Life and work of Robert Whytt, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S. professor of medicine in the University of Edinburgh : a preliminary study

Abstract

Robert Whytt was born in Edinburgh on the 6th of September, 1714. His father was a member of the Scottish Bar, and his mother was Jean, daughter of Anthony Murray of Woodend in Perthehire. The family is usually said to be derived from the noble French family of Le Blancs, "their armorial bearings being nearly similar", but Seller in his Memoir of Whytt states that the Whytts probably "represent the Witts of Friesland, one of whom, Witta the son of Wicte the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa, according to the probable conclusion of Professor Simpson in his very ingenious memoir entitled "The Catstane", lies buried beneath a gigantic monolith of greenstone on the banks of the Almond, but a few miles from Edinburgh".