The academic unit of Forensic Medicine and Science at the University of Glasgow now encompasses the two disciplines of Forensic Pathology and Forensic Toxicology. Both are primarily service-based, carrying out post mortem examinations for the Procurator Fiscals of Glasgow and the surrounding regions under contract with the Crown Office (the central legal authority in Scotland), but with additional involvement in teaching and research. The unit is now the longest established academic forensic institution in the United Kingdom (founded 1839), probably the largest, and one of the few to combine pathology and toxicology under one roof.
The Forensic Medicine Collections were catalogued in 2002 when the University of Glasgow were awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Resources grant to provide enhanced access to the resources held at Archive Services.
Significant collections relating to regional crime and punishment organisation or to a particular individual Records relating to Professor John Glaister; also his son, Professor John Glaister. The two men built one of the United Kingdom's leading Forensic Medicine and Science departments, and their impact and influence remains significant in the field due to their high profile work and their textbook, Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology , which ran to thirteen editions between 1902 and 1973. In 1979 the department became known as Forensic Medicine and Science, the name it retains to this day.
The university has developed a web page on Case Files including Dr Buck Ruxton; the link is below under other online resources.
Details of opening for public access and / or research services The university library offers members of the public access to the Library to consult their collections, passes are issued for one day only. You can use the library if you wish to consult material that you have been unable to locate elsewhere locally, or you would like to consult material in Archives & Special Collections. Apply in person at the Welcome Desk during staffed service hours - please bring a form of personal identification e.g. driving license or passport.