Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/53

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OF

EMINENT SCOTSMEN.

SUPPLEMENT AND CONTINUATION TO 1855.

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, the subject of this brief memoir, was one of the latest of that medical school of which Scotland is so justly proud. He was born in Aberdeen, on the llth of October, 1781, and was son of the Rev. Mr. Abercrombie, who for many years was one of the ministers of that town, and distinguished by his piety and worth. The excellent training which John enjoyed under such a parent, imparted that high moral and religious tone by which his whole life was subsequently characterized. After a boyhood spent under the paternal roof, and the usual routine of a classical education, he was sent, in consequence of his choice of the medical profession, to the university of Edinburgh, at that time distinguished as the best medical school in the empire. Here he applied to his studies with indefatigable diligence, and while his fellow-students marked his progress with admiration, they were not less struck with the moral excellence of his character, and the deep, practical, unobtrusive piety by which, even thus early, his whole life was regulated. It was this confirmed excellence of character, expressed alike in action and conversation, combined with his high professional talents and reputation, that afterwards won for him the confidence of his patients, and imparted to his attentions at the sickbed a charm that, of itself, was half the cure. When the usual prescribed course of study at the medical classes had expired, Mr. Abercrombie graduated at the university of Edinburgh on the 4th of June, 1803, while only in his twenty-second year, the subject of his thesis being "De Fatuitate Alpina." He then went to London, and after a short period of study at the schools and hospitals of the metropolis, returned to Edinburgh, and was admitted a Fellow of its Royal College of Surgeons on the 12th of November, 1804. On this occasion, his probationary Essay, submitted to the president and council, entitled, "On Paralysis of the Lower Extremities from Diseased Spine," was characterized by such clearness of thought and perspicuity of style, as fully indicated the eminence that awaited him not only in his professional capacity, but also in the ranks of authorship.

Thus prepared for action, Dr. Abercrombie, though still young, and V.