John Struthers (anatomist)
Sir John Struthers MD FRCSE FRSE was the first Regius Professor of Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen. He was a dynamic teacher and administrator, transforming the status of the institutions in which he worked. He was equally passionate about anatomy, enthusiastically seeking out and dissecting the largest and finest specimens, including whales, and troubling his colleagues with his single-minded quest for money and space for his collection. His collection was donated to Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh.
John Struthers (anatomist)
A formal portrait, Aberdeen, October 1890
Illustration by Struthers of the "Ligament of Struthers", 1854
Struthers (at left, in top hat) with the Tay Whale at John Woods' yard, Dundee, 1884, photographed by George Washington Wilson
The Tay Whale, known locally as the Monster, was a humpback whale that swam into the Firth of Tay of eastern Scotland in 1883. It was harpooned in a hunt, but escaped, and was found floating dead off Stonehaven a week later. It was towed into Dundee by a showman, John Woods, and exhibited on a train tour of Scotland and England.
The anatomist John Struthers (at left, in top hat) with the Tay Whale at John Woods' yard, Dundee, 1884, photographed by George Washington Wilson
A contemporary engraving of the Tay Whale on the beach at Stonehaven in 1884
Image: Balenoptera musculus musculature, Struthers
Image: Megaptera Longimana 2
