Museums



Microscope used by Dr Maclagan

This microscope belonged to Dr Thomas J Maclagan, Medical Superintendent at Dundee Royal Infirmary 1864-66. During this time he had to cope with a major fever epidemic, leading him to pioneer the clinical use of thermometers. His most important work, however, was the research he carried out into the anti-rheumatic effects of salicin, a chemical extracted from willow bark. Maclagan’s work was taken up by German researchers who used salicin to develop acetyl-salicylic acid – better known today as aspirin. Maclagan later moved to London and established a fashionable practice whose patients included Thomas Carlyle and members of the Royal Family. At the time of his death in 1903, it was said that he "deserves a niche in the Temple of Fame as one of the great benefactors of the human race."

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