Department of Pathology

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Pathological reports 1875-1945
Pathologists' reports 1895-1946
Publications 1994
Equipment catalogues c.1870-1937

Administrative / Biographical History

The subject of Pathology was introduced to Glasgow University with the arrival at the University of William Hunter 's collection of anatomical specimens in 1807 . However this proved to have only a very limited effect on the development of Pathology courses in Glasgow. The teaching of Pathology proper did not begin until 1870 with the appointment of Joseph Coats as Pathologist at the Royal Infirmary . He began systematic teaching of the subject, and in 1871 was appointed Assistant Lecturer on Pathology in the Physiology Department at the University. On the opening of the Western Infirmary in 1875 , he became the Pathologist there. In 1890 he became an independent lecturer on Pathology.

In 1894 the Chair of Pathology was founded, and Coats was appointed as the first professor, holding the post until 1899 . The Chair was founded jointly by Glasgow University and the Western Infirmary, and under this arrangement the holder of the Chair was also Pathologist to the Western Infirmary, making available for teaching purposes the material at the hospital. Notable holders of the Chair have included Sir Robert Muir ( 1899-1936 ) and John Shaw Dunn ( 1936-1945 ). A full list of the University's professors from 1451 to 2001 can be found at http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/about/publish/elecpubs.html . Under Coats influence an Institute of Pathology was built in the grounds of the Western Infirmary.

In 1925 a Lectureship in Pathological Biochemistry was instituted, and in 1928 Sir Frederick Crombie Gardiner and William Guthrie Gardiner endowed the Gardiner Lectureship in the Pathology of Disease of Infancy and Childhood. This was a result of the growing links between the University, the Western Infirmary and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill. The holder of the Gardiner Lectureship also acted as the Pathologist for the Children's Hospital. Also in 1928 a lecturer in Pathological Biochemistry was appointed, and Pathology was included among the subjects in which a student of Medicine could obtain the B.Sc. degree in Pure Science with Honours. In 1949 a Lecturer in the Histopathology of the Skin was appointed. In 1964 a Chair in Pathological Biochemistry was founded, with Henry Gemmell Morgan appointed as the first professor ( 1965-1988 ).

In 1911 the St Mungo-Notman Chair of Pathology was founded and endowed by the Governors of St Mungo's College Glasgow. Under the arrangements of the founding of the Chair, the holder also acted as the Pathologist to the Royal infirmary. The first professor was John Hammond Teacher ( 1911-1931 ). In 1934 a Lectureship on Pathological Biochemistry at the Royal Infirmary was instituted.

In 1988 the Pathology Departments at the Western Infirmary and the Royal Infirmary merged to form the single Department of Pathology. It is a combined University and NHS department, contributing to research and teaching in the Medical Faculty and the Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences. It provides a clinical diagnostic service to the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust , which comprises the combined departments of the Royal and Western Infirmaries, Stobhill Hospital , the Dental Hospital and the Dermatopathology unit at the Western. It also maintains links with the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research .