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George Johnston (1797 – 1855) was a Scottish
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and naturalist. Johnston was one of the founders of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club and became its first president. His books include ''The Flora of Berwick-upon-Tweed'', ''History of British Zoophytes'', and ''History of British Sponges and Lithophytes''.


Life

He was born at Simprin,
Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of t ...
, on 20 July 1797. When he was still young, his family moved to Ilderton in Northumberland. Johnston was educated first at Kelso, then at Berwick grammar school, and finally at the
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 ...
. He was apprenticed to John Abercrombie, and in 1817, qualifying as a member 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 o ...
, he went to London. Contains obituary of Johnston and a list of publications. In 1818 Johnston began practice at Berwick-on-Tweed, where he remained. On 23 November 1819 he married Catharine Charles. Catharine illustrated many of his publications. Also in 1819 he graduated M.D. of Edinburgh, and in 1824 became F.R.C.S.E. He was thrice mayor of Berwick, and became LL.D. of Aberdeen. He retired from practice in 1853, and died at Berwick on 30 July 1855. He was one of the founders of the Ray Society and of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club.


Works

Johnston's independent works were: *''Inaugural Dissertation'', Edinburgh, 1819 *A few remarks on the class Mollusca, in Dr Fleming's work of British animals; with descriptions of some new species.'' Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal'' Apr-Sep 1828 (Apr-Jun 1828): 74–81., 1828. *''Flora of Berwick-upon-Tweed''
vol. i., 1829
vol. ii., dealing with cryptogams, 1831. *''Address to the Inhabitants of Berwick on Cholera'', 1832. *''History of British Zoophytes'', from the ''Transactions of the Newcastle Natural History Society'', 1838; 2nd edit. 1847
Volume 1 (text)Volume 2 (plates)
*''The Molluscous Animals'', in the English edition of Georges Cuvier'
''Animal Kingdom''
1840. *''The History of British Sponges and Lithophytes'', 1842. *''An Index to the British Annelides'' , ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'', vol. 16, supplement, 1846 *''Introduction to Conchology'', 1850, reprinted from
John Claudius Loudon John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1783 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, collected for the purpose of ...
's ''Magazine'', in which it had the title ''Natural History of Molluscous Animals''. *''Terra Lindisfarnensis: the Natural History of the Eastern Borders, vol. i.
Botany, with the popular names and uses of the plants, and the customs and beliefs which have been associated with them''
1853 (no more published). *''Catalogue of the British non-parasitical Worms in the Collection of the British Museum'', completed just before Johnston's death, but not published by the trustees until 1865. *''Catalogus animalium et plantarum quæ in insula Lindisfarnensi visa sunt mense Maio, 1854'', printed in the ''Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club'', 1873, vii. 46. Johnston was from 1837 one of the editors of the '' Magazine of Zoology and Botany'', later the ''
Annals and Magazine of Natural History The ''Journal of Natural History'' is a scientific journal published by Taylor & Francis focusing on entomology and zoology. The journal was established in 1841 under the name ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'' (''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.'') an ...
''. To it, the '' Edinburgh Philosophical Journal'', Loudon's ''Magazine of Natural History'', the ''Transactions of the Natural History Society of Newcastle'', and to the ''Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club'', he contributed 90 papers.


Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, George 1797 births 1855 deaths Scottish naturalists 19th-century Scottish medical doctors People from Berwickshire Scottish botanists Scottish zoologists 19th-century British botanists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh