William Henderson (10 January 1810 – 1 April 1872) was a conventionally trained

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

physician who became an influential advocate for

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Life

Henderson was born in

Thurso Thurso (pronounced ; sco, Thursa, gd, Inbhir Theòrsa ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great ...

Caithness Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...

. William Henderson was appointed professor of general

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

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 ...

and physician-in-ordinary to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He authored important articles on the clinical and pathological aspects of aortic and

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

. He also contributed to the recognition of

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

and

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

as separate diseases. In 1840 he was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh. In 1843 he was elected a member of the Aesculapian Club although resigned his membership in 1845. Henderson was an early advocate for homeopathy in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and was at the center of a controversy surrounding the introduction of homeopathy to Edinburgh in the early 1840s. This involved the Faculty of Medicine, the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

(RCPE) and other medical societies, as well as prominent medical figures of the period including

Sir John Forbes Sir John Forbes Royal College of Physicians, FRCP Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (17 December 1787 – 13 November 1861) was a distinguished Scottish physician, famous for his translation of the classic French medical text ''De L'Auscultation ...

, Professor Sir James Simpson, Professor Sir Robert Christison and Professor James Syme. Many Scottish physicians were influenced by Henderson's teachings and they in turn were involved in the wider introduction of homeopathy in Britain. In his retirement, Henderson was author to a reference work on the Bible. He is buried with his wife Williamina and other members of his family against the north wall of the Grange Cemetery 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 ...

Publications

*William Henderson and John Reid, "A Report on the Epidemic Fever of Edinburgh", ''Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal'', vol. 52, 1839, pp. 429–462. *William Henderson, ''An Inquiry into the Homeopathic Practice of Medicine'', published simultaneously by J. Leath (London), Smyth (Liverpool), MacLachlan and Stewart (Edinburgh), 1845. *William Henderson, ''Homeopathy Fairly Represented: A Reply to Professor Simpson's "Homeopathy Misrepresented"'', Lindsay & Blakiston (Philadelphia) 1854. Available in reprint from Kessinger Publishing, 2008, . *William Henderson, "A Letter to John Forbes", ''British Journal of Homeopathy'', April 1846. *William Henderson, ''Dictionary and Concordance of the Names of Persons and Places of the Old and New Testaments'', T. & T. Clark (Edinburgh), 1869, 680 pp.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, William 1810 births 1872 deaths 19th-century Scottish medical doctors Academics of the University of Edinburgh Bible commentators British homeopaths People from Thurso Physicians-in-Ordinary Members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh