John Struthers (anatomist)

John Struthers was the son of Alexander Struthers (1767–1853) and his wife Mary Reid (1793–1859). Alexander was a wealthy mill owner and linen merchant. He bought Brucefield early in the 19th century, along with Brucefield Mill, a linen spinning mill built in 1792. Flax for linen was threshed at the nearby threshing mill, and bleached in the open air near the house. There were still linen bleachers living in Brucefield House in 1841, but they had gone by 1851, leaving the house as the seat of the Struthers family. Struthers was one of six children, three boys and three girls. The boys were privately tutored in the classics, mathematics and modern languages at home in Brucefield House. They went out boating in summer, skating in winter on the nearby dam; they rode ponies, went swimming in the nearby Firth of Forth, and went for long walks with wealthy friends. Both his older brother James and his younger brother Alexander studied medicine. James Struthers became a doctor at Leith Hospital. Alexander Struthers died of cholera while serving as a doctor in the Crimean War. His sisters, Janet and Christina, provided a simple education at Brucefield for some poor friends, Daniel and James Thomson. Daniel (1833–1908) became a Dunfermline weaver as well as a historian and reformer. ==Medical career==

Struthers studied medicine at Edinburgh University, winning prizes as an undergraduate. He completed his doctorate (M.D.) in 1845, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh at the same time. In 1847, the college licensed him and his brother James to teach anatomy in the Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine. The courses that they taught at the medical school in Argyle Square, Edinburgh were recognized by the examining bodies of England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1863, Struthers became the first Regius Professor of Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen. This was a "Crown Chair" (a professorship recognized by the government), a prestigious position. Struthers' application for the chair was supported by over 250 letters, many from public figures including well-known doctors such as Joseph Lister and James Paget, and politicians such as Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, who became Home Secretary, and James Moncreiff, who became the Scottish Lord Advocate. The support of these men was actively solicited by Struthers' well-connected friends and relatives, including his cousin the Reverend John Struthers of Prestonpans, and his energetic wife Christina. With the success of their campaign, the family moved to Aberdeen. Struthers published about 70 papers on anatomy. He set up a popular series of lectures for the public, held on Saturday evenings. Many of the methods he used remain relevant today. He had a powerful effect on medical education in Britain, in 1890 establishing the format of three years of "pre-clinical" academic teaching and examination in the sciences underlying medicine, including especially anatomy. His system lasted until the reform of medical training in 1993 and 2003. His 21st century successors at the anatomy school in Aberdeen write that "He would undoubtedly be greatly dismayed at the drastic reduction in the teaching of basic medical sciences, and the subsequent perceived decline in the anatomical knowledge of medical students and practicing clinicians," and they quote one of Struthers' sayings to his students: ==Scientific work==

Evolution and Struthers' ligament ", 1854 Struthers was one of the first advocates of the theory of evolution, speaking publicly and corresponding with Charles Darwin about observations he made during his comparative anatomy studies. Struthers was interested in abnormal variations in anatomy, such as additional toes, and he collected many specimens which he offered to show Darwin. Among other curiosities, Struthers described the "Ligament of Struthers", a rare extra band of connective tissue present in 1% of humans running from a bony projection on the humerus down to the elbow, The significance of Struthers' ligament, as Darwin and Struthers understood, is that the vestigial organ has no function in humans, but is inherited from a structure, the supra-condyloid foramen, which certainly had a function in other mammals including marsupials and carnivores. In those other mammals, the supra-condyloid foramen is an opening in the bone that important structures, the median nerve and the brachial artery, run through. Struthers observed that when his ligament was present in humans, the nerve and artery did run through it. Darwin took this to mean that the human structure was homologous with the foramen in other mammals, and that therefore humans and other mammals had a common ancestor. He used Struthers' work as evidence in Chapter 1 of his Descent of Man (1871): Whale anatomy Aberdeen, a coastal city, gave Struthers the opportunity to observe the whales which were from time to time washed up on Scotland's coast. In 1870 he observed, dissected and described a blue whale (which he called a "Great Fin-Whale") from Peterhead. He brought the entire skeleton of a sei whale back to the anatomy department at Aberdeen, where for a century it was suspended overhead in the hall. He vigorously collected examples of a wide range of species to form a museum of zoology, with the intention of illustrating Darwin's theories. As an energetic and forceful personality with a strong enthusiasm for zoology, he alarmed his colleagues at the University of Aberdeen by constantly asking for money and space to acquire and house his collection. Dissecting the "Tay Whale" at John Woods' yard, Dundee, 1884, photographed by George Washington Wilson by Struthers, 1889 Struthers became known to the general public for his dissection of the "Tay Whale", one of his largest specimens. He was well used to working on stinking carcasses: his dissecting room was reputed to stink "like the deck of a Greenland whaler". The dissection was disturbed by John Woods, who admitted the public, for a fee, to watch Struthers and his assistants at work, with a military band playing in the background. Progress on the dissection was impeded by snow showers. Struthers was able to remove much of the skeleton before Woods had the flesh embalmed; the carcass was then stuffed and sewn up to be taken on a profitable tour as far as Edinburgh and London. After months of waiting, on 7 August 1884, Struthers was able to remove the skull and the rest of the skeleton. Over the next decade, Struthers wrote seven anatomy articles on the whale, with a complete monograph on it in 1889. ==Life and family==

Struthers' siblings included James Struthers MD (1821–1891), a doctor at Leith hospital for 42 years, and his youngest brother Alexander Struthers MB who died at Scutari Hospital in Istanbul during the Crimean War. Struthers married Christina Margaret Alexander (born 15 January 1833) on 5 August 1857. Christina was the sister of John Alexander, chief clerk to Bow Street Police Court. She too came from a Scottish medical family; her parents were Dr James Alexander (1795–1863) and Margaret Finlay (1797–1865), both of old Dunfermline families; James practised as a surgeon just across the English border in the small town of Wooler, Northumberland. Struthers was father-in-law of nitroglycerine chemist David Orme Masson, who married his daughter Mary. He was grandfather of another explosives chemist, Sir James Irvine Orme Masson, and father-in-law of educator Simon Somerville Laurie, who married his daughter Lucy. Retirement , Edinburgh On retiring from the University of Aberdeen, Struthers returned to Edinburgh. He lived at 15 George Square. He was buried in Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh, in 1899. All three of their sons, Alexander, James and John also worked in the medical profession; John William Struthers followed his uncle James by working at Leith Hospital, and followed his father by working at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and by becoming president of the Royal College of Surgeons. ==Awards and distinctions==

In 1852 Struthers was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh and served as president in 1894. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Glasgow in 1885 for his work in medical education. In 1895 he was made president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; he held the position for two years. Glasgow University's Struthers Medal is named in his honour. ==Publications==

Struthers authored over 70 manuscripts and books, including the following. Books • • • Papers • • • • • • • ==Notes==