Robert Boyd (writer)
Encyclopedia
Robert Boyd was a writer on diseases of the insane, and in 1870 became president of the Medico-Psychological Association (now the Royal College of Psychiatrists
).
Boyd became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1830, and in the following year graduated M.D. in the university of Edinburgh
. In 1836 he became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians
, and in 1852 was elected to the fellowship of the college. For some time he was resident physician at the Marylebone workhouse infirmary, and afterwards physician and superintendent of the Somerset county lunatic asylum. He then became proprietor and manager of the Southall Park private asylum, which was destroyed on Aug. 1883 by a fire in which he lost his life after re-entering the burning building to rescue the patients. In the various positions in which he was placed he utilised to the utmost his opportunities for original research. He also followed a range of other interests, being a Fellow of the Zoological Society and also an antiquarian.
.
Royal College of Psychiatrists
The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom responsible for representing psychiatrists, psychiatric research and providing public information about mental health problems...
).
Boyd became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1830, and in the following year graduated M.D. in the university of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
. In 1836 he became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
, and in 1852 was elected to the fellowship of the college. For some time he was resident physician at the Marylebone workhouse infirmary, and afterwards physician and superintendent of the Somerset county lunatic asylum. He then became proprietor and manager of the Southall Park private asylum, which was destroyed on Aug. 1883 by a fire in which he lost his life after re-entering the burning building to rescue the patients. In the various positions in which he was placed he utilised to the utmost his opportunities for original research. He also followed a range of other interests, being a Fellow of the Zoological Society and also an antiquarian.
Writings
He published the annual Reports on the Pauper Lunatics at the St. Marylebone infirmary and the Somerset county asylum, and contributed numerous independent papers to the literature of pathology and psychological medicine. He was the author of pathological contributions to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Transactions, vols. xxiv. and xxxii., and to the Edinburgh Medical Journal, vols. lv. to lxxii.; of Tables of the Weights of the Human Body and Internal Organs, in the Philosophical Transactions; and of a paper, The Weight of the Brain at different Ages and in various Diseases. To the Journal of Mental Science he contributed no fewer than sixteen papers on Treatment of the Insane Poor, Diseases of the Nervous System, Statistics of Pauper Insanity, and cognate subjects, the most important being that on General Paralysis of the Insane in the Journal of Mental Science for May and October 1871, the result of 155 post-mortem examinations of persons who had died from that disease in the Somerset county asylum. He was also the author of three papers on Vital Statistics, Insanity, and The Pauper Lunacy Laws, published in The LancetThe Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
.