1766 - entered Edinburgh medical school; 1770 - Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; 1770-1772 studied surgery in London and Paris; 1772 - appointed surgeon to the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh; 1776 - married Grizel Hamilton; 1776-1778 - gave up his medical practice to settle a frarm in Edinburgh after a riding accident; 1783-1788 - his most important work 'A System of Surgery' published. Wrote on agriculture, gonorrhoea and cancer.