Grant Lectures

Scope and Content

Student notes on lectures on comparative anatomy by Robert Edmond Grant at University College, taken by John Philips Potter, a student of Grant, 1841.

Administrative / Biographical History

Robert Grant was born in Edinburgh on 11 November 1793. He was educated at Edinburgh High School and at the University of Edinburgh, graduating M.D. in 1814. From 1815 to 1820 Grant studied medicine and natural history in Paris and at many continental universities. He returned to Edinburgh in 1820 and devoted himself to natural history. In 1824 he gave lectures on comparative anatomy of the invertebrate for his friend Dr John Barclay, and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He believed in the transformation of species and the Darwinian theory of natural selection. Charles Darwin was his intimate companion in study. Grant wrote numerous original papers during this period. In June 1827 he was elected Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology at University College London and became absorbed in teaching for the next 46 years. He also lectured at other institutions. In 1836 he became a fellow of the Royal Society. Grant died on 23 August 1874 at the age of 80.

Access Information

Open

Open subject to usual conditions.

Acquisition Information

Transferred from 'Safe 1.33', Oct 1988, via Susan Gore, Medical Sciences Librarian.

Other Finding Aids

Collection level description

Related Material

Notes referred to in the front of volume 1 of MS ADD 285, and Potter's notes also found in collected students' notes from Robert Grant's lectures (Ref: MS ADD 38).