David Skene, M.D.: correspondence Box entitled 'Correspondence' containing drafts or copies of letters sent by David Skene, letters received by him and correspondence of other members of the family, 1751 - 1770 This collection contains the personal and professional correspondence of David Skene with members of his family, John Ellis, John Hope, Lord Kames and William Cullen among others. His letters to his family, mainly his father, cover the period of his medical education in Edinburgh, London and Paris. Topics discussed include his teachers (amongst them some of the great physicians of the day such as Alexander Monro Primus in Edinburgh and William Hunter and William Smellie in London); the works and views of other great physicians such as Herman Boerhaave and Van Swieten; descriptions of operations he had seen performed at the Infirmary in Edinburgh; his journey to and from Paris and his time there. He comments unfavourably on both the lectures and the hospitals and left earlier than he had intended to return to Scotland. He also frequently defends his expenditure against the apparently severe criticisms of his father. Throughout his life, he maintained a professional correspondence with his peers in his chosen profession of medicine and his passion which was for botany. With William Cullen, he discussed the condition and treatment of patients; with John Ellis he discussed corallines and sertularia, his correspondence with Linnaeus, their botanical colleagues and publications; with John Hope, he also discussed his botanical interests including the publications containing lists of indigenous plants in various areas. John Hope also offered him the Materia Medica post in the University of Edinburgh that he intended to resign, but Skene refused it. He discussed geology with Henry Home, Lord Kames, and asked assistance for 'his favourite bleacher', Miss Scott. 1751-1770