Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Uwins, David

706860Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 58 — Uwins, David1899Edward Irving Carlyle

UWINS, DAVID (1780?–1837), medical writer, born in London about 1780, was the second son of Thomas Uwins (d. 1806), clerk in the bank of England, and the brother of Thomas Uwins [q. v.], the artist. After working in the London hospitals he graduated M.D. at Edinburgh University on 12 Sept. 1803. Returning to London, he held for a short time the post of assistant physician at the Finsbury dispensary, and then established himself at Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. On 22 Dec. 1807 he was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and in 1815 was elected physician to the City dispensary, and afterwards to the new Finsbury and central dispensary.

In 1828 he was appointed physician to the lunatic asylum at Peckham, and, as the result of his observations there, published in 1833 a work entitled ‘A Treatise on those Disorders of the Brain and Nervous System which are usually considered and called Mental’ (London, 8vo). It attained considerable circulation, and established his medical reputation. In later life, through his friend Frederic Hervey Foster Quin [q. v.], he became one of the first English converts to homœopathy, and announced his convictions in a pamphlet entitled ‘Homœopathy and Allopathy, or Large, Small, and Atomic Doses’ (London, 8vo). He encountered much opposition from former friends, and the excitement of controversy broke down his nervous system. He died in London at his house in Bedford Row on 22 Sept. 1837, and was buried at Kensal Green cemetery.

Besides the works mentioned, he was the author of: 1. ‘Modern Medicine,’ London, 1808, 8vo. 2. ‘Cursory Observations on Fever,’ London, 1810, 8vo. 3. ‘Modern Maladies and the Present State of Medicine,’ London, 1818, 8vo. 4. ‘A Compendium of Theoretical and Practical Medicine,’ London, 1825, 12mo. 5. ‘A Treatise on those Diseases which are either directly or indirectly connected with Indigestion, comprising a Commentary on the Principal Ailments of Children,’ London, 1827, 8vo. 6. ‘Nervous and Mental Disorders,’ London, 1830, 8vo. He also contributed several medical articles to George Gregory's ‘Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences,’ 1806, as well as a series of papers (begun by John Reid, 1776–1822 [q. v.]), entitled ‘Reports’ to the ‘Monthly Magazine.’ He wrote two articles in the ‘Quarterly Review,’ the one on ‘Insanity and Madness’ in July 1816, and the other on ‘Vaccination’ in July 1818, and for a time edited the ‘Medical Repository.’

[Gent. Mag. 1837, ii. 542; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. vi. 371; Munk's Coll. of Phys. iii. 56; Georgian Era, ii. 586; Clarke's Autobiographical Recollections, 1874, pp. 234–5; Memoir of Thomas Uwins, 1858.]

E. I. C.