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Archibald Pitcairne or Pitcairn (25 December 165220 October 1713) was a
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
. He was a physician and poet who first studied law at Edinburgh and Paris graduating with an M.A. from Edinburgh in 1671. He turned his attention to medicine, and commenced to practise in Edinburgh, around 1681. He was appointed professor of physic at Leyden, in 1692, resigning his chair. On returning to Edinburgh, however, around 1693, he was suspected of being at heart an atheist, chiefly on account of his mockery of the puritanical strictness of the Presbyterian church. He was the reputed author of two satirical works, 'The Assembly, or Scotch Reformation: a Comedy,' 1692, and Habel, a Satirical Poem,' 1692. He wrote also a number of Latin verses. He was one of the most celebrated physicians of his time.


Early life

Pitcairne was born in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
,
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. After obtaining some classical education at the school of Dalkeith, Pitcairne entered
Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...
in 1668, and took his degree of MA in 1671. Having been sent to France for the benefit of his health, he was induced at Paris to begin the study of medicine, and after courses at Edinburgh and Paris he obtained in 1680 the degree of MD at
Reims University The University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (; URCA), also known simply as the University of Reims, is a public university based in Reims, France. In addition to the main campus in Reims, the university has several campuses located throughout t ...
.


Private practice and academic appointment

He began practice at Edinburgh, and was appointed one of three professors of medicine at the
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that set the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by royal charter i ...
in 1685. In a short time he acquired so great a reputation that in 1692 he was appointed to the Chair of the Practice of Medicine at the
University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...
. Among his pupils were
Richard Mead Richard Mead, FRSFRCP (11 August 1673 – 16 February 1754) was an English physician. His work, ''A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it'' (1720), was of historic importance in advancing t ...
and George Cheyne and both of them attributed much of their skill to what they had learned from Pitcairne. During Pitcairne's time in Leiden, he is also thought to have taught the great Dutch physician and "father of physiology"
Herman Boerhaave Herman Boerhaave (, 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738Underwood, E. Ashworth. "Boerhaave After Three Hundred Years." ''The British Medical Journal'' 4, no. 5634 (1968): 820–25. .) was a Dutch chemist, botanist, Christian humanist, and ph ...
. In 1693 Pitcairne returned to Scotland to marry a daughter of Sir Archibald Stevenson, an eminent physician in Edinburgh. The family objected to her going abroad, so he did not return to
Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
, but settled once more in Edinburgh. He rose to be the first physician in Scotland, and was frequently called into consultation both in England and the Netherlands.


Anatomical studies

Soon after his return to Edinburgh, Pitcairne made an offer to the town council that would see him and some of his colleagues treat
paupers Pauperism (; ) is the condition of being a "pauper", i.e. receiving relief administered under the Irish and English Poor Laws. From this, pauperism can also be more generally the state of being supported at public expense, within or outside of ...
for free at the hospital of Paul's Work at the foot of
Calton Hill Calton Hill (; ) is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and f ...
. In return, he requested that he could
dissect Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause of ...
the bodies of those that died at the hospital and went unclaimed by their relatives, and who had to be buried at the town's expense. While some of Edinburgh's surgeons strongly opposed the arrangement, the town council eventually accepted Pitcairne's offer, which provided an early boost to the teaching of medicine at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
. Pitcairne's medical opinions are chiefly contained in a volume of ''Dissertationes medicae'' which he published in 1701 (2nd ed. 1713). Pitcairne was close friends with mathematician David Gregory, with whom he wrote mathematical papers, which in turn informed his hypothesis that
Newtonian physics Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of objects such as projectiles, parts of machinery, spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. The development of classical mechanics involved substantial change in the methods ...
more accurately described bodily functions than the balance of humours. The ''Dissertationes'' build on this idea and discuss the circulation of the blood in the smaller vessels, the difference in the quantity of the blood contained in the
lungs The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart. Their function in the respiratory syste ...
of animals in the womb and of the same animals after birth, the motions by which food becomes fit to supply the blood, the cure of fevers by evacuating medicines, the effects of acids and alkalis in medicine, and the question as to inventors in medicine (he supported the claim that
William Harvey William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was an English physician who made influential contributions to anatomy and physiology. He was the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, pulmonary and systemic circulation ...
had discovered the circulation of the blood, rather than
Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; ; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician and philosopher of the Classical Greece, classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referr ...
). His championing of this new 'iatromechanical' theory of physiology played a large part in his professorial appointments in Edinburgh and Leiden. He corresponded occasionally with
Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
himself and visited him on his journey to Leiden in 1692.


Writings

Pitcairne was a good classical scholar, and wrote
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
verses, occasionally with something more than mere imitative cleverness and skill. He was the joint author of a comedy, ''The Assembly, or Scotch Reformation'', originally entitled ''The Phanaticks'' (1691),First published as "by a Scots Gentleman", London, 1722; Pitcairne identified as author in 1817 ed. and of a satirical poem ''Babel'', containing witty sketches of prominent
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
divines of the time, whom, as a loudly avowed Jacobite, he strongly disliked. John MacQueen has suggested that Pitcairne may have collaborated with David Gregorie and Bertram Stott in writing ''The Assembly''. The work circulated as a
closet drama A closet drama is a play (theatre), play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader. The earliest use of the term recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is in 1813. The literary historian Henry Augustin Beers, H ...
and was never performed on stage in Pitcairne's lifetime, its satirisation of Presbyterianism being considered too scurrilous.


Beliefs and private life

He was prone to irreverent and ribald jests, and thus gained the reputation of being an unbeliever and an atheist, though he was a professed deist. The stories about his over-indulgence in drink are probably exaggerated. He was repeatedly involved in violent quarrels with his medical brethren and others, and once or twice got into scrapes with the government on account of his indiscreet political utterances. Among his friends, however, he was evidently well liked, and he is known to have acted with great kindness and generosity to deserving men who needed his help.
Thomas Ruddiman Thomas Ruddiman (October 167419 January 1757) was a Scotland, Scottish classical scholar. Life Ruddiman was born on a farm near Boyndie, three miles from Banff in Banffshire, where his father was a farmer. He was educated locally and then stud ...
, the Scottish scholar, for example, was rescued from a life of obscurity by his encouragement and assistance. Mead, too, appears never to have forgotten what he owed to his old teacher at Leiden. When a son of Pitcairne's participated in the
Jacobite rising of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart, James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland ...
and was subsequently condemned to death, he was saved by the earnest interposition of Mead with
Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prime Minister of Great Britain, ser ...
. He pleaded, very artfully, that if Walpole's health had been bettered by Mead's skill, or if members of the royal family were preserved by his care, it was owing to the instruction he had received from Dr Pitcairne.


Death and legacy

Pitcairne died in Edinburgh on 20 October 1713, aged 60. He had been a great collector of books, and his library, which is said to have been of considerable value, was, through the influence of Ruddiman, sold to Peter the Great of Russia. He is buried in
Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 1 ...
with his wife Elizabeth Stevenson (d.1734) and his daughters.Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland: The Caledonian Society of Edinburgh The grave lies in the southern section known as the Covenanters Prison and can be viewed by special arrangement or on an organised tour. A second (more public) faux grave exists in the northmost section of the graveyard, erected by Dr Andrew Duncan.


References


Sources

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Further reading

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitcairne 1652 births 1713 deaths 17th-century Scottish medical doctors 18th-century Scottish medical doctors Medical doctors from Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of Paris alumni Scottish scholars and academics Academic staff of Leiden University Scottish anatomists Scottish medical historians Theatre in Scotland Scottish dramatists and playwrights Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard 17th-century Scottish historians 17th-century Scottish male writers 18th-century Scottish historians Reims University (1548–1793) alumni