Robert Macnish

It was during his eighteen months there that he began his philosophical studies and composed his first literary works, including The Tale of Eivor, a Scandinavian Legend, and the Harp of Salem, published in the Inverness Journal.

Other works, in prose and verse, were published in the Literary Melange and the Emmet periodicals and in 1822 he submitted to the Edinburgh Magazine the short stories Macvurich the Murderer and The Dream Confirmed, both based on real incidents he learned of during his time in Caithness.

Returning to Glasgow, Macnish then journeyed to Paris where for a year he continued his medical and literary studies and tried to regain his health, damaged during his time in the north of Scotland.

In that same year he became a Member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, giving as his inaugural thesis an essay on The Anatomy of Drunkenness, which he later published in 1827.

His other works included Execution at Paris, Night near Monte Video, A Vision of Robert Bruce, The Philosophy of Sleep, and his Book of Aphorisms, published in 1833.