John Struthers

“ The presence of such a man in the community must have been beneficial to a degree which it is not easy to calculate. As he moved about his district from day to day, not merely alleviating suffering and saving life, but as a man of genial and sunny spirit, and a good man, he must have used his influence often consciously, but much more have diffused it by his unconscious example. ”

“ Such a life for forty long years, during which he must have seen generations of human beings come and go, could not fail to have a wide effect, felt not only during his lifetime, but now after he has passed away. ”

“ With such tastes and habits it need hardly be added that Mr Alexander was well acquainted with the literature of his profession, and that he kept abreast of what was new. Although familiar with the writings of the older physicians, he was far from being a man of the old school, and was sparing in his use of drugs and of the lancet. ”

“ It is almost needless to say that a man of this stamp held a high position in a locality in which he practised for more than forty years. His practice was extensive, all that the district admitted of, and he was on terms of intimacy and personal esteem with all classes of the community. One is apt to feel that a man of such capacity and attainments was in a measure lost in such a position. ”

“ He studied medicine in Edinburgh, and among his teachers were John Gordon, Andrew Duncan, Home, Hope, Hamilton, and James Gregory. He took his surgeon's diploma in 1815, and among his examiners on the occasion appears the name of Dr Abercrombie, with whom he formed an intimacy which lasted for life. Finding that he must endeavour at once to get some position where he could maintain himself, he had to relinquish his ardent desire to fight his way in Edinburgh, and the chance of circumstances led to his being fixed for life in the remote district where he worked so long. ”

“ The most remarkable of them is the one entitled "Surgical Statistics," in which he gives a tabular view of 126 operations which he had performed, although the district, being purely agricultural, is one in which accidents comparatively seldom occur. There are 12 larger amputations, 2 of ligature of the femoral artery for popliteal aneurism, 2 of lithotomy, 11 cases of operation for strangulated hernia, a case of excision of the eye- ball ”