Dr. John Gairdner (1790-1876) was a Scottish physician and a Fellow of the Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Gairdner was well published in medical journals as well as a series of anonymous letters to the Scotsman later collected and published posthumously as Robert Burns and the Ayrshire Moderates (1883). This book is an address Gairdner gave to the College on the school's history and cultural significance.