Born in Biggar, Lanarkshire, in 1828 John Brown was apprenticed to Mr Syme, FRCS, who taught surgery in the Extra-Mural School. He graduated MD in 1833 and started general practice in Edinburgh. In 1847 he became a Fellow of the College. Along with his professional interests, Dr Brown had literary accomplishments and an appreciation of art. He was asked by Hugh Miller, editor of 'The Witness', to comment on pictures in the Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition of 1846. These, together with contributions to 'The Scotsman' on art, articles to the 'North British Review' on Ruskin's 'Modern Painters', on Locke and Sydenham, on philosophy and paramedical subjects, were the beginning of three volumes entitled 'Horae Subsecivae'. Mr Gladstone, when Rector of Edinburgh University, chose him as his assessor, and the University conferred an honorary LLD in 1874; he also received a Royal Pension of £100 per annum for his literary eminence.