Adair Crawford, M.D., was born at Antrim, in Ireland, and took his degree of doctor of medicine at Glasgow 24th January, 1780. He then settled in London, was appointed physician to the General dispensary; and on the resignation of Dr. H. R. Reynolds, was elected physician to St. Thomas’s hospital. He was admitted a Licentiate of the College of Physicians 25th June, 1784; and a fellow of the Royal Society 18th May, 1786. Dr. Crawford was an accomplished chemist, and will long be remembered as the author of an ingenious theory on the origin of animal heat. He held the professorship of chemistry at Woolwich, and died at the marquis of Lansdowne’s seat, near Lymington, Hants, whither he had gone for the benefit of his health, on the 29th July, 1795. His epitaph was written by Mr. Gilbert Wakefield for a monument which lord Lansdowne had purposed erecting to the memory of his friend. The monument was not completed, in consequence of the death of the marquis, which occurred shortly after he had given orders for its erection. Mr. Wakefield’s inscription was as follows:—
To the Memory of
Adair Crawford, M.D. F.R.S.,
who departed this life on the 29th of
July, 1795, in the forty-seventh year of his age.
In the practice of his profession
intelligent, liberal, and humane;
in his manner
gentle, diffident, and unassuming:
his unaffected deference to the wants of
others,
his modest estimation of himself,
the infant simplicity of his demeanour,
the pure emanation
of kind affection, and a blameless heart,
rendered him universally beloved!
To these virtues of the man,
his contemporaries alone can testify.
As a votary of science,
and Author of a treatise on Animal Heat,
posterity will repeat his praise.

The most noble the Marquis of Lansdowne,
to whose house the Doctor had retired
from London, for a respite from the
duties of his profession, and who
respected him while living,
erected this Monument to his Memory.

Dr. Crawford was the author of-
Experiments and Observations on Animal Heat, and the Inflammation of Combustible Bodies. 8vo. Lond. 1779.
An Experimental Enquiry into the Effects of Tonics and other Medicinal Substances on the cohesion of the Animal Fibre. Edited by Ad. Crawford. 8vo. Lond. 1816.

William Munk