Alexander Monro tertius

Alexander Monro III
Alexander Monro in the 1840s
Born	(1773-11-05)5 November 1773 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	10 March 1859(1859-03-10) (aged 85) Craiglockhart, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh
Scientific career
Fields	medicine, surgery, anatomy

Alexander Monro III of Craiglockhart, FRSE FRCPE FSA(Scot) MWS (5 November 1773 – 10 March 1859), was a Scottish anatomist and medical educator at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. According to his detractors, Monro was an uninspired anatomist who did not compare with his brilliant father or grandfather as a teacher or scientist. His students included Charles Darwin who asserted that Monro "made his lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself."

Born at Nicolson Street in Edinburgh on 5 November 1773, he was the son of Dr Alexander Monro. He was educated at the High School of Edinburgh, close to his home, then studoed Medicine at Edinburgh University receiving his doctorate (M.D.) in 1797. He then briefly studied in London under Wilson, and then in Paris, returning to Edinburgh in 1798/9. In the academic year 1797/8 he joined his father as Joint Professor of Anatomy at Edinburgh University.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1798, his proposers being Andrew Duncan, John Hill and Thomas Charles Hope.

In the early 19th century Edinburgh University was regarded as the best medical school in the United Kingdom but had declined significantly from its heyday in the Enlightenment of the 18th century. Two thirds of the professors were appointed by the Tory-controlled Edinburgh Corporation on the basis of their party list subject to approval by the Kirk, with little regard for ability. In some cases families treated the university chairs as hereditary, and critics alleged that Alexander Monro III exemplified the "mediocrity" this could produce. His manner was described as "unimpassioned indifference" and lectures were known to degenerate into riots.