Physicians, Surgeons and Apothecaries

This is a critical history of the medical profession in Edinburgh in the 17th century. The College of Surgeons was founded in 1505 and the College of Physicians in 1681. The period covered is from the first surviving minute books of the Surgeons (1580) to the creation of the Edinburgh Medical School (1726). It is argued that the foundations of the modern medical profession were laid as early as the 17th century. Anecdotes complement documentary evidence, and the author emphasizes European influences, especially that of Leiden in the Netherlands.