His portrait forms the frontispiece to ‘Elements of Physic and Surgery,’ London 1783.
He wrote:
- ‘Essays on several important subjects in surgery, chiefly with regard to the nature and cure of fractures,’ London, 1771, 8vo.
- ‘Essays and Cases in Surgery,’ London, 1775, 8vo.
- ‘Conspectus Rei Chirurgicæ,’ Edin. 1777, 8vo.
- ‘Medical Improvement; an Address to the Medical Society of Edinburgh,’ Edin. 1777, 12mo.
- ‘Elements of the Theory and Practice of Surgery,’ Edin. 1779, 8vo, republished with the ‘Elements of the Theory and Practice of Physic,’ thus forming 2 vols. entitled ‘Elements of the Theory and Practice of Physic and Surgery,’ London, 1783, 8vo (with portrait).
- ‘Outlines of the Theory and Cure of Fever,’ London, 1781, 12mo.
- ‘Principles of Midwifery or Puerperal Medicine,’ 1784, 8vo.
- ‘Osteology; or a Treatise on the Bones of the Human Skeleton,’ London, 1785, 8vo.
- ‘Principles of Anatomy and Physiology,’ Edin. 1786, 2 vols. 8vo.
- ‘Essays on Fractures and Luxations,’ London 1790, 8vo.
[Medical Register, 1779; Life by Mr. G. M. Humphry, in Biog. Dict. of Useful Knowledge Society.]
AITON, JOHN, D.D. (1797–1863), religious writer, was the youngest son of William Aiton, a sherrif-substitute of Lanarkshire [see Aiton, Wiliam, 1760–1848], and was born at Strathaven, June 1797. He published, in 1824, ‘A Refutation of Mr. Robert Owen's Objections to Christianity.’ For this pamphlet he was presented by the then Lord Douglas to the benefice of Dolphinton, South Lanarkshire. His other works are:
- ‘The Life and Times of Alexander Henderson,’ Edin. 1836.
- ‘Clerical Economics,’ Edin. 1842.
- ‘Eight Weeks in Germany,’ Edin. 1842.
- ‘The Lands of the Messiah, Mahomet, and the Pope,’ Edin. 1852.
- ‘The Drying-up of the Euphrates,’ London, 1853.
- ‘St. Paul and his localities in their past and present condition,’ London, 1856.
He held his living till his death in 1863.
[Clerical Economics, 2nd edition, 1856; Catalogue of Library of Faculty of Advocates.]
AITON, WILLIAM (1731–1793), botanist, was born at a small village near Hamilton, Lanarkshire, and brought up as a gardener. In 1754 he came to London in search of employment, and was engaged as an assistant by Mr. Philip Miller, then gardener to the Botanic Garden at Chelsea. In 1759 he was appointed to the management of the Botanic Garden at Kew, which was then in the possession of the Princess Dowager of Wales. He soon raised the position of the garden to one of importance, and indeed may be said to have founded the reputation which Kew has ever since enjoyed. He took every opportunity of increasing the collections, and was mainly instrumental in sending out Francis Masson in 1772, one of the earliest botanical collectors at the Cape. In 1783 he was promoted to the management of the royal forcing and pleasure gardens at Kew and Richmond, at the same time retaining his former post, a house being built for him at Kew by George III. In 1789 he published the ‘Hortus Kewensis, being a Catalogue of the Plants cultivated in the Royal Garden at Kew,’ in 3 vols. 8vo, with 13 plates. To this important work, which contains an enumeration of 5,600 species, he devoted ‘a large proportion of the leisure allowed by the daily duties of his station during more than sixteen years.’ It met with a cordial reception, the whole impression being sold off in two years. A second edition appeared in 1810–13, in five volumes, edited by Aiton's eldest son [see Aiton, William Townsend]. He received the assistance of Dr. Solander, then curator of Sir Joseph Banks's herbarium, to whom the plants from Kew, as well as from other important gardens, were sent to be named. Although no indication is given in the book, the descriptions of the new species contained in it were contributed by Solander, and are so recognised by botanists: the types of these novelties were placed in the Banksian herbarium, now incorporated in the British Museum collections. Dryander, another assistant of Banks, also helped Aiton. The ‘Hortus Kewensis’ is of historical value on account of the care with which the dates of the introduction of the plants enumerated were ascertained by Aiton, not only from books but from personal inquiry among his contemporaries. His eldest son succeeded him; another son, John Townsend Aiton, was placed in charge of the Royal Garden at Windsor. Aiton was extremely active; his private character is described as ‘highly estimable for mildness, benevolence, piety, and every domestic and social virtue.’ Among his friends was Sir Joseph Banks. He died of a disease of the liver, 2 Feb. 1793, and is buried in Kew churchyard. A portrait, in oil, exists in the museum of the Royal Gardens, Kew, from which an engraving was published.
[Preface and Introduction to Hortus Kewensis; Gent. Mag. 1793, lxiii. pt. i. 389; Rees's Cyclopædia.]
AITON, WILLIAM (1760–1848), sheriff-substitute of the county of Lanark, and, in his day, a widely known authority on all matters bearing on Scottish husbandry, was
