ii 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



preach. On the advice of his three steadfast friends Van Al- 

 phen, his earliest patron ; Trigland, the most famous of the in- 

 structors in the theological department ; and Van der Berg, for 

 some time burgomaster, a man of wealth and great influence 

 Boerhaave decided not to risk a refusal, but to devote his life to 

 the practice of medicine. 



He had already a reputation for prodigious powers of intel- 

 lect, and those who knew his easy mastery of every subject to 

 which he directed his attention anticipated for him a most brilliant 

 future. Yet for a long time few patients sought his counsel. 

 "While awaiting at Leyden the advent of remunerative practice, 

 he was invited by a prime favorite of King "William to settle at 

 the Hague and to establish himself as a court physician. But 

 this temptation he resolutely put aside. He devoted the waiting 

 period which falls to the lot of most young physicians to teaching 

 mathematics, to work in a laboratory which he fitted up in his 

 own domicile, and to reading the Scriptures and those authors 

 who best teach the true way of loving God. 



It may be interesting to state that Leyden, in the seventeenth 

 century, according to the account of John Mollett,* was " rich and 

 prosperous, beautiful, clean, and pleasant, abounding in handsome 

 houses, intersected with canals of fast-running water, its broad 

 streets planted with trees ; its houses of red brick, faced with 

 white masonry, shadowed the pathways with their projecting 

 gables ; and their ornamentation of arches, festoons, and medal- 

 lions carved with quaint and heraldic devices completed a style 

 of architecture that was characteristic and charming. Above 

 these houses rose a large and splendid Town Hall, two beautiful 

 Gothic churches, and a number of buildings originally dedicated 

 to religious but at that time to secular uses." 



The city, in the height of its prosperity, had a population of 

 nearly one hundred thousand souls. The most perfect order pre- 

 vailed. At the same time there were everywhere activity, vigor, 

 and exuberance of life. It had a wide fame for the product of its 

 looms, and Leyden cloth, Leyden baize, and Leyden camlet be- 

 came familiar terms at home and abroad, f It was the birthplace 

 of Rembrandt, Jan Steen, and Gerard Douw. Important works of 

 every kind issued from its printing presses. The classic editions 

 of the Elzevirs of Leyden are still the book-lover's delight. 



In this favorable environment, Boerhaave's mental powers 

 were ripened by observation and study. In 1701, in his thirty- 

 third year, he was induced by his friends, on the death of Drelin- 

 court, to lecture on the institutes of physic. His success was 



* Rembrandt, by John Mollett. The Great Artist Series. 

 f British Encyclopaedia. Art. Leyden. 



