302 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. ? [Surgeon Square.
We may close our notice of the Old Royal
Infirmary by a reference to the Keith Fund, established
by the late ME.. Janet Murray Keith and
her sister Ann for the relief of incurable patients
who have been in the house. These generous ladies
by trust-deed left a sum of money, the interest of
which was to be applied for the behoof of all who
were discharged therefrom as incurable by the loss
of their limbs, or so forth. The fund, which consists
of Bank of Scotiand stock, is held for this
purpose by trustees, who are annually appointed
by the managers of the Royal Infirmary, the
annual dividend to which amounts to Lz50. In
1877 there were on the list of recipients IOI
patients receiving allowances varying from AI to
A4; and in their deed of settlement the donors
express a hope that the small beginning thus made
for the relief of such sufferers, if well managed,
may encourage richer persons to follow theiI
example. Although this trust is appointed to be
kept separate for ever from the affairs of the Royal
Infirmary, the trustees are directed to publish
annually, with the report of the managers, an abstract
of the fund, with such other information %
they may deem desirable.
In the account of the west side of the Pleasance
we have briefly adverted to the ancient hall of the
Royal College of Surgeons,* which, bounded by the
eastern flank of the city wall, was built by that
body when they abandoned their previous place ol
meeting, which they rented in Dickson?s Close foi
L40 yearly, and acquired Cumehill House and
grounds, the spot within the angle of the wall
referred to. This had anciently belonged to the
Black Friars, but was secularised, and passed suc.
cessively into the hands of Sir John and Sir Jamer
Skene, judges of the Court of Session, both undei
the title of Lord Cumehill. Sir James Skene
?l succeeded Thomas, Earl of Melrose, as Presidenl
on the 14th Feb., 1626, in which office he con.
tinued till his death, which took place on the 15tk
October, 1633, in his own lodging beside thc
Grammar School of Edinburgh.?
After them it became the property of Samue
Johnstoun of the Sciennes ; and after him of thr
patrons of the university, who made it the housc
I of their professor of divinity, and he sold it to thc
surgeons for 3,000 merks Scots in 1656.
This house, which should have been described ir
its place, is shown by Rothiemay?s plan (see p. 241:
in 1647 to have been a large half-quadrangular four
storeyed house, with dormer windows, a circulai
turnpike stair with a conical roof on its north front
Vol. I., pp. 381-3.
md surrounded by a spacious garden, enclosed on
he south and east by the battlemented wall of
he city, and having a doorway in the boundary
wall of the High School yard on the north. On
he site of this edifice there was raised the future
Royal College of Surgeons, giving still its name to
he adjacent Square.
On the west side of that square stood the hall of
.he Royal Medical Society, which, Amot says, was
:oeval with the institution of a regular school of
iiedicine in the University ?by the establishment
if professors in the different branches of that
science. Dr. Cullen, Dr. Fothergill, and others
if the most eminent physicians in Britain, were
imong the first of its members. None of its
records, however, of an earlier date than A.D.
1737, have been preserved.?
Since that year the greater number of the students
of medicine at the University, who have
been distinguished in after years by their eminence,
diligence, and skill, have been members of this
Society, to which none are admitted until they have
made some progress in the study of physic.
In May, 1775, the foundation stone of their new
hall in Surgeon Square was laid by Dr. Cullen in
the presence of the other medical professors, the
presidents of the learned societies, and a large
audience.
This Society was erected into a body corporate by
5 royal charter grantedon the 14th of December,
1778, and lC is intended,? says Amot, writing of it
in his own time, ? l as a branch of medical education,
and a source of further discoveries and improvements
in that science, and those branches of
philosophy intimately connected with it. The
members at their weekly meetings read in rotation
discourses on medical subjects, which, at least Six
months previous to their delivery, had been assigned
to them by the Society, either at their own request
or by lot. And before any discourse be publicly
read it is communicated in writing to every member,
three of whom are particularly appointed to
impugn, if necessary, its doctrines. From these
circumstances the author of every discourse is induced
to bestow the utmost pains in rendering it as
complete as possible ; and the other members have
an opportunity of coming prepared to point out
every other view in which the subject can be rendered.
Thus, emulation and industry are excited,
genius is called forth, and the judgment exercised
and improved. By these means much information
is obtained respecting facts and doctrines already
published ; new opinions are often suggested, and
further inquiries pointed out. -4nd it is acknowledged
by all who are acquainted with the Univer
