摘要:
Thomas Laycock, unwelcome professor at the University of Edinburgh, was born at Witherly, Yorkshire, into a Wesleyan clergyman's family. Educated at the Wesleyan Academy and the University College of London, he subsequently studied medicine under Louis, Lisfranc, and Velpeau in Paris, and served three years as the resident medical officer of York County Hospital before receiving the MD degree summa cum laude from Göttingen in 1839.1 Returning to practice in York, he acquired a reputation as a skillful physician; in time, he was appointed physician to the York Dispensary and lecturer in medicine in the York Medical School. In 1855, when the chair of medicine at Edinburgh became vacant, his fame as a profound thinker, medical scientist, and a prolific writer added significant support to his candidacy. Eight contestants engaged in a bitter struggle for the post, and, in spite of his selection by the Edinburgh Town Council, he was