Excerpt from The History, Ancient and Modern, of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross: With the Description of Both, and of the Firths of Forth and Tay, and the Islands in Them With an Account of the Natural Products of the Land and Waters Sir Robert Sibbald, M. D. the author of this work, was a descendant of the Sibbalds of Balgonie, a very ancient family in Fife, several branches of which were long of considerable note in the county. Being a younger brother, he applied himself to the profession of physic, in which his uncle Dr. George Sibbald of Gibliston had attained considerable eminence. After he had finished his medical education, however, he directed his studies chiefly to the antiquities, natural history, and topography of Scotland: and on these subjects he published numerous works, a list of which is subjoined. - Esteemed one of the most learned men in his time, and honoured with the royal patronage and the public favour, it is matter of regret, that but few particulars of his life can now be recovered. Some account of his early years, and his studies, is given by himself in a pamphlet, entitled "Vindiciae Prodromi Naturalis Historiae Scoriae, &c." which he was led to publish by a charge of ignorance and plagiarism, brought against him by the acute and satirical Pitcairn. - By this account it appears, that after a five years attendance of the classes of philosophy and the languages, at the College of Edinburgh, which were taught by Leighton, afterwards archbishop of Glasgow, Crawford, Jamieson, Tweedie and Forbes, he studied physic at Leyden, then the most celebrated medical school in Europe. He graduated there in 1661, and published his inaugural dissertation under the title of "Disputatio Medica de Variis Tabis Speciebus." Soon afterwards he returned to his native country, and fixed his residence at Edinburgh, though for the benefit of study, he often retired from the bustle of the city, to a rural retreat in the neighbourhood, where he cultivated, with much attention, many rare native and exotic plants. He did not, however, give to the world any of the fruits of his studies till 1683. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."