Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kirkland, Thomas
KIRKLAND, THOMAS, M.D. (1721–1798), medical writer, a native of Scotland, was born in 1721. He practiced at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. In January 1760 he was called in to attend the steward of Lord Ferrers after he had been shot by his master. Despite Ferrers's threats of violence, Kirkland contrived the arrest of the murderer (Gent. Mag. xxx. 44, 230). By 1774 Kirkland had graduated M.D. at Edinburgh, and subsequently became a member of the Royal Medical Societies of Edinburgh and London. He died at Ashby-de-la-Zouch on 17 Jan. 1798.
Kirkland's writings are: 1. 'A Treatise on Gangrenes,' 8vo, Nottingham, 1754. 2. 'An Essay on the Methods of Suppressing Hæmorrhages from Divided Arteries,' 8vo, London, 1763. 3. 'An Essay towards an Improvement in the Cure of those Diseases which are the cause of Fevers,' 8vo, London, 1767. 4. 'A Reply to Mr. Maxwell's Answer to his Essay on Fevers; wherein the Utility of the Practice of Suppressing them is further exemplified,' 8vo, London, 1769. 5. 'Observations on Mr. Pott's General Remarks on Fractures, etc.; with a Postscript concerning the Cure of Compound Dislocations,' 8vo, London, 1770 (Appendix, 1771). 6. 'A Treatise on Childbed Fevers... with two Dissertations, the one on the Brain and Nerves, the other on the Sympathy of the Nerves, etc.' (included in 'Essays on the Puerperal Fever,' published by the Sydenham Society in 1849), 8vo, London, 1774. 7. 'Animadversions on a late Treatise on the Kink-Cough [by Dr. William Butler]. To which is annexed an Essay on that Disorder,' 8vo, London, 1774, published anonymously. 8. 'Thoughts on Amputation; being a Supplement to the Letters on Compound Fractures, and a Comment on Dr. Bilguer's book on this operation; also, an Essay on the use of Opium in Mortifications,' 8vo, London, 1780. 9. 'An Essay on the Inseparability of the different Branches of Medicine,' 8vo (London, 1783). 10. 'An Inquiry into the Present State of Medical Surgery,' 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1783-6. (Appendix, edited by his son, James Kirkland, surgeon to the Tower, 1813). 11. 'A Commentary on Apoplectic and Paralytic Affections, and the Diseases connected with the Subject,' 8vo, London, 1792.
[Gent. Mag. 1798. pt. i. pp. 88-9, 254; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]