ABSTRACT
William Thomson was born in Edinburgh inJuly 1802. He was the second ofJohn Thomson's sons by his first wife. William was at first intended for the law; but the death of his brother made him heir to the family's medical mantle. He therefore entered the university as a student of medicine. His medical studies seem, however, to have been rudimentary: he is known to have taken only anatomy, chemistry, practice of medicine, and possibly materia medica and clinical medicine in the university. He never satisfied the requirements for graduation and was eventually obliged, like his father, to purchase a MD from Aberdeen.}
Mter passing the 1821-2 session undertaking further studies in Glasgow, Thomson joined Robert Carswell in the first of their pathological forays to France (see chapter 4). As well as collecting specimens for his father's museum, Thomson took the opportunity to attend Laennec's lectures on pathology.2
