knox's classes were made more attractive by offering anatomical dissection under his supervision. as the demand for bodies for dissection exceeded supply, the serial killers william burke and william hare sold the bodies of their victims to knox's anatomy school. after burke was hanged for these crimes knox was exonerated by a committee of 'distinguished citizens' and continued to teach at 10 surgeons' square until 1833. at the height of his popularity as a teacher in 1826, knox attracted over 500 students to his anatomy classes, the largest number ever seen in the british isles. william fergusson assisted knox with anatomy teaching until 1840 when he was appointed professor of surgery at king's college london and later became sergeant-surgeon to queen victoria. 1 surgeons' square the land at the north side of surgeons' square was owned by the engraver william home lizars who in 1825 built an anatomy school with a lecture theatre for his brother john lizars a local surgeon. john lizars taught anatomy and surgery and was succeeded by peter david handyside, henry lonsdale and james spence. the building was later used as a museum, as a school, as part of the university settlement and latterly as a nursery school. it is one of only three buildings still standing in the square in 2020. 3 surgeons' square david craigie taught anatomy from 1818 and later taught clinical medicine and practice of medicine. he later became president of the rcpe. from 1835 chemistry was taught by andrew fyfe who later went on to become professor of chemistry at the university of aberdeen. from 1845 chemistry was taught here by thomas anderson, who went on to lecture in glasgow where he drew the attention of joseph lister to the works of louis pasteur and supplied lister with his first sample of carbolic acid, from which lister developed antiseptic theory. brown square brown square was built as a residential development in 1763 and demolished in the late nineteenth century. the brown square school of medicine was established by james syme, later professor of surgery in the university. syme taught anatomy and surgery and was joined in the school by john macintosh who taught medicine and midwifery and john argyll robertson who taught materia medica. when syme resigned from the school his anatomy class was continued by alexander jardine lizars, later professor of anatomy in the university of aberdeen. the school closed in 1836 when the teaching was transferred to 11 argyle square. 11 argyle square the argyll square school was active early in the 1830s and expanded when teaching activity from brown square was transferred. it was known mainly as an anatomy school where the subject was taught by peter handyside, alexander keiller, alexander jardine lizars and john struthers, both of whom later became professors of anatomy at the university of aberdeen. lecturers in other subjects included: thomas wood (practice of medicine); john lizars (surgery); dr marr (midwifery); david skae (medical jurisprudence); j a robertson (materia medica). marshall street the school of medicine and pharmacy was located her in the latter years of the century. lecturers included: alexander johnstone (botany); j r paterson (chemistry); e urquhart (materia medica and pharmacy); dr matheson (midwifery); dr matheson and alexander keiller (medicine). minto house, chambers street minto house, a large town house owned by the elliot family was bought by james syme in 1829 and converted into a small surgical teaching hospital with an operating theatre and lecture room. there syme taught surgery as did his assistants alexander peddie, later president of the royal college of physicians of edinburgh and john brown, whose account of the work of the hospital is described in his novel rab and his friends. the hospital closed in 1852. minto house was demolished in 1873 and 'new' minto house was built on the site, becoming numbers 18-20 chambers street. number 20 chambers chambers street also housed a medical school. new minto house, 20 chambers street. in 1878 a medical school was opened with the anatomical teaching done by james cossar ewart, later professor of natural history at the university of aberdeen. he was succeeded as anatomy lecturer by johnston symington later professor of anatomy at queen's college, belfast, and he in turn was succeeded by the surgeon alexander miles. in 1895 the anatomy dissecting room was taken over by the edinburgh school of medicine for women, new minto house was subsequently bought by the university of edinburgh. edinburgh school of medicine for women, surgeons' square sophia jex-blake, a pioneer of medical education for women, founded the school in 1886. most of its teaching took place in surgeons' square, with clinical teaching at leith hospital.as the rie still continued to refuse access to women students. with competition from the college of medicine for women and beset with financial problems, the school closed in 1898. 30 chambers street, edinburgh. the building which housed the college of medicine for women was demolished and replaced in 1927 by this building, the former edinburgh dental hospital edinburgh college of medicine for women, 30 chambers street main article: edinburgh college of medicine for women the edinburgh college of medicine for women was founded by elsie inglis and her father john inglis in 1889 at a time when women were not admitted to university medical schools in the uk. clinical teaching was initially at glasgow royal infirmary as the rie still did not accept women for clinical teaching i its wards. by july 1892 the college had sufficient funds and sufficient influence to have two wards in the rie opened to the women medical students. the college merged with the school of medicine of the royal colleges in 1916. lecturers included: john w ballantyne (midwifery and gynaecology) william craig - (materia medica) james hodsdon - (surgery) went on to be knighted and elected president of the rcsed. william keiller (anatomy) became professor of anatomy at the university of texas at galveston. harvey littlejohn (public health) became professor of forensic medicine at the university of edinburgh william ivison macadam (chemistry) robert philip (medicine) later a pioneer in the treatment of tuberculosis and president of the rcpe william russell (pathology) later professor of medicine at the university of edinburgh and president of the rcpe queens' college queen's college was the first association of extramural lecturers and schools. it was known to be active from 1841 to 1842. classes were held at several different locations, with most at brown square and argyle square. from 1841 the lectures were recognised by the universities of london, oxford, cambridge, st andrews and aberdeen, the royal colleges of surgeons of england, edinburgh and ireland, the apothecaries hall, london and the faculty of physicians and surgeons of glasgow. lecturers included robert knox (11 argyle square) - anatomy and surgery; william campbell (11 argyle square) -midwifery; james marr (3 surgeons' square) - midwifery david skae (11 argyle square) -medical jurisprudence; george atkin (23 brown square) - botany. extramural teaching in the 20th century the former school of medicine of the edinburgh royal colleges the school of medicine of the royal colleges of edinburgh in the last decade of the nineteenth century an association of extramural teachers was formed with a view to consolidating most of the smaller schools into a single institution under the aegis of the two medical royal colleges in edinburgh. dr (later sir) henry littlejohn was chairman of the association and a leading figure in the formation of this new school. in 1894 the scottish universities agreed that university students could attend half of their classes in the new school as counting towards a degree. from 1896 many of the small medical schools were incorporated into the school of medicine of the royal colleges, which from 1896 became by far the largest teaching establishment in the extramural school. while most of the classes were held in surgeons' hall, there was teaching on smaller sites including the new school in bristo street, park place school. and 27 nicolson square. clinical teaching was provided at the royal infirmary of edinburgh, leith hospital and the sick children's hospital. clinical teaching continued in local dispensaries enabling students to learn about community care and experience in dispensary practice became part of the medical curriculum in 1890. the royal public dispensary had been founded in 1776, the new town dispensary in 1815 and there was also clinical teaching at the provident dispensary and the livingstone memorial dispensary. in session 1896-97 there were 931 students, rising to 1317 the following year and remaining over 100 until world war i. at the time of its closure in 1948, about 350 students were enrolled. the school attracted many students drawn from marginal groups or those facing educational barriers, initially women and in later years students from the then british empire and pollical refugees. many of the students who attended the classes were also registered with the university of edinburgh and went on to graduate with the degree of mb chb. the remainder aimed to sit the triple qualification, an examination held by the medical royal colleges and recognised by the general medical council. the goodenough report published in 1944 recommended that all undergraduate medical education in the uk should be carried out by universities. in the face of this the school closed in 1948. lecturers included: joseph ryland whittaker, richard james arthur berry (anatomy) agnes rose macgregor, peter maccallum, robert muir (pathology) a nimmo smith (bacteriology) james ormiston affleck, byrom bramwell, william russel, george alexander gibson, robert william philip, john comrie, douglas chalmers watson, andrew rae gilchrist, t r r todd, david murray lyon (medicine) alexander pirie watson, montagu cotterill, charles walker cathcart, william james stuart, john william struthers, henry wade, g l chiene, james methuen graham, walter quarry wood, walter mercer (surgery) robert johnstone , benjamin philip watson, james haig fergusson, douglas miller, clifford kennedy, ernest fahmy (midwifery/gynaecology) arthur h h sinclair, harry moss traquair (ophthalmology) douglas guthrie, ion simson hall, g ewart martin (diseases of ear, nose and throat) dawson turner (radiology)