David Uwins, M.D., was born in London in 1780. After the usual course of instruction at the London hospitals, he went to Edinburgh, where he graduated doctor of medicine 12th September, 1803 (D.M.I. de Febre Continua). He then returned to London, and for a short time held the appointment of assistant physician to the Finsbury dispensary; but an opening for a physician having presented itself at Aylesbury by the death of Dr. Kennedy, he removed thither. Dr. Uwins was admitted a Licentiate of the College of Physicians 22nd December, 1807, and after a residence of some years at Aylesbury, returned to London, where he continued in the exercise of his profession until his death, which occurred at his house in Bedford-row, on the 22nd September, 1837, at the age of fifty-seven.
Dr. Uwins (wrote one who knew him well)(1) was of a highly nervous temperament; a little man with a large head, a long, pale, and anxious face, and dressed in the true style of the doctor of the last century. He was an amiable and gentlemanly man, with the highest sense of medical honour and propriety; but "was, without question, the worst speaker, so far as speaking is concerned," writes Mr. Clarke, "I have ever had occasion to report. When he got up to speak, his mind for a moment would seem to desert him, and he would stand with his eyes perfectly closed for half a minute before he could call it back. Then he would splutter out some admirable remarks on the subject under discussion, and would sit down apparently overcome with the effort he had made."(2)Dr. Uwins’ pen was seldom idle. He contributed some of the medical articles to Gregory’s Encyclopædia; a series of papers to the Monthly Magazine; and two articles to the Quarterly Review; the one on Insanity and Madhouses (July, 1816), the other on Vaccination (July, 1818). He also for a time edited the Medical Repository.
His separate works are—
Modern Medicine. 8vo. 1806.
Cursory Observations on Fever. 8vo. Lond. 1810.
Modern Maladies, and the present state of Medicine. 8vo. Lond. 1818.
A Compendium of Theoretical and Practical Medicine. 12mo. Lond. 1825.
A Treatise on those Diseases which are either directly or indirectly connected with Indigestion, comprising a Commentary on the Principal Ailments of Children. 8vo. Lond. 1827.
A Treatise on those Disorders of the Brain and Nervous System which are usually considered and called Mental. 8vo. Lond. 1833.
Homoeopathy and Allopathy, or large, small, and atomic doses. 8vo. Lond.
William Munk
[(1) J. F. Clarke’s Autobiographical Recollections of the Medical Profession. 8vo. Lond. 1874, pp. 234-5.
(2) Clarke, ut supra.]