The collection consists of portraits.
Arthur Robertson Cushny was born in Fochabers, Scotland, on March 6, 1866 to Reverend John Cushny and Catherine Ogilvie (Brown) Cushny. After studying at several Fochabers schools, Cushny enrolled in the University of Aberdeen where—according to Aberdeen University Roll of Graduates, 1860-1900—he received his Master of Arts in 1886, followed by his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery in 1889. After being named a George Thompson fellow in circa 1889, Cushny traveled to Europe and studied under Hugo Kronecker at the University of Bern, and under Oswald Schmiedeberg at the University of Strasbourg. He later received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Aberdeen in 1892 and worked as a pharmacology assistant to Schmiedeberg from 1892-1893.
From 1893-1905, Cushny held the position of professor of materia medica and therapeutics at the University of Michigan. According to the The University of Michigan, An Encyclopedic Survey, Cushny established the university's pharmacological laboratory and taught its first practical pharmacology course. He also published the first edition of his Textbook of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in 1899 and Laboratory Guide in Experimental Pharmacology in 1905.
Cushny relocated to London in 1905, where he held the Chair of the University College, London's newly founded Pharmacology Department from 1905-1918. In 1918, he assumed the professor of materia medica position at the University of Edinburgh and remained in that role until his death.
Cushny's research—which focused on cardiovascular pharmacology and renal physiology. —resulted in the publication of numerous works, including The Secretion of Urine, Biological Relations of Optically Isomeric Substances, and The Action and Uses in Medicine of Digitalis and Its Allies. He also co-edited the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, from circa 1912-1926. Cushny held membership with several organizations and was named a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1907 and the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1919. He also received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the University of Aberdeen in 1911 and University of Michigan in 1925.
Arthur Roberston Cushny died in Edinburgh, Scotland, on February 25, 1926.
