David Middleton Greig

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FRCSE LLD TD (1864 - 4 May 1936) was a Scottish surgeon who worked for most of his career at

Dundee Royal Infirmary Dundee Royal Infirmary, often shortened to DRI, was a major teaching hospital in Dundee, Scotland. Until the opening of Ninewells Hospital in 1974, Dundee Royal Infirmary was Dundee's main hospital. It was closed in 1998, after 200 years of opera ...

. He developed an interest in diseases of bone and came to be regarded as an international authority on the subject. He wrote numerous papers on skeletal abnormalities and

Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome is a disorder that affects development of the limbs, head, and face. The features of this syndrome are highly variable, ranging from very mild to severe. People with this condition typically have one or more ...

(first described in 1926) is named after him. Over the course of his career he amassed a large collection of skulls demonstrating various bony abnormalities. After retiring from surgical practice he became conservator of the Museum of the

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The RCSEd has five faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical and healthcare specialities. Its main campus is locate ...

Surgeons' Hall Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland, is the headquarters of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd). It houses the Surgeons' Hall Museum, and the library and archive of the RCSEd. The present Surgeons' Hall was designed by William ...

. He donated 250 skulls to Surgeons' Hall Museum, where some remain on display as part of the Greig Collection.

Life

Greig was born at 140 Nethergate in Dundee in 1864 , son of Dr David Greig a Dundee general practitioner and descendant of a long line of medical practitioners. He first studied medicine at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

but then moved to 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 ...

where he graduated MB CM in 1885. After a period working with his father as a GP in Dundee, he worked as a doctor at the Royal Asylum in Perth. From here he moved to the Baldovan Institute for Imbecile Children near

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. After three years serving as a military surgeon in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

he returned to Scotland to take a post at

(DRI). In 1899, at the onset of the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

he served under General

Redvers Buller General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He served as Commander-in-Chief ...

in Natal. He returned to Dundee in 1902 at the end of the war. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and was appointed to the surgical staff of DRI and lecturer in surgery at the University of St Andrews. From an early stage in his career he became an avid collector of pathological specimens and particularly of those relating to diseases and abnormalities of the skeleton. He became a regular contributor to the anatomical and surgical literature, many of his papers dealing with rare diseases and developmental abnormalities. In 1911 he was living at 25 South Tay Street in Dundee, a three storey and basement Georgian terraced townhouse. On retiring from surgical practice he became the full time Conservator of the Museum at the

, a post he held for 15 years. During this time he arranged for descriptions of every specimen in the collection, created a new museum catalogue based on a much improved indexing system. He also supervised the re-mounting a large proportion of the pathological specimens. In 1925 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were

Anderson Gray McKendrick Anderson Gray McKendrick DSc FRSE (8 September 1876 – 30 May 1943) was a Scottish military physician and epidemiologist who pioneered the use of mathematical methods in epidemiology. Irwin (see below) commented on the quality of his work, "Al ...

James Hartley Ashworth James Hartley Ashworth (2 May 1874 – 4 February 1936) was a British marine zoologist. Life See He was born on 2, May 1874, in Accrington in Lancashire, the only son of James Ashworth. He spent most of his early life in Burnley, attending t ...

, Arthur Robinson and Sir

Harold Stiles Sir Harold Jalland Stiles (21 March 1863 – 19 April 1946) was an English surgeon who was known for his research into cancer and tuberculosis and for treatment of nerve injuries. Early years Harold Stiles was born in Spalding, Lincolnsh ...

. He died 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 ...

on 4 May 1936.

Publications

*''The Rhymes of Dundee Royal Infirmary (DRI)'' (an anthology of poems) *''A Case of Stab Wound to the Heart: Recovery'' *''Clinical Observations on the Surgical Pathology of Bone'' (1931).

References

External links

*https://museum.rcsed.ac.uk/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Greig, David Middleton 1864 births 1936 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British surgeons Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical doctors from Dundee Scottish non-fiction writers