John, an eminent dissenting minister, was the son of Mr John Abernethy, a dissenting minister in Coleraine, where he was born on the 19th of October 1680. When about nine years of age he was separated from his parents, his father being obliged to attend some public affairs in London; and his mother, to shelter herself from the fury of the Irish rebels, retiring to Derry, a relation who had him under his care, having had no opportunity of conveying him to her, carried him to Scotland; and thus he escaped the hardships and dangers of the siege of Derry, in which Mrs Abernethy lost all her other children. He afterwards studied at the University of Glasgow, where he remained till he took the degree of master of arts; and, in 1708, he was chosen minister of a dissenting congregation at Antrim, in which situation he continued above 20 years. About the time of the Bangorian controversy (for which see HOADLEY), a dissension arose among his brethren in the ministry at Belfast, on the subject of subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith. In this controversy he became a leader on the negative side, and incurred the censure of a general synod. The agitation of parties on this occasion induced him to accept of an invitation to settle in Dublin, where his preaching was much admired. Here he continued for ten years, respected and esteemed; and died in December 1740, in the 61st year of his age. His writings, like his character, are distinguished for candour, liberality, and manly sentiment. He published a volume of sermons on the Divine Attributes; after his death a second volume was published by his friends; and these were succeeded by four other volumes on different subjects.

John, an eminent surgeon, was born in London in 1765. His professional studies and career began and terminated in the metropolis, where he obtained a high reputation. He was an apprentice to Sir Charles Blick; and succeeded the celebrated Mr Pott in 1787, as assistant-surgeon in St Bartholomew's Hospital. Not long after, Abernethy was also his successor as Lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery; an office in which he acquired just celebrity, from an easy, impressive manner, and a style of illustration at once amusing and instructive. On the death of Blick, he was elected surgeon to St Bartholomew's Hospital, of which he was long a distinguished member. His reputation began with his success as a teacher; but it rested on the more solid foundation of his efforts for the practical improvement of surgery. The philosophic views developed in his work entitled "The Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases," are of great practical importance, and are founded on two general principles;—1st, That topical diseases are often mere symptoms of constitutional maladies, and then can only be removed by general remedies; 2d. That the disordered state of the constitution very often originates in, or is closely allied to deranged states of the stomach and bowels; and can only be remedied by means that beneficially affect the functions of those organs. Besides these essays, we are indebted to Mr Abernethy for the original suggestion and practice of the daring operation of securing by ligature the carotid and external iliac arteries. This eminent surgeon had one peculiar eccentricity, which candour compels us to notice. In the private circle of his family and of his friends he was kind, courteous, and affectionate, was just and honourable in his intercourse with all; but, in his latter days, especially with his patients, he was often rude and capricious, and sometimes assumed an offensive coarseness, at variance with a character otherwise estimable.

town in Scotland, in Perthshire, situated at a short distance to the southward of the right bank of the river Tay, a little above the mouth of the Earn. It is of very ancient date, and is said to have been the seat of the Pictish kings; and there are some uncertain traditions of its existence prior to this period. It is distinguished by a curious piece of antiquity, a circular tower, 74 feet high and 16 feet in diameter, consisting of 64 courses of hewn stone. It continued long to be the see of an archbishop, which was afterwards transferred to St Andrews. The inhabitants are engaged in the manufacture of linen. The population in 1851, 2026. Abernethy is seven miles from Perth.