John Goodsir

John Goodsir
John Goodsir
Born	20 March 1814 Anstruther, Fife
Died	6 March 1867
Nationality	Scottish
Fields	Anatomy

Bust of Prof John Goodsir by David Watson Stevenson, Old College, University of Edinburgh

John Goodsir's grave, Dean Cemetery

John Goodsir FRS FRSE MWS (20 March 1814 – 6 March 1867) was a Scottish anatomist, born at Anstruther, Fife.^[1] He was a pioneer in the study of the cell.^[2]

Life

Goodsir was trained in St Andrews and Edinburgh. In Edinburgh, he served an apprenticeship in dentistry; he then moved back to Anstruther where he wrote his noted essay on "Teeth"; in 1840 he was appointed Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in succession to the great William McGillivray, and lecturer on Diseases of Bone in 1842. It was about this time (1841–1842) that Goodsir developed his revolutionary lectures on the importance of cellular life and organisation;^[3] this innovative approach later won the extravagant praise of Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902), who dedicated his masterpiece Cellular Pathology to Goodsir. Four years later, Goodsir succeeded Dr. Alexander Monro (tertius) (1773–1859) in the chair of Anatomy in Edinburgh University. In subsequent years, Goodsir supervised many brilliant medical students, including Thomas Clouston, James Bell Pettigrew and William Turner. At this time, anatomy had fallen into low regard, thanks to the "Burke and Hare" scandal (1828) in which the great scientific anatomist Robert Knox (1791–1862) had been pilloried by the Edinburgh medical establishment; and to the scientific incompetence of the lamentable Alexander Monro (tertius). Goodsir's outstanding anatomical teaching and his extensive research activities (published together as his Anatomical Memoirs,^[4] edited by Sir William Turner in 1868) did much to restore prestige to Edinburgh's anatomical traditions. The Anatomical Memoirs also contain a biography by Henry Lonsdale.

Goodsir is buried alongside one of the central paths in Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh next to Edward Forbes the naturalist.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "^{article name needed}". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.

Obituary

An obituary appeared in the British Journal of Dental Science.^[5]

References

1. Goodsir, John (1886). Stephen, Leslie, ed. Dictionary of National Biography 8. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 137–139.
2. Waterston, Charles D.; Macmillan Shearer, A. (July 2006). Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002: Biographical Index (PDF) 1. Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh. p. 366. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
3. "The researches of John Goodsir". Nature 26 (669): 409–410. 24 August 1882. doi:10.1038/026390a0.
4. Turner, William; Lonsdale, Henry (1868). The anatomical memoirs of John Goodsir edited by William Turner; with a biographical memoir by Henry Lonsdale. Edinburgh: A & C Black. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
5. "Obituary: Professor Goodsir" (PDF). British Journal of Dental Science 10 (129): 140–145. 1867.

External links

•  "Goodsir, John". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
•  "Goodsir, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.