| Description | Monro tertius was the son of Alexander Monro secundus (1733-1817), and grandson of Alexander Monro primus (1697-1767). He was born at Edinburgh on 5 November 1773. He graduated MD from Edinburgh University in 1797 with a thesis 'De dysphagia'. Though professors at Edinburgh were formally appointed by the town council, in practice professorships were treated as the property of their holders, who often arranged to have them passed on to their sons with only perfunctory outside review. In this way Monro tertius was appointed to assist his father in 1798. To prepare for the appointment he studied anatomy in London and Paris, returning to Edinburgh in 1800, when he was appointed conjoint professor (with his father) of medicine, surgery, and anatomy. From 1808 he delivered the whole course, and on his father's death in 1817 he was duly appointed sole professor. He held this position until 1846.
The anatomy course was the cornerstone of medical studies, and Monro carried on his family's tradition of providing a thorough grounding for students. There is no truth to the often repeated story that he lectured from his grandfather's notes. However, he was criticized for devoting little attention to surgery and opposing the establishment of a separate course in it, and in an era of excellent anatomists he did little to advance the subject. Faced with competition from private lecturers and more exacting standards in anatomical teaching he began offering a course in practical dissection in 1815. He died at his home in Craiglockhart, near Edinburgh, on 10 March 1859.
[Source: Dictionary of National Biography]
Contents: Portfolio of drawings relative to Morbid Anatomy, 1820s; engravings of drawings relative to Morbid Anatomy, c1825-c1827 |