her brother at the same time to Apulia, retired to Romsey Abbey in Hampshire, where she soon afterwards took the veil (Anglo-Saxon Chron. s. a. 1086, Flor. Wig. s. a. 1086, Ordbricus Vitalis). An inference from Eadmer and William of Malmesbury connects her, with little probability, with Wilton nunnery. It is often said that Christina became abbess of Romsey, but no contemporary authority speaks of her otherwise than as a simple nun, and the list of abbesses in Dugdale (Monasticon, ii. 507, ed. 1819) does not include her name. This list, however, is imperfect and unauthenticated. Yet if no abbess, Christina was important enough to be well known by Anselm, and sufficiently trusted by her brother-in-law, Malcolm, to receive the custody of his two daughters, Eadgyth or Matilda, afterwards queen of Henry I, and Mary, afterwards countess of Boulogne, when they were still very young (Ordericus, 702 A; Will. Malm. lib. v. § 418). Christina seems to have given her nieces a better education than women then commonly obtained; but her strong desire to make Eadgyth a nun, which excited alike the anger of Malcolm and the strenuous opposition of the girl, made her treat Eadgyth with a harshness and even cruelty which her niece strongly resented (Eadmer, Hist. Novorum, p. 122, Rolls Ser.) She opposed Eadgyth's marriage with Henry I on the ground that she had already received the veil, but Anselm decided that the marriage was lawful.
The date of Christina's death is unknown. She is said to have built a church in Hertford (Chauncy, Hertfordshire, p. 256).
[The original authorities mentioned in the text, and worked up by Professor Freeman in Norman Conquest, vol. iv., and William Rufus, vol. ii., especially note EE, pp. 598-603, on Eadgyth-Matilda.]
CHRISTISON, Sir ROBERT, M.D. (1797–1882), medical professor at Edinburgh, twin son of Alexander Christison, professor of humanity (Latin) at Edinburgh from 1806 to 1820, was born on 18 July 1797. His father, a tall and very strong man, of Scandinavian type, was accomplished not only in classics but in philosophy and science, and his cast of mind greatly influenced his son's career. He was remarkably generous, too, and admitted large numbers gratis to his university class. Christison at the high school was a pupil of Irving and Pillans. Under his father's guidance he studied Newton's ‘Principia,’ and went through the arts course in the university. Choosing a medical career, he graduated at Edinburgh in 1819, and was resident medical assistant in the Royal Infirmary from the autumn of 1817 to April 1820. After a short period of study in London, chiefly at St. Bartholomew's under Abernethy and Lawrence, Christison went to Paris, where he remained till April 1821, mostly studying analytical chemistry under Robiquet. A few lectures of Orfila, the toxicologist, whose work Christison was to carry on, greatly influenced him. When Christison returned home, he found himself already involved by his elder brother in a contest for the chair of medical jurisprudence at Edinburgh, which had become vacant. After keen competition the appointment was decided in Christison's favour early in 1822, partly on Robiquet's testimony, as no other candidate had any practical chemical experience, and partly by the influence of Sir George Warrender (who had been resident pupil with Christison's father when he was born) with Lord Melville, who then wielded the Scotch ministerial patronage. The young professor set to work to give a scientific basis to medical jurisprudence, and especially toxicology, Orfila's great work, then recent, not having been yet assimilated by British physicians. Christison learnt German in order to study his subject in that language, and was soon known as a lecturer and medical witness far more logical, accurate, and unimpeachable than any that had yet appeared. He was appointed medical adviser to the crown in Scotland, and in this capacity from 1829, when the famous trial of Burke [see Burke, William, (1792–1829)] and Hare took place, to 1866, he was medical witness in almost every important case in Scotland and in many in England. Some instructions which he drew up as to the examination of dead bodies for legal purposes became the accepted guide in such cases. He ascertained accurately the distinctions between signs of injuries inflicted before and after death. He gave a methodical account in his lectures of the observations necessary in cases of death from wounds. A thorough investigation into the detection and treatment of oxalic acid poisoning, undertaken with his fellow-student, Dr. Coindet, in 1823, brought his skill in toxicology into prominence, and he followed this up by investigations on arsenic, lead, opium, hemlock, &c. His lectures at first were but sparsely attended, but his class increased afterwards to ninety. In 1827 he was appointed physician to the infirmary. In 1829 he published his ‘Treatise on Poisons,’ which was received with general approval, and reached a fourth edition in 1845. It was translated into German (Weimar, 1831). ‘As a witness,’ says the ‘Scotsman’ (28 Jan. 1882), ‘he was remarkable for a lucid precision of statement, which left no shadow of doubt in the mind
