A prize medal, presented to Alexander McDonald, later Assistant-Surgeon in HMS 'Terror' on Franklin's 1845 Arctic expedition. Obverse: Inscription:'HOC SIGILLO JUVENEM INGENUUM Alexandrum McDonald ob responsa quaestionibus TOTI SCHOLAE PROPOSITIS OMNIUM FELICISSIMA DONAVIT Johannes Argyll Robertson M.D. DE CHIRURGICE PRAELECTOR'. Reverse: Inscription: 'EDINBURGI kalendis Aprilis A.D. 1838'. It was found with other items that had belonged to expedition members, in the possession of Inuit on the Boothian Peninsula by F. L. McClintock's search expedition in 1859. Published in the Illustrated London News 15 Oct 1859 p.381.

Alexander Macdonald was born at Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire on 13 September 1817. He graduated as licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in 1838. In 1840 he served on a whaling vessel commanded by Captain William Penny and wrote an account of his experiences. Between 2 Sept 1841 and 5 March 1845 he served as surgeon on board HMS 'Belvidera' in the Mediterranean. He was appointed Assistant Surgeon in HMS 'Terror' on Sir John Franklin's last expedition of 1845. The expedition was beset and abandoned their ships in 1848. There were no survivors.