Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/John Anderson

ANDERSON, John, natural philosopher, was born at Roseneath in Dumbartonshire in 1726. In 1756 he became professor of Oriental languages in the University of Glasgow, where he had finished his education; but in 1760 he was appointed to the chair of natural philosophy, a subject more suited to his tastes and acquirements. In this department he laboured assiduously to apply scientific knowledge to the improvement of the mechanical arts, studying industrial processes in the various workshops of the city, and thus qualifying himself to be the scientific instructor of the artizan. He opened a class for the instruction of mechanics in the principles of their arts, in which his familiar extempore discourses were illustrated by appropriate experiments. He is thus to be regarded as the father of those Mechanics Institutions which have since become so common. His anxiety for the improvement of artizans was not confined to his personal exertions. Shortly before his death in 1796, he bequeathed the whole of his property to 81 trustees, for the purpose of founding an institution for educational purposes in Glasgow. He had seemingly intended it as a sort of rival to the university in which he was himself a professor; for his will mentions the founding of four halls or colleges with nine professors in each, for the faculties of arts, medicine, law, and theology. But the trustees found the funds entrusted to them utterly inadequate to so gigantic a scheme; and they contented themselves with founding what is now called, in its official calendar, Anderson's University. This institution was opened in 1797, by the appointment of Dr Thomas Garnett as professor of natural philosophy, who commenced with a popular course of lectures, which was attended by a considerable audience of both sexes. In 1798 a professor of mathematics and geography was appointed; and the institution has since had the aid of many able teachers. In 1799 Dr Garnett was succeeded by Dr Birkbeck, who had the merit of introducing in the institution a system of gratuitous scientific instruction, given annually to 500 operative mechanics. On the removal of Dr Birkbeck to the London Royal Institution, he was succeeded by Dr Andrew Ure in 1804; and Dr Ure by Dr William Gregory. In recent years the institution has received several munificent endowments from private persons, and its staff of teachers has been consequently greatly strengthened. It now possesses a complete medical school, whose certificates are recognised by the various examining bodies both in England and Scotland. In 1872-3 there were 460 medical students, and 2508 persons in all attended the various classes of the institution.