Abercrombie, JOHN

Abercrombie, JOHN, in his day the most eminent of Scottish physicians, was born in 1780, at Aberdeen, where his father was a parish minister. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, taking his degree in 1803, and thenceforth devoted himself to the practice of his profession in the Scottish capital. At a comparatively early age, he attained a high reputation; and after the death (in 1821) of the celebrated Dr Gregory, he became recognised as the first consulting physician in Scotland. His principal professional writings were treatises on the pathology of the brain and on diseases of the stomach. But he is best known by his works on The Intellectual Powers (1830) and The Moral Feelings (1833). These works have no pretensions to originality or depth of thought, but immediately acquired a remarkable popularity, and attained respectively an 18th and 14th edition. Dr Abercrombie died suddenly, November 14, 1844.