John Brown (September 22, 1810 - May 11, 1882) was a Scottish physician and author. He was the son of John Brown (1784-1858), and was born in Biggar, Scotland.

He graduated as M.D. at the University of Edinburgh in 1833, and practised as a physician in that city. His reputation, however, is based on the two volumes of essays, Horae Subsecivae (Leisure Hours) (1858, 1861), John Leech and Other Papers (1882), Rab and His Friends (1859), and Marjorie Fleming: a Sketch (1863).

The first volume of Horae Subsecivae deals chiefly with the equipment and duties of a physician, the second with subjects outside his profession. He was emphatic in his belief that an author should publish nothing unless he has something to say. Acting on this principle, he published little himself, and only after subjecting it to the severest criticism.

His work is characterized by humour and tenderness. He suffered during the latter years of his life from pronounced attacks of melancholy.

Reference

• E.T. McLaren, Dr John Brown and his Sister Isabella (4th ed., 1890)
• Letters of Dr John Brown, edited by his son and U.W. Forrest, with biography by ET McLaren (1907)

• This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.