Editing James Syme (section)

==Family==
Syme married twice. Firstly he married Anne Willis,<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Fitzharris |first=Lindsey|title=The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine|isbn=978-0-14-198715-6|oclc=1045628715}}</ref> the sister of his former colleague, [[Robert Willis (physician)|Robert Willis]]. She died in 1840, while giving birth to their ninth child. Only two of their nine children, daughters [[Agnes Syme Lister|Agnes]] and Lucy, survived into adulthood.<ref name=":0" />

In December 1841, Syme married Jemima Burn. The couple had five children, three of whom survived into adulthood.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Paterson |first=Robert, 1814-1889.|title=Memorials of the life of James Syme, professor of clinical surgery in the University of Edinburgh|date=1874|publisher=Edmonston and Douglas|oclc=5456344}}</ref>

In 1856, Syme's daughter Agnes married [[Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister|Joseph Lister]], who in 1854 had been appointed first assistant surgeon to Syme at the [[University of Edinburgh]]. Having grown up as the eldest surviving child of a surgeon, Agnes Syme Lister often assisted her husband's medical research, including taking dictation and case notes.<ref name=":0" /> They maintained a home laboratory, where Joseph Lister conducted experiments that would lead to the development of antiseptic sprays for surgical theatres.