John Reid M.D. Chandos Professor of Anatomy & Medicine - St Andrews

 John Reid was the sixth child of Henry Reid, farmer and cattle-dealer, Bathgate where he was born on the 9^th of April, 1809. After receiving the rudiments of his education at the village school, where he attained considerable proficiency in Latin, he proceeded to Edinburgh University at the age of fourteen. For the first three years he devoted himself assiduously to the usual curriculum of Latin, Greek and Mathematics, with the intention of prosecuting a divinity course. But the scientific bent of his mind determined him to relinquish the thoughts of a Church career, and at this time he gave the reins to his inclination, which induced him to direct his studies to the medical profession, more particularly to the departments of anatomy and physiology. In 1830 he received his diploma of surgeon and physician. His first appointment was that of assistant physician in the clinical wards of the Edinburgh infirmary, the duties of which he fulfilled for a year. At the expiry of that time he repaired to the medical schools of Paris, drawn thither by the fame of Louis and Andrae, physicians of the highest eminence, and of Dupuyten and Listrane, whose skill in surgery were of world renown. He returned to Scotland in 1832.

The cholera at this time was working dire havoc in Dumfries, and as the local practitioners were unable to meet the demands on their services, four medical men were sent from Edinburgh to their assistance, of whom Dr Reid was one. For a month he laboured to stay the dire invader, at the end of which time, due mainly to the indefatigable energies of himself and heroic comrades the blight was lifted. He thus records some of his experiences on that occasion:- “It was terrible work for the first few days. It was truly the city of the plague. Such dreadful scenes I should never wish to be again obliged to witness; and what aggravated in no small degree the miseries and horrors inseparable from the agonies and dying groans of so many sufferers was, that the dread of contagion seemed to have torn asunder the social bonds of society, and the wretched victim had too often occasion to upbraid, with his last breath, the selfish fear of friends, and even of his nearest relations.”

On his return to Edinburgh, two opportunities presented themselves. One was to take up a vacant medical practice near Bathgate, and the other was to become a partner in the school of anatomy in Old Surgeon’s Hall, Edinburgh. The duties of the latter required more than the average strength of nerve, but the position, however repellent to the finer feelings, presented a favourable opportunity for the pursuit of his anatomical researches, and on this account he gladly accepted it. From 1833 to 1836 he acted as demonstrator in a manner that elicited the praise of all those who listened to him, and many of those so privileged, and who afterwards rose to eminence, have recorded their appreciation of his painstaking researches. By the death of Dr Fletcher, lecturer on physiology in the Extra-Academical Medical School, a vacancy occurred in that important position, and the high reputation which Dr Reid had gained as anatomical demonstrator marks him in the eyes of his brethren as the most suitable successor to the author of the “Rudiments of Physiology.” This appointment gave him more leisure for self-improvement as it only demanded his time for half of the year. In 1838 he was appointed pathologist to the Edinburgh Infirmary. His discoveries upon the anatomy and physiology of the heart earned him considerable renown while his treatises on the nervous system created for him a European reputation. At the age of 31, he had conferred upon him the professorship of anatomy in the University of St Andrews. In 1848 he made a collection of the essays which he had published in various scientific journals, and published the work under the title of “Physiological, Anatomical and Pathological Researches.” With this volume he may be said to have cemented the fabric of his fame. In a review of the work, Dr J. H. Bennett, and eminent contemporary authority, wrote –“As a physiologist he may be considered to have been unsurpassed; not, indeed, because it has fallen to his lot to make those great discoveries or wide generalizations which constitute epochs in the history of the science, but because he possessed such a rare degree of caution and conscientiousness in all his researches, that no kind of investigation, whether literary, anatomical, physiological, or pathological, that could illustrate any particular fact, did he ever allow to be neglected. His volume contains more original matter and sound physiology than will be found in any work that has issued from the British press for many years.”

But while yet riding on the full floodtide of honour and prosperity came the current that was to bear him slowly, yet surely, towards the wave-less sea. Towards the end of 1848 a tiny plague-spot manifested itself on his tongue. The worst fears were soon realized, for the ineradicable malady of cancer began to work havoc on his robust constitution. All that medical skill could do was done; but the dread scourge developed despite all that surgery could accomplish. To a friend he wrote:- “I had my dreams of being able to add something of importance to the deeply attractive and instructive matters embraced in such investigations; and I was looking forward to the time when I should be able to say that I have done something which will prevent me from being readily forgotten.” After a year and a half of intense suffering, he died on the 30^th of July, 1849, at the age of 40. He was buried in the ancient churchyard of St Andrews on the wall of which a simple tablet indicates the place of his interment.

 Robert Harkness 2011