John Aitken (surgeon)

[5] They were said to 'contain much valuable information, and show him to be fully conversant with the literature and philosophy as well as the practical department of his profession.

He introduced an alteration in the mode of locking midwifery forceps "to render the matter easier for the practitioner and... more safe for the mother and child.

He likewise invented and described in his Essays and Cases in Surgery a pair of "forceps for dividing and diminishing the stone in the bladder, when too large to remove entire by lithotomy.

It remained in widespread use in obstetrics until it was displaced by the wire saw devised for the purpose by the Italian obstetrician Leonardo Gigle.

His name does not appear on the graduation lists of any of the Scottish universities or Trinity College Dublin, but it is possible that he obtained this qualification in Europe.