The senatus academicus of the university, the medical society, the physical
society, and many other scientific and literary societies, voted addresses to him,
expressive of the high sense entertained of his abilities and services.
The physical society of America also forwarded to him a similar address, and concluded by expressing the same wish which had been likewise embodied in the other addresses. It thus concludes "And, finally, we express our most cordial wishes that the evening of your days may be crowned with as great an exemption from pain and languor as an advanced state of life admits of, and with all the tranquillity of mind which a consciousness of diffusive benevolence to men and active worth aspires."
The several deputations from these public bodies were received by his son Henry, who replied to them by acknowledging the satisfaction which they gave to his father, and the regret he felt, that, in consequence of his ill state of health, he was unable to meet them, and express his sentiments in person to them.[1]
Dr Cullen did not long survive his resignation of the professorship; he lingered a few weeks; and died on the 5th of February, 1790, in the eightieth year of his age. His funeral was a private one, and took place on the following Wednesday the 10th of February; when his remains, attended by a select number of friends, were interred in his burial-place in the church-yard of Kirk Newton, near his house of Ormiston Hill, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh.
Of the character of Dr Cullen, in the more retired circle of private life, we know little; few anecdotes having been preserved illustrative of the peculiarities of his habits, disposition, or domestic manners. We have been informed, by one who remembers him well, that he had no sense of the value of money. He used to put large sums into an open drawer, to which he and his wife went whenever either of them wanted money. He and his wife lived happily, and many who recollect them, have borne testimony to the delightful evenings they always spent whenever they visited them. Dr Culleri's external appearance, says his friend Dr Anderson, though striking and not unpleasing, was not elegant. His countenance was expressive, and his eye, in particular, remarkably lively, and, at times, wonderfully expressive. In his person he was tall and thin, stooping very much about the shoulders. When he walked, he had a contemplative look, and did not seem much to regard the objects around him. [2]
After Dr Cullen's death, his son, the late lord Cullen, entertained the intention of writing his life, which, however, he did not accomplish. Soon after his lordship died, Dr Cullen's papers, consisting of letters from private friends, sketches of essays, notes of lectures, and medical consultations, were placed by his surviving family in the hands of Dr Thomson, with a request that he would endeavour to draw up, from these documents, and from the information he could procure from other sources, such an account of his life, lectures, and writings, as might in some degree satisfy the curiosity of the public- We need only state, that Dr Thomson executed their wishes in a most able manner; his life of Dr Cullen supplying us with all the information concerning his public career that can possibly be desired. It remains only for us to add, that the doctrines promulgated by Dr Cullen, which have had so great an influence on medical science, are now keenly contested ; but whether, in after years, they stand or fall, all parties must unite in paying a just tribute of admiration to the genius and acquirements of a man who was certainly an ornament to the age in which he lived.
