The Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society 1789 to the present day: some leaders in medicine

The Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society was founded in 1789 based on a model of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh by Sir James McGrigor and 11 medical students. The objectives at that time, as at present, were to promote teaching, self education, the application of medical skills learned at the bedside, fellowship, and social intercourse. A number of examples of key leaders in the profession and members of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Aberdeen are featured. These include Alexander Gordon (puerperal fever), Sir James McGrigor (founder of the British Army Medical Services), Sir Alexander Ogston (associated with Lister's theory of antisepsis in surgery and the discovery of the staphylococcus), Sir Patrick Manson (the father of tropical medicine), Prof JJR Macleod (Nobel Laureate and the discoverer of insulin), Prof Sir Matthew Hay (public health physician who offered the first description of typhus and its origins), and Sir Dugald Baird (the founder in the United Kingdom and Europe of modern-day maternity services).