James Lind (naturalist)

James Lind FRS FRSE FRCPE (May 17, 1736 – October 17, 1812) was a Scottish natural philosopher and physician.

Life James Lind was born in Gorgie, Edinburgh on 17 May 1736. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University under William Cullen and Joseph Black, and graduated in 1768. In 1766, he then joined the East India Company as surgeon. In 1768 he received his doctorate (MD) from Edinburgh upon completing a dissertation on marsh fever (malaria) in Bengal. On 6 November 1770 he was admitted a Fellow of the College of Physicians, Edinburgh. In 1773 he was a founding member of the Aesculapian Club. Lind was also a corresponding member of the Lunar Society.

Personality Lind is widely regarded as having an eccentric personality, and considered to be reckless with spending money as captured by the following dialogue: "Why, Dr. Lind, you spend a whole seas of gold", to which Lind replied, "Madam, 'tis true, my very name, behold, Begins with pounds and ends, alas, with pence" Charles Burney described Lind as extremely thin, tall, with grey hair as seen around age 70 ('a mere lath'). Lind was generally acknowledged to have a sweet disposition, and Fanny Burney cast doubt whether he obtained much of a private medical practice: "his taste for trickes, conundrums and queer things makes people fearful of his trying experiments on their constitutions, and think of him a better conjuror than a physician; though I don't know why the same man should not be both". Percy Shelley said Lind to be, "...exactly what an old man ought to be. Free, calm-spirited, full of benevolence, and even of youthful ardor: his eye seemed to burn with supernatural spirit beneath his brow, shaded by his venerable white locks, he was tall, vigorous, and healthy in his body; tempered, as it had ever been, by his amiable mind. I owe to that man far, ah! far more than I owe to my father: he loved me, and I shall never forget our long talks, where he breathed the spirit of the kindest tolerance and the purest wisdom," In A Sketch of My Life, Lind's son Alexander Frances Lind wrote: "Would that my feeble pen could render better justice to my father's memory; and would that I had been older to have profited by the instructions he was so peculiarly fitted to afford. I have been told, and I believe it, that few men existed of more universal knowledge; and that very few could be met, whose conversation was do instructive, and whose life and manners were more gently, and unassuming."

Family James Lind was the son of Alexander Lind of Gorgie, FRSE, (who was the son of George Lind of Gorgie, Sheriff Deputy of Edinburgh, and Jean Montgomery of Smithton) Lind's great-grandfather was John Lind IV (who was the son of Mary Boyd of Pittfinde). John Lind IV and Isabel had five children. Their other notable descendants included James Keir, and George Lind (who was Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and Member of Parliament for Edinburgh), and Colonel John Lind, and Major-General John Lind (1733 - 1795), and Anne Lind (who was the wife of Richard Cooper), and the distinguished physician James Lind of Haslar (1716 – 1794) (who is the namesake of the James Lind Alliance), and Sir James Lind, and John Lind (barrister), and Sir James Grant. The surname Lind, of which the motto was Semper Virescit Virtus, is derived from Lynne of Ayrshire in Scotland. Synonymous variations include Lynne, Linn and Lind used by free Barons from the earliest of recorded history. There were Linns of that Ilk in Ayrshire, and Linns of Pitmade in Perthshire. James Lind is descended from the Linds of Ayrshire. King John Balliol mentions William de Lynne of that Ilk in a donation, who is a direct forefather in the Lind lineage. Lind's mother, Helen Allardice (1697 - 1746) was daughter of Sir George Allardice, Member of Parliament and Master of the Mint of Scotland, through whom James Lind was 10th in descent from James II of Scotland. Lind married Ann Elizabeth Mealy on 07 Nov 1778. She is mentioned in Burney's Diary, she mentioned his wife as "a fat handsome wife who is as tall as himself and about six times as big". Charlotte Papendiek referred to her as "needlewoman and everything to the Duchess of Portland at Bulstrode". Mealy was daughter of John Mealy of Middlesex and Elizabeth Parry of Perveddgoed. whose pedigree included lineage from David Daron who was the Dean of Bangor in 1399. Ann died at the age of 48 from an apoplectic fit. Lind had at least four children by Ann Elizabeth Mealy: Their notable children included: Lucy Maria Lind (1783-1858), later Sherwill, who profiled Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom; Dorothea Sophia Banks Lind (1786 - 1863), who married Isaac Gosset (1782 – 1855), and whose daughter Helen Dorothea or Dorothy Gosset married William Driscoll Gosset; Alexander Francis Lind (1797 - 1832), who was a civil servant for Lord Ailesbury and for Queen Charlotte, and who was Judge of Mirzapur, and who married Anna Maria Macan (1802 - 1862) who was the daughter of Robert Macan High Sheriff of Armagh in 1814.

The Revolt of Islam and Frankenstein James Lind taught at Eton College while in semi-retirement. Around 1809, he tutored Percy Bysshe Shelley, husband of Mary Shelley. Percy alluded to Lind in two poems from 1817, the old man or Hermit who rescues Laon in The Revolt of Islam, and Prince Athanase, where he appears as the wise old teacher magus Zonoras. A blind old man also appears in Shelley's posthumous prose work "The Coliseum". Percy was fascinated with Lind's experiments and demonstrations of galvanism (e.g. using electricity to animate the muscles of dead frogs causing them to jump, or causing the jerking of reptile muscles), hence Lind has been suggested to have been an inspirational origin of Frankenstein. Specifically, it is thought Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley had a nightmare while staying with Percy Shelley at Byron's House in Lake Geneva due to Percy reminiscing about Lind's bizarre experiments. Lind is also thought to be the source for the character of the blind old man, De Lacey, as well as Doctor M. Waldman in the novel Frankenstein. It has been suggested that Lind had an interest in demonology. Lind is also thought to be a trace influential origin of Dracula.

Freemasonry Lind was involved in freemasonry in Scotland. He was initiated in the Canongate Kilwinning, Lodge No. 2, on 2 August 1758. He was also active in the Grand Lodge of Scotland, of which he was Senior Grand Warden between 1769 – 1771.

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