{{Short description|Scottish anatomist and botanist}}{{use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} thumb|James Jeffray '''James Jeffray''' (1759–1848) was a Scottish academic. He was professor of anatomy and botany at the University of Glasgow from 1790 until 1848. This 58 years of professorship is one of the longest in Scottish history.
In around 1830 he is credited with invention of the surgical chainsaw, used to remove damaged sections of bone in an accurate manner.
==Life==
thumb|350px|1867 engraving of Ure's galvanic experiments on Clydesdale thumb|The grave of James Jeffray, Glasgow Necropolis He was born in Kilsyth in 1759. He studied Sciences at the University of Glasgow graduating MA in 1778. He then went to Edinburgh University to study Medicine graduating MD in 1786.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH1191&type=P|title=University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of James Jeffray|website=www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk|access-date=28 September 2020|archive-date=12 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812100754/https://universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH1191&type=P|url-status=dead}}</ref>
From 1790 he held the twin chairs of Anatomy and Botany at the University of Glasgow. In 1800 he was elected Vice Rector under Rector Ilay Campbell, Lord Succoth.
In 1813 a mob smashed the windows of his house at College Court, wrongly believing that he was connected to the theft of the body of Janet McAlister from the Ramshorn Cemetery in central Glasgow.<ref>Glasgow Street Directory 1813</ref>
In 1817 he was joint founder of the Glasgow Botanic Gardens.
On 4 November 1818 (assisted by Andrew Ure) he dissected the body of executed murderer Matthew Clydesdale.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSA03637|title=TheGlasgowStory: James Jeffray|website=www.theglasgowstory.com}}</ref> Clydesdale was hanged for the murder of Alexander Love with a pick-axe. But his fate was somewhat more bizarre. His body was subjected to galvanism (passing of an electric current) in the anatomy rooms, in an experiment to study the impact on the human nervous system.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.executedtoday.com/tag/james-jeffray/|title=ExecutedToday.com » james jeffray}}</ref> The body was connected to a voltaic pile and the hand and fingers moved.<ref>London Times 11 November 1818</ref> The whole gruesome event took place in the Anatomy Theatre at Old College.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.glasgowwestend.co.uk/tale-hanged-man-jane-sweeney/|title=The Tale of the Hanged Man by Jane Sweeney|first=Pat|last=Byrne|date=February 13, 2017}}</ref> At this time only the bodies of those executed for murder (and '''only''' for murder) could be dissected under the provisions of the Murder Act 1751. This gave a very limited supply of bodies. Not until the Anatomy Act 1832 did the supply of bodies change; from the legal bodies of hanged criminals and illegal bodies supplied by graverobbers; to bodies supplied by the parish - usually paupers.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/003693309504000406|doi=10.1177/003693309504000406|title=The Life and Times of James Jeffray, Regius Professor of Anatomy, University of Glasgow 1790–1848|year=1995|last1=McDonald|first1=S. W.|journal=Scottish Medical Journal|volume=40|issue=4|pages=119–122|pmid=8787112|s2cid=26282189|url-access=subscription}}</ref> This sort of experiment had been enacted a handful of times in England but was the first example in Scotland. Clydesdale was the first person hanged in Glasgow for ten years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-real-electric-frankenstein-experiments-of-the-1800s|title=The Real Electric Frankenstein Experiments of the 1800s|first=Lauren|last=Young|date=October 31, 2016|website=Atlas Obscura}}</ref>
In 1821 he was ordered to close a shop selling cheese and ham in the College Court which he had opened without permission.
He died at his university accommodation in 1848.<ref>Glasgow Post Office Directory 1847</ref> He is buried on the northern slope of the Glasgow Necropolis.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3098393|title=Geograph:: Memorial to James Jeffray © Lairich Rig|website=www.geograph.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/197711350/james-jeffray|title=James Jeffray (1759-1848) - Find A Grave Memorial|website=www.findagrave.com}}</ref>
==Family== Around 1810 he married Margaret Lockhart (1774-1863). Their eldest son, also James Jeffray (1811-1886) was also a doctor. Their son John Jeffray (1813-1900) was a lawyer (referred to as a "writer").<ref>Jeffray grave, Glasgow Necropolis</ref> Peter McDougall, the physician and naturalist who discovered the roseate tern (''Sterna dougallii'') was his nephew.<ref name = Mearns>{{cite book | author1= Babara Mearns | author2 = Richard Mearns | name-list-style = and | year = 1988 | title = Biographies for Bird Watchers: The Lives of Those Commemorated in Western Palearctic Bird Names | edition = 1 |publisher = Academic Press | chapter = Peter McDougall (1777–1814) | pages = 245–248 | isbn = 0-12-487422-3}}</ref>
==Artistic recognition==
His portrait by John Graham Gilbert is held by the Mitchell Library.<ref name="auto"/>
He was also portrayed by Colvin Smith.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/professor-james-jeffray-17591848-139241|title=Professor James Jeffray (1759–1848)|website=Art UK}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffray, James}} Category:1759 births Category:1848 deaths Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow Category:Academics of the University of Glasgow Category:Scottish anatomists Category:Burials at the Glasgow Necropolis Category:People from Kilsyth Category:18th-century Scottish botanists Category:19th-century Scottish botanists Category:19th-century Scottish inventors