d in 1807. He came of a race of
doctors, being the great-grandson of James McCaw, a surgeon who
emigrated from Wigtownshire in 1771. George McClellan (1796-1847) the
eminent surgeon and founder of the Jefferson Medical College at
Philadelphia, was of Scottish descent. His son, John Hill Brinton
McClellan (1823-74), was professor of anatomy in Pennsylvania Medical
College, and his grandson was George McClellan (1849-1913), the
eminent Philadelphia anatomist. Dr. Peter Middleton (d. 1781), a
native of Scotland, made the first dissection on record in this
country before a class of students and in 1767 established a Medical
School in New York which was subsequently merged in the King's (now
Columbia) College. Dr. William Currie (1754-1823), served in the
medical service during the Revolutionary War, and was reputed one of
the most gifted men of his time as physician and classical scholar.
Horatio Gates Jameson (1778-1855), distinguished physician and
surgeon, was son of Dr. David Jameson who had emigrated to Charleston
in 1740 in company with Dr. (afterwards General) Hugh Mercer.
Granville Sharp Pattison (1791-1851), anatomist, born near Glasgow,
held several professional appointments in this country and founded the
Medical Department of the University of the City of New York. Dr. John
Kearsley Mitchell (1793-1858), poet, botanist, and eminent physician
of Philadelphia, was son of Dr. Alexander Mitchell who came from
Scotland in 1786. His son, Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, born in 1829, was
distinguished for his researches in toxicology, the nervous system,
etc., and as one of the most distinguished of American authors. One of
the founders of the City Hospital, Albany, and Surgeon-General of New
York State, was Dr. James McNaughton (1796-1874), born at Kenmore,
Aberfeldy. Dr. Daniel McRuer (1802-73), born in Knapdale, Argyllshire,
"a typical Scotchman with a 'burr' in his talk," performed great
service in the Civil War as an army Surgeon. Dr. John Watson
(1807-1863), organizer of one of the first dispensaries for the
treatment of skin diseases and introducer of reforms in the New York
Hospital, was an Ulster Scot. John Murray Carnochan (1817-87), one of
the most distinguished surgeons of his day, was of Scottish parentage.
Ferdinand Campbell Stuart (b. 1815), inventor of various instruments
used in genito-urinary diseases and one of the founders of the New
York Academy of Medicine, was grandson of Rev. Archibald Campbell of
Argy