John Abercrombie (physician)

John Abercrombie (1780 to 1844) was a Scottish physician, author and philosopher whose Edinburgh practice became one of the most successful in Scotland, and who was recognised as the first consulting physician in Scotland after James Gregory died. Born in Aberdeen, he took his medical doctorate at Edinburgh in 1803, and served as surgeon to the Royal Public Dispensary and the New Town Dispensary, where he gave free care to the poor and trained students in a sector system. He kept detailed notes on his patients, which underlay his books. His Pathological and Practical Researches on Diseases of the Brain and Spinal Cord is regarded as the first textbook in neuropathology, and in his work on the abdominal organs he gave the first description of perforated duodenal ulcer. He later wrote on philosophy and Christian ethics, received an Oxford MD, and was appointed Physician to the King in Scotland.