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{{Short description|Scottish physician and scientist (1710–1790)}}
{{other people|William Cullen}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS|FRSE|FRCPE|FPSG}}
| image             = File:WilliamCullenportrait.jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Portrait by [[David Martin (artist)|David Martin]], 1776
| birth_date        = 15 April 1710
| birth_place       = [[Hamilton, South Lanarkshire|Hamilton]], [[Scotland]], [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]<ref>Thomson, John. [https://books.google.com/books?id=F0EBAAAAQAAJ&dq=William%20Cullen%20John%20Thomson&pg=PA1 ''An Account of the Life, Lectures and Writings of William Cullen, M.D. Volume 1'']. William Blackwood & T. Cadell, 1832, p. 1.</ref>
| death_date        = {{death-date and age|5 February 1790|15 April 1710}}
| death_place       = [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]], [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]<ref>Thomson, John; Thomson, William; Craigie, David. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9SwAAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA660 ''An Account of the Life, Lectures and Writings of William Cullen, M.D. Volume 2'']. William Blackwood & Sons, 1859, p. 660.</ref>
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]]
| nationality       = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
| alma_mater        = {{ubl|[[University of Glasgow]] | [[University of Edinburgh]]}}
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| notable_students  = {{cslist|[[Joseph Black]]|[[Benjamin Rush]]|[[John Walker (natural historian)|John Walker]]|[[John Morgan (physician)|John Morgan]]|[[George Fordyce]]|[[William Withering]]|[[John Haygarth]]|[[John Moore (Scottish physician)|John Moore]]|[[John Brown (physician, born 1735)|John Brown]]|[[Robert Willan]]|[[Sir Gilbert Blane]]|[[John Coakley Lettsom]]|[[William Hunter (anatomist)|William Hunter]]}}
| known_for         = {{cslist|Teaching at the [[Edinburgh Medical School]]|author of popular medical textbook ''First Lines of the Practice of Physic''|[[Scottish Enlightenment]] figure|mentor of [[Joseph Black]]|refrigeration work}}
| author_abbrev_bot = 
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| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| signature         = 
| footnotes         = 
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = {{cslist|Medicine|[[chemistry]]|agriculture|physics}}
| work_institutions = 
| prizes            = 
| religion          = 
}}
[[File:Cameo of William Cullen (close-up), Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.jpg|thumb|upright|Cameo of William Cullen (close-up), Hunterian Museum, Glasgow]]
[[File:Burial enclosure of William and Robert Cullen - geograph.org.uk - 1050342.jpg|thumb|Burial enclosure of William and Robert Cullen in Kirknewton]]
'''William Cullen''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSE|FRCPE|FPSG}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ʌ|l|ən}}; 15 April 1710{{snd}}5 February 1790) was a British physician, [[chemist]] and [[agriculturalist]] from [[Hamilton, South Lanarkshire|Hamilton]], [[Scotland]], who also served as a professor at the [[Edinburgh Medical School]].<ref>Thomson, John. [https://books.google.com/books?id=F0EBAAAAQAAJ&dq=William%20Cullen%20John%20Thomson&pg=PR3 ''An Account of the Life, Lectures and Writings of William Cullen, M.D. Volume 1'']. William Blackwood & T. Cadell, 1832.</ref> Cullen was a central figure in the [[Scottish Enlightenment]]: He was [[David Hume]]'s physician, and was friends with [[Joseph Black]], [[Henry Home, Lord Kames|Henry Home]], [[Adam Ferguson]], [[John Millar (philosopher)|John Millar]], and [[Adam Smith]], among others.

He was president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (1746–47), president of the [[Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh]] (1773–1775) and first physician to the king in Scotland (1773–1790).<ref>Doig, A., Ferguson, J. P. S., Milne, I. A., and Passmore, R. ''William Cullen and the Eighteenth Century Medical World''. Edinburgh University Press, 1993, pp. xii–xiii.</ref> He also assisted in obtaining a [[royal charter]] for the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, resulting in the formation of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] in 1783.<ref name="Waterston">{{cite book
 |last1       = Waterston
 |first1      = Charles D
 |last2       = Macmillan Shearer
 |first2      = A
 |title       = Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002: Biographical Index
 |url         = http://www.rse.org.uk/fellowship/fells_indexp1.pdf
 |access-date  = 29 September 2010
|volume      = I
 |date        = July 2006
 |publisher   = [[The Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
 |location    = Edinburgh
 |isbn        = 978-0-902198-84-5
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20061004113545/http://www.rse.org.uk/fellowship/fells_indexp1.pdf
 |archive-date = 4 October 2006
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>

Cullen was a beloved teacher, and many of his students became influential figures. He kept in contact with many of his students, including [[Benjamin Rush]], a central figure in the founding of the United States of America; [[John Morgan (physician)|John Morgan]], who founded the first medical school in the American colonies, the Medical School at the [[College of Philadelphia]];<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 3143563|title = Some American Students of "That Shining Oracle of Physic," Dr. William Cullen of Edinburgh, 1755-1766|journal = Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume = 94|issue = 3|pages = 275–281|last1 = Bell|first1 = Whitfield J|year = 1950}}</ref> [[William Withering]], the discoverer of [[digitalis]]; [[Sir Gilbert Blane]], medical reformer of the [[Royal Navy]]; and [[John Coakley Lettsom]], the philanthropist and founder of the [[Medical Society of London]].<ref>Doig, A., Ferguson, J. P. S., Milne, I. A., and Passmore, R. ''William Cullen and the Eighteenth Century Medical World''. Edinburgh University Press, 1993, esp. pp. 40–55.</ref>

Cullen's student and later rival [[John Brown (physician, born 1735)|John Brown]] developed the medical system known as [[Brunonian system of medicine|Brunonianism]], which conflicted with Cullen's. The competition between the two systems had knock-on effects in how patients were treated worldwide, especially in Italy and Germany, during the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century.<ref>Bynum, W.F. and Porter, Roy. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/issues/172551/ ''Brunonianism in Britain and Europe'']. ''Medical History'', Supplement No. 8 (1988), pp. ix–x.</ref>

Cullen was also an author. He published a number of medical textbooks, mostly for the use of his students, though they were popular in Europe and the American colonies. His best known work was ''First Lines of the Practice of Physic'', which was published in a series of editions between 1777 and 1784,<ref>Doig, A., Ferguson, J. P. S., Milne, I. A., and Passmore, R. ''William Cullen and the Eighteenth Century Medical World''. Edinburgh University Press, 1993, esp. pp. 34–39.</ref> and inventing the basis of modern refrigeration.

==Early life==
Cullen was born in [[Hamilton, Scotland|Hamilton]].<ref name="Former Fellows RSE">{{cite book |url=https://www.rse.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |title=Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002: Biographical Index Part One |isbn=0-902-198-84-X |date=July 2006 |publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh |chapter=CULLEN, WILLIAM. 15/04/1710-05/02/1790. Ref: 373. Male |page=222 }}</ref> His father William was a lawyer retained by the [[Duke of Hamilton]] as [[Factor (Scotland)|factor]], and his mother was Elizabeth Roberton of Whistlebury.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nahste.ac.uk/isaar/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0251.html |title=Cullen &#124; William &#124; 1710–1790 &#124; physician, chemist and metallurgist |publisher=Nahste.ac.uk |access-date=20 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204201758/http://www.nahste.ac.uk/isaar/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0251.html |archive-date=4 February 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/frameset_search.asp |title=Free Family History and Genealogy Records – |publisher=Familysearch.org |access-date=22 April 2013 |archive-date=13 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513171422/http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/frameset_search.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> He studied at the Old Grammar School of Hamilton (renamed in 1848 The [[Hamilton Academy]]), then, in 1726, began a General Studies arts course at the [[University of Glasgow]]. He began his medical training as apprentice to John Paisley, a [[Glasgow]] apothecary surgeon, then spent 1729 as surgeon on a merchant vessel trading between London and the [[Antilles]] in the [[West Indies]].<ref name="auto">Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 p.271</ref>

After two years as assistant apothecary to Mr Murray of Henrietta Street, London, he returned to Scotland in 1732 to establish himself in general medical practice in the parish of [[Shotts]], Lanarkshire. Also serving the town of Hamilton he had cured the [[Duke of Hamilton]] who thereafter became his patron.<ref name="auto"/>

From 1734 to 1736 he studied medicine at the [[University of Edinburgh]], where he became interested in chemistry, and was one of the founders of the [[Royal Medical Society]] in his first year of study.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=616}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cullenproject.ac.uk/about/|title=About the Cullen Project|website=The Cullen Project}}</ref>

In 1736 he began medical practice in Hamilton, where he rapidly acquired a high reputation. He also continued his study of the [[natural science]]s, especially of [[chemistry]]. From 1737 to 1740 [[William Hunter (anatomist)|William Hunter]] was his resident pupil, and at one time they proposed to enter into partnership. In 1740 Cullen was awarded the degree of MD from [[Glasgow University]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=616}} In 1741, he married and started his family. He became ordinary medical attendant to James Douglas, 5th [[Duke of Hamilton]] (1703–43), his family, and his livestock. In 1744, following the Duke's death, the Cullens moved to [[Glasgow]].

In Glasgow he gave extramural lectures for the university, on physiology, botany, materia medica, and chemistry. His great abilities, enthusiasm, and use of practical demonstrations for instruction, made him a successful and highly popular teacher, attracting large classes. At the same time he also maintained a medical practice. In 1747, Cullen was awarded Britain's first independent lectureship in Chemistry and was elected President of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. In 1748 while in Glasgow, Cullen invented the basis for modern refrigeration, although is not credited with a usable application.<ref name=":2" /> In 1751 he was appointed [[Regius Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics, Glasgow|Professor of the Practice of Medicine]], although he continued to lecture on chemistry.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=616}}

==Edinburgh==
In 1755 he was enticed by [[Lord Kames]] to become Professor of Chemistry and Medicine at the [[University of Edinburgh]] in place of Prof [[Andrew Plummer]]. It was in Edinburgh, in 1756, that he gave the first documented public demonstration of artificial [[refrigeration]].<ref>William Cullen, ''Of the Cold Produced by Evaporating Fluids and of Some Other Means of Producing Cold,'' '''in''' Essays and Observations Physical and Literary Read Before a Society in Edinburgh and Published by Them, II, (Edinburgh 1756)</ref> In 1748, an account had been published in ''The Edinburgh Physical and Literary Essays'' of an experiment in which Cullen used an air pump to create a partial [[vacuum]] over a container of [[diethyl ether]], which then [[boiling point|boiled]], absorbing [[Heat of vaporization|heat]] from the surroundings.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=West |first=John B. |date=2014-06-15 |title=Joseph Black, carbon dioxide, latent heat, and the beginnings of the discovery of the respiratory gases |url=https://www.physiology.org/doi/10.1152/ajplung.00020.2014 |journal=American Journal of Physiology. Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology |language=en |volume=306 |issue=12 |pages=L1057–L1063 |doi=10.1152/ajplung.00020.2014 |issn=1040-0605|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramsay |first=William |author-link=William Ramsay |title=The life and letters of Joseph Black, M.D. |publisher=Constable |year=1918 |pages=38–39}}</ref> This created a small amount of ice, but the process found no commercial application.

From 1757 he delivered lectures on [[clinical medicine]] in the [[Edinburgh Royal Infirmary]]. On the death of [[Charles Alston (professor)|Charles Alston]] in 1760, Cullen at the request of the students undertook to finish his course of lectures on ''materia medica''; he delivered an entirely new course, notes of which were published in an unauthorised edition in 1771, but which he re-wrote and issued as ''A Treatise on Materia Medica'' in 1789.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=616}}

On the death of [[Robert Whytt]], the professor of the institutes of medicine, in 1766, Cullen accepted the chair, at the same time resigning that of chemistry. In the same year, he had been an unsuccessful candidate for the professorship of the practice of physic (medicine), but subsequently an arrangement was made between him and [[John Gregory (moralist)|John Gregory]], the successful candidate, by which they both agreed to deliver alternate courses on the theory and practice of medicine. This arrangement continued until the sudden death of Gregory in 1773. Cullen was then appointed sole professor of the practice of physic, and he continued in this office until a few months before his death.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=616}}

In Edinburgh, Cullen lived off South Grays Close on the [[Royal Mile]] close to the old Scottish mint.<ref name="auto"/> He had a country residence at Ormiston Hill<ref>Williamson's Street Directory 1784</ref> in [[Kirknewton, West Lothian]].

In 1783 Cullen (together with his sons) was a co-founder of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]].<ref name="Former Fellows RSE"/>

On 8 January 1790 he was presented with a silver platter costing 50 guineas by the [[Lord Provost]], [[Thomas Elder (Lord Provost of Edinburgh)|Thomas Elder]] and the city baillies, for his long service in the university.<ref name="auto"/>

He died in his home in the old mint in Edinburgh<ref name="auto"/> on 5 February 1790, but is buried in the churchyard at Kirkliston. His son [[Robert Cullen, Lord Cullen|Robert]] lies with him.

==Influence==

Cullen taught many students who would go on to influential careers in British science.  Indeed, a large number of the doctors who taught in Edinburgh's medical school from the 1790s to 1810s had studied with him, including the chemist Joseph Black, the anatomist [[Alexander Monro (secundus)|Alexander Monro Secundus]], and the naturalist [[John Walker (natural historian)|John Walker]]. Cullen's emphasis on the practical benefits of chemistry made his ideas popular amongst farmers, industrialists, naturalists and doctors alike.  His influence on these fields was felt through the writings of his students, particularly in the books of John Anderson, the 'Aberdeen Agricola',<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-6278-0_7 |chapter=The Aberdeen Agricola: Chemical Principles and Practice in James Anderson's Georgics and Geology |title=New Narratives in Eighteenth-Century Chemistry |series=Archimedes |year=2007 |last1=Eddy |first1=Matthew D. |volume=18 |pages=139–156 |isbn=978-1-4020-6273-5 }}</ref> and the lectures given by Joseph Black and John Walker from the 1770s to 1790s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eddy |first1=Matthew |title=The Language of Mineralogy: John Walker, Chemistry and the Edinburgh Medical School, 1750-1800 |date=2008 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-6332-4 }}{{page needed|date=April 2021}}</ref>

By studying the symptoms of diseases, Cullen classified diseases into different classes. One class of diseases was called "neuroses."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Science and the Practice of Medicine in the Nineteenth Century|last=Bynum|first=William|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0-521-27205-6|location=Cambridge|pages=15–16}}</ref>

== Medical practice ==
In the 18th century, there were three primary professions in medicine: physicians, surgeons, and [[Apothecary|apothecaries]] (the former name for pharmacists), although the barriers among them were starting to become blurred. William Cullen practiced as all three.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=William Cullen and the eighteenth century medical world : a bicentenary exhibition and symposium arranged by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1990|last=Milne|first=I.|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-7486-0302-2|location=Edinburgh|pages=110–160}}</ref> Because medical practitioners were not as established as they are now, patients generally took advice from a myriad of sources, including personal experience, books, and several consultations. Furthermore, because the diagnostic tools were not as advanced, patient history was the primary and most important information for the physicians to diagnose their patients.<ref name=":0" /> There were no strict government regulations in place for physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries.<ref name=":0" /> As a result, to become successful in the medical marketplace depended more on social skills than on medical expertise, similar to other forms of businesses.<ref name=":0" /> Cullen was one of the more successful physicians because of his shrewdness in handling difficult patients.<ref name=":0" /> Teaching at the university and seeing patients at the Edinburgh Infirmary as charity also helped Cullen become more famous.<ref name=":0" />

Many of Cullen's consultations were done through written letters sent by patients from Scottish cities and towns.<ref name=":0" /> Cullen managed his consultations with great efficiency; he usually read the letters early in the morning and his secretary-[[amanuensis]] would record and mail back his responses.<ref name=":0" /> He then went around Edinburgh to visit patients. This form of epistolary consultations was often limited by the literacy and socioeconomic status of the patients. Patients who would write letters to Cullen were usually in the upper and middle class. Besides letters from patients, he also consulted physicians, often students he had taught.<ref name=":0" /> Based on how his letters were written, Cullen was most likely a "tactful and compassionate practitioner."<ref name=":0" /> Like many physicians in his time, Cullen would often prescribe therapeutics "to support the patient's endangered constitution and assist the body's natural healing tendencies."<ref name=":0" /> This is because medical practitioners at the time mostly believed that diseases and illnesses were unique to different patients depending on their constitutions.

== Medical teaching ==
According to Rocca, Cullen was known for systemizing and promoting medical knowledge rather than producing original research.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Brain, Mind and Medicine: Essays in Eighteenth-Century Neuroscience - Springer|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-0-387-70967-3|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0-387-70966-6|last1 = Whitaker|first1 = Harry|last2=Smith|first2=C.U.M|last3=Finger|first3=Stanley}}</ref> Despite the lack of original work, some believed that Cullen's attempt to organize existing knowledge was actually a sign of his "practical sagacity" as a practitioner.<ref name=":0"/> He was a lecturer for more than forty years.<ref name=":0" /> In order to understand Cullen's medical teaching at the time, it is important to understand Cullen's conception of "system" as he taught it in his classes. Cullen described a system as "an organised body of opinions on particular topics in the medical curriculum."<ref name=":0" /> He also referred to system as the principles in his book ''First Lines of the Practice of Physic.''<ref name=":0" /> There were many possible reasons behind Cullen's emphasis of the system of medicine. In the 18th century, a period of Scottish Enlightenment, there were competing theories about the mechanisms of the human body and the causes of diseases proposed by different professors, who competed for students' teaching fees.<ref name=":0" /> Thus, having an underlying system of medical knowledge was a practical way to organize the knowledge coherently for the students.<ref name=":0" />

Like many prominent medical figures in the 18th century, William Cullen took a great interest in the nervous system. He defined the nervous system as an "animated machine" whose main function is to "perform a variety of motions," communicate and interact with "external bodies."<ref name=":1" /> Cullen believed that the nervous system was composed of four elements: the medullary substance, consisting of the brain and the spinal cord, the membranous nerves, the sensory nerves, and the muscular fibers.<ref name=":1" />

Cullen's understanding of the nervous system was also influenced by his contemporaries, one of whom was [[Albrecht von Haller]] (1708–1777).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dyde |first1=Sean |title=Cullen, a Cautionary Tale |journal=Medical History |date=2015 |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=222–240 |doi=10.1017/mdh.2015.7 |pmid=25766541 |pmc=4407445 }}</ref> Haller proposed that tissues, including muscles, were characterized by "irritability" (or contractility), while nerves were characterized by "sensibility" (or feeling).<ref name=":1" /> Using Haller's characterization, Cullen defined disease "as an excess or deficiency of sensibility."<ref name=":1" /> However, Cullen interpreted sensibility as "muscle mobility and vigour" and diseases were caused by the imbalance of irritability and sensibility.<ref name=":1" /> Based on this definition of disease, his therapeutics "either stimulated or sedated the nervous system."<ref name=":1" /> He categorized diseases into four main classes: pyrexiae, neuroses, [[Cachexia|cachexiae]], and locales. Within the classes were nineteen orders and 132 genera.<ref name=":1" /> The four orders of neuroses were comata, adynamiae, spasmi and vesaniae.<ref name=":1" /> Comata was defined as "a diminution of voluntary motion, with sleep, or a deprivation of the senses." Adynamiae is defined as "a diminution of the involuntary motions, whether vital or natural." Spasmi was defined as "irregular motions of the muscles or muscular fibers." Vesaniae was defined as "disorders of the judgement without any pyrexia or coma."<ref name=":1" />

Cullen's emphasis on the importance of the nervous system was driven by the understanding that the nervous system controls the human body and therefore, "all diseases may, in some sense, be called affections of the nervous system, because, in almost every disease, the nerves are more or less hurt."<ref name=":1" /> Although Cullen's nosology did not last very long, Cullen's influential teachings on medical knowledge and his attempt to systematize and generalize medical knowledge were integral parts of 18th century Scottish Enlightenment.<ref name=":1" />

==Family==

In 1741, he married Anne (or Anna) Johnstone (died at the mint in 1786).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=The often forgotten Scottish inventor whose innovation changed the world |url=https://www.thenational.scot/culture/20058191.william-cullen-time-scottish-inventor-brought-cold/ |access-date=10 April 2022 |website=The National |date=10 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
He was father to the judge [[Robert Cullen, Lord Cullen]] and to the physician [[Henry Cullen]]. Cullen's eldest son Robert became a Scottish judge in 1796 under the title of Lord Cullen later Baron Cullen,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?search=as&grp=1095%3BScottish+sitters+and+artists&lDate=&LinkID=mp55787&rNo=0&role=sit |title=NPG D2239; Robert Cullen, Baron Cullen |publisher=Npg.org.uk |access-date=20 January 2012 |archive-date=8 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608214617/http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?search=as&grp=1095%3BScottish+sitters+and+artists&lDate=&LinkID=mp55787&rNo=0&role=sit |url-status=dead }}</ref> and was known for his powers of [[impressionist (entertainment)|mimicry]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=617}}

==Publications==
Because of the wide popularity of Cullen's work, many of his publications were translated into a multitude of languages across Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Science and the Practice of Medicine in the Nineteenth Century|last=Bynum|first=W.F.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0-521-27205-6|location=New York|pages=11}}</ref> Cullen's most popular and successful work was his medical textbook ''First Lines of the Practice of Physic'', published in two volumes in 1777 and expanded with each edition until it reached four volumes in its final edition (1784).

His first book-length publication was ''Synopsis Nosologiae Methodicae'' (1769), Cullen's very influential nosology, or classification of diseases. His next publication was also a medical textbook, and it dealt with the Institutions of medicine, i.e. medical theory. Its full title was ''Institutions of Medicine. Part I. Physiology'' (1772) because it focused on physiology, which was traditionally only one part of the Institutions (pathology and therapeutics were also essential parts of medical theory). It went through two more editions (1777 & 1785).

Work on his magnum opus, ''First Lines of Practice of Physic'', occupied much of his time in the 1770s and 1780s, but he did manage one final publication. This was his two volume ''A Treatise of the Materia Medica'' (1789), which was highly valued by other medical practitioners throughout Europe.

Thus, the following works, with their dates of publication (including multiple editions), comprise the majority of Cullen's ''oeuvre'':

*''Synopsis Nosologiae Methodicae'' (1769; 1771; 1780; 1785)
* ''Lectures on the Materia medica''. 2nd Ed. Dublin : Whitestone, 1781. [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-169327 Digital edition] of the [[University and State Library Düsseldorf]].
* ''Cours de Matière médicale.'' Paris, 1788. [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-148946 Digital edition] of the [[University and State Library Düsseldorf]].
*''Institutions of Medicine. Part I. Physiology'' (1772; 1777; 1785)
*''First Lines of the Practice of Physic'' (1777; 1778; 1781; 1784; 1793 ([http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t1zc7sg8v vol.&nbsp;1]; [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t4hm53f54?urlappend=%3Bseq=5 vol.&nbsp;2]))
*''A Treatise of the Materia Medica'' (1789)
**''Traité de Matière médicale'' translated by Édouard François Marie Bosquillon. Published: vol. 1 – 3. Pavie : Sauveur, 1791. [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-148969 Digital edition] of the [[University and State Library Düsseldorf]].
** ''Trattato di Materia medica''. Involved: Dalladecima, Angelo. 2. Ed. Erschienen: Bd. 1 – 6. Padova : Bettinelli, 1798. [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-148955 Digital edition] of the [[University and State Library Düsseldorf]].

Cullen also published a few, shorter works (e.g. "A Letter to Lord Cathcart" in 1776), which have not been included in this list.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Cullen, William|volume=7|pages=616–617}}

== Further reading ==
=== Basic biographical sources ===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*Thomson, John. [https://books.google.com/books?id=F0EBAAAAQAAJ&dq=William%20Cullen%20John%20Thomson&pg=PR3 ''An Account of the Life, Lectures and Writings of William Cullen, M.D. Volume 1'']. William Blackwood & T. Cadell, 1832.
*Thomson, John; Thomson, William; [[David Craigie|Craigie, David]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9SwAAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR1 ''An Account of the Life, Lectures and Writings of William Cullen, M.D. Volume 2'']. William Blackwood & Sons, 1859. This book, in conjunction with its predecessor (see previous reference), is the standard biography of William Cullen's life and thought.
*Doig, A., Ferguson, J. P. S., Milne, I. A., and Passmore, R (Editors). ''William Cullen and the Eighteenth Century Medical World''. Edinburgh University Press, 1993. This collection of edited essays is the most recent, full-length work on the life and thought of William Cullen. It was the result of an exhibition and symposium at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1990 to commemorate the bicentenary of Cullen's death.
* {{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-6874|title=Cullen, William (1710–1790), chemist and physician|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/6874|last1=Bynum|first1=W. F.}}
* Eddy, M. D. 'Dr. William Cullen, M.D., (1710–1790)', ''New Dictionary of Scientific Biography'', Noretta Koertge (ed.), (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2007).
{{div col end}}

=== William Cullen and chemistry ===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*Donovan, Arthur L. ''Philosophical Chemistry in the Scottish Enlightenment: The Doctrines and Discoveries of William Cullen and Joseph Black''. Edinburgh: University Press, 1975.
*J V Golinski, "Utility and Audience in Eighteenth-Century Chemistry: Case Studies of William Cullen and Joseph Priestley," ''The British Journal for the History of Science'' (1988): 1–31.
*{{cite journal |author=Christie JR |title=Historiography of chemistry in the eighteenth century: Hermann Boerhaave and William Cullen |journal=Ambix |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=4–19 |year=1994 |pmid=11616322 |doi=10.1179/amb.1994.41.1.4}}
* Eddy, M. D. ''The Language of Mineralogy: John Walker, Chemistry and the Edinburgh Medical School, 1750–1800'' (Aldershot: 2008).
* Eddy, M. D. "The Aberdeen Agricola: Chemical Principles and Practice in James Aderson's Georgics and Geology", in L. Principe (Ed.), ''New Narratives in Eighteenth-Century Chemistry'' (Dordrecht: Springer, 2007).
{{div col end}}

=== William Cullen and medicine ===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*{{cite journal |author=Crellin JK |title=William Cullen: his calibre as a teacher, and an unpublished introduction to his A Treatise of the Materia Medica, London, 1773 |journal=Medical History |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=79–87 |date=January 1971 |pmid=4929623 |pmc=1034117 |doi=10.1017/s0025727300016148}}
*{{cite journal |author=Johnstone RW |title=William Cullen |journal=Medical History |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=33–46 |date=January 1959 |pmid=13632206 |pmc=1034445 |doi=10.1017/s0025727300024236}}
*{{cite journal |author=McGirr EM |title=William Cullen MD (1710–1790) |journal=Scottish Medical Journal |volume=36 |issue=1 |page=6 |date=February 1991 |pmid=2031172|doi=10.1177/003693309103600103 |s2cid=36517937 }}
*{{cite journal |author=McGirr EM, Stoddart W |title=Changing theories in 18th-century medicine. The inheritance and legacy of William Cullen |journal=Scottish Medical Journal |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=23–6 |date=February 1991 |pmid=2031170|doi=10.1177/003693309103600112 |s2cid=8565657 }}
*{{cite journal |author=Risse GB |title='Doctor William Cullen, physician, Edinburgh': a consultation practice in the Eighteenth Century |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=338–51 |year=1974 |pmid=4618142}}
*{{cite journal |title=William Cullen (1710–1790) |journal=JAMA |volume=188 |issue= 4|pages=388–9 |date=April 1964 |pmid=14114029 |doi=10.1001/jama.1964.03060300050015}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Cramer |first1=Marc |last2=Morsier |first2=Georges de |title=L'enseignement du docteur William Cullen, d'Edimbourg (1712-1790) transcrit par son élève le docteur Louis Odier de Genève (1748-1817) |trans-title=Teachings of the physician William Cullen of Edinburg (1712–1790) transcribed by his student physician Louis Odier of Geneva (1748–1817) |language=fr |journal=[[Gesnerus]] |date=17 November 1976 |volume=33 |issue=3–4 |pages=217–227 |doi=10.1163/22977953-0330304005 |pmid=793940 |doi-access=free }}
*{{cite journal |author=Dubois JC |trans-title=Neuroses and practical medicine in the works of William Cullen |language=fr |journal=Annales Médico-Psychologiques |volume=143 |issue=6 |pages=572–577 |date=June 1985 |pmid=3909876 |title=Névroses et médecine pratique d'après l'œuvre de William Cullen }}
*{{cite book |author=Risse GB |title=William Cullen and child care. A 1788 letter |series=Clio Medica |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=65–7 |date=March 1973 |pmid=4129567}}
*{{cite journal |author=Stott R |title=William Cullen and Edinburgh medicine: a reappraisal |journal=The Society for the Social History of Medicine Bulletin |volume=38 |pages=7–9 |date=June 1986 |pmid=11612030}}
*{{cite journal |author=Stott R |title=Health and virtue: or, how to keep out of harm's way. Lectures on pathology and therapeutics by William Cullen c. 1770 |journal=Medical History |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=123–42 |date=April 1987 |pmid=3550326 |pmc=1139708 |doi=10.1017/s0025727300046536}}
{{div col end}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.cullenproject.ac.uk/ The Consultation Letters of Dr William Cullen (1710–1790), University of Glasgow]
*[http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/specialcollections/collectionsa-z/cullenpapers/ Papers of William Cullen at Special Collections, the University of Glasgow]
*[https://archive.today/20121223065856/http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/library/find/manuscript/c.php Papers of William Cullen at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh]
*[http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/~alanc/dept/cullen.htm Extracts from Senatus Minutes, University of Glasgow] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112013504/http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/~alanc/dept/cullen.htm |date=12 January 2008 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080607230109/http://www.chem.ed.ac.uk/public/professors/cullen.html Biography by W. P. Doyle] at University of Edinburgh, School of Chemistry
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120204201758/http://www.nahste.ac.uk/isaar/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0251.html Biography, qualifications, sources] at Navigational Aids for the History of Science, Technology & the Environment
*{{UK National Archives ID}}

{{Age of Enlightenment}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, William}}
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