Matthew Brisbane was a highly educated doctor with a celebrated practice in Glasgow. He had connections to many people involved in the witch hunt, and was presumably recommended to the Shaw family when they sought an expert, and friendly, second opinion. He was approached after local medical advice and assistance had proven to be ineffective. An initial consultancy in his surgery left all parties satisfied that the young girl would improve over time. However, as she failed to show any visible improvement by November 1696, the Shaw family felt compelled to return her to Brisbane for an extended stay under his care.

Travelling via her grandmother’s house at Northbar, Christian was said to have begun to regurgitate a variety of objects. This continued under Brisbane’s watchful eye in Glasgow. It is said that the young girl became something of a macabre celebrity in Glasgow at this time, as people would congregate at the doctor’s surgery to witness this girl who was displaying the most unusual symptoms. Brisbane was confounded by her producing coal from her mouth that was hot to the touch, and eventually declared that he could find no natural causes for her symptoms. This diagnosis was influential in sparking the local witch hunt.

Brisbane gave evidence to the Commission, and his testimony would have carried a lot of weight. He declared that he had seen her stomach raise in a way that was comparable “with a woman with child.” He also attested that her tongue was pulled over her nose in a way that seemed wholly unnatural, while her body stiffened and “bent like a bow.” He repeated that he had witnessed the girl produce objects from her mouth that offered no logical explanation, and acknowledged that Christian Shaw named specific individuals as being responsible for her malady. Brisbane’s reputation preceded him, and would have been pressed home with force by the prosecution during the trial as weighty evidence that witchcraft was rife in the local area.