John Brown was born in Lanarkshire in Scotland. A minister’s son, he trained as a physician and went into private practice in Edinburgh in 1833. With his wife Catherine (d. 1864), he had one son, John (“Jock”), and two daughters. Brown published essays on a wide variety of subjects, including the very popular dog story “Rab and His Friends” (1858). Visiting Edinburgh in 1873, SLC took his wife, Livy, to be treated by Brown simply on the strength of his literary fame. The meeting led to a friendship and an ongoing correspondence. The Clemenses urged Brown, who suffered from periods of deep depression, to visit them in America, but the friends never met in person again.