Life

Coldstream, only son of Robert Coldstream, merchant, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Phillips of Stobcross, Glasgow, was born at Leith

Leith

-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....

 on 19 March 1806, and after attending the Royal High School

Royal High School (Edinburgh)

The Royal High School of Edinburgh is a co-educational state school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland, and has, throughout its history, been high achieving, consistently attaining well above average exam results...

, Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, continued his studies at the university. He early took an interest in Bible and missionary societies, and in 1822 wrote the report of the Leith Juvenile Bible Society.

When he decided to study medicine, Coldstream became apprenticed to Dr. Charles Anderson, a general practitioner in Leith and one of the founders of the Wernerian Society. Coldstream's love of natural history led to his election as a member of the student Plinian Society

Plinian Society

The Plinian Society was a club at the University of Edinburgh for students interested in natural history. It was founded in 1823. Several of its members went on to have prominent careers, most notably Charles Darwin who announced his first scientific discoveries at the society.-Foundation,...

 on 18th March 1823; he acted as secretary and treasurer in the same year, and was appointed as one of the presidents in 1824 and 1825. Along with the radical

Radicalism (historical)

The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...

 materialist

Materialism

In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...

 William A. F. Browne

William A. F. Browne

Dr William A. F. Browne was one of the most significant psychiatrists of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum and, later, at Crichton Royal in Dumfries , Browne introduced activities for patients including writing, art, group activity and drama, pioneered early forms of occupational...

, he nominated Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

 for membership of the Plinian. He became well acquainted with Darwin and they went together to collect marine invertebrates on the shores of the Firth of Forth

Firth of Forth

The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...

 at Leith. In dramatic debates at the Plinian Society, Browne suggested that the mind could have a material basis in the brain, and Coldstream (like Darwin) was present when Browne presented his view that phrenology could best be understood in Lamarckian terms.

In 1827 he graduated M.D. at the University of Edinburgh, and took his diploma at the Royal College of Surgeons, and then proceeded to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 for his hospital study to continue his medical education. There, he suffered an acute depressive illness, struggling with "the foul mass of corruption within my own bosom", held captive to his body by "corroding desires" and "lustful imaginations". The doctor's report was that though Coldstream had led "a blameless life", he was "more or less in the dark on the vital question of religion, and was troubled with doubts arising from certain Materialist views, which are, alas!, all too common among medical students". He remained in France until June, then set out for Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 hoping to travel up the Rhine and through Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 and the north of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, but these plans were cancelled when he took ill in Westphalia

Westphalia

Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...

 and had to hurry home through Holland

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. He returned to Leith around the end of July in a poor state of health, recovering very slowly. For a time he gave up natural history to prepare for medical practice.

In 1828 Coldstream declined an offer of the post of assistant in the Natural History Institution at Portsmouth, and in 1829, he settled down as a practitioner in Leith. On 9 Jan. 1830 he was enrolled a member of the Wernerian Natural History Society

Wernerian Natural History Society

The Wernerian Natural History Society , commonly abbreviated as the Wernerian Society, was a learned society interested in the broad field of natural history, and saw papers presented on various topics such as mineralogy, plants, insects, and scholarly expeditions...

. He occasionally corresponded with Darwin, and as preparation for the Beagle expedition

Second voyage of HMS Beagle

The second voyage of HMS Beagle, from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after her previous captain committed suicide...

suggested reference books and the use of an oyster-trawl for collecting marine organisms, which Darwin used in his first collecting during the voyage. In a letter dated 29 February 1829 he expressed disappointment that Darwin's planned visit to Edinburgh had been cancelled due to illness, and gave news of his own recent activities.

About 1840 the subject of medical missions began to occupy the attention of professional men. Coldstream was one of the first to recognise their value and importance, and never ceased to labour for them. With his friend, Mr. Benjamin Bell, he became associated secretary of the Medical Missionary Society. In 1845 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, but scarcely took any part in their proceedings, and in October 1846 he played an important part in setting up a hospital for the poor in Leith. He moved to York Place, Edinburgh, in 1847, no longer feeling equal to the stresses of a working class practice at Leith. His interest in the care and education of the learning disabled led to the establishment in 1855 of the Home and School for Invalid and Imbecile Children in Gayfield Square, Edinburgh, and for five years he was almost a daily visitor. In September 1857 he went to Berlin to a meeting of the Evangelical Alliance, where he advocated the cause of medical missions. During the winter of 1858–9, Coldstream developed a number of gastro-intestinal symptoms, probably as a presentation of gastric carcinoma; however, he was well enough to deliver a course of lectures on ethnography in the winter of 1859–60. After this the state of his health deteriorated, and he died at Irthing House, near Carlisle, 17 Sept. 1863.

He married, 7 May 1835, Margaret, youngest daughter of the Rev. William Menzies of Lanark, by whom he had a family of ten children.

Publications

1. De Indole Morborum Periodica utpote Sideribus orta 1827
2. An Account of the Topography, Climate, and State of the Town of Torquay 1833
3. The Abendberg, an Alpine Retreat, by G.L. of Geneva, with an introduction by J. Coldstream 1848
4. On the Responsibilities attaching to the Profession of Medicine Lecture 6 in Lectures on Medical Missions 1849
5. Notice of Attempts made to improve the Condition of the Fatuous 1850
6. On a Case of Catalepsy 1854
7. History of the Medical Missions in Addresses to Medical Students 1856

He was also a contributor to the transactions of the Plinian, Wernerian, Royal Medical, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical, and other societies.