MartinFrost.ws index page
Some Significant Scots I
John Muir, conservationist. 1838 1914
James Young Simpson, pioneer of chloroform. 1811 – 70
Robert Louis Stephenson, author. 1850 – 94
Thomas Telford, civil engineer. 1757 – 1834
Joseph Lister, surgeon. 1827 – 1912
Robert Adam, architect. 1728 – 92
Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, patriot. 1655 – 1716
James Dalrymple (Viscount Stair), jurist. 1619 -95
Nigel Tranter (1909-2000)
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930)
John Muir is one of that large band of Scots who is world renowned but until a few years ago was hardly known in his own country. In his case it is partly because he left Scotland at quite an early age. He is rightly regarded as one of the fathers of the modern conservation movement and his name is a source of inspiration to naturalists the world over; now at last he is being honoured in his native land.
He was born in Dunbar on the 21st April 1838 and emigrated to the United States along with his family in 1849. They settled in Wisconsin and he spent the next ten years working 12 hours a day helping his father to create a farm in the wilderness area they were faced with. His formal schooling had ended when the family reached America, but he was a voracious reader and like many men of genius was adept at self-teaching. A talent for invention was allied to excellent manual skills and with no training he was able to make clocks and other intricate machines out of hickory. This inventiveness led to a scholarship at Wisconsin University and later to work in industry, where his ability to improve and develop machinery was much admired, but an accident in which a tool pierced his eye and left him temporarily blinded forced him to re-evaluate his priorities. He turned to his interests as a naturalist and botanist and before long he set off on his celebrated 1000 mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico.
Muir went to California in 1868 and spent six years, initially as a shepherd and later studying and exploring, in the Yosemite Valley and the High Sierras. He had a great love of these wild places, and was horrified by man's impact on the often fragile environment. He wrote extensively about the geological and natural history of the region; the history of the glaciers, about the trees and their patterns of growth, the animals and their habitat, but above all about the landscape and the indelible impression it made upon him.
"When I was a boy in Scotland I was fond of everything that was wild... I loved to wander in the fields to hear the birds sing, and along the shore to gaze and wonder at the shells and seaweeds, eels and crabs in the pools when the tide was low; and best of all to watch the waves in awful storms thundering on the black headlands and craggy ruins of old Dunbar Castle."
In 1880, after working in Nevada, Utah, and Colorado, and visiting Alaska for the first time, he returned to California and set up home there following his marriage. There followed a period in which he withdrew from conservation work and concentrated on his new responsibilities running the wineyards and fruit farms of his new home in order to secure his family's future. However this caused him so much strain that he was frequently sent off on trips by his wife and by 1888 he was persuaded to return to his writing and conservation work at a time when the US government was returning public domain land to private hands and in the process setting off a period of land speculation which threatened the wilderness that he held so dear.
Although not entirely alone in his work Muir was largely responsible for inspiring the American people and alerting them to the possible loss of the wilderness areas, and through his petitioning of Congress, for the setting up in 1890 of Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park, which covers roughly a quarter of a million square miles. In 1892 he set up the Sierra Club, which would later have people such as Ansel Adams, the outstanding landscape photographer, on its Board of Trustees. His later defence of the forest parks against powerful lobbying from those who wanted to take back the forest and strip out the timber has inspired generations of conservationists the world over.
"Thousands of tired nerve-shaken, over civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."
Despite spending most of his life in America, Muir always considered himself a Scot, only taking American citizenship late in life. He returned to Scotland on a visit in the 1890s and visited the places of his youth which were deeply etched in his memory. This included his old school where his memories were of a somewhat mixed nature, for he recalled "If we failed in any part, however slight, we were whipped; for the grand simple all-sufficing Scotch discovery had been made that there was a close connection between the skin and the memory, and that irritiating the skin excited the memory to any required degree. Despite this recollection he was warmly welcomed by the Schoolmaster, who it turned out had read his books.
In California, Muir is regarded with great pride as a national hero, and the schoolchildren are taught the lessons of his work. The 21st of April is officially declared John Muir Day across the state. There is a glacier, a wood and a national monument named after him. Happily he has at last been fully recognised in his home country and there are two trusts which bear his name - The John Muir Birthplace Trust which was set up to purchase the house in Dunbar where he was born and turn it into an interpretive centre, and The John Muir Trust, established in 1983, which purchases key tracts of wild land in Scotland to preserve it from inappropriate development and promote its use for recreational and educational purposes. In recent years interest in him has begun to blossom, and the excellent biography by Frederick Turner, published here by Canongate in 1997 (the first to be published in Scotland since Muir's death in 1914) has done much to bring him to public attention. There is a 1660 acre John Muir Country Park near Dunbar and a John Muir Award for environmental endeavors by young people in Scotland, while at Edinburgh University the new Centre for the Study of Environmental Change and Sustainability is housed in the John Muir Building. Muir's books, which for many years were unavailable in this country, are now back in print in a paperback omnibus edition produced by Canongate in 1996. At the time of writing there is a Radio Scotland program being broadcast about Muir, narrated by Jimmie McGregor, and this will no doubt help to raise his profile still further.
James Young Simpson was born at Bathgate,
Linlithgowshire, a little village about twenty miles from Edinburgh, on
the 7th June, 1811. The Simpson family had lived there for many years,
steady labouring farmer folk. James’s father, David Simpson, happened
to be the village baker, while his mother, Mary Jervay, came by direct
descent from a Huguenot family which had fled from Guienne to Scotland
after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. From his mother,
therefore, James Simpson no doubt inherited his nimbleness of thought,
his gaily pleasant disposition, and his ability to turn his hand to any
kind of work, all of which characteristics he showed in his childhood.During the summer in which Simpson was horn, hard times came upon the baker’s household in the steep village street of Bathgate.
There were already one daughter and six other sons in David Simpson’s family. An epidemic of fever had swept through the village, money was scarce, sickness and embarrassments had run the Bathgate baker sadly into debt. Neighbours shook their heads when James arrived, and said that another mouth to feed would well-nigh bring ruin to the household.
However, the arrival of the seventh son seemed to bring fortune. Business improved, debts were paid, and when the news of Waterloo arrived at Bathgate, James Simpson had just begun his schooldays, while his parents had moved to new and larger premises across the street. James’s first schoolmaster, who was a Mr. Henderson, had a wooden leg, and so he went by the name of "Timmerleg" among his pupils. The weaving population of Bathgate were quite intelligent, and "Timmerleg" was far above the usual run of village pedagogues. He was also a keen naturalist, and James Simpson, his brightest pupil, learnt to love nature no less than other subjects from the wooden-legged Henderson. So far in advance of his playmates was he that they all soon referred to him as "the wise wean," that is, the wise child.
Planning a University Career
As George Herbert said, "A good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters," and James Simpson had the best of mothers. Directly she saw that her youngest son was outgrowing his present school, she set to work to plan a university career for him. The family cash-box was opened and its contents counted, economics were discussed, brows wrinkled, intricate calculations made on odd scraps of paper. His mother died when James was but nine, yet she had already set in motion the wheels which were to carry him to Edinburgh.
At the age of fourteen James Simpson left Bathgate and was enrolled as a student in the art classes of Edinburgh University. "Very, very young and very solitary, very poor and almost friendless," is how Simpson, when receiving the freedom of the city forty years later, described his condition on his first arrival at Edinburgh. "He was a painstaking, but not a specially brilliant scholar," wrote one of his class-mates. At first he was downcast, homesick, and distressed at the largeness and strangeness of the city. Soon, however, urged on by Professor Pillans, he won the Stuart Bursary of £10 per annum, which vastly encouraged him.
Begins to Study Medicine
In 1827 Simpson began his medical studies, and determined to be a doctor. He worked with ceaseless diligence and marked originality, and soon gained the first place in his class. In 1830 he passed his final examination with honours, and in 1831, when only just out of his teens, he was made a member of the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh: He was still too young to take his degree as doctor of medicine and practise, so for a while he worked at a minor assistantship in the medical school at Edinburgh. He also went on a tour through Holland, Belgium, and northern Germany.
In 1835 Simpson settled down to acquire an Edinburgh practice, and set up his plate in Heriot Row, Stockbridge, an unusually healthy, suburb of the city. Soon he found patients, who, he reported, "are mostly poor, but still they are patients." After a year’s hard work he obtained a hospital appointment, which brought him new experience and spread the fame of his deftness, gentleness, and sympathy. As a sequel, patients with fees in their hands came to seek out this skilful young doctor in Heriot Row.
Wins a Professorship and a Wife
In 1839 Dr. Hamilton, professor of midwifery at Edinburgh, resigned his chair. Several years before this Simpson had pointed out Hamilton to some friends at a university function, remarking, "Do you see that old gentleman? Well, I intend to have his gown." He now set to work to obtain the vacant chair. Youth and bachelorhood were objected against him. The latter disability he had long wished to remove, and he now proceeded to pen the most quaint letter of proposal to Miss Jessie Grindlay, a second cousin of his: "I write to make an application—a formal application—for a wife, and to solicit from you, not a testimonial in your handwriting, but your hand itself" (earlier in the letter Simpson had described how he had written many letters asking for testimonials to back his application for the chair he so much coveted). Jessie Grindlay’s answer was completely satisfactory to Dr. Simpson. They were married on Boxing Day, 1839, and before the end of January, 1840, Mrs. Simpson was able to tell all her friends that Dr. Simpson had become Professor Simpson.
Sudden Rise to Fame
Simpson quickly became famous. He could heal where others had abandoned hope. His attractive presence, silvery voice, and immense charm inspired hope and confidence in every heart. Patients came to seek him out from all over Europe, and he had much more to do than he could find time for, as he had his professorial duties to fulfil as well as attend to his practice. His old Bathgate friends, however, always had first call on his time. Was he never so busy, the formula "An old friend from Bathgate" opened his consulting room door. Once, when he was engaged with such a patient, a then famous authoress rang his bell, but was informed by his servant that no more patients could be seen that day. "But," said the lady, "I am sure I can be admitted; take my name, he knows me." "Dr. Simpson knows the queen, ma’am," was the answer. Such was Simpson’s practice, for in 1847 he was appointed one of Queen Victoria’s physicians for Scotland.
The horrors of the operating theatre before the advent of anaesthetics had always haunted Simpson’s dreams and preyed upon his mind. In 1846 the news came from America of the first trial of ether in surgery. No one hailed the discovery more heartily than Simpson, who at once adopted its use in his own practice. But soon, with his usual prodigious energy, he was on the track of some better anaesthetic than ether, the use of which was often attended by danger to the patient, besides being otherwise inconvenient. Nightly, after the day’s work was over, Simpson and his two assistants, Drs. Keith and Duncan, inhaled various drugs in order to discover some really satisfactory anaesthetic.
Once, when experimenting with anaesthetics, Simpson paid a visit to Lyon Playfair (who afterwards became Lord Playfair). The famous chemist was at work in his laboratory, so Simpson took the opportunity of asking him if he possessed any new liquid capable of producing anaesthesia.
To Simpson’s unbounded joy, Playfair told him that his assistant had recently prepared a liquid which was well worthy of experiment. Immediately Simpson suggested that he should go into his friend’s private room and inhale some of the vapour to see what effect it would have. Playfair absolutely refused to allow such a thing to happen, unless the experiment was tried on two rabbits beforehand.
Reluctantly Simpson agreed, chafing at what he considered a needless waste of time. The new anaesthetic was given to the annimals, and with much delight Simpson watched their recovery of consciousness. He returned home, and went back the next day determined that he and his assistant should inhale the vapour. Before the test, however, his assistant suggested that they should see how the rabbits were faring. The inspection was made—both animals were found to be dead.
Thus, through Simpson’s reckless bravery, medicine nearly lost him before his great discovery had been made.
On the evening of the 4th November, 1847, Simpson and his assistants met as usual to inhale possible new anaesthetics. Dr. Keith started to inhale half a small tumblerful first. In two minutes he was under the dining-room table. Simpson and Duncan soon followed him. Anyone suddenly entering the room would have taken for a drunken orgy one of the epoch-making moments in the history of medicine.
"Far Better and Stronger than Ether"
Simpson was the first to recover his senses. "This is far better and stronger than ether," said he to himself. "This will turn the world upside down." All the while Mrs. Simpson, her sister, and her niece, had watched the three men in horror. So soon as Simpson showed signs of returning consciousness, they plied him with anxious questions as to "how he felt." The great doctor laughed, for he knew now that pain was conquered, that he had laid his hand upon a tremendous new "gift of healing."
Nevertheless, a fierce and dogged resistance arose against the introduction of chloroform. Professional and theological arguments and abuse poured on Simpson from all sides. He met his detractors in the open field with huge relish. Actual demonstrations and statistics silenced medical objectors. Ignorant theological prejudice, however, was more difficult to overcome. Chloroform was "unnatural," it was said. "So are railway trains, carriages and the steamboats," retorted Simpson, who, further, published pamphlets refuting the theologians on their own scriptural grounds, showing, moreover, that he knew his Bible better than they. This battle, which now seems so remote and fantastic, raged bitterly for several years;. but it was half won when Queen Victoria herself took chloroform, and when Dr. Chalmers, then the foremost of Scottish divines, declared that the question had not even the remotest connexion with theology.
A Happy Laughing Magician
Simpson then established the use of anaethetics throughout the civilized world, and passed on to other questions. Nevertheless chloroform remains his greatest triumph and his finest discovery. For many years he continued to bring health and happiness to multitudes, both rich and poor, giving himself to the work without thought for his own health. This little, rather stout doctor, with his twinkling eyes and happy laughing manner grew to be looked upon as a kind of magician, whose very presence and touch could heal. "Hide my hat," he would say to his butler, on returning home for a few scanty hours of rest, it is such a tell-tale."
Ultimately, of course, overwork told upon him. He grew less strong in every way, and sciatica crippled him for months together. At last his willing heart finally rebelled against the enormous strain he put upon it, and he became a semi-invalid. As the sun set on the 6th Mary, 1870, Simpson’s life journey came to an end, and after years of ceaseless toil he rested at last.
Queen Victoria desired that he should be buried in Westminster Abbey, but, according to his own wish, he lies buried in a grave at Warriston, overlooking Edinburgh, the city whose ills he so splendidly worked to heal. Simpson was one of the greatest doctors that ever came into the world to cure its ills; and to all his thousands of patients — to nearly all Britain—he was "the beloved physician, who never tired of doing good."
Robert Louis Stevenson has a special place in
the hearts of readers. He's one of those writers people feel they've
become friends with through their books. He inspires great fondness as
well as admiration and his popularity has, if anything, grown, perhaps
because his outlook was remarkably modern. Born in Edinburgh in 1850, he was a frail little boy who often had to stay in bed while other children were playing out of doors, and through force of circumstance he developed his imagination to entertain himself. His delightful book of poetry for children, A Child's Garden of Verses, recalls those days in Heriot Row.
The Stevensons were a family of great engineers, but Robert disappointed them by his absence of enthusiasm for a solid professional career. He was never happy to conform for the sake of conformity. His marriage to a woman who was considerably older than him raised eyebrows - even present-day commentators sometimes suggest that Fanny Osbourne was primarily a mother figure to him.
Stevenson studied at Edinburgh University, in the Old Quad situated directly opposite James Thin's bookshop on South Bridge. Though he loved books and reading and his passionate ambition was to become a writer, he wasn't interested in formal learning. He studied engineering for a session in 1867, then transferred to law, becoming an advocate in 1875. But his heart just wasn't in it. As a student, he found fun and distraction in Edinburgh pubs. One of his favourites was Rutherford's - it's still there in Drummond Street, busy as ever.
Much as he loved Scotland, he felt stifled there by social and family demands. A free and restless spirit, he became a great traveller despite chronic ill health, and never failed to write up his experiences in books such as Inland Voyage and Travels on a Donkey in the Cevennes. He and Fanny made good travel companions, finally settling in 1889 on the gentle island of Samoa. The people there loved him and called him Tusitala - teller of tales. He died in 1894 on his estate, Vailima, at the age of forty-four, leaving unfinished Weir of Hermiston (published posthumously in 1896), which some think would have been his masterpiece.
Stevenson is most strongly associated with Edinburgh, a city whose dualism he chillingly characterised in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). However far away he travelled, images of life in Edinburgh filled his mind, as he describes vividly in the following letter to his friend, Charles Baxter from Yacht Casco, at sea, near the Paumotus in 1888:
'Last night as I lay under my blanket in the cockpit, courting sleep all of a sudden I had a vision of - Drummond Street. It came on me like a flash of lightning; I simply returned thither, and into the past. And when I remembered all that I hoped and feared as I picked about Rutherford's in the rain and the east wind: how I feared I should be a mere shipwreck, and yet timidly hoped not; how I feared I should never have a friend, far less a wife, and yet passionately hoped I might; how I hoped (if I did not take to drink) I should possibly write one little book I should like the incident set upon a brass plate at the corner of that dreary thoroughfare, for all students to read, poor devils, when their hearts are down.'
Stevenson's most famous adventure books, Treasure Island and Kidnapped, first published in 1883 and 1886 respectively, are regarded as classics. His work has inspired a remarkable diversity of interpretations from book illustrators, from Charles Robinson's intriguing art nouveau drawings for A Child's Garden of Verses to the dreamy dark images Mervyn Peake produced for Treasure Island. Many of Robert Louis Stevenson's books are still in print, enthralling generation after generation, and there are several first-rate RLS biographies available.
TELFORD, THOMAS, an eminent engineer and
constructor of public works, was born about the year 1755, in the
parish of Westerkirk in Dumfriesshire. His outset in life was
strikingly humble in comparison with its close. He began the world as a
working stone-mason in his native parish, and for a long time was only
remarkable for the neatness with which he cut the letters upon those
frail sepulchral memorials which "teach the rustic moralist to die."
His occupation fortunately afforded a greater number of leisure hours
than what are usually allowed by such laborious employments, and these
young Telford turned in the utmost advantage in his power. Having
previously acquired the elements of learning, he spent all his spare
time in poring over such volumes as fell within his reach, with no
better light in general than what was afforded by the cottage fire.
Under these circumstances the powers of his mind took a direction not
uncommon among rustic youths; he became a noted rhymster in the homely
style of Ramsay and Fergusson, and, while still a very young man,
contributed verses to Ruddiman’s Weekly Magazine, under the
unpretending signature of "Eskdale Tam." In one of these compositions,
which was addressed to Burns, he sketched his own character, and hinted
his own ultimate fate –Nor
pass the tentie curious lad,
Who o’er the ingle hangs his head,
And begs of neighbours books to read;
For hence arise,
Thy country’s sons, who far are spread,
Baith bold and wise.
Who o’er the ingle hangs his head,
And begs of neighbours books to read;
For hence arise,
Thy country’s sons, who far are spread,
Baith bold and wise.
Though Mr Telford afterwards abandoned the thriftless trade of versifying, he is said to have retained through life a strong "frater-feeling" for the corps, which he showed in a particular manner on the death of Burns, in exertions for the benefit of his family. Having proceeded to London in quest of work, he had the good fortune to be employed under Sir William Chambers in the building of Somerset house. Here his merit was soon discovered by the illustrious architect, and he experienced promotion accordingly. We are unable to detail the steps by which he subsequently placed himself at the head of the profession of engineering; but it is allowed on all hands that his elevation was owing solely to his consummate ability and persevering industry, unless we are to allow a share in the process to the singular candour and integrity which marked every step in his career. His works are so numerous all over the island, that there is hardly a county in England, Wales, or Scotland, in which they may not be pointed out. The Menai and Conway bridges, the Caledonian canal, the St Katharine’s docks, the Holyhead roads and bridges, the Highland roads and bridges, the Chirke and Ponteysulte aqueducts, the canals in Salop, and great works in that county, of which he was surveyor for more than half a century, are some of the traits of his genius which occur to us, and which will immortalize the name of Thomas Telford.
The Menai bridge will probably be regarded by the public as the most imperishable monument of Mr Telford’s fame. This bridge over the Bangor ferry, connecting the counties of Caernarvon and Anglesea, partly of stone and partly of iron, on the suspension principle, consists of seven stone arches, exceeding in magnitude every work of the kind in the world. They connect the land with the two main piers, which rise fifty-three feet above the level of the road, over the top of which the chains are suspended, each chain being 1714 feet from the fastenings in the rock. The first three-masted vessel passed under the bridge in 1826. Her topmasts were nearly as high as a frigate, but they cleared twelve feet and a half below the centre of the roadway. The suspending power of the chains was calculated at 2016 tons. The total weight of each chain, 121 tons.
The Caledonian canal is another of Mr Telford’s splendid works, in constructing every part of which, though prodigious difficulties were to be surmounted, he was successful. But even this great work does not redound so much to his credit as the roads throughout the same district. That from Inverness to the county of Sutherland, and through Caithness, made not only, so far as respects its construction, but its direction, under Mr Telford’s orders, is superior in point of line and smoothness, to any part of the road of equal continuous length between London and Inverness. This is a remarkable fact, which, from the great difficulties he had to overcome in passing through a rugged, hilly, and mountainous district, incontrovertibly establishes his great skill in the engineering department, as well as in the construction of great public communications.
Mr Telford was not more remarkable for his great professional abilities than for his sterling worth in private life. His easiness of access, and the playfulness of his disposition, even to the close of life, endeared him to a numerons circle of friends, including all the most distinguished men of his time. For some years before his death, he had withdrawn himself in a great measure from professional employment, and amused his leisure by writing a detailed account of the principal works he had planned, and lived to see executed. He died September 9, 1834, in his seventy-ninth year, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Born 1827. A surgeon who pioneered the use of
antiseptics and thereby dramatically reduced the number of
post-opertive deaths due to infection.After an early education at various Quaker schools he entered University College, London. After studying the arts he graduated and decided to take up medicine at the same College. He enrolled in the faculty of medical science in October 1848. During this time he was taught by the eminent physiologist William Sharpey, recognised as one of the greatest surgical teacher of his day. Lister was a brilliant student and graduated a bachelor of medicine with honours in 1852. In October 1856 he was appointed as an assistant surgeon, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, to James Syme, who's daughter he later married. The marriage, although childless, was a happy one, with his wife entering fully into Lister's professional life.
Joseph Lister & Antiseptic Surgery
By the middle of the nineteenth century, post-operative sepsis infection accounted for the death of almost half of the patients undergoing major surgery. A common report by surgeons was: operation successfully but the patient died.
In 1839 the chemist Justin von Liebig had asserted that sepsis was a kind of combustion caused by exposing moist body tissue to oxygen. It was therefore considered that the best prevention was to keep air away from wounds by means of plasters, collodion or resins. Joseph Lister, a British surgeon, doubted this explanation. For many years he had explored the inflammation of wounds, at the Glasgow infirmary. These observations had led him to considered that infection was not due to bad air alone, and that 'wound sepsis' was a form of decomposition.
Born on the 5 April 1827 in Upton, Essex, Joseph Lister was the son of the British physicist Joseph Jackson Lister.
After an early education at various Quaker schools he entered University College, London. After studying the arts he graduated and decided to take up medicine at the same College. He enrolled in the faculty of medical science in October 1848. During this time he was taught by the eminent physiologist William Sharpey, recognised as one of the greatest surgical teacher of his day. Lister was a brilliant student and graduated a bachelor of medicine with honours in 1852. In October 1856 he was appointed as an assistant surgeon, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, to James Syme, who's daughter he later married. The marriage, although childless, was a happy one, with his wife entering fully into Lister's professional life.
When the Regius Professorship of Surgery at Glasgow University fell vacant in 1859 Lister was selected from seven candidates. In August 1861 he was appointed surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and put in charge of its new surgical building.
The hope was that the new building would decrease the number of deaths caused by what was then called hospital disease (now known as operative sepsis). This proved a vain hope when Lister reported that between 45 and 50 percent of his amputation cases died from sepsis between 1861 and 1865 in his Male Accident Ward. It was in this ward that Lister began his experimental work with antisepsis.
Having tried methods to encourage clean healing, with little, or no success, Lister began to form theories to account for the prevalence of sepsis. He discarded the popular concept of direct infection by bad air and postulated that sepsis might be caused by a 'pollen-like dust'. Although, there is no evidence to suggest he believed this dust to be living matter he was close to the truth.
When, In 1865, Louis Pasteur suggested that decay was caused by living organisms in the air, which on entering matter caused it to ferment, Lister made the connection with wound sepsis. A meticulous researcher and surgeon, Lister recognized the relationship between Pasteir's research and his own. He considered that microbes in the air were likely causing the putrefaction and had to be destroyed before they entered the wound.
In the previous year Lister had heard that 'carbolic acid' was being used to treat sewage in Carlisle, and that fields treated with the affluent were freed of a parasite causing disease in cattle.
Lister now began to clean wounds and dress them
using a solution of carbolic acid. He was able to announce at a British
Medical Association meeting, in 1867, that his wards at the Glasgow
Royal Infirmary had remained clear of sepsis for nine months. Although
his methods initially met with indifference and hostility, doctors
gradually began to support his antiseptic techniques. In 1870 Lister's
antiseptic methods were used, by Germany, during the Franco-Prussian
war saving many Prussian soldier's lives. In Germany, by 1878, Robert
Koch was demonstrating the usefulness of steam for sterilizing surgical
instruments and dressings. German surgeons were beginning to practice
antiseptic surgery, which involved keeping wounds free from
micro-organisms by the use of sterilized instruments and materials.The 1870's were some of the happiest years of Lister's life, largely due to the German experiments with antisepsis during the Franco-German War. His clinics were crowded with visitors and eager students. Lister made a triumphal tour of the leading surgical centres in Germany in 1875. On visiting America in 1876, however, he was only received with enthusiasm in Boston and New York City. Opposition was great In England and the United States mainly against Lister's germ theory rather than against his "carbolic treatment." Edinburgh was regarded as a provincial centre, despite the ancient fame of its medical school. Surgeons were prepared to await for clear proof that antisepsis constituted a major advance. Lister knew that before the usefulness of his work would be generally accepted he must convince London.
When, in 1877, he was offered the chair of Clinical Surgery at Kings College, Lister's chance came. A simple operation of wiring a fractured kneecap, entailing deliberate convertion of a simple fracture into a compound fracture, often resulted in generalised infection and death. On October 26 1877, Lister, for the first time, carried out the operation under antiseptic conditions. News of the operation was widely publicized arousing much opposition. Its success was instrumental in forcing surgical opinion throughout the world to accept that his method's greatly added to the safety of operative surgery.
Many honours now came to him.
In 1883 Lister was created a baronet and made Baron Lister of Lyme Regis in 1897. He was also appointed one of the 12 original members of the Order of Merit in 1902.
In life, Lister was a shy, unassuming man and deeply religious. He joined the Scottish Episcopal Church as a young man. He was firm in his purpose, humbly believing himself to be directed by God. He was uninterested in social success or financial reward.
Lister saw the cumulation of his emphasis on the principle of preventative medicine with the opening of the Institute of Preventative Medicine in 1891.
His wife died in 1892 and Lister retired from general practice the following year.
He served as a President of the Royal Society from 1895 to 1900. He died on the 10 February 1912 in Walmer, Kent.
Robert Adam was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife in 1728.
Often considered Scotland's most famous architect, Adam became a leader
of classical revival in England for both architecture and interior
decoration. His designs are particularly notable for their lavish use
of colour. Robert Adam was an eclectic who depended as much on good business sense as on his personal design innovations. His designs incorporated light, colour, and detailed ornamentation.
To generate his style he adapted motifs from classical antiquity, Italian, French and Renaissance influences and abstracted them into a personal style.
Adam's most unusual designs were based on Etruscan vase decorations. The Etruscan Dressing Room at Osterley Park, Middlesex (1775-1776) is the only substantial survivor of eight such designs. Adam died in London in 1792.
Robert Adam’s life
Robert Adam (3 July 1728 - 3 March 1792) was a Scottish architect, interior designer and furniture designer, born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland.
He was the second son of William Adam (1689-1748) of Maryburgh, Fife, a stonemason and architect of some note, appointed Surveyor of the King's Works in Scotland in 1729 and Mason to the Board of Ordnance a year later
Robert studied at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, then entered the University of Edinburgh in 1743 only for his studies to be interrupted by illness and the Jacobite Rising of 1745. In 1746, he joined his older brother, John Adam, as an assistant to his father, and after William Adam’s death in 1748, the two brothers became partners in the family business, now known as 'Adam Brothers'.
Their first major commission was the decoration of the grand State Apartments on the first floor at Hopetoun House, near South Queensferry west of Edinburgh, followed by projects at Fort George, Dumfries House and Inverary. In 1754, Robert Adam set off for Europe on the Grand Tour of France and Italy, studying classical architecture and honing his drawing skills (his art tutors included French architect Charles Lois Clérisseau and architect and archaeologist Giovanni Battista Piranesi). During this journey, he studied intensively the ruins of Diocletian's palace at Spalato in Dalmatia, later publishing The Ruins of the Palace of Diocletian in 1764.
He returned to Great Britain in 1758 and set up in business in London with his brothers James and William, focused on designing complete schemes for the decoration and furnishing of houses. Palladian design was popular, but Robert evolved a new, more flexible style incorporating elements of classic Roman design alongside influences from Greek, Byzantine and Baroque styles. The Adams’ success can also be attributed to a desire to design everything down to the smallest detail, ensuring a sense of unity in their designs.
Robert was elected a member of the Royal Society of Arts in 1758 and of the Society of Antiquaries in 1761, the same year he was appointed Architect of the King’s Works (jointly with Sir William Chambers). His younger brother James succeeded him in this post when he relinquished the role in 1768 in order to devote more time to his elected office as Member of Parliament for Kinross.
Robert Adam died suddenly at his home, 11 Albermarle Street, London, after a blood vessel in his stomach burst. He was 64. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
FLETCHER, ANDREW, so much celebrated for his
patriotism and political knowledge, was the son of Sir Robert Fletcher
of Salton and Innerpeffer, by Catharine Bruce, daughter of Sir Henry
Bruce of Clackmannan, and was born in the year 1653. His descent was truly noble, his father being the fifth in a direct line from Sir Bernard Fletcher of the county of York, and his mother of the noble race of Bruce; the patriarch of the family of Clackmannan, having been the third son of Robert de Bruce, lord of Annandale, grandfather of Robert de Bruce, king of Scots. The subject of this memoir had the misfortune to lose his father in early youth; but he was, by that parent, on his deathbed, consigned to the care of Gilbert Burnet, then minister of Salton, and afterwards bishop of Salisbury, who carefully instructed him in literature and religion, as well as in the principles of free government, of which Fletcher became afterwards such an eminent advocate. After completing his course of education under his excellent preceptor, he went upon his travels, and spent several years in surveying the manners and examining the institutions of the principal continental states. His first appearance as a public character was in the parliament held by James, duke of York, as royal commissioner, in the year 1681. In this parliament Fletcher sat as commissioner for the shire of East Lothian, and manifested the most determined opposition to the arbitrary and tyrannical measures of the court. In a short time he found it necessary to withdraw himself, first into England, to consult with his reverend preceptor, Dr Burnet, and afterwards, by his advice, to Holland. For his opposition to the test, and to the general spirit of the government, he was, not long after, summoned to appear before the lords of his majesty’s privy council at Edinburgh. Of the spirit of this court, the most abominable that has disgraced the annals of Great Britain, Fletcher was too well aware to put himself in its power, and for his non-appearance he was outlawed and his estate confiscated. Holland was at this time the resort of many of the best men of both kingdoms, who had been obliged to expatriate themselves, to escape the fury of an infatuated government, and with these Fletcher formed the closest intimacy. In the year 1683, he accompanied Baillie of Jerviswood to England, in order to concert measures with the friends of liberty there, and was admitted into the secrets of lord Russell’s council of six. This assembly consisted of the duke of Monmouth, the lords Russell, Essex, and Howard, Algernon Sydney, and John Hampden, grandson to the immortal patriot of that name. Tyranny was, however, at this time, triumphant. Monmouth was obliged to abscond; Russell was apprehended, tried, and executed, principally through the evidence of his associate lord Howard, who was an unprincipled wretch. Essex was imprisoned, and either cut his own throat, or had it cut by assassins,—history has never determined which. Sydney was executed, and Howard subjected to a fine of forty thousand pounds sterling. Many other persons of inferior note were executed for this plot. Jerviswood fell into the hands of the Scottish administration, and was most illegally and iniquitously put to death. Fletcher too was eagerly sought after, and, had he been apprehended, would certainly have shared the same fate. He, however, escaped again to the continent, where he devoted his time to the study of public law, and for sometime seems to have had little correspondence with his native country.
In the beginning of the year 1685, when James VII. acceded to the throne of Britain, Fletcher came to the Hague, where were assembled Monmouth, Argyle, Melville, Polworth, Torwoodlie, Mr James Stuart, lord Stair, and many other gentlemen, both Scottish and English, when the unfortunate expeditions of Argyle and Monmouth were concerted. It does not appear, however, that Fletcher was a leader among these gentlemen. His temper was of the most stern and unaccommodating character, and he was bent upon setting up a commonwealth in Scotland, or at least a monarchy so limited as to bear very little resemblance to a kingdom. He had drunk deep of the spirit of ancient Greece, with which the greater part of his associates, patriots though they were, had no great acquaintance, and he had a consciousness of his own superiority that could not go well down with those feudal chieftains, who supposed that their birth alone entitled them to precedence in council, as well as to command in the field. His own country was certainly dearer to him than any other, and in it he was likely to put forth his energies with the greatest effect; yet from his dissatisfaction with their plans of operation, he did not embark with his countrymen, but with the duke of Monmouth, in whom, if successful, he expected less obstruction to his republican views. Fletcher was certainly at the outset warmly attached to Monmouth’s scheme of landing in England, though he subsequently wished it to be laid aside; and he afterwards told Burnet, that Monmouth, though a weak young man, was sensible of the imprudence of his adventure, but that he was pushed on to it against his own sense and reason, and was piqued upon the point of honour in hazarding his person with his friends. He accordingly landed at Lynn, in Dorsetshire, on the 11th of June, 1685, with about an hundred followers, of whom the subject of this memoir was one of the most distinguished. Crowds of people soon flocked to join the standard of Monmouth, and, had he been qualified for such affairs as that he had now undertaken, the revolution of 1688 might perhaps have been anticipated. He, however, possessed no such qualifications, nor did those on whom he had principally depended. Lord Gray, to whom he had given the command of the horse, was sent out with a small party to disperse a detachment of militia that had been assembled to oppose him. The militia retreated before the troops of Monmouth, who stood firm; but Gray, their general, fled, carrying back to his camp the news of a defeat, which was in a short time contradicted by the return of the troops in good order. Monmouth had intended to join Fletcher along with Gray in the command of his cavalry, and the Scottish patriot certainly would not have fled, so long as one man stood by him; but unfortunately, at the very time when Gray was out on the service in which he so completely disgraced his character, Fletcher was sent out in another direction, in which he was scarcely less unfortunate, having, in a personal quarrel about a horse which he had too hastily laid hold of for his own use, killed the mayor of Lynn, who had newly come in to join the insurgent army, in consequence of which he was under the necessity of leaving the camp immediately. The melancholy fate of Monmouth is generally known.
Though there cannot be a doubt that the shooting of the mayor of Lynn was the real cause of Fletcher’s abandoning the enterprise so early, he himself never admitted it. He had joined, he said, the duke of Monmouth on the footing of his manifestations, which promised to provide for the permanent security of civil liberty and the protestant religion, by the calling of a general congress of delegates from the people at large, to form a free constitution of government, in which no claim to the throne was to be admitted, but with the free choice of the representatives of the people. From the proclaiming of Monmouth king, which was done at Taunton, he saw, he said, that he had been deceived, and resolved to proceed no further, every step from that moment being treason against the just rights of the nation, and deep treachery on the part of Monmouth. At any rate, finding that he could be no longer useful, he left Taunton, and embarked aboard a vessel for Spain, where he no sooner arrived, than he was thrown into prison, and on the application of the British ambassador, was ordered to be delivered up and transmitted to London in a Spanish ship fitted up for that purpose. In this hopeless situation, looking one morning through the bars of his dungeon, he was accosted by a person, who made signs that he wished to speak with him. Looking around him, Fletcher perceived an open door, at which he was met by his deliverer, with whom he passed unmolested through three different military guards, all of whom seemed to be fast asleep, and without being permitted to return thanks to his guide, made good his escape, with the assistance of one who evidently had been sent for the express purpose, but of whom he never obtained the smallest information. Travelling in disguise, he proceeded through Spain, and considering himself out of danger, made a leisurely pilgrimage through the country, amusing himself in the libraries of the convents, where he had the good fortune to find many rare and curious books, some of which he was enabled to purchase and bring along with him, to the enriching of the excellent library he had already formed at his seat of Salton, in East Lothian. In the course of his peregrinations, he made several very narrow escapes, among which the following is remarkable, as having apparently furnished the hint for a similar incident in a well-known fiction. He was proceeding to a town where he intended to have passed the night; but in the skirts of a wood, a few miles from thence, upon entering a road to the right, he was warned by a woman of respectable appearance to take the left hand road, as there would be danger in the other direction. Upon his arrival, he found the citizens alarmed by the news of a robbery and murder, which had taken place on the road against which he had been cautioned, and in which he would have certainly been implicated, through an absurd Spanish law, even although not seen to commit any crime. After leaving Spain, he proceeded into Hungary, where he entered as a volunteer into the army, and distinguished himself by his gallantry and military talents. From this distant scene of activity, however, he was soon recalled by the efforts that at length were making to break the yoke of tyranny and the staff of the oppressor that had so long lain heavy on the kingdom of Britain. Coming to the Hague, he found there his old friends, Stair, Melville, Folworth, Cardross, Stuart of Coltness, Stuart of Goodtrees, Dr Burnet, and Mr Cunningham, who still thought his principles high and extravagant, though they associated with him, and were happy to have the influence of his name and the weight of his talents to aid them on so momentous an occasion. Though not permitted to be a leader in the great work of the revolution, for which, indeed, both his principles, which were so different from those of the men who effected it, and his intractable and unyielding temper, alike disqualified him, he came home in the train of his countrymen, who, by that great event were restored to their country and to their rightful possessions; and, according to the statement of the earl of Buchan, [Life of Fletcher of Salton] made a noble appearance in the convention which met in Scotland after the revolution for settling the new government. Lockhart of Carnwath, who was no friend to the new government, nor of the principles upon which it was founded, takes no notice of this portion of the life of Fletcher, though he is large upon his speeches, and indeed every part of his conduct, when he afterwards became a violent oppositionist.
In the year 1692, when every effort to bring about a counter revolution was made, Fletcher, though strongly, and perhaps justly, disgusted with king William, renouncing every selfish principle, and anxious only to promote the welfare of the country, exerted himself to the utmost to preserve what had been already attained in the way of a free government, though it came far short of what he wished, and what he fondly, too fondly, hoped the nation had been ripe to bear. In all that regarded the public welfare, he was indeed indefatigable, and that without any appearance of interested motives. He was the first friend and patron of that extraordinary man, William Paterson, to whom the honour of the formation of the bank of England ought, in justice, to be ascribed, and who projected the Darien company, the most splendid idea of colonization that was ever attempted to be put in practice. "Paterson," says Sir John Dalrymple, "on his return to London, formed a friendship with Mr Fletcher, of Salton, whose mind was inflamed with the love of public good, and all of whose ideas to procure it had a sublimity in them. Fletcher disliked England, merely because he loved Scotland to excess, and therefore the report common in Scotland is probably true, that he was the person who persuaded Paterson to trust the fate of his project to his own countrymen alone, and to let them have the sole benefit, glory, and danger in it, for in its danger Fletcher deemed some of its glory to consist. Although Fletcher had nothing to hope for, and nothing to fear, because he had a good estate and no children, and though he was of the country party, yet, in all his schemes for the public good, he was in use to go as readily to the king’s ministers, as to his own friends, being indifferent who had the honour of doing good, provided it was done. His house of Salton, in east Lothian, was near to that of the marquis of Tweeddale, then minister for Scotland, and they were often together. Fletcher brought Paterson down to Scotland with him, presented him to the marquis, and then, with that power which a vehement spirit always possesses over a diffident one, persuaded the statesman, by arguments of public good, and of the honour that would redound to his administration, to adopt the project. Lord Stair and Mr Johnston, the two secretaries of state, patronized those abilities in Paterson, which they possessed in themselves, and the lord advocate, Sir James Stewart, the same man who had adjusted the prince of Orange’s declaration at the revolution, and whose son was married to a daughter of lord Stair, went naturally along with his connexions." From the above, it appears that Fletcher, next to the projector, Paterson, who was, like himself, an ardent lover of liberty, had the principal hand in forwarding the colonization of Darien, and to his ardent and expansive mind, we have no doubt, that the plan owed some, at least, of its excellencies, and also, perhaps, the greatest of its defects. "From this period," remarks lord Buchan, "till the meeting of the Union Parliament, Fletcher was uniform and indefatigable in his parliamentary conduct, continually attentive to the rights of the people, and jealous, as every friend of his country ought to be, of their invasion by the king and his ministers, for it is as much of the nature of kings and ministers to invade and destroy the rights of the people, as it is of foxes and weasels to rifle a poultry yard, and destroy the poultry. All of them, therefore," continues his lordship, "ought to be muzzled." Among other things that Fletcher judged necessary for the preservation of public liberty, was that of a national militia. In a discourse upon this subject, he says, "a good and effective militia is of such importance to a nation, that it is the chief part of the constitution of any free government. For though, as to other things the constitution be never so slight, a good militia will always preserve the public liberty; but in the best constitution that ever was, as to all other parts of government, if the militia be not upon a right footing, the liberty of that people must perish."
Scotland, ever since the union of crowns, had been stripped of all her importance in a national point of view, and the great object at this time was to exclude English influence from her councils, and to restore her to her original state of independence; a thing which could never be accomplished, so long as the king of Scotland was the king of England. James the sixth, when he succeeded to the English crown, wiser than any of his statesmen, saw this difficulty, and proposed to obviate it by the only possible means, a union of the two kingdoms; but owing to the inveterate prejudices of so many ages, neither of the kingdoms could at that time be brought to submit to the judicious proposal. Fletcher and his compatriots saw what had been the miserable evils, but they saw not the proper remedy; hence, they pursued a plan that, but for the superior wisdom of the English, would have separated the crowns, brought on hostilities, and the entire subjection of the country, by force of arms. In all the measures which had for their object the annihilating of English influence, Fletcher had the principal hand, and there were some of them of singular boldness. In case of the crowns of the two kingdoms continuing to be worn by one person, the following, after pointing out in strong terms the evils that had accrued to Scotland from this unfortunate association, were the limitations proposed by Fletcher:—"1st, That elections shall be made at every Michaelmas head court, for a new parliament every year, to sit the first of November next following, and adjourn themselves from time to time till next Michaelmas—that they choose their own president, and that every thing shall be determined by balloting, in place of voting. 2d, That so many lesser barons shall be added to the parliament, as there have been noblemen created since the last augmentation of the number of the barons, and that in all time coming, for every nobleman that shall be created, there shall be a baron added to the parliament. 3d, That no man have a vote in parliament but a nobleman or elected members. 4th, That the kings shall give the sanction to all laws offered by the estates, and that the president of the parliament be empowered by his majesty to give the sanction in his absence, and have ten pounds sterling a day of salary. 5th, That a committee of one-and-thirty members, of which nine to be a quorum, chosen out of their own number by every parliament, shall, during the intervals of parliament, under the king, have the administration of the government, be his council, and accountable to the next parliament, with power, on extraordinary occasions, to call the parliament together, and that, in said council, all things be determined by balloting, in place of voting. 6th, That the king, without consent of parliament, shall not have the power of making peace and war, or that of concluding any treaty with any other state or potentate. 7th, That all places and offices, both civil and military, and all pensions formerly conferred by our kings, shall ever after be given by parliament. 8th, That no regiment or company of horse, foot, or dragoons, be kept on foot in peace or war, but by consent of parliament. 9th, That all the fencible men of the nation betwixt sixty and sixteen, be with all diligence possible armed with bayonets and firelocks all of a calibre, and continue always provided in such arms, with ammunition suitable. 10th, That no general indemnity nor pardon for any transgression against the public shall be valid without consent of parliament. 11th, That the fifteen senators of the college of justice shall be incapable of being members of Parliament, or of any other office or pension but the salary that belongs to their place, to be increased as the parliament shall think fit; that the office of president shall be in three of their number to be named by parliament, and that there be no extraordinary lords. And also, that the lords of the justice court shall be distinct from that of the session, and under the same restrictions. 12th, That if any king break in upon any of these conditions of government, he shall, by the estates, be declared to have forfeited the crown." The above limitations did not pass the house, though they met with very general support; yet, something little short of them were really passed, and received the royal assent. The so much applauded Act of Security made many provisions respecting the mode of proceeding in parliament in case of the queen’s death, with the conditions under which the successor to the crown of England was to be allowed to succeed to that of Scotland, which were to be, "at least, freedom of navigation, free communication of trade, and liberty of the plantations to the kingdom and subjects of Scotland, established by the parliament of England." It also provided, "that the whole protestant heritors with all the burghs of the kingdom, should forthwith provide themselves with fire-arms, for all the fencible men who were protestants within their respective bounds, and they were further ordained and appointed to exercise the said fencible men once a month, at least. The same parliament passed an act anent peace and war, which provided, among other things, that after her majesty’s death, and failing heirs of her body, no person, at the same time king or queen of Scotland and England, shall have sole power of making war with any prince, state, or potentate whatsoever, without consent of parliament. A proposal made at this time for settling the succession, as the English parliament had done in the house of Hanover, was treated with the utmost contempt, some proposing to burn it, and others insisting that the member who proposed it should be sent to the castle, and it was at last thrown out by a majority of fifty-seven voices.
Another limitation proposed by Fletcher, was, that all places, offices, and pensions, which had been formerly given by our king, should, after her majesty and heirs of her body, be conferred only by parliament so long as the crowns remained united. "Without this limitation," he continues, "our poverty and subjection to the court of England will every day increase, and the question we have now before us, is, whether we will be free-men, or slaves for ever? whether we will continue to defend or break the yoke of our independence? and whether we will choose to live poor and miserable; or rich, free, and happy? Let no man think to object that this limitation takes away the whole power of the prince; for the same condition of government is found in one of the most absolute monarchies of the world, China." Quoting the authority of Sir William Temple for this fact, he continues, "and if, under the greatest absolute monarchy of the world, in a country where the prince actually resides—if among heathens this be accounted a necessary part of government for the encouragement of virtue, shall it be denied to christians living under a prince who resides in another nation? Shall it be denied to people who have a right to liberty, and yet are not capable of any, in their present circumstances, without this limitation." We cannot refrain copying the following sentences on the benefits he anticipated from the measure:—"This limitation will undoubtedly enrich the nation by stopping that perpetual issue of money to England, which has reduced this country to extreme poverty. This limitation does not flatter us with the hopes of riches, by an uncertain project—does not require so much as the condition of our own industry; but by saving great sums to the country, will every year furnish a stock sufficient to carry on a considerable trade, or to establish some useful manufacture at home with the highest probability of success: because, our ministers, by this rule of government, would be freed from the influence of English councils, and our trade be entirely in our own hands, and not under the power of the court, as it was in the affair of Darien. If we do not attain this limitation, our attendance at London will continue to drain this nation of all those sums which should be a stock for trade. Besides, by frequenting that court, we not only spend our money, but learn the expensive modes and ways of living of a rich and luxurious nation; we lay out, yearly, great sums in furniture and equipage to the unspeakable prejudice of the trade and manufactures of our own country. Not that I think it amiss to travel into England, in order to see and learn their industry in trade and husbandry; but at court, what can we learn, except a horrid corruption of manners, and an expensive way of living, that we may for ever after be both poor and profligate? This limitation will secure to us our freedom and independence. It has been often said in this house, that our princes are captives in England, and, indeed, one would not wonder, if, when our interest happens to be different from that of England, our kings, who must be supported by the riches and power of that nation in all their undertakings, should prefer an English interest before that of this country; it is yet less strange, that English ministers should advise and procure the advancement of such persons to the ministry of Scotland, as will comply with their measures and the king’s orders, and to surmount the difficulties they may meet with from a true Scottish interest, that places and pensions should be bestowed upon parliament men and others. I say, these things are so far from wonder, that they are inevitable in the present state of our affairs; but I hope, they likewise show us that we ought not to continue any longer in this condition. Now, this limitation is advantageous to all. The prince will no more be put upon the hardship of deciding between an English and a Scottish interest, or the difficulty of reconciling what he owes to each nation in consequence of his coronation oath. Even English ministers will no longer lie under the temptation of meddling in Scottish affairs, nor the ministers of this kingdom, together with all those who have places and pensions be any more subject to the worst of all slavery. But if the influences I mentioned before still continue, what will any other limitation avail us? What shall we be the better for our act concerning the power of war and peace, since by the force of an English interest and influence, we cannot fail of being engaged in every war, and neglected in every peace? By this limitation, our parliament will become the most uncorrupted senate of all Europe. No man will be tempted to vote against the interest of his country, when his country shall have all the bribes in her own hands, offices, places, and pensions. It will be no longer necessary to lose one half of the customs, that parliament men may be made collectors; we will not desire to exclude the officers of state from sitting in this house, when the country shall have the nomination of them; and our parliament, free from corruption, cannot fail to redress all our grievances. We shall then have no cause to fear a refusal of the royal assent to our acts, for we shall have no evil counsellor nor enemy of his country to advise it. When this condition of government shall take place, the royal assent will be the ornament of the prince, and never be refused to the desires of the people; a general unanimity will be found in this house, in every part of the government, and among all ranks and conditions of men. The distinctions of court and country party shall no more be heard in this nation, nor shall the Prince and people any longer have a different interest. Rewards and punishments will be in the hands of those who live among us, and consequently best know the merit of men, by which means, virtue will be recompensed, and vice discouraged, and the reign and government of the prince will flourish in peace and justice. I should never make an end if I should prosecute all the great advantages of this limitation, which, like a divine influence, turns all to good, as the want of it has hitherto poisoned every thing, and brought all to ruin."
If Fletcher really believed the one half of what he ascribes in this speech to his favourite limitation, he was an enthusiast of no common order. We suspect, however, that his design was in the first place to render the king insignificant, and then to dismiss him altogether; it being one of his favourite maxims, that the trappings of a monarchy and a great aristocracy would patch up a very clever little commonwealth. The high-flying tories of that day, however, or in other words, the jacobites, in the heat of their rage and the bitterness of their disappointment, citing to him as their last hope of supporting even his most deadly attacks upon the royal prerogative, from the desperate pleasure of seeing the kingly office, since they could not preserve it for their own idol, rendered useless, ridiculous, or intolerable to any one else who should enjoy it. By this means, there was a seeming consistency in those ebullitions of national independence, and a strength and vigour which they really did not possess, but which alarmed the English ministry; and the union of the kingdoms, which good sense and good feeling ought to have accomplished, at least one century earlier, was effected, at last, as a work of political necessity, fully as much as of mercy. In every stage of this important business, Fletcher was its most determined opponent, in which he was, as usual, seconded by the whole strength of the Jacobites. Happily, however, through the prudence of the English ministry, the richness of her treasury, and the imbecility of the duke of Hamilton, the leader of the Jacobites, he was unsuccessful, and retired from public life, under the melancholy idea that he had outlived, not only his country’s glory, but her very existence, having witnessed, as he thought, the last glimmering of hope, and heard the last sounds of freedom that were ever to make glad the hearts of her unfortunate children. He died at London in 1716.
The character of Fletcher has been the subject of almost universal and unlimited panegyric. "He was," says the earl of Buchan, "by far the most nervous and correct speaker in the parliament of Scotland, for he drew his style from the pure models of antiquity, and not from the grosser practical oratory of his contemporaries; so that his speeches will bear a comparison with the best speeches of the reign of queen Anne, the Augustan age of Great Britain." Lockhart says, "he was always an admirer of both ancient and modern republics, but that he showed a sincere and honest inclination towards the honour and interest of his country. The idea of England’s domineering over Scotland was what his generous soul could not endure. The indignities and oppression Scotland lay under galled him to the heart, so that, in his learned and elaborate discourses, he exposed them with undaunted courage and pathetic eloquence. He was blessed with a soul that hated and despised whatever was mean and unbecoming a gentlemen, and was so steadfast to what he thought right, that no hazard nor advantage,—not the universal empire, nor the gold of America, could tempt him to yield or desert it. And I may affirm that in all his life, he never once pursued a measure with the least prospect of any thing by end to himself, nor farther than he judged it for the common benefit and advantage of his country. He was master of the English, Latin, Greek, French, and Italian languages, and well versed in history, the civil law, and all kinds of learning. He was a strict and nice observer of all the points of honour, and had some experience of the art of war, having been some time a volunteer in both the land and sea service. He was in his private conversation affable to his friends, (but could not endure to converse with those he thought enemies to their country,) and free of all manner of vice. He had a penetrating, clear, and lively apprehension, but so exceedingly wedded to his own opinions, that there were few, (and these too must be his beloved friends, and of whom he had a good opinion,) he could endure to reason against him, and did for the most part so closely and unalterably adhere to what he advanced, which was frequently very singular, that he’d break with his party before he’d alter the least jot of his scheme and maxims; and therefore it was impossible for any set of men, that did not give up themselves to be absolutely directed by him, to please him, so as to carry him along in all points: and thence it came to pass, that he often in parliament acted a part by himself, though in the main he stuck close to the country party, and was their Cicero. He was no doubt an enemy to all monarchical governments; but I do very well believe, his aversion to the English and the union was so great, that in revenge to them he’d have sided with the royal family. But as that was a subject not fit to be entered on with him, this is only a conjecture from some innuendoes I have heard him make. So far is certain, he liked, commended, and conversed with high-flying tories more than any other set of men, acknowledging them to be the best countrymen, and of most honour and integrity. To sum up all, he was a learned, gallant, honest, and every other way well accomplished gentleman; and if ever a man proposes to serve and merit well of his country, let him place his courage, zeal, and constancy, as a pattern before him, and think himself sufficiently applauded and rewarded by obtaining the character of being like Andrew Fletcher of Salton."—Of the general truth of these descriptions we have no doubt; but they are strongly coloured through a national prejudice that was a principal defect in Fletcher’s own character. That he was an ardent lover of liberty and of his country, his whole life bore witness; but he was of a temper so fiery and ungovernable, and besides so excessively dogmatic, that he was of little service as a coadjutor in carrying on public affairs. His shooting the mayor of Lynn on a trifling dispute, and his collaring lord Stair in the parliament house, for a word which he thought reflected upon him, showed a mind not sufficiently disciplined for the business of life; and his national partialities clouded his otherwise perspicacious faculties, contracted his views, and rendered his most philosophical speculations, and his most ardent personal exertions of little utility. Upon the whole, he was a man, we think, rather to be admired than imitated; and, like many other popular characters, owes his reputation to the defects, rather than to the excellencies of his character.
DALRYMPLE, JAMES, viscount Stair, an eminent lawyer and statesman, and the progenitor of many distinguished persons, was born at Drummurchie, in the parish of Barr, Ayrshire, in the month of May, 1619. His father, who bore the same name, was proprietor of the small estate of Stair, in that county, which, on his death, in 1624, fell to his son. James Dalrymple received his education at the parish school of Mauchline, and the university of Glasgow, and at an early age entered the army raised in Scotland to repel the religious innovations of Charles I. In 1641, when he had attained a captaincy in the earl of Glencairn’s regiment, he became a competitor for the chair of philosophy at Glasgow, and gained it against several rivals. Former writers have made a wonder of his appearing at this competition in his military dress of buff and scarlet, and also at his retaining his commission as captain for some time after assuming the philosophy chair. The truth is, he, and his brethren in arms, could hardly be considered as soldiers, but rather as civilians taking up arms for a temporary purpose; and, by the same enthusiasm, even clergymen appeared occasionally with sword and pistol. Dalrymple held this chair for six years, during which he employed much of his time in the study of civil law, which was not then taught publicly in Scotland. His mind being thus turned to the law as a profession, he resigned his chair in 1647, and in the ensuing year became an advocate at the Scottish bar. His abilities soon procured him both legal and political distinction, In 1649, he was appointed secretary to the commissioners who were sent by the Scottish parliament to treat with Charles II., then an exile in Holland, for his return to his native dominions. He held the same office in the more successful mission of 1650, and we are told that, on this occasion, he recommended himself to the king by his "abilities, sincerity, and moderation." After a short residence in Holland, during which he saw a number of the learned men of that country, he returned to Scotland, and was one of two persons sent by the parliament to attend the king at his landing. In the Cromwellian modification of the court of session, he was, in 1657, appointed one of the "Commissioners for administration of justice," chiefly upon the recommendation of general Monk, who thus characterized him in a letter to the protector—"a very honest man, a good lawyer, and one of a considerable estate." It was not, however, without great difficulty that he was prevailed upon to accept office under the government of Cromwell. He took the earliest opportunity, after the restoration, of paying his respects to the king, who knighted him, and nominated him one of the new judges. From this office, however, he retired in 1663, in order to avoid taking "the declaration," an oath abjuring the right to take up arms against the king. Next year, on the personal solicitation of the king, he resumed his duties, with only a general declaration of his aversion to any measures hostile to his majesty’s just rights and prerogatives, the king granting him a sanction in writing for this evasion of the law. On this occasion, Charles conferred upon him the title of a baronet. In 1671, he succeeded Gilmour of Craigmiller as lord president, and immediately availed himself of the situation to effect some important improvements in the system of judicature. He also, at this time employed his leisure hours in recording the decisions of the court. As a member of the privy council, he was invariably the advocate, though not always successfully, of moderate measures, and he remonstrated as warmly as he durst against all who were of an opposite character. When the celebrated test oath was under consideration, in 1681, Dalrymple, for the purpose of confounding it altogether, suggested that John Knox’s confession of faith should be sworn to as part of it. As this inculcated resistance to tyranny as a duty, he thought it would counterbalance the abjuration of that maxim contained in another part of the oath. The discrepancy passed unobserved, for not a bishop in parliament was so far acquainted with ecclesiastical history as to know the contents of the confession. However, inconsistent as it was, it was forced by the government down the throats of all persons in office, and thus became the occasion of much mischief. Lord Stair himself refused to take it, and accordingly had to retire from his offices. Before this period, he had prepared his celebrated work, "the Institutions of the Law of Scotland,’’ which was now published. This work still continues to be the grand textbook of the Scottish lawyer. "It is not without cause," says Mr Brodie, in a late edition, "that the profound and luminous disquisitions of lord Stair have commanded the general admiration of Scottish lawyers. Having brought to the study of jurisprudence a powerful and highly cultivated intellect, he was qualified to trace every rule to principle. Yet such was his sterling practical good sense, that he rarely allowed himself to be carried away by theory, too frequently the failing of philosophic minds, less endowed with this cardinal virtue. His philosophy and learning have enabled him to enrich jurisprudence with a work, which, in embodying the rules of law, clearly developes the ground on which they are founded."
Lord Stair lived for about a year at his country seat in Wigtonshire, but experiencing much persecution from the government, found it necessary, in October, 1682, to take refuge in Holland. In his absence he was accused of high treason, on the grounds, that some of his tenants had been concerned in the insurrection at Bothwell bridge. An attempt, however, which was made to obtain a surrender of his person from Holland, proved abortive. From his retirement Leyden, he sent forth his "Decisions," through the medium of the press at Edinburgh, the first volume appearing in 1684, and the second in 1687. In 1686, he published, at Leyden, a Latin treatise of much originality, under the title of "Physiologia Nova Experimentalis." He also busied himself at this time in a work respecting the mutual obligations of the sovereign and his people, on which subject he entertained more liberal opinions than what were generally received in that age. This work, however, was never published. When the prince of Orange was about to sail for Britain, lord Stair requested to know what was the object of his expedition. The prince replied, that it was not personal aggrandizement, but "the glory of God, and the security of the protestant religion, then in imminent danger." The reply of lord Stair was a strange mixture of the sublime and ludicrous. Taking off his wig, and exhibiting his bald head, he said, "Though I be now in the seventieth year of my age, I am willing to venture that, (pointing to his head,) my own and my children’s fortune, in such an undertaking." He accordingly accompanied the prince, and was rewarded, after the settlement of affairs under William and Mary, with a re-appointment to the presidency of the court of session, and a peerage under the title of viscount Stair. Though thus restored to his country, and to more than his former honours, the latter years of this great man were not happy. He had never been the friend of the high church party, and therefore he could expect no favour from that class of malcontents under the revolution settlement. But the presbyterian party, also, for which he had done and suffered so much, also treated him with little respect, considering him too deeply concerned in the late oppressive and cruel system to be worthy of their confidence. Under these circumstances he breathed his last, on the 25th of November, 1695, in the 77th year of his age, and was buried in the High church of Edinburgh.
Lord Stair had been married, in 1643, to Margaret Ross, co-heiress of the estate of Balneil, in Wigtonshire; by whom he had five sons, and four daughters. The eldest son, John, having held office under James II., was, like his father, held in suspicion by the presbyterian party; but nevertheless attained high office under the revolution government. He was secretary of state for Scotland, and elevated to the rank of earl of Stair, in 1703. On his death, in 1707, he was succeeded in his title by the celebrated commander and diplomatist, John, second earl of Stair. The junior branches of the family have produced fruit almost equally distinguished. Sir James Dalrymple, the second son, was himself the author of "Collections concerning Scottish History preceding the death of David I.," which appeared in 1705, and the grandfather of Sir John Dalrymple, of Cranston, author of that excellent work, "Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland, from the dissolution of the last parliament of Charles II, until the sea battle off La Hogue," in two volumes, 4to. The youngest son, Sir David, was the grandfather of lord Hailes, and Alexander Dalrymple, two persons already commemorated in this work. Through these channels, and by the alliances of his daughters, the blood of lord Stair now flows in most of the noble families in Scotland. The historical eminence of the family is only to be paralelled by the immense influence which it possessed for many years in this country, an influence hardly matched by that of the Dundasses in later times. [We preserve, for drollery’s sake, the following easy rhymes which lord Auchinleck, father of James Boswell, use to repeat, as descriptive of the succession of predominating influences in Scotland during the last century: -
First
cam the men o’ mony wimples,
In common language ca’d Da’rumples,
And aftrer them cam the Dundasses,
Wha raide our lords an lairds like asses.
In common language ca’d Da’rumples,
And aftrer them cam the Dundasses,
Wha raide our lords an lairds like asses.
A quatrain, it must be confessed, more true than respectful, although, in both cases alike, the predominance was grounded in inherent family talent
Background
In November 1999, the well-known Scottish
novelist, Nigel Tranter, OBE, celebrated his 90th birthday at his home
in Gullane, East Lothian. He was in fine form on that occasion -
regaling people with his stories, as he loved to do. He was still
working away on his latest novels, taking notes during his walks on the
sands at Aberlady Bay on the shores of the river Forth, east of
Edinburgh, in his ubiquitous notebook. Unfortunately, he became one of
the casualties of the influenza outbreak which gripped Scotland that
year and he passed away suddenly on Sunday, 8 January. Magnus
Linklater, the chairman of the Scottish Arts Council said that he
popularised Scottish history more than anyone else in the last 100
years. Others commented that the only history many Scots knew had been
learned from reading Tranter's stories, which were as historically
accurate as he could make them. He disliked conventional "history" and
brought the past to life by his storytelling. Here, for his many
admirers, is a short outline of his life and achievements. Early Life
Nigel Tranter was born on 23 November 1909 in Glasgow but he moved to Edinburgh and was educated at George Heriot's School. His father was an alcoholic and perhaps as a result, the novelist was tee-total. An interest in architecture took him on cycling expeditions to the Scottish Borders where he sketched many of the historic buildings there. When he left school he started work for a firm of restoring architects. But the death of his father and shortage of money forced him into joining an insurance company founded by his uncle. He married May Jean Campbell Grieve in 1933 (she died in 1979) and a year later he published his first book - "The Forticles and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland" illustrated with his own sketches. His wife May encouraged him to write a romantic novel "Trespass" set in the Highlands. He continued to work in the insurance company while still writing another novel. It was at this stage that he moved to Aberlady - he only moved from there about a year ago. By the time World War II had begun, his two children, Frances May and Philip had arrived. He served in the Royal Artillery during the war but still managed to write another five books during that time.
Full Time Writer
After the war, he became a full-time writer, producing first children's books and romantic novels based in Scotland plus 14 Westerns (under the nome-de-plume of Nye Tredgold). His first major book with a real historic background was "The Queen's Grace" about Mary Queen of Scots, published in 1953 followed by "MacGregor's Gathering" in 1957, the first in a trilogy on Rob Roy MacGregor. By this time he was writing several books every year and between 1962 and 1970 he also published a series of five books on the fortified house in all the regions of Scotland, illustrated with his own pen and ink sketches. His researches for the books on fortified houses created a mass of reference material which led him into lecturing on aspects of Scottish history.
Tranter's Later Novels
In 1969 Tranter produced the first of his famous trilogy on Robert the Bruce (the other two followed in rapid succession in 1970 and 1971). Up until this time many of his books had been a mixture of romance, Wild Westerns and children's books. He himself described them as "ordinary adventure and romance." After the success of his Robert the Bruce novels, he concentrated far more on historical subjects, producing books on William Wallace, King James II, V and VI, a trilogy on the House of Stewart, Macbeth (the real story), Queen Margaret (the saintly wife of Malcolm Canmore), King David I, King Alexander III, Thomas the Rhymer, Somerled (Lord of the Isles), Saint Columba, the Black Douglases and many more. In all his books he showed a vivid visual imagination and the gift of storytelling for ordinary people. His appeal to ordinary readers resulted in some criticism from a few professional historians (who would no doubt have been delighted if their own dry tomes had sold in the same numbers). His books were not only popular in Scotland but had an audience around the world.
Tranter's love of castles comes through in "Tales and Traditions of Scottish Castles" and his five volume work on the "Fortified House in Scotland". His "Story of Scotland" is a history of Scotland which, like all his other books, is written in a style which sweeps the reader along with the story and makes you want to turn the next page to find out what is going to happen next.
In all, Nigel Tranter published 130 books and in 1998 he was still writing, with books on the Vikings and one set in the time of King James IV. In 1999 he was still using his battered typewriter, using the handwritten notes he had jotted down.
Tranter's Nationalism
Tranter had a passionate love of Scotland and was a fervent patriot without being a "Nationalist". He wrote a popular account of the removal of the Stone of Destiny from the Palace of Westminster in 1950. He was a long-time personal friend of Ian Hamilton QC who was one of the group who were involved in that escapade. He was generous with his time in support of causes he believed in and argued, eventually successfully, for the construction of the Forth Road Bridge. He supported the National Covenant movement which attempted to achieve "Home Rule" for Scotland and he was an enthusiastic supporter of the Scottish Parliament and worked tirelessly in support of its creation as a member of the Constitutional Convention. He visited the Parliament in Edinburgh for the first time only a month ago. The Scottish First Minister, commenting after Tranter's death said "Nigel Tranter's books gave enormous pleasure to generations of Scots. He opened up a whole world of Scottish history and did much to make us proud of our heritage."
Public Speaking
Over many years, including recent times, Nigel Tranter has been asked to give talks on the history of Scotland. His enthusiasm and flowing style came through on these occasions too and left many people feeling that if history had only been taught in schools the way Tranter presented it, the subject would have been far more popular. His lively mind and love of Scotland and history always came over too in private conversations with all the many people he met.
Biography
Tranter always refused to write his own autobiography but in his later years he allowed Ray Bradfield, a retired diplomat, to write a "warts and all" biography. The book was published in the December before his death (Nigel Tranter, Scotland's Storyteller" by Ray Bradfield, 1999, published by B&W, Edinburgh. ISBN 1 873631 98 7). In an interview, Tranter was asked how he would like to be remembered. He replied "As a storyteller who tried to get people to appreciate Scotland's story and to realise how exciting colourful and dramatic it really is."
Arthur Conan Doyle was born in 1859 in Edinburgh to Richard and Mary Doyle, Irish immigrants who had moved to Scotland. He was sent to the Jesuit preparatory school Stonyhurst at the age of nine, and by the time he left the school in 1875 he rejected Christianity to become an agnostic. From 1876 to 1881 he studied medicine at Edinburgh University, including a period working in the town of Aston (now a district of Birmingham). Following his term at University he served as a ship's doctor on a voyage to the West African coast, and then in 1882 he set up a practice in Plymouth. He won his doctorate in 1885. His medical practice was unsuccessful; while waiting for patients he began writing stories. His first literary experience came in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal before he was 20.
It was only after he subsequently moved his practice to Southsea that he began to indulge more extensively in literature. His first significant work was A Study in Scarlet which appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 and featured the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes who was modelled after Doyle's former University professor, Joseph Bell. Interestingly, Rudyard Kipling congratulated Doyle on his success, asking "Could this be my old friend, Dr. Joe?". While living in Southsea he helped form Portsmouth Football Club and played as the club's first goalkeeper.
In 1885 he married Louise Hawkins, who suffered from tuberculosis and eventually died in 1906. He married Jean Leckie in 1907, whom he had first met and fallen in love with in 1897 but had maintained a platonic relationship with her out of loyalty to his first wife. Doyle had five children, two with his first wife (Mary and Kingsley), and three with his second wife (Jean, Denis, and Adrian).
In 1890 Doyle studied the eye in Vienna, and in 1891 moved to London to set up a practice as an oculist. This also gave him more time for writing, and in November 1891 he wrote to his mother: "I think of slaying Holmes... and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things." In December 1893, he did so in order to dedicate more of his time to more "important" works (namely his historical novels), pitting Holmes against his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty. They apparently plunged to their deaths together down a waterfall in the story "The Final Problem". Public outcry led him to bring the character back—Doyle returned to the story in "The Adventure of the Empty House", with the ingenious explanation that only Moriarty had fallen, but, since Holmes had other dangerous enemies, he had arranged to be temporarily "dead" also. Holmes eventually appears in a total of 56 short stories and four Doyle novels (he has since appeared in many novels and stories by other authors).
Following the Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century and the condemnation from around the world over Britain's conduct, Doyle wrote a short pamphlet titled The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct which justified Britain's role in the Boer war and was widely translated. Doyle believed that it was this pamphlet that resulted in his being knighted and appointed as Deputy-Lieutenant of Surrey in 1902. He also wrote the longer book The Great Boer War in 1900. During the early years of the 20th century Sir Arthur twice ran for Parliament as a Liberal Unionist, once in Edinburgh and once in the Border Burghs, but although he received a respectable vote he was not elected.
Conan Doyle was involved in the campaign for the reform of the Congo Free State, led by the journalist E. D. Morel and the diplomat Roger Casement. He wrote The Crime of the Congo in 1909, a long pamphlet in which he denounced the horrors in Congo. He became acquainted with Morel and Casement, taking inspiration from them for two of the main characters of the novel The Lost World (1912). He broke with both when Morel (who was rather left-wing) became one of the leaders of the pacifist movement during the First World War, and Casement committed treason against Britain out of conviction for his Irish nationalist views. Doyle tried, unsuccessfully, to save Casement from the death penalty, arguing that he had been driven mad and was not responsible for his actions.
Doyle was also a fervent advocate of justice, and personally investigated two closed cases, which led to two imprisoned men being released. The first case, in 1906, involved a shy half-British, half-Indian lawyer named George Edalji, who had allegedly penned threatening letters and mutilated animals. Police were dead set on Edalji's conviction, even though the mutilations continued even after their suspect was jailed. It was partially as a result of this case that the Court of Criminal Appeal was established in 1907, so not only did Conan Doyle help George Edalji, his work helped to establish a way to correct other miscarriages of justice. The story of Conan Doyle and Edalji is told in fictional form in Julian Barnes's 2005 novel, Arthur & George.
The second case—that of Oscar Slater, a German Jew and gambling-den operator convicted of bludgeoning an 82-year-old woman in Glasgow in 1908—excited Doyle's curiosity because of inconsistencies in the prosecution case and a general sense that Slater was framed.
In his later years, Doyle became involved with Spiritualism, to the extent that he wrote a Professor Challenger novel on the subject, The Land of Mist. One of the odder aspects of this period of his life was his book The Coming of the Fairies (1921). He was apparently totally convinced of the veracity of the Cottingley fairy photographs, which he reproduced in the book, together with theories about the nature and existence of fairies and spirits. His work on this topic was one of the reasons that one of his short story collections, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, was banned in the Soviet Union in 1929 for supposed occultism. This ban was later removed.
Doyle was friends for a time with the American magician Harry Houdini, a prominent opponent of the Spiritualist movement. Although Houdini insisted that Spiritualist mediums employed trickery (and consistently attempted to expose them as frauds), Doyle became convinced that Houdini himself possessed supernatural powers, a view expressed in Doyle's The Edge of the Unknown. Houdini was apparently unable to convince Doyle that his feats were simply magic tricks, leading to a bitter, public falling out between the two.
Richard Milner, an American historian of science, has presented a case that Doyle may have been the perpetrator of the Piltdown man hoax of 1912, creating the counterfeit hominid fossil that fooled the scientific world for over 40 years. Milner says that Doyle had a motive, namely revenge on the scientific establishment for debunking one of his favourite psychics, and that The Lost World contains several encrypted clues regarding his involvement in the hoax.
Samuel Rosenberg's 1974 book Naked is the Best Disguise purports to explain how Doyle left, throughout his writings, open clues that related to hidden and suppressed aspects of his mentality.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died of a heart attack in 1930 and is buried in the Church Yard at Minstead in the New Forest, Hampshire, England.
A statue has been erected in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's honour. It may be seen at Crowborough Cross in Crowborough, East Sussex, England, where Sir Arthur lived for 23 years. There is also a statue of Sherlock Holmes in Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland - close to the house where Conan Doyle was born.