Francis Home

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". ...

FRCPE (17 November 1719 in Eccles, Berwickshire – 15 February 1813) was a Scottish physician, and the first Professor of

Materia Medica ''Materia medica'' ( lit.: 'medical material/substance') is a Latin term from the history of pharmacy for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medications). The term derives f ...

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 ...

, known to make the first attempt to vaccinate against measles, in 1758. In 1783 he was one of the founders 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 ...

Biography

Francis Home was the third son of John Home, an advocate residing at Eccles, Berwickshire. He received his education at Duns Grammar School. He was then apprenticed to Dr Rattray, a surgeon 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 ...

. From 1742 to 1748 he served as surgeon of dragoons in Flanders in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, studying at Leyden University during the intervals of the campaigns. Leaving the army, he graduated with an MD

in 1750, with a treatise on intermittent fever, and became a fellow of the Edinburgh College of Physicians. After graduation, Home worked as a physician in Edinburgh, from 1749. After practising medicine for some years at Edinburgh, and obtaining in 1757 a gold medal for an essay on the principles of agriculture, given by the Edinburgh Society for the Improvement of Arts and Manufactures. He was appointed in 1768 the first professor of

materia medica ''Materia medica'' ( lit.: 'medical material/substance') is a Latin term from the history of pharmacy for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medications). The term derives f ...

in the

, the subject being then dissociated from botany. He held this post till 1798, and as one of the clinical professors of medicine at the

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire."In Comi ...

experimented on the actions of several novel drugs, which he introduced into practice. Home served as president of 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 ...

(1775-7) and as president of the Physical section of the

(1789–96). In 1784 Home was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh and served as president in 1794. He was a founding member of both the

Royal Medical Society The Royal Medical Society (RMS) is a society run by students at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, Scotland. It claims to be the oldest medical society in the United Kingdom although this claim is also made by the earlier London-based ...

and of the Select Society. He was the father of James Home

(1760-1844), Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Edinburgh.

Work

Home was an important figure in

during the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. His 1756 essay "Experiments on Bleaching", which won a gold medal was awarded by the trustees for the improvement of manufactures in North Britain, was translated into French and German. It was also an early presentation of the chemical principles underlying

plant nutrition Plant nutrition is the study of the chemical elements and compounds necessary for plant growth and reproduction, plant metabolism and their external supply. In its absence the plant is unable to complete a normal life cycle, or that the element i ...

. As a professor he speculated somewhat rashly, but carefully treated the physical characters and mode of administration of drugs. His 'Principia Medicinæ' was a valuable work in its day, and was used as a text-book by several continental professors. Home was also the first to call attention to croup as a distinct disease in his tractate on the subject, which Dr. Squire, in Reynolds's 'System of Medicine,' 1866, i. 236, terms a 'careful and most philosophical inquiry,' deciding the dependence of the symptoms on pathological changes in the larynx and trachea.

Selected publications

* ''Dissertatio de Febre Intermittente'', Edinburgh, 1750, 4to; republished in Smellie's ''Thesaurus Medicus'', 1778. *
An Essay on the contents and virtues of Dunse-Spaw
'' Edinburgh, 1751 *
Experiments on Bleaching
' Edinburgh, 1756, *
The Principles of Agriculture and Vegetation
'' Edinburgh, 1757; 3rd edition, 1759; French translation, Paris, 1761; German translation, Berlin, 1779. * ''Principia Medicinæ,'' Edinburgh, 1758; 3rd edition, 1770. *
Medical Facts and Experiments
'' Edinburgh, 1759. * ''An Inquiry into the Nature, Cause, and Cure of the Croup,'' Edinburgh, 1765; French translation, 1810, by F. Ruette. *
Methodus Materiæ Medicæ
'' Edinburgh, 1770. *
Clinical Experiments, Histories, and Dissections
'' Edinburgh, 1780; 3rd edition, London, 1783.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Home, Francis 1719 births 1813 deaths 18th-century Scottish medical doctors British Army regimental surgeons British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession Enlightenment scientists Scottish medical writers Scottish soldiers Scottish surgeons Vaccinologists People from Berwickshire Leiden University alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Founder fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Members of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh Office bearers of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh Members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh