Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nisbet, William
NISBET, WILLIAM, M.D. (fl. 1808), medical writer, practised for a time at Edinburgh, but by 1801 had settled in Fitzroy Square, London. He was fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. His writings are: 1. ‘First Lines of the Theory and Practice in Venereal Diseases,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1787, being the substance of a course of lectures delivered at Edinburgh in the winter of 1786; a German translation was published at Leipzig in 1789. 2. ‘The Clinical Guide; or, a concise view of the leading facts on the history, nature, and cure of diseases; to which is subjoined a practical pharmacopœia,’ 12mo, Edinburgh, 1793 (2nd edit. 2 pts. 1796–9; another edit., 1800). 3. ‘An Inquiry into the History, Nature, Causes, and Different Modes of Treatment hitherto pursued in the Cure of Scrophula and Cancer,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1795. 4. ‘A practical Treatise on Diet,’ 12mo, London, 1801. 5. ‘The Edinburgh School of Medicine; containing the preliminary … branches of professional education, viz. anatomy, medical chemistry, and botany,’ 4 vols. 8vo, London, 1802, intended as an introduction to the ‘Clinical Guide.’ 6. ‘A Medical Guide for the Invalid to the principal Watering Places of Great Britain,’ 8vo, London, 1804. 7. ‘A General Dictionary of Chemistry,’ 12mo, London, 1805; a useful little book, revised and completed by another writer. 8. ‘Two Letters to the Duke of York on the Medical Department of the Army,’ 8vo, London, 1808.
[Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Biogr. Dict. of Living Authors (1816).]