Thomas John MacLagan

Thomas Maclagan (1838–1903) was a doctor and pharmacologist from Dundee.

He was medical superintendent at the city's Royal Infirmary from 1864 to 1866, during which time he had to cope with a major fever epidemic and became noted for pioneering the clinical use of thermometers.

MacLagan is sometimes claimed to have invented aspirin, but this is not so. He did use the willow bark extract salicilin as an anti-rheumatic in 1874, but this herbal remedy was already centuries old. The conversion of salicilin to salicylic acid in the body was discovered in 1870 and in fact salicylic acid was synthesised in 1874 by Carl Thiersch.