JOHN
GRAY McKENDRICKTHE only son of the late James McKendrick, merchant, Aberdeen, Professor M' Kendrick was born in that city in 1841, and was educated at the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. He took the degrees of M.D. and Ch.M. at the former. His first appointment, in 1864, was that of Visiting Surgeon to Chester Infirmary; he then became Resident Medical Officer to the Eastern Dispensary, Whitechapel, London; and in 1866 he was appointed Medical Officer to the Belford Hospital, Fort-William, an office he held for four years, when he received his first University appointment as assistant to the Professor of Physiology, and Lecturer on that subject, in Edinburgh. In 1876 he was appointed Professor of Physiology in Glasgow University, as successor of Dr. Andrew Buchanan. He next became Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Among other posts which he formerly held were those of Examiner in Physiology in the University of London, Victoria University, and the Universities of Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham. He twice delivered the Thomson Lectures at the Free Church College of Aberdeen, was formerly one of the lecturers in connection with the Gilchrist Trust, has served on the Councils of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and has been President of the Physiological Section of the British Association. Professor Bennett was in ill-health for some time before his death, and the greater part of the work of the chair fell upon Dr. McKendrick. He became a candidate for the vacant office, but Dr. Rutherford received the appointment. Though advised that his sphere was London, Dr. McKendrick remained in Edinburgh, and among other excellent work delivered in the West-end of the city a course of lectures which proved very popular. He also lectured on Physiology to the students of Edinburgh Veterinary College. Professor McKendrick's publications include "Animal Physiology," 1876; "Lectures on the History of Physiology," 1879; "A Text-book of Physiology," 1888; "Life in Motion, or Muscle Nerve," 1892; "Physiology," two vols., 1896; "Life of Helmholtz," 1899; "Boyle (Oxford) Lecture on Hearing," 1899; "Science and Faith," 1899; "Christianity and the Sick," 1901; and various papers on experimental phonetics and physiological acoustics. At the death of Professor Bennett Professor McKendrick had purchased his apparatus and diagrams, and these in the most generous manner he added to the Physiological Department of Glasgow University. In subsequent years he made important additions in order to complete its equipment.
He is LL.D. of Aberdeen and Glasgow Universities, and a Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow, and for a time Vice-President, of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He also acted for a time as Secretary to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, and afterwards became President. He resigned his chair in 1906.
He took a strong interest in the philanthropic andreligious life of Glasgow, but now mostly resides at his house, Maxieburn, Stonehaven. In 1867 Professor McKendrick married Mary, daughter of W. Souttar, Esq., Aberdeen; she died in 1898.