born April 15, 1710, Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scot.
died Feb. 5, 1790, Kirknewton, near Edinburgh
Scottish physician and professor.
One of the first to teach in English rather than Latin, he was celebrated for his clinical lectures, which he gave in the infirmary from his own notes instead of a text. He taught that life was a function of nervous energy and that muscle was a continuation of nerve. His influential classification of disease included febrile diseases, nervous diseases, diseases produced by bad bodily habits, and local diseases.