Alexander Monro, the son of John Monro, a surgeon, was born on 8 September 1697 in London. He was educated at Edinburgh University after a family move to the city, and he obtained his M.D. there before going to London to attend lectures on experimental philosophy and dissection. On his return to Edinburgh he established a reputation for himself in the field of anatomy. A visit to Paris followed before a study period at Leyden in the Netherlands in 1718 under Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738). In 1719, Monro was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Surgery to the Surgeon's Company, and then in 1720 he became the first Professor of Anatomy at Edinburgh University. His course of lectures included the history of anatomy, the treating of osteology, the treating of the soft parts, the relation of the anatomy of animals to that of man, surgical operations, and general physiology. In 1745 he tended to the wounded on the battlefield after the Battle of Prestonpans. His published works include Osteology, a treatise on the anatomy of the human bones (1726), and An account of the inoculation of smallpox in Scotland . In July 1755 Monro's son Alexander joined him as Joint Professor and in 1764 he resigned his Professorship although continued to give clinical lectures. Professor Alexander Monro, primus, died of a pelvic cancer on 10 July 1767.
From the guide to the Lectures of Professor Alexander Monro (1697-1767), 1720-1766, (Edinburgh University Library)
