Morison, James (1770-1840), Dictionary of National Biography
secondary literature · 1894
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SUMMARY
Standard biographical reference entry on James Morison the Hygeist by Gordon Goodwin. Source for the core biography used in this bundle: born 1770 at Bognie, Aberdeenshire; died at Paris on 3 May 1840; after about thirty-five years of ill health and failed orthodox treatment he claimed around 1822 to have cured himself with vegetable pills of his own compounding; began selling his Vegetable Universal Medicine ('Morison's Pills', with gamboge as a principal ingredient) in 1825; opened the British College of Health in 1828 at Hamilton Place, New Road, London; and paid 60,000 pounds to the English government for medicine stamps between 1830 and 1840. Byline and dates confirmed from the article header and end attribution (Gordon Goodwin, DNB vol. 39).
NOTES
The Dictionary of National Biography entry by Gordon Goodwin is the authoritative short biography of James Morison and the source for the dated facts of his life and business used across this case bundle: birth (1770, Bognie, Aberdeenshire), death (3 May 1840, Paris), self-claimed cure around 1822, the start of pill sales in 1825, the founding of the British College of Health in 1828 at Hamilton Place, New Road, London, the naming of gamboge as a principal ingredient, and the 60,000 pounds in medicine stamp duty paid from 1830 to 1840. It is cited for biographical and financial facts, not for any assessment of efficacy.