an English doctor and writer. n 1798 Aikin retired from medicine and devoted himself with great industry to various literary undertakings, among which his General Biography (10 vols., 1799–1815) holds a conspicuous place. His other works included Biographical Memoirs of Medicine in Great Britain (1780) and The Lives of John Selden, Esq., and Archbishop Usher (1812). Aside from editing The Monthly Magazine from 1796 to 1807 and Dodsley's Annual Register from 1811-1815, he conducted a paper called The Athenaeum from 1807 to 1809, when it was discontinued.
