William Cullen and the eighteenth century medical world

William Cullen (1710-1790) was a key figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. He was a friend of Adam Smith and David Hume but his achievements have not been so well recognised. Cullen was a great teacher who explored the relationship between medicine and science in a spirit of liberal inquiry and he played a major role in establishing the Edinburgh of his day as the world's foremost medical centre.

He attracted many students from overseas, and the medical schools and institutions founded by his pupils set the pattern for medicine in North America.

Cullen was born in Hamilton and educated at Glasgow, where he became Professor of Medicine before moving to Edinburgh to take up a sequence of professorships at the University. Like a true lad o' pairts he became First Physician to the King in Scotland and President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In addition he was a founder member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

This book follows an exhibition and a symposium held to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Cullen's death and restores Cullen to his rightful place in both the Scottish Enlightenment and the history of medicine and science.