A portrait of James Morton (1820-1889), who was President of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow [FPSG], 1886-1889.
Morton studied medicine at Anderson's University for three years from the age of 21 but then moved to Edinburgh in 1844. He did not stay long however and graduated MD from St Andrews in 1845. He settled in Glasgow and in 1851 became a Fellow of the FPSG.
Morton was Professor of Materia Medica at Anderson's University (and subsequently at Anderson's College of Medicine) from 1855 until 1888 and a surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary (1859-1867 and 1870-1885). Morton led a host of Glasgow surgeons who sought to ridicule Lister's work on antisepsis during the 1860s and 1870s, and he attempted to debunk Louis Pasteur's germ theory. History has judged him more kindly for his work in developing an effective iodoglycerine injection treatment for Spina Bifida, which was endorsed by a Special Committee of the Clinical Society of London.
Reference: RCPSG 1/12/7/64
Reproduced with the permission of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
Keywords:
Anderson's College of Medicine, Anderson's University, antiseptic surgery, Clinical Society of London, Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, germ theory, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, portraits, presidents, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Spina Bifida, surgeons