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Sir Alexander Crichton (2 December 1763 – 4 June 1856) was a Scottish physician and author.
Born in Newington, Edinburgh, Crichton received his M.D. from Leiden University, The Netherlands, in 1785. He developed his medical skills through studies at Paris, Stuttgart, Vienna, and Halle. He returned to London in 1789, becoming MRCS but by 1791 he had moved from surgery, becoming a member of the Royal College of Physicians, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1793, holding the post of physician at Westminster Hospital between 1794 and 1801.
In 1803, Crichton was invited to become the emperor of Russia's personal physician, and between 1804 and 1819 was appointed Physician in Ordinary (personal physician) to Tsar Alexander I of Russia and to Maria Feodorovna, the Dowager Empress. He was also head of medical services in that country, receiving several Russian and Prussian honours.[1]
Crichton married Frances Dodwell in 1800. She was the granddaughter of Henry and Dulcibella Dodwell and co-heiress of the Morant estate in Jamaica, which formed part of her marriage settlement. The list of assets for the Morant estate in 1832 included 247 enslaved people. When slavery was abolished in 1834, compensation was awarded to previous owners of enslaved people, based on the asset lists of their holdings.[2][3]
He encouraged his nephew, Archibald William Crichton to follow him to Russia. Archibald went on to have a long and successful career there, where his descendants constituted an influential family.[4]
Retiring to England, Crichton wrote several books dealing with medical and geological subjects, becoming a member of the Geological Society in 1811.[5] Crichton's extensive collection of minerals consisted mainly of specimens from Siberia, Russia, Norway, Hungary, Germany, the UK, the US and India. These were acquired during his tenure as physician to Alexander I of Russia and during his travels throughout Europe when he was studying medicine.[6]
彼は、注意障害を少なくとも 2 種類に区別した最初の人物でした。 1 つは、注意散漫、持続的注意の欠如、抑制力の低下の障害で、現代の注意欠陥多動性障害(ADHD) の複合症状に似ています。もう 1 つは、認知分離症候群(CDS)に非常によく似た、覚醒または選択的/指向的注意力の低下の障害です。これは、彼の著書『精神錯乱の性質と起源に関する調査: 人間の心の生理学と病理学の簡潔な体系の理解と情念とその影響の歴史』（1798 年）の中で述べられています。[ 7 ]クリクトンは、ADHD を記述した 2 番目の人物 (メルキオール アダム ヴァイカードに次ぐ) であり、CDS を初めて言及し、記述しました。
クリクトンはセブンオークス近郊のザ・グローブスで亡くなり、ウェスト・ノーウッド墓地に埋葬された。彼の記念碑は切妻屋根の花崗岩の石板である。