552 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



anatomical class, for showing an affectionate regard for their great 

 teacher." 



Dr. Knox could have brought his enemies to strict account, and 

 obtained heavy damages for their foul libels, but he preferred the 

 policy of forbearance, as he had that of silence, and to leave the mat- 

 ter to be determined when the excitement should cease. So he kept 

 on steadily with his work. One night, when a large class had assem- 

 bled to hear him, the proceedings were interrupted by the yells and 

 threats of an outside crowd, so that the students became alarmed. 

 Knox, perceiving the growing restlessness of the audience, paused, 

 and remai-ked : " Gentlemen, you are disquieted by these noises, to 

 which no doubt you attach a proper meaning. Do not be alarmed; it 

 is my life, not yours, they seek. How little I regard these ruffians 

 you may w^ell judge, for, in spite of daily warnings, and the destruc- 

 tion of my property, I have met you at every hour of lecture during 

 the session ; and I am not aware that my efforts to convey instruction 

 have been less clear or less acceptable to you." This statement was 

 received with such cheers as never before rang through a class-room 

 in Edinburgh ; and, amid all his troubles and trials, he found his only 

 solace in the approval and affection of his students. 



Dr. Knox at length broke his long silence by a letter to the Cale- 

 donian Mercury^ of which the following is a part : 



" SiK : I regret troubling either you or the public with any thing personal, 

 but I cannot be insensible of the feelings of my friends, or the character of the 

 professioa to which I have the honor of belonging. Had I alone been con- 

 cerned, I should never have thought of obtruding on the public by this com- 

 munication. 



" I have a class of above 400 pupils. No person can be at the head of such 

 an establishment, without necessarily running the risk of being imposed upon by 

 those who furnish the material of their science to anatomical teachers ; and, ac- 

 cordingly, there is hardly any such person who has not occasionally incurred 

 odium or suspicion from his supposed accession to those violations of the law, 

 without which anatomy can scarcely now be practised. That I should have be- 

 come an object of popular prejudice, therefore, since mine happened to be the 

 establishment with which Burke and Hare chiefly dealt, was nothing more than 

 what I had to expect. But, if means had not been purposely taken, and most 

 keenly persevered in, to misrepresent facts and to influence the public mind, 

 that prejudice would at least have stood on right ground, and would ultimately 

 have passed away, by its being seen that I had been exposed to a mere misfor- 

 tune, which would almost certainly have occurred to anybody else who had 

 been in my situation. 



" But every effort has been employed to convert my misfortune into positive 

 and intended personal guilt of the most dreadful character. Scarcely any indi- 

 vidual has ever been the object of more systematic or atrocious attacks than I 

 have been. Nobody acquainted with this place requires to be told from what 

 quarter these have proceeded. 



"I allowed them to go on for months without taking the slightest notice of 

 them ; and I was inclined to adhere to this system, especially as the public 



