Nugae Canorae Medicae: Lays by the Poet Laureate of the New Town Dispensary by Douglas MacLagan (GT670)

Published 1873: Second Edition / Hardcover / Very Good Condition / Illustrated throughout

Original dark green cloth with gilt titles on the cover and spine. 132 very clean and bright pages. Boards slightly rubbed with time and bumped on the corners consistent with age. A very scarce original publication. (GT670)

Postage €6.95 including any additional books ordered.
An Post prepaid postage envelopes within the Republic of Ireland, with no weight restrictions from €6.95.

Douglas Maclagan was born in Ayr on 17 April 1812, and baptised by the same Minister who had baptised the poet Robert Burns over fifty years earlier. He was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh, and then studied at Edinburgh University where he graduated in 1833. A couple of years later he toured hospitals in London and in continental Europe with James Young Simpson (1811-1870). On his return, Maclagan was appointed Assistant Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. However, he turned towards materia medica instead, and lectured on this at the Extramural School of Medicine. He also became interested in toxicology, and was a close friend of toxicologist Sir Robert Christison, often assisting him in forensic matters. When the Chair of Medical Jurisprudence and Public Health at Edinburgh University was vacated in 1862, Maclagan was appointed. During his occupancy, he developed the public health scope of the Chair.

Publications include his thesis when a candidate for admission to the Royal College of Surgeons A probationary essay on carbuncle (1833), and Nugae canorae medicae: lays by the poet laureate of the New Town Dispensary (1850). [Google Books]