CULLEN, a royal burgh of Scotland, in the county of Banff. It is situated on a commanding eminence which overlooks the sea, and possesses a harbour, which, however, is of little use. The manufacture and bleaching of linen goods are now carried on with considerable success, and dried fish are exported to some extent. There is an annual fair held here on the last Tuesday of September. In 1821 the population of the burgh and parish amounted to 1452, and in 1831 to 1593.

Cullen, Dr William, an eminent physician and medical teacher, was born in Lanarkshire, in the west of Scotland, on the 11th of December 1712. His father was for some time chief magistrate of the town of Hamilton; but though a very respectable man, his circumstances were not such as to permit him to expend much money on the education of his son. William, therefore, after serving an apprenticeship to a surgeon apothecary in Glasgow, went several voyages to the West Indies as a surgeon in a trading vessel from London; but of this employment he soon became tired, and settled himself, at an early period of life, as a country surgeon in the parish of Şhòtts, where he resided a short time practising among the farmers and country people, and then went to Hamilton with a view to practise as a physician, having never been fond of operating as a surgeon.

Whilst he resided near Shotts, Archibald duke of Argyll, who at that time bore the chief political sway in Scotland, chanced to pay a visit to a gentleman of rank in that neighbourhood. The duke was fond of literary pursuits, and was then particularly engaged in some chemical researches, which required to be elucidated by experiment. Eager in these pursuits, his grace, while on his visit, found himself much at a loss from the want of some small chemical apparatus, which his landlord could not furnish; but the latter happily recollecting young Cullen, mentioned him to the duke as a person who could probably furnish what he wanted. Cullen was accordingly invited to dine, and thus introduced to his grace, who was so much pleased with his knowledge, politeness, and address, that he formed an acquaintance which laid the foundation of Dr Cullen’s future advancement.

The name of Cullen had by this time become familiar at every table in the neighbourhood, a circumstance which made him known by reputation to the Duke of Hamilton, who then resided for a short time in that part of the country; and his grace having been suddenly taken ill, the assistance of young Cullen was called in. This proved a fortunate occurrence, as it served to promote his advancement to a station in life more suited to his talents than that in which he had hitherto moved.

The duke was highly delighted with the sprightly character and ingenious conversation of his new acquaintance; and receiving instruction from the latter in a much more pleasing and an infinitely easier way than he had ever before obtained it, the conversation of Cullen proved highly interesting to the duke. Accordingly his grace soon found means to get his favourite doctor, who was already the esteemed acquaintance of the man through whose hands all preferments in Scotland were obliged to pass, appointed to a place in the university of Glasgow, where his singular talents for discharging the duties of teacher soon became very conspicuous.

During his residence in the country, however, several important incidents occurred, which ought not to be passed over in silence. It was during this time that a connection in business was formed in a very humble line between two men, who became afterwards eminently conspicuous in much more exalted stations. William, afterwards Dr Hunter, the celebrated lecturer on anatomy in London, was a native of the same part of the country; and not being in affluent circumstances any more than Cullen, these two young men, stimulated by the impulse of genius to prosecute their medical studies with ardour, but thwarted by the narrowness of their fortune, entered into a copartnery business as surgeons and apothecaries in the country. The chief object of their contract being to furnish the parties with the means of prosecuting their medical studies, which they could not so well enjoy separately, it was stipulated that one of them should alternately be allowed to study in whatever college he inclined, during the winter, whilst the other should carry on the business in the country for the common advantage. In consequence of this arrangement, Cullen was first allowed to study in the university of Edinburgh for one winter; but when it came to Hunter’s turn next winter, he preferred London to Edinburgh, and accordingly proceeded to the former place. Here his singular neatness in dissecting, and uncommon dexterity in making anatomical preparations, his assiduity in study, his mildness of manner and pliability of temper, soon recommended him to the notice of Dr Douglas, w ho then read lectures upon anatomy and midwifery, and who engaged Hunter as an assistant in discharging the duties of the chair which the latter afterwards filled with so much honour to himself and satisfaction to the public.

Thus was dissolved, in a premature manner, a copartnership of as singular a kind as is to be found in the annals of literature; nor was Cullen a man of a disposition to let any engagement with him prove a bar to his partner’s advancement in life. The articles were freely departed from by him; and Cullen and Hunter ever afterwards kept up a very cordial and friendly correspondence, though it is believed they never from that time had a personal interview.

During the period that Cullen practised as a country surgeon and apothecary, he formed another connection of a more permanent kind, which, happily for him, was not dissolved till a very late period of his life. With the ardour of disposition which he possessed, it cannot be supposed that he beheld the fair sex with indifference. Very early in life he formed a strong attachment for an amiable woman, Miss Johnston, daughter of a clergyman in the neighbourhood; and being nearly of his own age, she was prevailed on to unite her fortune with his, at a time when he had nothing else to recommend him to her except his person and dispositions. After producing to him a numerous family, and participating with him in the changes of fortune which he experienced, she died in the summer of 1786.

In the year 1746, Cullen, who had now taken the degree of doctor in physic, was appointed lecturer in chemistry in the university of Glasgow; and in the month of October he began his lectures on that science. His singular[7:7:533] talents for arrangement, his distinctness of enunciation, his vivacity of manner, and his knowledge of the science which he taught, rendered his lectures interesting to the students in a degree till then unknown at the university. He became, therefore, in some measure, the idol ∣of the students. The former professors were eclipsed by the brilliancy of his reputation; and he had to experience :all those little difficulties which envy and disappointed am- !bition naturally threw in his wav. Regardless, however, of these secret chagrins, he pressed forward with ardour in his literary career; and, supported by the favour of the public, he consoled himself for the contumely which he ιmet with from a few individuals. His practice as a physician increased from day to day; and a vacancy having occurred in the year 1751, he was then appointed by the iking professor of medicine in that university. This new appointment served only to call forth his powers, and to bring to light talents which he was not formerly known to possess; so that his fame continued to increase.

About this period the patrons of the university of Edinburgh being constantly on the watch for the most eminent medical men to support the rising fame of their college, their attention was soon directed towards Cullen; and on the death of Dr Plummer, professor of chemistry, he was, in 1756, unanimously invited to fill the vacant chair. This invitation he accepted; and having resigned his employments in Glasgow, he, in the month of October of that year, commenced his academical career in Edinburgh, where he resided till his death.

If the admission of Cullen into the university of Glasgow gave great spirit to the exertions of the students, this was, if possible, still more strongly felt in Edinburgh. Chemistry, which till that time had been of small account in our university, and attended to by very few of the students, instantly became a favourite study; and the lectures upon this science were more frequented than any others in the university, anatomy alone excepted. The students in general spoke of Cullen with the rapturous ardour which is natural to youth when they are highly pleased. But as these eulogiums appeared extravagant to moderate men, and could not fail to prove disgusting to bis colleagues, a party was formed among the students or opposing this new favourite of the public; and, by misrepresenting the doctrines of Cullen to those who could ιot have an opportunity of hearing those doctrines themselves, they induced some even of the most intelligent nen in the university to think it their duty publicly to oppose these imaginary tenets. The ferment was thus augmented; and some time elapsed before the professors liscovered the arts by which they had been imposed ιpon, and before harmony was restored.

During this ferment Cullen went steadily forward, with- >ut taking any part whatever in these disputes. He never ;ave ear to tales respecting his colleagues, nor took noice of the doctrines which they taught; and although ome of their unguarded strictures may at times have :ome to his knowledge, these seemed to make no impres-ion whatever on his mind.

The attempts of a party of students to lower the cha-deter of Cullen at his first outset in the university of Edinburgh having proved fruitless, his fame as a profes-or, and his reputation as a physician, became more and nore extensive every day. Nor could it well be other-rise. Cullen’s professional knowledge was always great, nd his manner of lecturing singularly clear and intelli-ible, lively and entertaining; whilst to his patients his eneral conduct as a physician was so pleasing, his address o affable and engaging, and his manner so open, kind, nd little regulated by pecuniary considerations, that it as impossible for those who had occasion to avail themselves once of his medical assistance, ever to be satisfied on any future occasion without it. He became the friend and companion of every family he visited, and his future acquaintance could not be dispensed with.

The general conduct of Cullen to his students waá excellent. With all whom he observed to be attentive and diligent he formed an early acquaintance, by inviting them in small parties at a time to sup with him, conversing with them on these occasions with the most engaging ease, and freely entering with them on the subject of their studies, their amusements, their difficulties, their hopes, and future prospects. In this way he usually invited the whole of his numerous class, till he had made himself acquainted with their abilities, their private character, and their particular objects of pursuit. Those amongst them whom he found the most assiduous, the best disposed, or the most friendless, he invited the most frequently, till an intimacy was gradually formed, which proved highly beneficial to them. Their doubts with regard to their objects of study he listened to with attention, and solved with the most obliging condescension. His library, which consisted of an excellent assortment of the best books, especially on medical subjects, was at all times open for their accommodation; and his advice, in every case of difficulty to them, they had it always in their power to obtain. They seemed to be his family; and few persons of distinguished merit left the. university of Edinburgh in his time, with whom he did not keep up a correspondence till they were fairly established in business. By these means lie came to have a most accurate knowledge of the state of every country, with respect to practitioners in the medical line; and the only use he made of this knowledge was to direct students in their choice of places, where they might have an opportunity of engaging in business with a reasonable prospect of 'Success.

'Nor was it in this way only that he befriended the students s atthe university of Edinburgh. Possessing a benevolence oSmind which made him ever think first of the wants of others, and recollecting the difficulties which he had himself had to struggle with in his younger days, he was at all times singularly attentive to their pecuniary concerns. From his general acquaintance among the students, and the friendly habits he cultivated with many of them, he found no difficulty in discovering those among them who were in’ rather embarrassed circumstances, without being obliged to hurt their delicacy in any degree. To such persons, when their habits of study admitted of it, he was peculiarly attentive. They were more frequently invited to his house than others; they were treated with more than usual kindness and familiarity; they were conducted to his library, and encouraged by the most delicate address to borrow from it freely whatever books he thought they had occasion for ;—and as persons in these circumstances were usually more backward in this respect than others, books were sometimes pressed upon them by the doctor insisting on having their opinion of such or such passages they had not read, and desiring them to carry the book home for that purpose. In short, he behaved to them rather as if he courted their company, and stood in need of their acquaintance, than otherwise; and he thus raised them in the opinion of their acquaintance to a much higher degree of estimation than they could otherwise have obtained; conduct which, to persons whose minds were depressed by penury, and whose sense of honour was sharpened by the consciousness of an inferiority of a certain kind, proved singularly engaging. In this way they were inspired with a secret sense of dignity, which elevated their minds, and excited an uncommon ardour of pursuit, instead of that melancholy inactivity [7:7:534] which is so natural in such circumstances, and which too 1 often leads to despair. Nor was he less delicate in the man- 1 ner of supplying their wants, than attentive to discover them. He often found out some polite excuse for refusing i to take payment for a first course, and never was at a loss for ∣ one as to an after course. Before they could have an opportunity of applying for a ticket, he would sometimes lead the conversation to a subject which had occurred in the course of his lectures; and as his lectures were never put in writing by himself, he would beg the favour to see their notes, if he knew they had been taken with attention, under a pretext of assisting his memory. Sometimes he expressed a wish to have their opinion of a particular part of his course, and presented them with a ticket for that purpose; and sometimes he refused to take payment, under the pretext that they had not received his full course the preceding year, part of it having been necessarily omitted for want of time, which he meant to include in this course. By such delicate address, in which he greatly excelled, he took care to forerun their wants; and thus he not only gave them the benefit of his own lectures, but by refusing to take their money, he also enabled them to attend those of others which were necessary to complete their course of studies. Such were the devices he adopted towards individuals to whom economy was necessary; but it was a general rule with him, never to take money from any student for more than two courses of the same set of lectures, permitting him to attend these lectures gratis as many years longer as he pleased.

The first lectures which Cullen delivered in Edinburgh were on chemistry; and for many years he also gave clinical lectures on the cases which occurred in the Royal Infirmary. In the month of February 1763, Dr Alston died, after having begun his usual course of lectures on the materia medica; and the magistrates of Edinburgh, as patrons of that professorship in the university, appointed Dr Cullen to the chair, requesting that he would finish the course of lectures which had been begun for that season. This he agreed to do; and though he was under the necessity of going on with the course in a few days after he was nominated, he did not once think of reading the lectures of his predecessor, but resolved to deliver an entirely new course of his own. The popularity of Cullen at this time may be guessed by the increase of students who came to attend his course in addition to the eight or ten who had entered to Dr Alston. The new students exceeded a hundred. An imperfect copy of these lectures, thus fabricated in haste, having been published, the doctor thought it necessary to give a more correct edition of them in the latter part of his life. But his faculties being then much impaired, his friends looked in vain for those striking beauties which had characterised his literary exertions in the prime of life.

Some years afterwards, on the death of Dr White, the magistrates once more appointed Dr Cullen to give lectures in his stead on the theory of physic; and it was on this occasion that Dr Cullen thought it expedient to resign the chemical chair in favour of Dr Black, his former pupil, whose talents in that department of science were then well known, and who filled the chair till his death with great satisfaction to the public. Soon afterwards, on the death of Dr Rutherford, who for many years had given lectures with applause on the practice of physic, Dr John Gregory having become a candidate for this situation along with Dr Cullen, a sort of compromise took place between them, by which they agreed each to give lectures alternately on the theory and on the practice of physic during their joint lives, reserving to the survivor to hold either of the classes he should prefer. In consequence of this agreement, Dr Cullen delivered the first course of ectures on the practice of physic in the winter of 1766, and )r Gregory succeeded him in that branch the following rear. Never perhaps was a literary arrangement entered nto which could have proved' more beneficial to the stillen ts than this. Both these men possessed great talents, hough of a kind extremely dissimilar. Both of them had certain failings or defects, which the other was aware of. and counteracted. Each of them knew and respected the talents of the other. They co-operated, therefore, in the happiest manner, to enlarge the understanding, and to forward the pursuits of their pupils. But unfortunately this arrangement was soon put an end to by the unexpected death of Dr Gregory, who was cut off in the flower of life by a sudden and unforeseen event. After this time, Cullen continued to give lectures on the practice of physic till a few months before his death, which happened on the 5th of February 1790, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.

In his prelections Dr Cullen never attempted to read. His lectures were delivered viva voce, without having been previously put into writing, or thrown into any particular arrangement. The vigour of his mind was such, that nothing more was necessary than a few short notes before him, merely to prevent him from varying from the general order which he had been accustomed to observe. This gave to his discourses an ease, a vivacity, a variety, and a force, which are rarely to be met with in academical discourses. His lectures upon the same subject, therefore, were never exactly the same. Their general tenor indeed was not much varied; but the particular illustrations were always new, well suited to the circumstances which attracted the general attention of the day, and were delivered in the particular way which accorded with the cast of mind the prelector found himself in at the time. To these circumstances must be ascribed that energetic, artless elocution, which rendered his lectures so generally captivating to his hearers. Even those who could not follow him in the extensive views which his penetrating mind glanced at, or who were not able to understand the apt allusions to collateral objects which he could only point at rapidly as he went along, could not help being warmed in some measure by the vivacity of his manner. But to those who followed him in his rapid career, the ideas he suggested were so numerous, the views he laid open were so extensive, and the objects to be attained were so important, that every active faculty of the mind was roused; and such an ardour of enthusiasm was excited in the prosecution of study, as appeared to be perfectly inexplicable to those who were merely unconcerned spectators. In consequence of this unshackled freedom in the composition and delivery of his lectures, every circumstance was in the nicest unison with the tone of voice and expression of countenance which the particular cast of his mind at the time inspired.

It would seem as if Dr Cullen had considered the proper business of a preceptor to be that of putting his pupils into a proper train of study, so as to enable them to prosecute those studies at a future period, and to carry them on much farther than the short time allowed for academical prelections would admit. He did not, therefore, strive so much to make those who attended his lectures deeply versed in the particular details of a subject, as to give them a general view of the whole; to show them what had already been attained respecting it; to point out what remained yet to be discovered; and to put them in a train of study which should enable them at a future period to remove those difficulties which had hitherto obstructed our progress, and thus to advance to higher degrees of perfection. And if these were his views, nothing could be more happily adapted to them than the mode which he invariably pursued. He first drew, with the striking touches[7:7:535] of a master, a rapid and general outline of the subject, by which the whole figure was seen at once to start boldly from the canvass, distinct in all its parts, and unmixed with any other object. He then began anew to retrace the picture, to touch up the lesser parts, and to finish the whole in as perfect a manner as the state of knowledge at the time would permit. Where materials were wanting, the picture remained imperfect. The wants were thus rendered obvious; and the means of supplying them were pointed out with the most careful discrimination. The student, whenever he looked back to the subject, perceived the defects; and his hopes being awakened, he felt an irresistible impulse to explore that hitherto untrodden path which had been pointed out to him, and to fill up the chasm which still yawned. Thus were the active faculties of the mind most powerfully excited; and instead of labouring himself to supply deficiencies which far exceeded the power of any one man to accomplish, he set thousands at work to fulfil the task, and put them in a train of going on with the work. Dr Cullen died on the 5th February 1790, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. His external appearance, though striking, was not elegant, but nevertheless pleasing. His countenance was expressive, and his eye remarkably lively and penetrating. In his person he was tall and thin, but he stooped very much. When he walked he had a contemplative look, and seemed insensible to what was passing around him.*