Sir John, an eminent physician and philosopher, Philosopher, was a younger son of Sir John Pringle of Stitchel, in the shire of Roxburgh, Baronet; took the degree of M. D. at Leyden, 1730; and published there "Dissertatio Inauguralis de Marcore Senili," 4to. After having been some years professor of moral philosophy at Edinburgh, he was in June 1745 appointed physician to the duke of Cumberland, and physician-general to the hospital of the forces in Flanders, where the earl of Stair appears to have been his patron. In February 1746, Dr Pringle, Dr Armstrong, and Dr Barker, were nominated physicians to the hospital of lame, maimed, and sick soldiers, behind Buckinghamhouse; and in April 1749, Dr Pringle was appointed physician in ordinary to the king. In 1750 he published "Observations on the Nature and Cure of Hospital and Gaol Fevers, in a Letter to Dr Mead," 8vo (reprinted in 1755); and in 1752 he favoured the public with the result of his long experience in an admirable treatise under the title of "Observations on the Disorders of the Army in Camp and Garrison," 8vo. On the 14th of April 1752, he married Charlotte, second daughter of Dr Oliver, an eminent physician at Bath. In 1756 he was appointed jointly with Dr Winttingham (now Sir Clifton Winttingham, Bart.) physician to the hospital for the service of the forces of Great Britain. After the accession of his present majesty, Dr Pringle was appointed physician to the queen's household, 1761; physician in ordinary to the queen in 1763, in which year he was admitted of the college of physicians in London; and on the 5th of June 1766, he was advanced to the dignity of a baronet of Great Britain. In 1772 he was elected president of the Royal Society, where his speeches for five successive years, on delivering the prize-medal of Sir Godfrey Copley, gave the greatest satisfaction. Sir John Pringle in 1777 was appointed physician extraordinary to the king. He was also a fellow of the College of Physicians at Edinburgh, and of the Royal Medical Society at Paris; member of the Royal Academies at Paris, Stockholm, Gottingen, and of the Philosophical Societies at Edinburgh and Haarlem; and continued president of the Royal Society till November 1778; after which period he gradually withdrew from the world, and in 1781 quitted his elegant house in Pall Mall (where he had long distinguished himself as the warm friend and patron of literary men of every nation and profession), and made an excursion to his native country. He returned to London in the latter end of the year; died greatly beloved and respected January 18, 1782; and having no children, was succeeded in estate, and also (agreeably to the limitation of the patent) in title, by his nephew, Sir James Pringle Bart. Among the worthy physician's communications to the Royal Society, the following are the Principal: 1. "Some Experiments on Substances resisting Putrefaction," Phil. Trans. No 495, p. 580; and No 496, p. 525, 550; reprinted, with additions, in Martin's Abridgement, vol. xi. p. 1365. 2. "Account of some Persons seized with the Gaol Fever by working in Newgate, and of the manner by which the Infection was communicated to one entire Family," vol. xlviii. p. 42. At the request of Dr Hales, a copy of this useful paper was inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1733, p. 71, before its appearance in the Transactions. 3. "A remarkable Case of Fragility, Flexibility, and Dissolution of the Bones," ib. p. 297. 4. "Account of the Earthquake felt at Brussels," vol. xlii. p. 546. 5. "Account of the sinking of a River near Pontypool, in Monmouthshire," ib. p. 547. 6. "Account of an Earthquake felt Feb. 18, 1756, along the coast of England, between Margate and Dover," ib. p. 579. 7. "Account of the Earthquake felt at Glasgow and Dumfarton; also of a Shower of Dust falling on a Ship between Shetland and Iceland," ib. p. 599. 8. "Several Accounts of the Fiery Meteor which appeared on Sunday, November 26, 1758, between eight and nine at night," vol. i. p. 218. 9. "Account of the Virtues of Soap in dissolving the Stone, in the Cafe of the Reverend Mr Matthew Simson," ib. p. 221. 10. "Account of the effects of Electricity in Paralytic Cases," ib. 481. And see a letter to him on that subject from Professor Winthrop. "Some Account of the Success of the Vitrum Ceratum Antimonii," was printed in the Edinburgh Medical Essays, vol. v.