Science Source ftp Apr 2015

Alexander Monro, Secundus (1733-1817) was a Scottish anatomist, surgeon and medical educator. His father decided to make him his successor and sent him to Edinburgh University when he was twelve years old (1745), to attend the ordinary course of philosophy before beginning his professional training. He studied Latin, Greek, philosophy, mathematics, physics, and history. He showed a preference for anatomy and after entering on his medical course in his eighteenth year he became an assistant to his father in the dissecting room. In 1755, he was appointed coadjutor to his father and became doctor of medicine. He continued his education abroad; London, Paris and Berlin. In 1757 he published his treatise De venis lymphaticis valvulosis in which he showed that the lymphatics were absorbents and distinct from the circulatory system. In 1758, his father became ill so he cut short his European tour in order to conduct the anatomy class at Edinburgh. His father recovered and delivered the opening lecture of the session (1758-1759), but thereafter Monro secundus undertook the main work of the chair, of which he was sole holder for the next fifty years. He was joint secretary of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh along with David Hume (1760-1763) and sole secretary (1763-1783) when it became the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He died of apoplexy in 1817, at age of 84.