James Ormiston McWilliam

James Ormiston McWilliam (1808–1862) was a Scottish naval surgeon, physician and writer on infectious diseases, best known as medical officer to the 1841 Niger expedition.

of Edinburgh in 1840, and in September of the same year was appointed senior surgeon on board the steamer Albert, which joined the expedition sent to the River Niger for geographical and commercial purposes, and against the continuing Atlantic slave trade.

[1] By 4 October the Albert had also turned back, and was managed for some days by McWilliam and William Stanger, the other officers and crew being unable to take part in the work.

[1] After again serving two years afloat, McWilliam was sent on a special mission to the Cape de Verde Islands to inquire into the yellow fever which attacked the inhabitants of Boa Vista soon after the arrival of HMS Eclair.

It included a history of the fever, description, morbid anatomy, sequences, causes, treatment, with cases; with an account of the state of medicine among the Africans and of vaccination; a description of the ventilation of the ships, which was carried out on the plan adopted by David Boswell Reid for the houses of parliament; an abstract of meteorological observations; and a brief account of the geology of the Niger, condensed from the notes of William Stanger.

[1] McWilliam's report which established that yellow fever had been imported into Boa Vista by the Eclair, was presented to parliament, and printed in 1847.