He was educated at Newburgh and Abernethy, and was at first intended for a farmer; but when he was about sixteen he decided to become a minister among the 'Seceders,' a body to which his father belonged, and which had separated from the established kirk in 1732.

This plan he relinquished in consequence of his having given some trifling offence to his co-religionists, and for some time subsequently led a desultory life, without any definite and continuous employment.

He translated the first three books of Robert Simson's 'Conic Sections,' Edinburgh, 1775, and gave some attention to Greek, Latin, trigonometry, logic, metaphysics, and theology.

At last, when thirty-five years old, he seriously adopted the medical profession, and in 1777 went to London to prosecute his studies, although he was invited to become a candidate for the professorship of logic and rhetoric at the university of St. Andrews.

He performed his duties with great zeal and ability, and with 'a rigid probity' that occasionally involved him in disputes with his commanding officers.

In the next year he settled in London, on the suggestion and under the auspices of Dr. David Pitcairn, who was at that time physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

Both his figure and his voice were against him; but he was so thoroughly acquainted with his subject that the matter of his lectures was excellent, and 'the whole was given with a constant reference to the infinite wisdom of the contrivance exhibited in the structure, so as to form the finest system of natural theology.'

The only papers that were found to be fit for publication were edited by Sawrey, London, 8vo, 1815, with the title, 'The Morbid Anatomy of the Brain, in Mania and Hydrophobia; with the Pathology of these two Diseases.'