Alexander Wood (December 10, 1817 - February 26, 1884) was a Scottish physician. In 1853, he invented the first hypodermic needle that used a true syringe and hollow needle. His biographer and brother-in-law, Reverend Thomas Brown, wrote that Wood had taken the sting of the bee as his model. Brown also wrote, 'At first this new hypodermic method was employed exclusively for the administration of morphia and preparations of opium, but it is important to note that, from the outset, Dr Wood pointed to a far wider application.' There is a story in circulation that Wood's wife, Rebecca Massey, was the first known intravenous morphine addict and died of an overdose delivered by her husband's invention, however, Richard Davenport-Hines says, "It is a myth: she outlived him, and survived until 1894.' Wood died in 1884 at the age of 66 and is buried with his wife, Rebecca Massey, in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. The gravestone corroborates a later date for his wife's death, on February 6, 1895.