William Cullen

William Cullen was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, born in Hamilton in 1710 and active until his death in 1790. He taught as a professor at the Edinburgh Medical School and stood at the centre of the Scottish Enlightenment, serving as physician to David Hume and keeping friendships with Joseph Black, Adam Smith and others. He led the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and later the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, became first physician to the king in Scotland, and helped win the royal charter that created the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His textbook First Lines of the Practice of Physic was widely read in Europe and the American colonies, and his pupils included Benjamin Rush and William Withering. His system also drew a rival in his student John Brown, whose Brunonianism competed with it.