The first Chair of Pathology in Scotland was established in Edinburgh (1831). Previously, pathology had been recognised as a special discipline in almost all the continental universities. Glasgow lagged far behind (1894) although short courses in pathological anatomy started in 1865. A Chair of Pathological Anatomy was founded in Aberdeen in 1882 and became Pathology in 1896. The chairs in Edinburgh and Glasgow were filled by remarkable men both of whom were born into families involved in the textile trade in Paisley. John Thomson, son of an artisan weaver, was to Edinburgh what Joseph Coats, bearer of the famous name, was to Glasgow. So, Paisley supplied both the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow with their first professors of pathology. The two men had very different upbringings. Thomson, of humble origin, was largely self-educated but with private tuition in Latin, and acquired his medical knowledge through apprenticeship and experience. Coats had a privileged background, a traditional university course and an honours degree. Thomson was a polymath - surgeon, physician, chemist and pathologist whereas Coats was a pathologist from first to last.
John Thomson (1765-1846)
Thomson, from the age of eight, was engaged in minor operations of trade under different masters for three years until bound as an apprentice to his father, Joseph, for seven years. Afterwards, he worked as a tradesman for nearly two years until his ambition and intellect deflected him from routine mechanical work and destined him for medicine.
With his father’s grudging consent, an attachment to a practitioner in Paisley, Dr. White, was arranged for the years 1785-1788.1 At the age of twenty-three, an introduction to William Hamilton, Professor of Anatomy in Glasgow, by Robert Alexander, an amateur botanist in Paisley, led to a year in medical classes, without matriculation.
In 1789, he moved to Edinburgh, came under the influence of Monro secundus and Black and was soon appointed apothecary in the Royal Infirmary (1790). During 1792-93, nine months were spent in London studying anatomy at John Hunter’s School in Leicester Square. Many valuable friendships were sealed at this time.
Back in Edinburgh, his election as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (1793) was supported financially by Mr. Hogg, manager of the Paisley Bank. In 1800, under a scheme for better management, the Royal Infirmary appointed six full surgeons, including Thomson. At this time, while actively teaching surgery, his versatility surfaced when he conducted a class in chemistry in his own house, the students being mainly young lawyers. This interest in chemistry brought an introduction to the Earl of Lauderdale who had an ardent affection for the subject; a happy chance which later proved valuable to Thomson.2 However, surgery, especially military surgery, was his main interest and in 1803 he went back to London as a hospital mate in the army to ready himself for the charge of a military hospital if such was established in Edinburgh in the face of invasion. In the following year, he was granted the title ‘Professor of Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons’. This brought forth protests, mainly on political grounds of interference in surgical teaching, from the town council and university senate.3 Opposition was stifled, but not without dissent from a few voices, when King George III installed him as Professor of Military Surgery in the University of Edinburgh (1806) with a salary of £100 per annum; the European war had created a special interest in the subject. The Earl of Lauderdale influenced the appointment. Hitherto, owing to the monopoly claimed by the powerful Monros, surgery had been taught in the University only as an appendage to their subject, anatomy, nor had any private teacher delivered a course in surgery.4 Thomson was, therefore, the author of a most important innovation. His sole university qualification came in 1808 when King’s College, Aberdeen give him an MD degree - the only medical qualification which Scottish universities awarded at the time.
As a surgeon, he was said to have a good hand and eye but was "oppressed with a too painful anxiety" both before operations and during the tension of post-operative periods.5 This nervousness may have influenced his decision to resign from the Royal Infirmary in 1810, when the managers failed to accede to his request for a formal inquiry after criticism of his work by John Bell, the eminent surgical anatomist.6
During 1814, he visited hospitals in seven European countries and after Waterloo studied the treatment of the wounded. The Duke of York, recognising his zeal, appointed him Surgeon to the Forces. Edinburgh became very popular as a centre of excellence in military surgery. In 1816 his class numbered 280; 18 army and 62 naval surgeons were excused fees.7
About this time, Thomson’s thoughts began to turn to medicine. He founded a dispensary in the New Town, studied smallpox and lectured on diseases of the eye five years before the establishment of the first Eye Infirmary in Edinburgh.
Failure to obtain the Chair of the Practice of Physic (1821) was a great disappointment. Thereafter, he resigned his Chair of Military Surgery (1822) and in the next decade lectured on pathology and the practice of medicine in collaboration with his son, William.
In these years, he gathered splendid examples of coloured drawings of morbid structures. This collection, the first of its kind ever made, was a major contribution to teaching.8
In 1831, Thomson petitioned Lord Melbourne, the Home Secretary, for the need of a Chair of Pathology in Edinburgh and having procured its establishment, he himself inaugurated it. His lectures were erudite and delivered with vigour. . .
"We cannot but be struck with the energy which enabled him at the age of sixty-seven to embark on an extensive range of new inquiries, necessitating a vast amount of varied reading, and much reflection and collation".9
At his death in 1846, he was recognised as one of the most learned physicians in Scotland, in his time. . . .
"He was for forty years the most exciting of all our practitioners and of all our teachers".10
His honours included Fellowship of the Royal Society and Presidency of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. His contributions to the literature of pathology and surgery were few, but his ‘Lectures on Inflammation’ moulded opinion for many years. He published an account of the life, lectures and writings of William Cullen.
Joseph Coats (1846-1899)
Coats was a grand-nephew of the founder of the famous Paisley firm of thread-makers, J & P Coats.11 After a brilliant undergraduate career (MB with honours 1867) and postgraduate study with German pathologists, he was the first Glasgow graduate to make pathology his main interest.
Successively, pathologist to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, lecturer in the institutes of medicine (now physiology), University of Glasgow, pathologist to the new Western Infirmary and lecturer in pathology, his career climaxed in appointment as the first Professor of Pathology in the city (1894). Soon, his health began to fail and after just a few months over four years in the Chair, he died after developing acute intestinal obstruction caused by colon cancer. His ‘Manual of Pathology’ ran to five editions. Browning said "Coats made pathology in Glasgow".12
Sequel
In the 20th century, Scotland was famed throughout the world for the excellence of its academic departments of pathology. Thomson and Coats laid the foundations. Sir Robert Muir, Coat’s successor in Glasgow, headed a school which provided senior staff for many universities at home and abroad.
Appendix
Thomson's marriages
Thomson was married twice and each marriage produced a son who became senators in Glasgow. William, the sole survivor of the first family was Professor of the Practice of Medicine (1841-1852). McNee thought he was one of the less distinguished holders of the Chair.13 He was overshadowed by his half-brother Allen who held the Chair of Anatomy (1848-1877) and was Convenor of the Removal Committee when the university transferred from the High Street to Gilmorehill in 1870; his son, John Millar Thomson, was Professor of Chemistry at King’s College, London.
Allen’s mother was Margaret Millar, daughter of John Millar the legendary Professor of Law in Glasgow (1761-1801). A short-lived magazine The Student described Millar as "one of the greatest men our country has produced".14 A pupil and friend of Adam Smith, students came from all quarters of Britain to hear his lectures.15 He helped to rescue the Faculty of Law from a period of serious decline.16
Through his second marriage, Thomson became brother-in-law to James Millar, Professor of Mathematics at Glasgow (1796-1832), James Myline, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow (1797-1839) - his wife was Agnes Millar, General William Millar, Inspector-General of Artillery (1827) who invented the 8" and 10" shell guns and Robina Cullen, daughter of Professor William Cullen, who married John Millar, advocate. So the Thomson and Millar menages filled eight university chairs - five in Glasgow, two in Edinburgh and one in London.
Truly, a brace of distinguished academic families.