and practice of physic with Dr Ager. Dr Clow replies enclosing a letter from Miss Hyndman, with more information on Skeoch who was married to a cousin of her father's; an invitation to dinner with Charles Arthur, Lieutenant Governor, 1828; a certificate that Skeoch had worked as an assistant surgeon in His Majesty's navy, 1820; and a letter of recommendation for Skeoch by Robert Marchope to the Lord's Commissioners of the Admiralty, 1819. | 23 Feb 1935-Apr 1935 |
DEP/COJ/5/4 | The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh | From the collection of John Dixon Comrie. Includes two letters from William Wright Smith, Regius Keeper, to John Dixon Comrie concerning the transfer of the land to the Crown. | 1927 |
DEP/CUL/1/2/1374 | Letter from Thos [Thomas] Clarke, Port Morant, Jamaica [West Indies] to Henry Cullen | From the collection of William Cullen. Letter of introduction for Mr Nott, whose father is his neighbour in Jamaica [West Indies]. Clarke has also recommended Nott to Dr Hope and Dr Duncan. He was engaged in 'Botanical searches' but has stopped in favour of a 'very extensive Nigrae Practice which I hope will in some dozen of years enable me to revisit the climates of taste and learning'. Addressed 'Dear Harry' to Dr Henry Cullen. | 12 Sep 1783 |
DEP/CUL/1/3/6 | Letter from Clas Alstroemer, Gottenburg to John Walker | From the collection of William Cullen. He thanks Walker for his letter and a box containing folia and pulvis foliorum rhododendrii, a cure he will try for his lameness. He goes into some detail about his case. He also asks Walker to send some botanical specimens as some of his have died. He wants them packed well but not so as to increase the freight charges which are already high due to the war. In return he will send minerals and seeds of Alstromeria Belegrina [the plant named after the correspondent by Linnaeus]. He mentions the inscription on the obelisk to Linné [Linnaeus] and that is could have been to Hope 'if [Hope] had been so great a man as Linné or if he had been a soveriegn'. Addressed to John Walker. In index. | 14 Sep 1782 |
DEP/CUL/1/3/70 | Letter from J C [John Coakley] Lettsom, London, England to William Cullen | He asks if Cullen could write something for the third volume of the Medical Society. He compliments Cullen on Materia Medica. He has no medical news to report as the 'profession is prosecuted here more as a lucrative than as an honourable profession'. Natural history is more popular as it requires 'little expense of studious labour'. He reports that accounts of voyages by Dixon and Portlock to Botany Bay and Port Jackson have been published and animals and birds and other specimens brought back to London including 'a yellow resinous substance...as yet applicable to no use'. He welcomes the expansion of 'our language, manners, religion and laws' to a fifth part of the globe. He is now caring for a previous patient of Cullen's, Mr Maze, from the West Indies. He has been treated with electricity and lizards. In index. | 3 Aug 1789 |
DEP/CUL/1/3/86 | Letter from S F Simmons, Air Street, Piccadilly [London] to William Cullen | He writes on behalf of Dr John Ellison of Wakefield on how to be enrolled as a member of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He also writes that Dr Broussonet has just returned to Montpellier and been made Professor of Botany; that Dr Ballinger [?] is about to leave Gottingen for an appointment as first physician at [_?]; and that Professor Camper may visit Britain again and has just written a book about shoes as a bet. He writes that Joseph de Jussieu, who accompanied Monsieur de la Condamine to South America and recently died in Paris, left some papers to the Medical Society at Paris. In one of these he recommends red bark which should be a distinct species and, coming from a small area, supplies may soon be exhausted. He also reports that a jaw bone was found in a chalk pit at Chatham which resembles that of a hippopotamus and wonders whether that animal was ever an inhabitant here. In index. | 20 Jan 1783 |
DEP/CUL/1/3/143 | Letter by William Cullen [to Dundas] | He had visited Hillhead but not found Dundas at home. He writes that Dr Hope died yesterday thereby leaving the post of Professor of Botany vacant and he proposes his son Henry Cullen for the post. He gives the grounds for his proposal and also mentions what he has done to promote the university. In index. | 12 Nov 1786 |
DEP/CUL/1/3/146 | Letter from Thos [Thomas] Karr, Huntingdon to William Cullen | He thanks Cullen for his introduction to Robert Burton, MP for Wendover. While dining with him he met Captain Bickerton who had been a patient of Cullen's and also offered his services. He asks if Cullen could continue to recommend him as he now has a wife to support. She is the daughter of Robert Godby, steward to Lord Sandwich so he feels certain of his lordship's support. He has heard of the death of Dr Hope and would have proposed himself for the chair of botany if Thomas Hope, Hope's son, were not also applying. In index. | 19 Nov 1786 |
DEP/CUL/1/3/154 | Letter from P J Cullen, Calcutta, [Kolkata] [India] | Addressed to 'Harry' and started on 25th August. He has not had any news from Scotland and asks after Harry's father's health. He had heard a report that Harry had wanted to come out to India with Sir Archibald Campbell and advised against it 'except you was to come out as physician to the Governor General'. He has moved from the King's Troops under Norman MacLeod to the Artillery and waits for command of a battalion. He asks if Dugald Stewart could recommend him to 'his lordship'. He asks to thank Dr Adam Ferguson for this friendly letter. He writes that Lord Cornwallis has gone up country to inspect military stations with Harry's friend John Fleming. Frank Balfour and is wife are also in the country and he comments on the 'lunatic essay' written by Balfour. Laudie [?] Kinloch went home sick in March. He asks to be remembered to Bob, Betty, Ann, Peggy and Robina. He is going to dinner with 'a most charming girl' Jessy Brown and Sandie Campbell asks after Harry. He adds to his letter after the 'pacquet' is detained. Dr Russell had told him that Harry had not got Hope's class [the Professorship of Botany] and reports that the government had allowed some land for a botanical gardens. He finds it 'rather disgracing' that no scientific man has been sent out to study the natural history. 'The Company ought to send out some person of abilities with a handsome income and liberal support' and thinks Harry should apply. Even with the 'great improvements in Edinburgh' once Harry had been to India he would not want to return to 'Auld Reekie'. He is interested in chemistry and asks for the last course of Black's lectures to be sent him. In index. | 14 Sep 1787 |
DEP/CUL/1/3/159 | Letter from Thomas Chrisie, 4 Gerrard Street, Soho Square [London] to William Cullen | He has not been able to write sooner and asks if Cullen found out about the botanical specimens he asked him about. He wrote to Mr Creech during his travels and tells Cullen to ask for his letters if he would like to read his observations. He has met Archibald and his wife. He is a private pupil with Dr Simmons at the Westminster Dispensary and goes to Dr Hunter's lectures in the evening. He encloses a prospectus of a new literary journal (not included) undertaken at the request of Dr Percival and others by Mr Johnson and considers an analytical review 'a great desideratum'. In index. | 1 Jan 1788 |