When I use a word . . . The Edinburgh Medical School 1726-2026

The Edinburgh Medical School, the first in the English-speaking world, was founded 300 years ago.Its prehistory included the establishment of several important institutions:• a College of Surgeons in 1505; • the University of Edinburgh in 1582; • a physic garden in 1670; • a College of Physicians in 1680;In the 1680s the Edinburgh physicians began work on the Pharmacopoeia Edinburgensis, which was finally published in 1699, and from 1685 onwards many university professorial appointments were made in subjects such as physic, anatomy, chemistry, and the institutes and practice of medicine.Although not associated with chairs in the first instance, materia medica and botany were also being taught.Then, in 1726, following a petition presented to the Edinburgh Town Council by four physicians, a Faculty of Medicine was established.This was followed three years later by the foundation of a teaching hospital, completing all the requirements for a fully functioning medical school.The school was successful in attracting many students who would otherwise have gone abroad to Continental schools, such as those at Leiden and Padua, and many of its alumni became household names in the various fields of medical practice and, not infrequently, in other areas as well.