Patrick Russell (herpetologist)

Patrick Russell (6 February 1726, Edinburgh – 2 July 1805, London) was a Scottish surgeon and naturalist who worked in India. He studied the snakes of India and is considered the "Father of Indian Ophiology". Russell's viper, Daboia russelii, is named after him.

The fifth son of John Russell, a well-known lawyer of Edinburgh and his third wife Mary, Patrick was the half-brother of Alexander Russell, FRS and William Russell, FRS. Patrick studied Roman and Greek classics at Edinburgh high school after which he studied medicine at the University under Alexander Monro. He graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1750 and joined his half-brother, Alexander Russell, who was 12 years senior in Aleppo, Syria. In 1740 Alexader had been made a Physician to the Levant Company's Factory. Alexander was involved in quarantine and disease control and was a keen naturalist with a knowledge of local languages and a close friend of the Pasha.

In 1753, Alexander resigned, returning to London and publishing a Natural History of Aleppo and Parts Adjacent in 1756. Patrick took up the position left by Alexander and worked for about 18 years. The Pasha of Aleppo held him in high regard, even honouring him with a turban. A keen observer of traditions, he noted in a letter read by Alexander to the Royal Society an Arabian practice of inoculating children against smallpox using "variolus matter". Several outbreaks of bubonic plague occurred in Aleppo in 1760, 1761 and 1762. He studied the conditions of those who were infected and identified procedures to avoid infection such as breathing through a handkerchief soaked in vinegar. He continued to maintain notes on natural history and after Alexander died in 1768, he revised the Natural History of Aleppo in 1794. He noticed that fleas tended to reduce in numbers after the hottest weather, a climate he noticed also led to a decline in the number of plague cases.

In 1771 he left Aleppo and travelled through Italy, examining the methods used to reduce the spread of diseases. Initially intending to set up practice in Edinburgh, he was persuaded by Dr John Fothergill, to move instead to London. Dr Fothergill was a friend of Alexander, an eminent physician and the founder of a botanical garden. While in London, Patrick was introduced to Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander who examined his collections from Aleppo. In 1777, Patrick was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

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