GREGORY, JOHN, Dr, an eminent physician, was born at Aberdeen on the 3d of June 1724, and was the young est child of Dr James Gregory, professor of medicine in King's College, Aberdeen, by his second wife, Anne Chal mers, the only daughter of the Rev. Principal Chalmers of King's College.
In consequence of the death of his father when he was only sCVCI) years old, the charge of his education devolved upon Principal Chalmer's, his elder brother Dr James Gre gory•who had succeeded his father as professor of medi cine, and his cousin, the late celebrated Dr Reid. After receiving the first rudiments of his education at the gram mar school of Aberdeen, he entered King's College, and made rapid progress in the knowledge of ethics, mathe matics, and natural philosophy.
In 1742, he went to Edinburgh, accompanied by his mo ther ; and having resolved to pursue the study of medi cine, he attended the different medical lectures, and be came a member of the 'Medical Society, at a time when his friend, the celebrated Dr Akensidc, was a member of the same institution. In the year 1745, Mr Gregory went to Leyden, to complete his professional studies, under the care of Albinos, Gaubius, and Van Royen, who were at that time the ornaments of the university. Here he be came acquainted with the famous John Wilkes and the lIon. Charles Townshend, two of the greatest wits of the age ; and before he left this university, he received from King's Cnllege, Aberdeen, an unsolicited degree of doctor of medicine. Upon his return from Holland, he was cho sen professor of philosophy in the same college ; and dur ing the years 1747, 1748, and 1749, he read lectures in mathematics, experimental philosophy, and moral philoso phy.
Having resolved, however, to establish himself as a physician at Aberdeen, he resigned his professorship in the end of 1749, and went for a few months to the conti nent.
Alter he returned in Scotland, lie married, in 1752, Elizabeth, daughter of William Lord Forbes, who brought him a handsome addition to his fortune. This accomplish ed and amiable woman, who possessed the rare combina tion of great beauty and great intelligence, lived only nine years after her marriage, and left her husband and six children to lament their premature loss.
Perceiving little prospect of succeedin.; in Aberdeen to the full extent of his wishes, Dr Gregory resolved to set tle in London, where he arrived in 1754. Ile was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Society in the same year ; and, front the influence and attachment of his friends, as well as from his own professional talents, he had the best prospects of an extensive practice. The death of his elder brother, however, occasioned a vacancy in the professorship olphy sic in King's College, Aberdeen ; and being solicited to accept of this situation, he returned to his native country in 1756, and began to discharge the duties of his new of fice.
Among the eminent young men who at that time adorn ed the university, were Reid, Campbell, Beattie, Gerard, John Stewart, professor of mathematics in Marischal Col lege, and David Skene, a correspondent of the celebrated Linnxus. These young men established a literary society or club, which met weekly at a tavern. A short essay was read by each member in rotation, and a literary or philosophical question was proposed every night as a sub ject of discussion at the following meeting. The proposer of the question was obliged not only to open the discussion, but to digest the opinions of the different members in the form of an essay, which was ingrossed in the album of the society. Several of those composed by Dr Gregory, on philosophical, moral, and political questions, still exist, and contain some of his favourite opinions. Some of the sepa rate essays which Dr Gregory contributed were afterwards corrected and published in 1765, under the title of A Com parative View of the State and Faculties of Man with those of the Animal World. It was considerably enlarged by the author in a second edition, and has passed through other editions since his death.