Pioneers in the development of the University of Glasgow Medical School
The development of the medical school of the University owed much to a determined group of pioneers. The brothers Allan and John Burns were skilful anatomists. John Burns had introduced surgery into the curriculum, essential in military service where amputations were common, and became the first professor of Surgery in 1815. In the same year, James Towers became the first professor of Midwifery and laid the foundations of hospital medical care in the City. The Crown established further chairs, in Materia Medica, Physiology and Forensic Medicine in the 1830s.