Alexander Wood (1725-1807): deacon of the incorporation of surgeons, surgeon-in-ordinary, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and 'doctor of mirth'.

This account of the Edinburgh surgeon, Alexander Wood (1725-1807), brings together information from a number of sources including the diaries of his friend and patient, James Boswell, and anecdotes recorded by James Paterson who wrote the biographical notes for Kay's Portraits. Wood was a fashionable eccentric who took a sheep and raven on his home visits and he was as popular with the poor and working classes as he was with more well-to-do patients. He was a Deacon of the Incorporation of Surgeons and one of the first Surgeons-in-Ordinary at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. His clinical skills were admired by patients and colleagues alike and he did much to enrich the life of the Edinburgh medical fraternity.