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{{Short description|Scottish surgeon (1845–1906)}}
{{Infobox medical person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Alexander Crombie
| honorific_suffix = CB
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 2 December 1845
| birth_place = [[Crail]], [[Fifeshire]], Scotland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1906|09|29|1845|12|02|df=y}}
| death_place = London, England<ref name="lancet">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VpNMAQAAMAAJ|title=The Lancet|date=13 October 1906|publisher=J. Onwhyn|series=Part 2|volume=2|pages=1035|language=en}}</ref>
| death_cause =
| residence =
| nationality =
| citizenship =
| education = [[University of Edinburgh]]
| occupation = [[Surgeon]]
| years_active =
| known_for =
| relations =
| website =
| profession =
| field =
| work_institutions = *[[Indian Medical Service]]
*[[Calcutta Medical College]]
*[[Middlesex Hospital]]
*[[King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers]]
| specialism =
| research_field = [[Tropical diseases]]
| notable_works =
| prizes =
| child =
| module2 =
| signature =
}}
'''Alexander Crombie''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CB}} (2 December 1845 – 29 September 1906) was a Scottish surgeon who joined the [[Indian Medical Service]] and became resident surgeon at [[Calcutta Medical College]], India, where he became professor of [[materia medica]].

He served the civil surgeoncy of [[Dacca]] before becoming joint civil surgeon at [[Simla]], and later joined the Medical Board at the [[India Office]] while simultaneously serving the Medical Board at the [[War Office]]. In Calcutta, he initiated the use of hypodermic [[morphine]] for an easier use of [[chloroform]] anaesthesia, the first documented account of [[premedication]].

When he returned to England he was appointed lecturer in [[tropical diseases]] at the [[Middlesex Hospital]] and the [[London School of Tropical Medicine]]. In 1904 he was listed a [[List of honorary medical staff at King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers|member of the honorary medical staff]] to the [[King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers]].

==Early life and education==
Alexander Crombie was born on 2 December 1845 at [[Fifeshire]], Scotland.<ref name="Crombie1906">{{cite journal |title=Alexander Crombie, M.D., C.B. |journal=[[British Medical Journal]] |date=20 October 1906 |volume=2 |issue=2390 |pages=1069–1070 |pmid=2382534 |pmc=2382534 |issn=0007-1447}}</ref><ref name="WhosWho">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-185086 |year=2007 |access-date=12 April 2021 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U185086 |url-access=subscription |title=Crombie, Brigade-Surgeon Lt-Col Alexander, (1845–29 Sept. 1906), Fellow Calcutta Univ. |encyclopedia=[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who & Who Was Who]]|isbn=978-0-19-954089-1 }}</ref> He attended [[Madras College|St. Andrews Public School]], and subsequently studied medicine at the [[University of Edinburgh]], where in 1867 he received the [[Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery|M.B.]] with honours (as well as a Licentiate of the [[Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh]]), and earned a [[Doctor of Medicine|doctorate]] in 1870.<ref name="Crombie1906"/> In March 1871, with admission into the [[Indian Medical Service]] (IMS) temporarily closed, he gained entry to the [[Army Medical Services|Army Medical Service]] (AMS)<ref name="Crombie1906"/> effective 1 April, coming first place in the AMS examinations.<ref name="lancet"/> In December 1872, he resigned from the AMS at the reopening of the IMS, and once again came first place in the necessary examinations.<ref name="Crombie1906"/>

==Career==
Crombie reached India in July 1872 and was appointed resident surgeon at the [[Calcutta Medical College]] (CMC) the following year.<ref name="Crombie1906"/> At the CMC he became professor of [[materia medica]] in 1874 and wrote for ''[[The Indian Medical Gazette]]''.<ref name="Crombie1906"/> In February 1875, he was appointed junior civil surgeon at [[Rangoon]], where he was also its port health officer, a position he held until April of 1877.<ref name="Crombie1906" /> Following this, he served the [[civil surgeon|civil surgeoncy]] of [[Dacca]] and was put in charge of a mental asylum and the hospital for locals.<ref name="Crombie1906"/> In From April 1880 into 1881, he was joint civil surgeon at [[Simla]], where he reported an outbreak of "Hill diarrhoea".<ref name="Crombie1906"/><ref name="Gracey1991">{{cite book|last=Gracey|first=Michael |title=Diarrhea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7EhCyocTGgC&pg=PA135|year=1991|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-0-8493-8819-4|page=135}}</ref> He would return to his former post at Dacca thereafter, where he would remain until 1888, upon which time he was transferred to Calcutta.<ref name="lancet" />

As surgeon-superintendent at the [[IPGMER and SSKM Hospital|Presidency General Hospital]], Calcutta, he was the first to use [[morphine]] by syringe for the easier administration of [[chloroform]] anaesthesia, the first documented account of [[premedication]].<ref name="BahetiLaheri2018">{{cite book|last1=Divekar|first1=Vasumathi M.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foJXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18|title=Understanding Anesthetic Equipment & Procedures: A Practical Approach|publisher=JP Medical Ltd|year=2018|isbn=978-93-5270-316-6|editor-last=Baheti|editor-first=Dwarkadas K.|edition=2nd|location=New Delhi|pages=18–19|language=English|chapter=2. Anaesthesia equipment in India - A historical perspective|editor-last2=Laheri|editor-first2=Vandana V.}}</ref><ref name="Divekar2001">{{cite journal |last1=Divekar |first1=VM |last2=Naik |first2=LD |title=Evolution of Anaesthesia In India |journal=Journal of Postgraduate Medicine |date=2001 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=149–152 |pmid=11832613 |url=http://www.bioline.org.br/request?jp01045}}</ref> He became a fellow of [[Calcutta University]], and a member and later president of the [[Calcutta Medical Society]].<ref name="Crombie1906"/> His presidential address in 1894, at the [[Indian Medical Congress]] in Calcutta, focussed on the classification of fevers<ref name="Ramanna">{{cite book |last1=Ramanna |first1=Mridula |title=Western Medicine and Public Health in Colonial Bombay, 1845–1895 |year=2002 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-2302-9 |pages=145–146 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Western_Medicine_and_Public_Health_in_Co/NsGG0s_HxH0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Alexander+Crombie+calcutta&pg=PA146&printsec=frontcover |language=en}}</ref> which he associated with particular Indian cities such as Calcutta fever and Bombay fever. He also described typhoid fever, non-malarial remittent fever and simple continued fever.<ref name="Ramanna"/> He retired from the Indian Medical Service in 1898 as a brigade surgeon with the rank being equivalent to [[lieutenant colonel]].<ref name="lancet" />

In 1900, two years after retiring, he joined the Medical Board at the [[India Office]] and during his three years with them also served the Medical Board at the [[War Office]].<ref name="Crombie1906"/> When he returned to England, he was appointed lecturer of [[tropical diseases]] at the [[Middlesex Hospital]] and at the [[London School of Tropical Medicine]].<ref name="Crombie1906"/>

==Awards and honours==
Crombie was awarded associate membership of the [[Order of St. John of Jerusalem]]{{clarify|date=May 2021 |reason=There are several items which share this name. Is this the correct one? }} during his lifetime, and was also made [[Companion of the Bath]] (civil division) in 1902.<ref name="Crombie1906"/> In 1904, he was listed a [[List of honorary medical staff at King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers|member of the honorary medical staff]] to the [[King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers]].<ref name=KEVII>"List of Honorary Medical Staff of the Hospital". King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers (Sister Agnes). Historical Record 1899–1969 (3rd ed.). London: Beaumont House. 1969. p. 20-21.</ref>

==Personal and family==
Crombie married the daughter of William Bell, inspector-general of hospitals. They had one son and two daughters.<ref name="WhosWho"/>

==Death==
Crombie died on 29 September 1906 following a cancerous disease affecting his [[lumbar spine]].<ref name="Crombie1906"/>

==Selected publications==
*{{cite journal |title=Lectures on the Vasculo-Cardiacs |journal=The Indian Medical Gazette |date=2 November 1874 |volume=9 |issue=11 |pages=281–283 |pmid=28995080 |issn=0019-5863|last1=Crombie |first1=A. |pmc=5128246 }}
*{{cite journal|title=Combined Use of Morphia and Chloroform |journal=The Indian Medical Gazette |date=1 August 1882 |volume=17 |issue=8 |pages=223 |pmid=28998955 |issn=0019-5863|last1=Crombie |first1=A. |pmc=5152022 }}
*{{cite journal |title=The Treatment of Hill Diarrhœa |journal=The Indian Medical Gazette |date=May 1892 |volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=129–132 |pmid=28999901 |issn=0019-5863|last1=Crombie |first1=A. |pmc=5136780 }}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crombie , Alexander}}
[[Category:1845 births]]
[[Category:1906 deaths]]
[[Category:Scottish surgeons]]
[[Category:King Edward VII's Hospital]]
[[Category:Indian Medical Service officers]]
[[Category:Physicians of the Middlesex Hospital]]
[[Category:People from Fife]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Academics of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish people]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish people]]

Alexander Crombie (surgeon) - Revision history

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