44 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



The Treatise on Diseases of the Eye, comprising his own opinions 

 and those of men distinguished in that department, is a learned and 

 comprehensive exposition of the science of that period. The Treatise 

 on Hernia, probably the most important of his works, was first pub- 

 lished in 1806. It has passed through many editions, which were en- 

 riched by extensive observations in St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The 

 name of Mr. Lawrence will be always identified with the progress of 

 Surgical Science, and the treatise.on this subject will remain a monu- 

 ment to his learning and industry. 



The late Sir Benjamin Brodie remarks that he " never knew one 

 who had a greater amount of information, not merely on matters relat- 

 ing to his profession, but on a great variety of other subjects." 



" His personal appearance was striking and impressive ; he had a 

 tall, manly figure, and his head and features were models of intellectual 

 beauty and power." 



His learning, eloquence, and genial disposition made his fireside 

 most attractive. He often expressed his admiration of our free institu- 

 tions, and many Americans will remember his generous, self-sacrificing 

 hospitality. 



Pierre Francois Olive Rayer was born, March 7, 1793, of a 

 respectable Bourgeois family, at Saint Sylvain, near Caen, France. 

 After the necessary preliminary education, he commenced the study of 

 medicine, and was graduated Doctor of Medicine, at the age of twenty- 

 three, in Paris. He was a student and favorite pupil of M. Dumeril. 

 Among his contemporaries were Dupuytren, Corvisart, Velpeau, Louis, 

 Larrey, Trousseau and others, who have made the present century 

 such a brilliant epoch in the history of French medicine. He was 

 doubtless stimulated by their example and labors to constant effort 

 in his chosen career, but they owed as much to him as he to them. 



Through persistent labor and conspicuous merit, he attained succes- 

 sively the highest professional and scientific positions. In 1825 he was 

 appointed to the medical staff of the Hospital of Saint Antoine. In 

 1832 he was transferred to the Hospital of La Charite. He was 

 selected by Louis Philippe as one of the consulting physicians of the 

 Royal household ; and in 1852 he was taken by the Emperor Napoleon 

 into the medical service of the Imperial family. Rapidly winning the 

 confidence of the community, he soon became known as one of the 

 largest pi'actitioners of medicine in Paris. He was elected into the 

 Academy of Medicine in 1823; and in 1843 he became a member of 



