Alexander Crombie

Alexander Crombie (2 December 1845 – 29 September 1906) was a Scottish surgeon who joined the Indian Medical Service and became resident surgeon at Calcutta Medical College, India, where he became professor of materia medica.

He served the civil surgeoncy of Dacca before becoming joint civil surgeon at Simla, and later joined the Medical Board at the India Office while simultaneously serving the Medical Board at the War Office. In Calcutta, he initiated the use of hypodermic morphine for an easier use of chloroform anaesthesia, the first documented account of premedication.

When he returned to England he was appointed lecturer in tropical diseases at the Middlesex Hospital and the London School of Tropical Medicine. In 1904 he was listed a member of the honorary medical staff to the King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers.

Early life and education Alexander Crombie was born on 2 December 1845 at Fifeshire, Scotland. He attended St. Andrews Public School, and subsequently studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where in 1867 he received the M.B. with honours (as well as a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh), and earned a doctorate in 1870. He would return to his former post at Dacca thereafter, where he would remain until 1888, upon which time he was transferred to Calcutta. He became a fellow of Calcutta University, and a member and later president of the Calcutta Medical Society. which he associated with particular Indian cities such as Calcutta fever and Bombay fever. He also described typhoid fever, non-malarial remittent fever and simple continued fever. In 1904, he was listed a member of the honorary medical staff to the King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers.

Personal and family Crombie married the daughter of William Bell, inspector-general of hospitals. They had one son and two daughters.

Death Crombie died on 29 September 1906 following a cancerous disease affecting his lumbar spine.

Selected publications