Dr Joseph Tillie

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 ...

(20 January 1859 – 20 November 1898) was a 19th-century Scottish physician and pharmacologist with a special knowledge of "exotic poisons" such as

curare Curare ( /kʊˈrɑːri/ or /kjʊˈrɑːri/; ''koo-rah-ree'' or ''kyoo-rah-ree'') is a common name for various alkaloid arrow poisons originating from plant extracts. Used as a paralyzing agent by indigenous peoples in Central and South ...

Life

He was born 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 20 January 1859, the son of Thomas Tillie, a relatively wealthy tailor with a shop at 369 High Street on the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...

. The family lived at 11 Castle Terrace, a Georgian townhouse viewing onto

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

. He originally trained as a banker and worked as an accountant for the Union Bank of Scotland.BMJ obituaries Dec 1898 He first took a general degree 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 ...

, graduating in 1883, then continued at the University, studying medicine, and graduating in 1886 with an MB ChB with Honours. He spent some time as a

pharmacologist Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

, and was also Assistant Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Edinburgh under Professor Thomas Richard Fraser, also being Resident Physician at

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

. He lived at the Old Farm,

Gilmerton Gilmerton ( gd, Baile GhilleMhoire, IPA: �paləˈʝiːʎəˈvɔɾʲə is a suburb of Edinburgh, about southeast of the city centre. The toponym "Gilmerton" is derived from a combination of gd, Gille-Moire– a personal name and later surnam ...

just south of

. In 1888 he took leave for a year to do further technical studies in pharmacology at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

under Professor Boehm. In 1893 he 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 ...

. His proposers were fellow physicians Sir Thomas Richard Fraser, Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan,

Alexander Crum Brown Alexander Crum Brown FRSE FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish organic chemist. Alexander Crum Brown Road in Edinburgh's King's Buildings complex is named after him. Early life and education Crum Brown was born at 4 Bellev ...

and

Sir William Turner Sir William Turner (7 January 1832, in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster – 15 February 1916, in Edinburgh) was an English anatomist and was the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1903 to 1916. Life Turner was born in Lancaster ...

. At this time he had returned to the family house at Castle Terrace (presumably inherited from his father), but also had a property at 7 Kew Terrace. He stepped down from his multiple roles in 1895 due to ill-health and moved to

Springfontein Springfontein is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. History The town was established in 1904 on the farm Hartleydale, which was part of the farm Springfontein. The name Springfontein, which is Afrikaans for "j ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

to recover.South African Medical Journal December 1895 He died in East

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 28 November 1898, aged 38, following a strenuous sea journey.Edinburgh Medical Journal December 1898 His wife appears to have circulated the tale that he died in South Africa in order to pursue her desire to continue to live there.

Family

In 1887 he married Jean Lamont Barclay.

Publications

*''The Pharmacology of

Curare Curare ( /kʊˈrɑːri/ or /kjʊˈrɑːri/; ''koo-rah-ree'' or ''kyoo-rah-ree'') is a common name for various alkaloid arrow poisons originating from plant extracts. Used as a paralyzing agent by indigenous peoples in Central and South ...

'' (1889) winner of the Gunning-Christison Jubilee Prize for that year *''Curare and its Alkoids'' (1890) *''Curare as a Muscle Poison'' (1893) *''Patent and Quack Medicines'' (1893) *''Heredity and the Modern Novel'' (1894)

References

1859 births 1898 deaths Medical doctors from Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-med-bio-stub