William Brown (1807-1873), surgeon

Diplomas from Glasgow University, 1828-1830, and the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 1832; notebooks including one entitled "On the Nature of Fever," another including recipes, cures and miscellaneous information, a "Private Formulary" and a notebook relating to cases treated in the Glasgow Eye infirmary, 1830; manuscript entitled "Remarks on the Choice of Operation for the Cure of Cataract by William Brown, M.D.," undated; printed pamphlets including a List of Subscribers to the Old College of Glasgow and Outlines of a course of lectures on the structure, functions and diseases of the eye by William Mackenzie, 1828; Edward Chetwin’s The Strait Gate and Narrow Way to Life, 1696; miscellaneous items including a ticket for Edinburgh Academic Library, 1766-1767 and a membership parchment for the Board of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in Scotland, 1781.

William Brown was the youngest son of Rev. John Brown, who was a minister in Kilmacolm for many years. He was born on 2 June 1807 at the Manse of Kilmacolm. William Brown graduated AM from Glasgow University in 1828 and MD in 1830. He became a Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1832 and Fellow in 1853. He was an Assistant Surgeon at the Glasgow Eye Infirmary in 1854 and was formerly Surgeon to the city parish of Glasgow. One of his colleagues was the famous oculist Dr William Mackenzie. He was also an Assistant Lecturer in Surgery, Anatomy and Operative Surgery of the Eye at Glasgow University and on Natural History and Comparative Anatomy at Glasgow Mechanical Institute. He was a Member of Glasgow Medical Society and a member of the General Council of the University of Glasgow. In his writing Dr Brown made several contributions and observations relating to various phases of ophthalmic diseases and their treatment. He contributed to ‘Observations in the clinical ophthalmic wards in Vienna 1832 – 1833’ in the London Medical Journal in 1834, ‘Remarks on Eversion of the Eyelids and on Hare’s Eye’ in Medical Gazette in 1836, and ‘Strictures on the operation proposed by Mr Wharton Jarvis for the cure of Lagophthalmus’ in Medical Gazette in 1836. He died on 12 August 1873.

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