Matthew Baillie, Scottish physicist and pioneer morbid anatomist, c 1800

Matthew Baillie, Scottish physicist and pioneer morbid anatomist, c 1800. Oil painting of Matthew Baillie (1761-1823). After serving an apprenticeship with his uncle, William Hunter, in London, Baillie was appointed physician to St George's Hospital. In 1797, he left St George's to go into private practice. Baillie served as physician extraordinary to King George III, but accepted patients from all walks of life. He published his most important medical work, 'The Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body', in 1793. It established morbid anatomy as an independent science. Baillie also gave the first clinical descriptions of gastric ulcers, and produced valuable work on tuberculosis and pulmonary emphysema. ©SSPL/Science Museum