ABSTRACT
The rapidly growing popularity of the Edinburgh Medical School in the eighteenth century has been the subject of considerable debate among historians since about 1990. Explanations have focused on a number of factors, including the ‘Leiden connection’, the context of post-union Scotland, the efforts of prominent individuals and the effects of political patronage and influence. What is not in doubt is that by the middle decades of the century the school was attracting hundreds of students each year, from all parts of the world, particularly America, though many students came to study only for a brief period, and it was a minority who eventually achieved an MD degree. What is also not disputed is that by the turn of the nineteenth century, what had been perceived as ‘the best medical education’ was in relative decline, losing out in particular to the flourishing extramural teaching sphere. This chapter will assess the various influences which affected the origins and progress of the school. Although there were many contributing factors, it would seem that one aspect which has perhaps not been given sufficient prominence in the past is the significant role played by the Edinburgh surgeons as a group, as opposed to, or in addition to, the individual efforts of John Monro, father of the anatomical dynasty and onetime deacon of the Incorporation of Surgeons. As a group, the surgeons were very well versed in local and national politics and were able to make good use of the clear and important patronage networks in operation in eighteenth-century Scotland. They were also active in trying to teach the practicalities of anatomy and surgery, in addition to classical exposition of the body as an art form – very much in the general background of the distinctively Scottish aspects of the Enlightenment and the specific context of significant progress in elucidating the structure and functions of the body.
