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204 C U L L E N.

William Cullen was born in 1712, in Lanark- sliire ; his parents were in humble circumstances. After serving an apprenticeship to a surgeon- apothecary, in Glasgow, he became surgeon to a mercliant-vessel, trading between London and the West Indies. He soon, however, returned to his own district, and practised among the rustic inhabi- tants of the parish of Shotts — a region proverbial^ even in Scotland, for bleakness and poverty. Here an accident occurred, which probably gave a colour to his future fortune. The JJuke of Argyle made a visit to a gentleman in the neighbourhood, and was amusing himself with some chemical investiga- tions which required apparatus not in his posses- sion : his host recollected young Cullen, as a person likely to supply the deficiency ; and Cullen was accordingly invited to dinner, introduced to the duke, and installed in his good opinion. He soon removed to Hamilton, and (as it appears by the register of the town-council of that place) was admitted a counsellor in 1737. Durmg 173^ and 1740 he was chief magistrate of the burgh. Here he was a general practitioner, and was sur- rounded by apprentices in his pharmacy. A con- nexion in business was formed between him and another young man, afterwards destined to nearly equal celebrity: William Hunter was a native of the same part of the country, and these kindred