Edinburgh Bookshelf

Kay's Originals Vol. 2

Search

Volume 9 Page 554
  Enlarge Enlarge     Pictures Pictures
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 415 Dr. Bairh was one of the very few of our characters that survived the publication of the first edition of this work And from a notice of his death in the newspapers of the day, we extract the following :-“ With sincere regret we have to announce the death of the venerable Principal Baird, which took place on Tuesday (January 14, 1840), at his residence, near Linlithgow.” No. CCCXI. DR. JOHN HOPE, PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. DR. HOPE was born at Edinburgh on the 10th May 1725, His father, Mr. Robert Hope, surgeon, was a younger son of Sir Archibald Hope, Lord Rankeillor, one of the Senators of the College of Justice. His mother, Marion Glass, was a descendant of the ancient family of Glass of Sauchie, in Stirlingshire. Dr. Hope received his early education at the School of Dalkeith, then taught by the well-known Barclay. From thence he removed to the University of Edinburgh, where he prosecuted his medical studies under the first Dr. Monro, and the other eminent men who laid the foundation of the present celebrated Medical School of that University. He afterwards visited the Continent, where he studied for some time, and particnlarly devoted his attention to the science of botany. On returning to his native city he became a member of the Medical Society of Edinburgh-justly famed as an excellent source of improvement to the industrious medical student-and was one of the first of those who were raised to the rank of an honorary member. He took the Degree of Doctor of Medicine at Glasgow on the 29th of January 1760, and was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, upon the 6th November of the same year. About the same period the Professorship of Materia Medica and Botany in the University of Edinburgh, becoming vacant by the death of Dr. Charles Alston, the known acquirements of Dr. Hope, especially in the latter department, at once pointed him out as a fit successor. On the 13th April 1761 he was accordingly appointed King’s Botanist for Scotland; and on the 25th of the same month was elected, by the Town-Council, Professor of Materia Medica and of Botany. The lectures upon the Materia Medica were delivered during the winter session, and those on Botany commenced, as they still do, in the month of May. Having been only a licentiate, he was, on the 2d February 1762, admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Dr. Hope was the first in Scotland who introduced the Linnxan System ; and having received, on the 8th May 1768, a commission from the King, appointing him Regius Professor of Botany, he formed the resolution of resigning
Volume 9 Page 555
  Enlarge Enlarge