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Allen Thomson
FRS FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
FRCSE (2 April 1809 – 21 March 1884) was a Scottish physician, known as an anatomist and embryologist.
Life
The only son of
Dr John Thomson by his second wife, Margaret, daughter of
John Millar, he was born at Brown Square in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
on 2 April 1809, and was named after his father's friend,
John Allen, secretary and confidential friend of Lord Holland.
Margaret Mylne
Margaret Mylne (née Thomson, 2 December 1806 – 15 January 1892) was a Scottish suffragette and writer. She was a signatory to the petition for women's suffrage presented to the House of Commons in 1866.
Life
Mylne née Thomson was born in ...
was his sister and
William Thomson his half-brother. Allen Thomson was educated at the high school and
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, and then in Paris. He graduated doctor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh in August 1830. At the time of his graduation he was president of the
Royal Medical Society
The Royal Medical Society (RMS) is a society run by students at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, Scotland. It claims to be the oldest medical society in the United Kingdom although this claim is also made by the earlier London-based ...
in Edinburgh. He became a fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The College has seven active faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical practices. Its main campus is located on ...
in 1831.
Thomson travelled in the Netherlands and Germany, visiting anatomical and pathological museums, and taking notes. On his return to Edinburgh he began to lecture at
9 Surgeon's Square as an
extramural teacher of physiology in association with
William Sharpey
William Sharpey FRS FRSE LLD (1 April 1802 – 11 April 1880) was a Scottish anatomist and physiologist. Sharpey became the outstanding exponent of experimental biology and is described as the "father of British physiology".
Early life
Sharpe ...
, who lectured on anatomy. These lectures were given from 1831 to 1836, and during the latter part of the time Thomson assisted also in teaching anatomy. In 1833 he travelled with his father for nearly three months, visiting medical schools in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and France. From 1837 to 1839 he became private physician to
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, (6 July 1766 – 20 October 1839), known as Lord John Russell until 1802, was a British Whig politician who notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Ministry of All the Talents. He was the fathe ...
, then an invalid.
[
Thomson was appointed professor of anatomy in ]Marischal College, Aberdeen
Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...
, in October 1839; but after the collapse of the joint school in the university in 1841 he resigned his chair, and again became a teacher in the Extramural School, this time at 1 Surgeon's Square, Edinburgh. In the summer of 1842 he delivered a special course of lectures on microscopic anatomy, a subject which was then new. In these lectures he supplemented the views of German observers with results from his own investigations. In 1841 William Pulteney Alison
William Pulteney Alison FRSE FRCPE FSA (12 November 1790 – 22 September 1859) was a Scottish physician, social reformer and philanthropist. He was a distinguished professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He served as president ...
resigned the chair of physiology in Edinburgh, and in 1842 Thomson was elected his successor. He occupied this chair for six years, making contributions to embryology
Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...
. He was appointed Regius Professor of Anatomy in the University of Glasgow
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, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
in 1848, in succession to James Jeffray
James Jeffray (1759–1848) was Professor of Anatomy and Botany at Glasgow University from 1790 until 1848. This 58 years of professorship is one of the longest in Scottish history.
In around 1830 he is credited with invention of the surgical ...
. This chair he held until 1877, when he resigned it and went to live in London.[
Thomson was elected a fellow of the ]Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
in 1838, and of the Royal Society of London
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in 1848. He became a councillor of the Royal Society of London in 1877, and one of the vice-presidents in 1878. He was president of the Philosophical Society, of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, and of the Science Lectures Association in Glasgow, and was also the first president of the local branch of the British Medical Association. From 1859 to 1877 he represented the universities of Glasgow and of St. Andrews jointly on the General Medical Council
The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public" by c ...
, where his ripe experience and calm judgment enabled him to do good service to the cause of medical education. He was president of the biological section of the British Association
The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...
at the Edinburgh meeting in 1871, and in 1876 was elected president of the Association. In his presidential address in the following year he reviewed the history of the Darwinian theory
Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that ...
of evolution. In 1871 the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the degree of LL.D., the University of Glasgow paid him a similar compliment in 1877, and he received the degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford in 1882.[
Thomson acted as chairman of the removal and buildings committee of the University of Glasgow from 1863 to 1874, when the university buildings on ]Gilmorehill
Hillhead ( sco, Hullheid, gd, Ceann a' Chnuic) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland. Situated north of Kelvingrove Park and to the south of the River Kelvin, Hillhead is at the heart of Glasgow's fashionable West End, with Byres Road forming the w ...
were successfully completed and occupied. He also took an active part in the erection of the Western Infirmary.
He died in London on 21 March 1884, at 66 Palace Gardens Terrace.[ He is buried with his wife, Ninian Jane Hill, in ]Dean Cemetery
The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...
in western Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. The grave faces the southmost path from the south-east corner of the south-east section.
Works
Thomson was a draughtsman, and his diagrams were long current in textbooks of anatomy and physiology. He wrote on physiological optics, on the mechanism by which the eye accommodates or focusses itself for objects at different distances.[
Thomson took part in editing the seventh, eighth, and ninth editions of ]Jones Quain
Jones Quain (pronounced "kwan") (November 1796 – 31 January 1865) was an Irish anatomist, born at Mallow. Quain was Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the University of London. He was author of ''Elements of Anatomy'', of which the first e ...
's 'Elements of Anatomy.' He was associated in the seventh edition with Sharpey and Cleland, in the eighth with Sharpey and Schäfer, and in the ninth edition with Schäfer and Thane. He also edited the second volume of William Cullen
William Cullen FRS FRSE FRCPE FPSG (; 15 April 17105 February 1790) was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, and professor at the Edinburgh Medical School. Cullen was a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment: He was Dav ...
's ''Life'', part of his father's project to issue Cullen's ''Works'', and to the reissue of the first volume he prefixed a biographical notice of his half-brother William.[
Manuscripts of Thompson's essays are held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.
]
Family
Thomson married Ninian Jane Hill (1810-1893), the daughter of Ninian Hill, writer to the signet, Edinburgh. By her he had an only son, John Millar Thomson
Prof John Millar Thomson PIC FRS FRSE LLD (7 March 1849 – 22 March 1933) was a British chemist who held various leading positions with British chemical societies and was the vice-principal of King's College London. He was President of the In ...
FRS FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
.[
He was half-brother to Prof William Thomson, son of his father's first wife. William married Allen's sister-in-law, Eliza Hill.] William is buried next to him.
References
Attribution:
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Allen
1809 births
1884 deaths
19th-century Scottish medical doctors
Scottish anatomists
Scottish physiologists
British embryologists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Medical doctors from Edinburgh
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Academics of the University of Glasgow
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh