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Alston, Charles, 1683-1760 (physician and botanist)

 Person

Staff Only

Dates

  • Existence: 1683 - 1760

Biography

Charles Alston was born at Eddlewood (now part of Hamilton). He was educated in Glasgow, and then went to Leyden in the Netherlands to study medicine under Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738). There he met Dr. Alexander Monro, primus (1697-1767). Together, on their return to Edinburgh, they revived medical lectures at the University with Alston being appointed Lecturer in Botany and Materia Medica. He was also Superintendent of the Botanic Garden. Alston published various medical papers and an index to the plants in the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. In hisTirocinium Botanicum Edinburgense(1753), he attacked the Linnaean system of classification. Dr. Charles Alston died on 22 November 1760.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

Notes of lecture entitled "A Few Observations upon Materia Medica" given by Professor Charles Alston, taken down by Henry Blegborough

 Fonds — Volume Dk.5.12
Identifier: Coll-2192
Scope and Contents

Notes of lecture on "A Few Observations upon Materia Medica" given by Professor Charles Alston, taken down by Henry Blegborough, 1754.

Dates: 1754
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections

Notes of Lectures on Materia Medica by Charles Alston

 Fonds — Volume Dk.7.1
Identifier: Coll-2214
Scope and Contents

Lectures on materia medica and "methodus praescribendi" by Charles Alston, Edinburgh 24 April 1736. Printed rules of the Belfast Medical Library (Ulster Medical Society) February 1829, pasted inside upper board.

Dates: 1736
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections

Papers of Joseph Black and family

 Fonds
Identifier: Coll-16
Scope and Contents 5 boxes of correspondence between himself and a variety of individuals (including James Watt, Prince Paul Dashkov, John Robison) and on a variety of subjects: linen bleaching, use of lime water, assays of ores, civic water supply, mineralogical specimens, absorption of heat etc. 1 box of family letters between Black, his father and his brothers Samuel, George and Thomas ...
Dates: 1746-1799
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections

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  • Subject: Medicine X

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