Cullen, Wm

Name: William Cullen

Achievements: Innovations in teaching medicine and chemistry

Born: April 15, 1710; Hamilton, Scotland

Died: February 5, 1790; Kirknewton, near Edinburgh, Scotland (Aged 80)

Field & Discipline: Medicine; Physician

Language: English

Father: Unknown

Mother: Unknown

Siblings: 6 brothers; 2 sisters

Spouse: Anna Johnstone

Children: 7 sons; 4 daughters

Education: Grammar school, Hamilton; University of Glasgow

Life & Times:

Cullen's father was a lawyer employed as steward to the Duke of Hamilton. Cullen studied medicine at Glasgow and was apprenticed to a doctor who had a large practice in the city and also a large library of medical  books.

The teaching of medicine at Glasgow was then pretty basic and although a chair of anatomy had  been founded, no lectures were given in the subject. Cullen was mostly self-taught from books and from his clinical work.

In 1729 he went to London and was appointed surgeon on a ship trading with the Caribbean. While spending six months at Portobello, he studied the effect of climate on health. On his return to England, he spent some time with a pharmacist in London before returning to Scotland at the end of 1731.

For two years he practised medicine at  Auchinlee near Hamilton and when he inherited a small legacy in 1733 he took time off to complete his studies at the recently established medical school in Edinburgh where  [taught by] Monro* taught anatomy. In 1736 he established a surgical and medical practice in Hamilton under the patronage of the Duke of Hamilton and for three years was assisted by [assisted by] William Hunter*. Cullen  got his medical degree in 1740 after which he engaged an assistant to take over his surgical duties in Hamilton so he could concentrate on medicine.

He was elected as magistrate for Hamilton and also concerned himself with the  agricultural improvements introduced in an effort to improve the conditions of the poor. Cullen was known for his care of the poor and often attended patients free.

The Duke of Hamilton persuaded him to remain at Hamilton, promising him an annual salary, a chemical laboratory and control of a botanical garden at Hamilton palace. However, the Duke died and Cullen took his family to Glasgow in 1745/6  and set up a practice.

There were professors of medicine, botany and anatomy at Glasgow but none bothered to give any lectures. On his own initiative, Cullen gave a course of independent lectures on the theory and practice of medicine and materia medica at the medical school in Glasgow, following up the next year with lectures on botany and chemistry. This was the first independent course of chemistry lectures given in Britain.

The university provided a laboratory and Cullen had chemical apparatus sent from London. He illustrated his lectures with practical demonstrations and students were encouraged to carry out experiments themselves. In lieu of text books, he handed out manuscripts which could be copied and circulated, and he tracked down the latest manuscripts in circulation ­ such as the lectures given at Leyden by Herman Booerhave's successor.

In an innovation which shocked many,  Cullen lectured from notes, rather than reading a prepared lecture, and he lectured in the vernacular, not in Latin. Cullen's pupils included men of industry, not just those training for academia or pure research, and he stressed the applications of chemical  knowledge to agriculture, the mining and brewing industries, and the manufacture of bleach and vinegar. His pupils, among whom was [pupil and pal was] Black*, admired him enormously.

For his botanical lectures Cullen followed the system which had just been introduced by the Swedish botanist, [used system by] Linnaeus*.   Cullen was also impressed by the systematic approach taken by the physician [influenced by] Sydenham* during the seventeenth century and in 1750 planned to publish an edition of Sydenham's "Theory and Practice of Medicine" together with a life of Sydenham ­ a  project that did not materialize.

In 1751 Cullen was made professor of medicine at Glasgow. During the next four years he also continued to lecture in chemistry and conducted a series of experiments on the relation between temperature and the evaporation of fluids, based on research undertaken earlier by others.  This work would lead to the invention of the [set stage for] refrigerator* by [anticipated] Von Linde* and work by [anticipated] Gorrie*

In the same year he transferred to Edinburgh to lecture on chemistry. His renown spread rapidly: there were seventeen students at his first lecture, fifty-nine at his second, a figure which eventually rose to almost 150.  In 1757 he began to give lectures in clinical medicine in the Infirmary rather than the lecture hall, emphasizing to the students the importance of clinical observation.

In 1766 he became professor of medicine at Edinburgh. He used the same innovative teaching methods and attracted students from all over Europe. Cullen disliked speculation and took a more materialist stance,  following the French philosopher [a follower of] Descartes*.

Cullen saw the nervous system as the connecting system between soul and body and he divided the nervous system into four parts: the brain, in which all the fibres were distinct; the nerves; the peripheral extremities; and the moving or muscular fibres,  recognizing the distinction between the nerves supplying the sensory system and the nerves stimulating movement.

His clear and systematic description of the nervous system helped to develop further advances and inspire research like that undertaken by [inspired] Gall & Spurzheim* in the nineteenth century.    In 1769 he published "Nosology" in which he classified diseases,  by symptoms,  into four categories: fevers, disease caused by poor hygiene, nervous diseases, and local diseases.

Cullen was a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Medical Society in Edinburgh.

Extra Connections:  He was a friend of [a pal of] Adam Smith*, and [a pal of] Rush*

He taught [taught] James Graham*,  Sir AP [taught] Cooper*

He knew [knew] Roebuck*

Assessment: Cullen is remembered for the improvements he made in the teaching of medicine and chemistry and for his work on the systematization of medicine.

Oneliner: William Cullen, 18^th century innovator in medicine and chemistry

Bibliography:

• Dictionary of National Biography.
• Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
• Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Thomson, John, An Account of the Life, Letters and Works of William Cullen, MD, William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, 1832.

William Cullen - Wikipedia