Anthony MacLeister

Anthony MacLeister (died c. 1655) was a professor of medicine at the Academy of Medicine in London.

Meeting Crowley
Not much is known about the professor's early life. In about 1653, he noticed an exceptional student with innate talents, Adam Crowley, and took him under his wing. This encounter changed young Crowley's fate forever. MacLeister showed him the means of investigating the art of surgery, that is to say research on corpses and experiments with no limits. The dissection of stillborn fetus', the removal and re-implantation of organs and trepanning on the living were part of everyday life for the two men for two long years. Finally, the Academy of Medicine presented the professor's student with his surgeon's diploma on his twentieth birthday.

During the party organized in honor of his diploma, Crowley proved to be extremely worrying for his parents. Ignoring all the rules of etiquette, he was provocative and drank too heavily. Crowley's father, Aloysius Crowley, suddenly started convulsing. MacLeister promptly carried the shaking body off to his laboratory. MacLeister did his best to save Crowley's father, but his attempts were in vain. When Adam Crowley saw his father die in the arms of his mentor, a strange transformation came over him. Like an illumination, Crowley convinced himself that suffering could not be abolished without attacking Death. He would be the vector of this destruction of Death, a being of another kind, perfect.

Death
MacLeister remained imperious to Crowley's vision. He reacted violently and looked at his young colleague as if he had lost his mind. Crowley decided to get rid of his old teacher, a poor imperfect man who couldn't share his vision. MacLeister died a few hours later on the operating table under Crowley's scalpel.