544 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



able anatomical works ; and in illustration of Lis character it may be 

 mentioned that one day Henry Brougham, afterward Lord Bi'ougham, 

 then on the staff of the Edinburgh Iteview, asked the doctor to give 

 him half an hour's talk on anatomy, to enable him to write a critique 

 on one of his (Barclay's) books. This is a fair sample of the capital on 

 which the noble quack earned his scientific reputation. The anato- 

 mist refused the request and resented the impertinence. Dr. Barclay 

 was, however, getting old, and he formed a partnership with Knox in 

 the management of the school. He soon after died, and Dr. Knox 

 became master of the establishment. He at once rose to unexampled 

 popularity. In the first place, he was a man of profound, comprehen- 

 sive, and thorough erudition. Anatomy was not with him a mere ordi- 

 nary occupation, but an object of high philosophical research, and 

 pursued with enthusiasm. He was early to recognize the two divi- 

 sions anatomical science and anatomical art the former embracins: 

 the elucidation of the nature or structure and organization of animal 

 bodies; the latter comprehending all tliose means and contrivances 

 by which organisms can be dissected and demonstrated. He was one 

 of the first of philosophic biologists. When he began to teach, human 

 anatomy was treated very much as a superficial and technical pursuit, 

 to be dispatched in a thx'ee months' course of dissections, by the 

 mnjority of medical students. To some lecturers, a bone was a 

 structure with certain jihysical features, and nothing more. Knox 

 made it assume an historical position in the scale of organization ; its 

 size and form were obvious enough, but he sought in the osteogenesis, 

 type, and homologues, to fix its place in the general superstructure 

 of the animal series. In short, he gave not the mere description but 

 the philosophy of the osseous form. "There was no circumlocution 

 in his teachings ; he aimed at a clear delineation of the w^ork before 

 him. He was more jjractical than minute, more suggestive than ana- 

 lytic in his systematic course ; rather than linger on points of detail, 

 he indicated the path to be pursued by the student. His mode of 

 teaching was not suited to the 'grinding' or 'cramming' system; 

 hence those who sought anatomy for examining boards went elsewiiere. 

 His prelections were well adapted to stimulate thought, as he meant 

 them to do. Being a surgeon and pathologist, Knox could signifi- 

 cantly apply anatomy to a practical calling; and as a physiologist of 

 high aim, he looked to zoology as a sine qua non to the study of the 

 higher philosophy of man himself." 



Dr. Knox was an orator of the first class, a tight-made man, above 

 the middle stature, of the nervo-sanguineous temperament, broad- 

 chested, with an upright carriage, a firm and soldierly walk, and a 

 free and lithesome action. He had a strikingly fine head, but a plain 

 visage, an agreeably-toned voice, and a persuasive tongue that made 

 captive every listener who could appreciate colloquial excellence. 

 He had a weakness for elegance of dress, and attended carefully to all 



