Of these one, Benjamin Bell (1749-1806) was to achieve international fame largely through the success of his best selling textbook A System of Surgery first published in 1783. Hill’s early writing
Hill a number of articles for the medical journal Medical Essays and Observations which had been launched in 1733 by the Society for the Improvement of Medical Knowledge, which would eventually become the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This was one of the earliest regular medical journals and it provided a vehicle for case reports and other types of article. Hills articles give an insight into the range of conditions with which he dealt as a surgeon-apothecary, and his understanding of their causes and treatment. He contributed a case report about a patient who was temporarily ‘cured’ of syphilis by a ‘mercurial suffumigation’. After various therapies including laudanum, tonics, claret and Dr Plummers pills were unsuccessful, he resorted to mercury,  a recognised treatment for syphilis and fumes were thought to be the fastest mode of delivery. The symptoms eventually and she survived for more than a year. This report demonstrates that surgeons in Scotland at this time truly acted as surgeon-apothecaries. His report on two cases of hydatid disease describes one patient discharging hydatid cysts via a chronic cutaneous fistula from the liver and the other discharging cysts in the sputum. Both recovered without active treatment.
Hills work was recognised and was cited by the influential Edinburgh physician John Abercrombie(1780–1844), the Edinburgh surgeon John Bell (1763–1820))  and the London surgeon John Abernethy (1764–1831)

Hill’s legacy
James Hill died on 18 October 1776 and is buried in St Michaels churchyard in Dumfries. He advanced the understanding of the treatment of head injury by showing that epidural and subdural haematoma could be recognised from clinical features and successfully treated by trepan and surgical drainage to relieve compression. He appreciated the importance of cerebral compression and the significance of unilateral limb weakness in lateralising intracranial bleeding and determining on which side to operate. This work represented a significant advance in our understanding of the nature of brain injury following trauma and how it should be treated. Further reading
Macintyre, I (12 November 2014). "The life and work of the Dumfries surgeon James Hill (1703–1776): his contributions to the management of cancer and of head injury". J Med Biogr. 24 (4): 459–468. doi:10.1177/0967772014532898. PMID 25392427. S2CID 27830324. == References ==