work was executed by Mr W. Brodie, R. S. A., Edinburgh,
and
bears the following inscriptions: —
On front of the pedestal-
In Memory of
THOMAS ALEXANDER, C. B.,
Of the Medical Department of the
British Army.
Born at Prestonpans, 6th May 1812,
Died 1st February, 1860.
On the west side—
The improved sanitary condition
Of the British Army,
As well as the elevation in rank and consideration
Of its Medical Officers,
Are mainly due to his exertions.
His high professional attainments,
And his great administrative powers,
Were wholly devoted to the service of his country
And to the cause of humanity.
On the east side—
Throughout a long military career
He laboured incessantly to elevate the condition
Of the Soldier.
And during the Crimean War
His indefatigable efforts,
As principal Medical Officer of the Light
Division,
To alleviate the sufferings of the troops
Were of inestimable value in stimulating others
To follow his example.
On the back—
West Indies.
North America.
Caffraria.
Alma.
Inkerman.
Sebastapool.
The other child of the village who made for himself a name
in the world of science was the late Sir William Ferguson.
The Dictionary of National Biography says: —
"Sir William Ferguson, surgeon, son of James Ferguson
of Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, was born at Prestonpans on the
20th of March 1808, and was educated first at Lochmaben, and
afterwards at the High School of Edinburgh. " At the
age of fifteen he was placed by his own desire in a lawyer's
office, but the work proved uncongenial, and at seventeen
he exchanged law for medicine. He became an assiduous pupil
of Dr Robert Knox, the anatomist, who was much pleased with
a piece of mechanism constructed by Ferguson, and appointed
him, at the age of twenty, demonstrator to his class of four
hundred pupils.
"In 1828 Ferguson became a licentiate, and in 1829 a
Fellow, of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons. Two of his preparations,
admirably dissected, are still preserved in the museum of
the Edinburgh College of Surgeons.
" Soon after qualifying, he began to deliver a portion
of the lectures on general anatomy in association with Knox,
and to demonstrate surgical anatomy. In 1831 he was elected
Surgeon to the Edinburgh Royal Dispensary, and in that year
tied the subclavian cord, which had then been done in Scotland
only twice.
"On the l0th October 1833 he married Miss Helen Hamilton
Ranken, daughter and heiress of William Ranken of Spittlehaugh,
Peeblesshire. This marriage placed him in easy circumstances,
but he did not relax his efforts after success in operative
surgery, and in 1836, when he was elected Surgeon to the Royal
Infirmary and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he
shared with Syme the best surgical practice in Scotland.
"In 1840 Ferguson accepted the Professorship of Surgery
at King's College, London, with the surgeoncy to King's College
Hospital, and established himself at Dover Street, Piccadilly,
whence he removed in 1847 to George Street, Hanover Square.
He became M. R. C. S. Engl. in 1840, and Fellow in 1844. His
practice grew rapidly, and the fame of his operative skill
brought many students and visitors to King's College Hospital.
"In 1849 he was appointed Surgeon in Ordinary to the
Prince Consort, and in 1855 Surgeon Extraordinary; and in
1867 Sergeant Surgeon to the Queen.
" For many years he was the leading operator in London;
he was elected to the Council of the College of Surgeons in
1861, Examiner in 1867, and was President of the College in
1876.
"As Professor of Human Anatomy and Surgery, he delivered
two courses of lectures before the College of Surgeons in
1864 and 1865, which were afterwards published. He was President
of the Pathological Society in 1859-60, and of the British
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