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
Arlhur?s Seat.] DR. JOHN BELL 303
sity of Edinburgh that the Medical Society has
contributed much to the prosperity and reputation
of this school of physic.?
Such are still the objects of the Royal Medical
Society, which has now, however, quitted its old
hall and chambers for newer premises in 7 Melbourne
Place. Its staff consists of four presidents,
two honorary secretaries, curators of the library
and museum, with a treasurer and sub-librarian.
Many old citizens of good position had residences
in and near the High School yards and
Surgeon Square. Among these was Mr. George
Sinclair of Ulbster, who married Janet daughter of
Lord Strathmore, and who had a house of seven
rooms in the yard, which was advertised in the
Courant of 1761. His son was the eminent agriculturist,
and first baronet of the family.
In 1790 a theatre for dissections and an anatomical
museum were erected in Surgeon Square
by Dr. John Bell, the eminent anatomist, who was
born in the city on the 12th May, 1763, and who
most successfully applied the science of anatomy
to practical surgery-a profession to which, curiously
enough, he had from his birth been devoted by
his father. The latter,about a month before the
child?s birth, had-when in his 59th yea-undergone
with successapainful surgicaloperation, and his gratitude
led him tovowhe would rear his son John to the
cause of medicine for the relief of mankind ; and
after leaving the High School the boy was duly
apprenticed to Mr. Alexander Wood, surgeon, and
soon distinguished himself in chemistry, midwifery,
and surgery, and then anatomy, which had been
somewhat overlooked by Munro.
In the third year after his anatomical theatre
had been opened in the now obscure little square,
he published his ? Anatomy of the Human Body,?
consisting of a description of the action and play
of the bones, muscles, and joints. In 1797 appeared
the second volume, treating of the heart
and arteries. During a brilliant career, he devoted
himself with zeal to his profession, till in 1816 he
was thrown from his horse, receiving a shock from
which his constitution never recovered.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
AKTHUR?S SEAT AND ITS VICINITY.
The Sanctuary-Geology of the Hill-Origin of its Name, and that of the Craigs-The Park Walls, 2554-A Banquet alfrrsc6The Pestilence
-A Duel-?The Guttit Haddie?-Mutiny of the Old 78th Regiment-Proposed House on the Summit-bfuschat and his Cairn-
Radical Road Formed-May Day-Skeletons found at the Wells 0? Wearic-Park Improvements-The Hunter?s Bog-Legend of the
Hangman?s big-Duddingston-The Church-Rev. J. Thomson-Robert Monteith-The Loch-Its Sw-ans-Skatcrs--The Duddingston
Thoro-The Argyle and Abercorn FamilisThe Earl of Mob-Lady Flon. HastingsCnuvin?s Hospica-Parson?s Grecn-St.
Anlhonfs Chapel and Well-The Volunteer Renew before the Queen.
TAKING up the history of the districts of the city
in groups as we have done, we now come to Arthur?s
Seat, which is already well-nigh surrounded, especially
on the west and north, by streets and
mansions.
Towering to the height of 822 feet above the
Forth, this hill, with the Craigs of Salisbury, occupies
the greater portion of the ancient Sanctuary of
Holyrood, which included the royal park (first
enclosed and improved from a condition of natural
forest by James V. and Queen Mary), St. Anne?s
Yard and the Duke?s Walk (both now obliterated),
the Hermitage of St. Anthony, the Hunter?s Bog,
and the southern parks as far as Duddingston, a
tract of five miles in circumference, in which persons
were safe from their creditors for twenty-four
hours, after which they must take out a Protectim,
as it was called, issued by the bailie of the abbey ;
the debtors were then at liberty to go where they
pleased on Sundays, without molestation j but later
legal alterations have rendered retirement to the
Sanctuary to a certain extent unnecessary.
The recent formation of the Queen?s Drive
round the hill, and the introduction of the rifle
ranges in the valley to the north of it, have destroyed
the wonderful solitude which for ages
reigned there, even in the vicinity of a busy and
stormy capital. Prior to these changes, and in
some parts even yet, the district bore the character
which Arnot gave it when he wrote :-? Seldom are
human beings to be met in this lonely vale, or any
creature to be seen, but the sheep feeding on the
mountains, or the hawks and ravens winging their
flight among the rocks?: The aspect of the lionshaped
mountain and the outline of the craig
are known to every one. There is something certainly
grand and awful in the front of mighty slope
and broken rock and precipice, which the latter
present to the city. Greenstone, which has been
upheaved through strata surfaced with sandstone
