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John Barclay (anatomist)

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John Barclay
John Barclay later in life

John BarclayFRSEFRCPEFRCSEFLSMWS(10 December 1758 – 21 August 1826) was a Scottishcomparative anatomist,extramural teacher in anatomy, and director of theHighland Society of Scotland.

Life[edit]

He was born in Cairn,Perthshire,on 10 December 1758,[1]the son of a farmer, and nephew ofJohn Barclay,who established theBerean Church.

Educated atMuthillparish school, Barclay initially studied divinity at theUniversity of St Andrews,and served as a minister. Then working as a family tutor, he educated himself in biological topics and anatomy. Pupils of his entered theUniversity of Edinburghin 1789, and Barclay became an assistant there to anatomistJohn Bell,and was associated with his brother,Charles Bell.His employer, Sir James Campbell, financed the completion of his medical course.[2]

Barclay qualified M.D. at Edinburgh, before studying anatomy underAndrew Marshallfor a year atThavie's Innin London.[3]

He returned to Edinburgh and established himself as an anatomical lecturer in 1797. Until 1825, he delivered two complete courses of human anatomy, a morning and an evening one, every winter session, and for several years before his death gave a summer course oncomparative anatomy.His classes gradually grew in reputation; in 1804 he was formally recognised as a lecturer on anatomy and surgery by theRoyal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh,and in 1806 he became a fellow of theRoyal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.[2]In 1810 he was elected a member of theAesculapian Club.[4]In 1811 Barclay was elected a member of theHarveian Society of Edinburghand served as President in 1815 and 1819.[5]

When a new chair of comparative anatomy for the University of Edinburgh was proposed in 1816, Barclay was the leading candidate. However, the proposal was defeated by the concerted opposition of a number of the incumbent medical professors, led byJohn Hope,Robert JamesonandAlexander Monro, tertius,who feared the new chair would encroach on their own prerogatives.[6]This episode provided the subject of amemorable caricaturebyJohn Kay.

Satirical etching byJohn Kay:Barclay attempts unsuccessfully to enter the University of Edinburgh as its new professor of comparative anatomy astride an elephant skeleton, opposed by the incumbent medical professors.

Last years and death[edit]

For the final two years of his life Barclay was too ill to teach, during which his classes were carried on byRobert Knox,another former pupil.[2]

He died at Argyll Square inEdinburghon 21 August 1826, and was buried inRestalrigChurchyard on the east side of the city.[1]

Works[edit]

Barclay contributed the articlePhysiologyto thethird edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica(1797). He developed ideas for a nomenclature of human anatomy based on scientific principles inA New Anatomical Nomenclature(1803). In 1808, he published a treatise onThe Muscular Motions of the Human Body,arranged according to regions and systems, and with applications to surgery. This was followed in 1812 by hisDescription of the Arteries of the Human Body,the result of original study and dissection. A second edition appeared in 1820.[2]

He furnished descriptive matter to a series of plates illustrating the human skeleton and the skeletons of some animals, engraved by Edward Mitchell of Edinburgh in 1819–20.[7]Several of his lectures on anatomy were published posthumously in 1827. Another work wasAn Inquiry into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, concerning Life and Organisation,published in 1822.[2]In this work Barclay gives a spirited defense ofvitalismagainst a catalogue of thinkers he considered to be advocates of materialistic theories of life, includingErasmus Darwin,William LawrenceandJean-Baptiste Fray.[1]The noted Scottish zoologist and geologistJohn Flemingwrote thatConcerning Life and Organization"should be perused with care by every student of Anatomy and Natural History, as an effective preservative against the doctrines of Materialism".[8]

He wroteRemarks on Mr. John Bell's Anatomy of the heart & arteriesunder the name "Jonathan Dawplucker, Esq."[citation needed]

Family[edit]

Barclay married Eleanora, daughter of his former employer Sir James Campbell of Aberuchill, in 1811.[2]They had no children and after his death she married Charles Oliphant WS.[9]

Legacy[edit]

Barclay gave his large collection of specimens to theRoyal College of Surgeons of Edinburghin 1821, under the condition that a suitable hall be built to display all the materials together, associated with his name.[10]In 1828 his collection became the Barcleian Museum.[11]It can now be seen atSurgeons' Hall.

Pupils[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abC D Waterston; A Macmillan Shearer (July 2006).Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783–2002: Part 1 (A–J)(PDF).Royal Society of Edinburgh.ISBN090219884X.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 24 January 2013.Retrieved18 September2015.
  2. ^abcdef"Barclay, John (1758-1826)".Dictionary of National Biography.London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  3. ^Kaufman, M.H. (2006)."John Barclay (1758–1826) extra-mural teacher of anatomy in Edinburgh: Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh".The Surgeon.4(2). Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland: 93–100.doi:10.1016/S1479-666X(06)80038-7.PMID16623166.Retrieved6 December2010.
  4. ^Minute Books of the Aesculapian Club.Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
  5. ^Watson Wemyss, Herbert Lindesay (1933).A Record of the Edinburgh Harveian Society.T&A Constable, Edinburgh.
  6. ^Jacyna, Stephen (1994).Philosophic Whigs: Medicine, Science and Citizenship in Edinburgh, 1789-1848.London: Routledge. p. 82.ISBN0415036143.
  7. ^Barclay, John; Mitchell, Edward (1824).A series of engravings representing the bones of the human skeleton: with the skeletons of some of the lower animals and explanatory references(Second ed.). Edinburgh: MacLachlan and Stewart.
  8. ^Fleming, John (1822).The Philosophy of Zoology; Or a General View of the Structure, Functions and Classification of Animals, Vol. 1.Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co. pp. xiii.
  9. ^Kay's Originals vol.2 p.450
  10. ^Kaufman, Matthew H. (2003).Medical Teaching in Edinburgh during the 18th and 19th Centuries.Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. pp. 77–78.ISBN0-9503620-8-5.
  11. ^Sir William Jardine (1841).The naturalist's library.W. H. Lizars. p. 42.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:"Barclay, John (1758-1826)".Dictionary of National Biography.London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

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