OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 341 



He was connected for twenty-five years with the hospitals, either with 

 La Pitie, Hotel Dieu, or Beaujon. His works made him famous ; and 

 at the age of forty-eight he was consulted by persons from all quarters, 

 as the first living authority on the diagnosis of disease, esi^ecially of 

 thoracic disease. Not until forty-five years old did he meet the excel- 

 lent lady to whom he was subsequently married. She was the sister 

 of the famous Victor Hugo. She survives her husband, to whom she 

 was most tenderly attached. Their marriage was a most happy one. 

 They had one child, a son, who died of phthisis at the age of eighteen. 

 He was a charming youth, and the delight of his parents. Louis was 

 overwhelmed with sorrow, and never wholly recovered from the blow. 

 He resigned his place at the hospital, and travelled south with the 

 youth. He made no complaint after the death, but resigned most of 

 his labors. He however retained a warm interest in all the new and 

 thorough researches in medicine, and his heart under suffering seemed 

 to blossom out and produced a sweetness of manner hardly known 

 before. 



To his young medical friends he was always ready to give coun- 

 sel, and not a few times he offered to them large loans of money to 

 enable them to publish their works, taking their notes as his only 

 security. In at least one instance he was known to have burned up 

 such notes after the death of the author, because he was unwilling to 

 burthen the poor man's estate. To those of us who knew him inti- 

 mately, and had become aware of how much he would do for friendship's 

 sake, this incident seems most natural. 



Combined with all these noble and beautiful traits of character, Louis 

 was one of the most modest and simple of men. He sought no honors. 

 He declined the title of Physician to the Emperor Najjoleon. He 

 resolutely refused to take any of the usual initiatory steps to become 

 a member of the Institute of France, for which he might have offered 

 himself with the certainty of success. 



Such is a brief history of Louis as a scientific student of medicine, 

 as a practising physician, and as a man. We have seen him a leader 

 of modern medical thought. He was so, because he was in accordance 

 with the spirit of modern science and methods of investigation. He 

 was, moreover, inspired to bring medical learning and art into accord- 

 ance with science. In furtherance of that desire, he was willing to 

 devote long years of the most imjoortant part of his life to jiatient and 

 truthful investigation, even if in so doing he gave up hope of gain, and 

 met usually with indifference or open ridicule, and sometimes abuse. 



These are the elements of a true greatness of soul, and in choosing 



