| Description Of Item | Oil on canvas, 76 x 66 cm
Born in Edinburgh, Robert Whytt (1714–1766) was the son of Robert Whytt of Bennochie, Fife. He studied medicine in Edinburgh for four years as a pupil of Monro primus. He made further study in London, Paris and Leyden, obtaining a MD from Rheims in 1736; a MD from St Andrews in 1737; Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1737 and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1738.
Whytt was one of the first doctors in Scotland to undertake medical research, particularly in physiology. In 1743 he published a paper in the 'Edinburgh Medical Essays and Observations', entitled 'On the virtues of lime water in the cure of stone'. His treatment was to give an ounce daily of alicant soap and three wine pints of lime water. Sellers records that in one of his experiments Whytt hit on the ideal solvent for uric acid concretions – he put some grains of calculus into a mixture of potassium carbonate and quicklime. He was the first to describe dropsy of the brain in children, now recognised as tuberculous meningitis.
Artist: Giovanni Battista Bellucci (school of) |