John Gregory (moralist)
Encyclopedia
John Gregory a.k.a. John Gregorie, was an eighteenth-century Scottish physician, medical writer and moralist.
Gregory, the grandson of James Gregory
, was born in Aberdeen
, Scotland
to the professor of medicine James Gregorie and Anna Chalmers, his father's second wife. Gregory's father died when he was eight years old and from then on Principal Chalmers, his grandfather, and his half-brother James, a professor of medicine, took over his education. His cousin Thomas Reid
, the moral philosopher, also guided and influenced his education. Gregory attended a local grammar school and later King's College
, University of Aberdeen
. In 1742 he and his mother moved to Edinburgh
where he studied medicine. There he became friends with the physician and poet Mark Akenside
. Gregory went to Leiden to continue his studies in 1745. In 1746, soon after receiving his degree, he was appointed professor of philosophy at King's College. He taught mathematics and moral and natural philosophy
. He was also a practicing doctor and preferring patients to lecturing, he resigned his academic post in 1749.
On 2 April 1752, Gregory married Elizabeth Forbes. Together they had three sons, including the physician James Gregory
, and three daughters. In 1754 the family moved to London
and they entered the social circle of John Wilkes
, Charles Townshend
, George Lyttelton
and Elizabeth Montagu
. It was at this time that he started spelling his name "Gregory" rather than "Gregorie". In 1756 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society
. Gregory subsequently returned to Aberdeen to take up another academic post.
While at Aberdeen, Gregory attempted to institute a series of medical lectures, but there were too few medical students to sustain them. He also became an active member of Aberdeen Philosophical Society. The paper he presented there were later collected and published anonymously in A Comparative View of the State and Faculties of Man, with those of the Animal World (1765). Gregory believed in a universal human nature that could be discovered through scientific experiment. The most important elements of human nature, as he saw it, were reason and instinct. He wrote that "the task of improving our nature, of improving man's estate, involves the proper development and exercise of the social principle and the other principle of instinct, with reason subordinate to instinct and serving as a corrective on it". Studying the natural world leads to a cultivation of good taste and religious understanding for Gregory.
In what would become his most famous publication, Gregory wrote Father's Legacy to his Daughters (1761) after the death of his wife in 1761 in order to honor her memory and record her thoughts on female education. Originally Gregory meant only to give the text to his daughters when he died, but his son James published it in 1774; it became a bestseller, going through many editions and translations. In writing this work, he may have been influenced by the celebrated Bluestocking
Elizabeth Montagu. The text advises parents and women on religion, moral conduct, friendship and interactions with men, with a focus on marriage. He suggested that women refrain from exposing any learning that they might have, as this would damage their ability to attract a husband. Mary Wollstonecraft
would later viciously attack these principles in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
(1792), arguing that Gregory's advise amounted to nothing more than deceit on the part of women.
Gregory moved to Edinburgh in 1764, where he established a medical practice. Two years later Gregory was appointed the first physician in Scotland to George III and made a member of the faculty of Edinburgh University. His appointment was not undisputed and one professor resigned because Gregory was selected rather than William Cullen
. Between 1767 and 1769, Gregory gave a series of lectures on medicine and in 1769, he and Cullen gave joint sources on medical practice and medical theory. He published some of his lectures as Observations on the Duties and Offices of a Physician and on the Method of Prosecuting Enquiries in Philosophy (1770). These writings have been called "the first philosophical, secular medical ethics in the English language". Gregory also published Elements of the Practice of Physic (1772), which investigated the nosology of disease and the diseases of children.
Gregory died in Edinburgh on 9 February 1773. He is buried in Canongate Churchyard
but the plot bears only the name of his son, James, also a prominent doctor and Professor of Medicine. The latter was famed for creating "Gregory's Powder" and "Gregory's Mixture", both frequently used for stomach complaints until World War I.
Elizabeth Montagu wrote of John: "The hours I passed in his company were amongst the most delightful in my life. He was instructive and amusing, but was much more; one loved Dr Gregory for the sake of virtue and virtue (one might almost say) for the sake of Dr Gregory."
Gregory, the grandson of James Gregory
James Gregory (astronomer and mathematician)
James Gregory FRS was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer. He described an early practical design for the reflecting telescope – the Gregorian telescope – and made advances in trigonometry, discovering infinite series representations for several trigonometric functions.- Biography :The...
, was born in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
to the professor of medicine James Gregorie and Anna Chalmers, his father's second wife. Gregory's father died when he was eight years old and from then on Principal Chalmers, his grandfather, and his half-brother James, a professor of medicine, took over his education. His cousin Thomas Reid
Thomas Reid
The Reverend Thomas Reid FRSE , was a religiously trained Scottish philosopher, and a contemporary of David Hume, was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment...
, the moral philosopher, also guided and influenced his education. Gregory attended a local grammar school and later King's College
King's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
, University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
. In 1742 he and his mother moved to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
where he studied medicine. There he became friends with the physician and poet Mark Akenside
Mark Akenside
Mark Akenside was an English poet and physician.Akenside was born at Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the son of a butcher. He was slightly lame all his life from a wound he received as a child from his father's cleaver...
. Gregory went to Leiden to continue his studies in 1745. In 1746, soon after receiving his degree, he was appointed professor of philosophy at King's College. He taught mathematics and moral and natural philosophy
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
. He was also a practicing doctor and preferring patients to lecturing, he resigned his academic post in 1749.
On 2 April 1752, Gregory married Elizabeth Forbes. Together they had three sons, including the physician James Gregory
James Gregory (physician)
James Gregory FRSE FRCPE was a Scottish physician and classicist.-Early life and education:He was the eldest son of John Gregory and Elizabeth Forbes , and was born in Aberdeen...
, and three daughters. In 1754 the family moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and they entered the social circle of John Wilkes
John Wilkes
John Wilkes was an English radical, journalist and politician.He was first elected Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fought for the right of voters—rather than the House of Commons—to determine their representatives...
, Charles Townshend
Charles Townshend
Charles Townshend was a British politician. He was born at his family's seat of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England, the second son of Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount Townshend, and Audrey , daughter and heiress of Edward Harrison of Ball's Park, near Hertford, a lady who rivalled her son in...
, George Lyttelton
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton PC , known as Sir George Lyttelton, Bt between 1751 and 1756, was a British politician and statesman and a patron of the arts.-Background and education:...
and Elizabeth Montagu
Elizabeth Montagu
Elizabeth Montagu was a British social reformer, patron of the arts, salonist, literary critic, and writer who helped organize and lead the bluestocking society...
. It was at this time that he started spelling his name "Gregory" rather than "Gregorie". In 1756 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
. Gregory subsequently returned to Aberdeen to take up another academic post.
While at Aberdeen, Gregory attempted to institute a series of medical lectures, but there were too few medical students to sustain them. He also became an active member of Aberdeen Philosophical Society. The paper he presented there were later collected and published anonymously in A Comparative View of the State and Faculties of Man, with those of the Animal World (1765). Gregory believed in a universal human nature that could be discovered through scientific experiment. The most important elements of human nature, as he saw it, were reason and instinct. He wrote that "the task of improving our nature, of improving man's estate, involves the proper development and exercise of the social principle and the other principle of instinct, with reason subordinate to instinct and serving as a corrective on it". Studying the natural world leads to a cultivation of good taste and religious understanding for Gregory.
In what would become his most famous publication, Gregory wrote Father's Legacy to his Daughters (1761) after the death of his wife in 1761 in order to honor her memory and record her thoughts on female education. Originally Gregory meant only to give the text to his daughters when he died, but his son James published it in 1774; it became a bestseller, going through many editions and translations. In writing this work, he may have been influenced by the celebrated Bluestocking
Blue Stockings Society (England)
The Blue Stockings Society was an informal women's social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century. The society emphasized education and mutual co-operation rather than the individualism which marked the French version....
Elizabeth Montagu. The text advises parents and women on religion, moral conduct, friendship and interactions with men, with a focus on marriage. He suggested that women refrain from exposing any learning that they might have, as this would damage their ability to attract a husband. Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
would later viciously attack these principles in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects , written by the 18th-century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the 18th...
(1792), arguing that Gregory's advise amounted to nothing more than deceit on the part of women.
Gregory moved to Edinburgh in 1764, where he established a medical practice. Two years later Gregory was appointed the first physician in Scotland to George III and made a member of the faculty of Edinburgh University. His appointment was not undisputed and one professor resigned because Gregory was selected rather than William Cullen
William Cullen
William Cullen FRS FRSE FRCPE FPSG was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, and one of the most important professors at the Edinburgh Medical School, during its heyday as the leading center of medical education in the English-speaking world.Cullen was also a central figure in the...
. Between 1767 and 1769, Gregory gave a series of lectures on medicine and in 1769, he and Cullen gave joint sources on medical practice and medical theory. He published some of his lectures as Observations on the Duties and Offices of a Physician and on the Method of Prosecuting Enquiries in Philosophy (1770). These writings have been called "the first philosophical, secular medical ethics in the English language". Gregory also published Elements of the Practice of Physic (1772), which investigated the nosology of disease and the diseases of children.
Gregory died in Edinburgh on 9 February 1773. He is buried in Canongate Churchyard
Canongate Churchyard
The Canongate Kirkyard stands around Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. The churchyard was used for burials from the late 1680s until the mid 20th century....
but the plot bears only the name of his son, James, also a prominent doctor and Professor of Medicine. The latter was famed for creating "Gregory's Powder" and "Gregory's Mixture", both frequently used for stomach complaints until World War I.
Elizabeth Montagu wrote of John: "The hours I passed in his company were amongst the most delightful in my life. He was instructive and amusing, but was much more; one loved Dr Gregory for the sake of virtue and virtue (one might almost say) for the sake of Dr Gregory."
Further Reading
- Stewart, Agnes GraingerAgnes Grainger StewartAgnes Grainger Stewart was a Scottish writer. She was born in Edinburgh on 26 April 1871. Her father was , an eminent physician, and her mother was Jessy Dingwall Fordyce McDonald. Her only published work appears to be The Academic Gregories . The Gregories dealt with in this book include:John...
. The Academic Gregories. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson and FerrierOliphant, Anderson and FerrierThis Edinburgh book publishing firm produced many hundreds of books mainly on religious and biographical themes, especially during its heyday from about 1880 to 1910. It is probably best remembered for its memorable ‘Famous Scots Series’ with their distinctive red and gilt covers. Forty-two of...
, 1901, ("Famous Scots Series").