Alexander Monro secundus

Classcard of Alexander Monro secundus, 1786, original in the library of the University of Edinburgh

Alexander Monro styled Secundus (1733 - 1817) succeeded his father Alexander Monro primus as Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh, and was in turn succeeded by his son, Alexander Monro tertius. He is known as the discoverer of the lymphatic system, and for his work on the structure and function of the nervous system.

Alexander Monro secundus was born in Edinburgh on March 21, 1733. He studied medicine with his father, and became his assistant in the dissecting room. In October 1755 he obtained the degree of M.D. for his dissertation, De Testibus et Semine in variis Animalibus. In July 1756, he became joint-professor of anatomy and surgery with his father, but before taking up his duties, he visited London and Paris, and attended the anatomical lectures of Professor Meckell at the university of Berlin. He returned to Edinburgh in the summer of 1758, when he was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (of which he was later president). He was soon chosen a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and on the resignation of his father in 1759, he became full professor of anatomy. He also succeeded his father as secretary of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, in whose ‘Essays and Observations. Physical and Literary,’ appeared several of his articles.

Having early adopted the idea that the valvular lymphatics over the whole of the animal body were one general system of absorbents, he published in 1758, a short treatise, De Venis Lymphaticis Valvulosis. This idea was later claimed by William Hunter, which led to a controversy between them, and produced from Monro his Observations, Anatomical and Physiological, wherein Dr. Hunter’s claim to some discoveries is examined, and his Answer to the Notes in the Postscript to Observations, Anatomical and Physiological.

"Shall we call the year I753, fortunate or unfortunate for Alexander Monro, jun. Professor? Surely it was a remarkable year. He was then a student of anatomy, and in that one year made three discoveries; viz. he filled the Tubuli Testis with quicksilver, found out that the lymphatics were absorbents, and saw the orifices, and introduced bristles into the ducts of the lachrymal gland in the human body. If he goes on at the same rate, he will become a prodigy. But it was rather unfortunate that Dr. Hunter should have done, and publicly taught, the very same three things before that time; and that he should be able to prove that a MS of his lectures was at that time in the hands of students at Edinburgh, in which there was something more than a hint about the lymphatics. ..." William Hunter, writing in 1762

Surgery first became an academic discipline in Edinburgh in 1777 when Monro secundus was granted a commission by the Town Council, "expressly bearing him to be Professor Medicine in particular of Anatomy and Surgery".

In 1782 the Philosophical Society was incorporated by royal charter, becoming the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and Monro was elected one of its first fellows. In 1783 he published On the Structure and Functions of the Nervous System’ illustrated by numerous engravings, which was translated into several languages. In 1785 he produced On the Structure and Physiology of Fishes, which also was widely translated. In 1788 he published his Description of all the Bursae Mucosae of the Human Body, which became a standard work. His last publication consisted of three treatises, on the Brain, the Eye, and the Ear, published in 1797. His reputation as a lecturer and author extended throughout Europe, and he was elected a member of the Royal Academies of Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Moscow, and other learned institutions.

IN 1798, increasing years caused him to receive at his class the assistance of his son, Alexander Monro tertius, then appointed conjunct professor of anatomy with him. He continued, however, to deliver lectures till the session of 1808-9, when he finally retired from the anatomical chair. He died on October 2, 1817, aged 85.