Alexander Russell (naturalist)

Alexander Russell (c. 1715 – 25 November 1768) was a Scottish physician and naturalist,[1] spending 14 years at the English factory in Aleppo.

He was the half-brother of Patrick Russell[2] He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and after graduating with an MD, went to London in about 1734.

Russell sailed to Aleppo in 1740, having been appointed physician to the English factory there.

He became the city's chief medical practitioner, through gaining the confidence of the local pasha.

In 1754 he returned to England and two years later published his The Natural History of Aleppo, with a diary of the progress of the plague in 1742–1744.