George F. Merson

George Fowlie Merson FRSE FPS FCS (1866–1959) was a Scottish pharmacist who produced an artificial surgical catgut[1] called Mersuture.

Mr and Mrs Merson conducted experiments in their kitchen saucepans involving sheep intestines and smells of which only a catgut manufacture can understand.

These experiments were carried out in a private house in Edinburgh where it was customary for the kitchen pulley to be a very strong structure for drying clothes was used for stretching their experimental catgut process that was later tested by his surgeon friends.

The company’s first catalogue in 1917 describes a wide range of catgut products – either in rolls or sterilised by Iodine in glass tubes.

This usually occurred in January to talk about the accomplishments of the previous year and gave him an opportunity to comment on plans for the future.

The grave is marked by a granite Celtic cross and lies close to the centre of the 20th century northern extension on Queensferry Road.