John Aitken

Two institutions, each founded in the late 18th century, were to have a profound influence on standards of medical learning in Edinburgh over the next 200 years. John Aitken was involved in the establishment of both of these.

The Royal Medical Society provided a platform for a presentation of research work or theories and a forum in which these and other medical topics could be debated. A Hall for the Society was built in 1775 close to Surgeons Hall in Surgeons Square, the foundation stone being laid by Dr William Cullen, then President of the Royal College of Physicians.

The tradition of extramural teaching in Edinburgh could be said to have begun with James Borthwick of Stow (qv) being appointed as a Teacher of Anatomy in 1647. Fifty years later in 1697, Surgeons Hall and its anatomical theatre was built for the purposes of anatomy demonstrations and, just over a quarter of a century after this, in 1726, the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh was established. Yet despite the establishment of these two bodies, dedicated to medical teaching, extramural education flourished. It was carried out by individuals or groups of teachers in various sites. In 1895, this became formally incorporated as the School of Medicine of the Royal Colleges which continued until 1948.

John Aitken took medical classes in the University of Edinburgh from 1763 going on to become a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1770. The following year he joined the Royal Medical Society going on to become Senior President between 1774-76. It was during his term of office as Senior President that the Royal Medical Society had its first meeting in their new Hall, on land leased to them by the Royal College of Surgeons. The Society in its new premises clearly flourished and, in an attempt to enhance its status even further, applied for a Royal Charter. It was John Aitken, aided by Dr Andrew Duncan (1744-1828) who acted for the Society, that their efforts were rewarded with the granting of a Royal Charter in 1779.

Aitken went on to become a surgeon in the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and, by the standards of the day, became a prolific author. He initially wrote books and pamphlets on surgery, laterally expanding this into the theory and practice of medicine, the principles and practice of midwifery and principles of anatomy and physiology. He will be best remembered however for his prowess as an extramural teacher. Chambers biographical dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen in 1835 describes his lectures as well attended, and “he was generally esteemed as a good lecturer”. His success as a lecturer resulted in him teaching not merely anatomy and surgery, but going on to teach physics, chemistry and midwifery. As has happened not infrequently since then, the University establishment were critical of this style and sought to portray him as a provider of “cram courses”, rather than a serious scientific lecturer. Sir John Struthers (qv) who went on to become Professor of Anatomy in Aberdeen wrote “it is difficult to look on him but as a kind of grinder (crammer) …… rather than as entitled to take rank as a scientific lecturer ….”. Despite that criticism, Struthers went on to describe him as the first true lecturer on anatomy in the extramural school. John Aiken could rightly be regarded as the founder of the founder of extra-mural teaching of Medicine in Edinburgh, a tradition that was to continue and to flourish for almost two hundred years.