xliv PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



respected by all classes. He died suddenly on tlie 25tli of April 

 1861, aged 79, having been a rellow of the Linnean Society for 

 33 years. 



Edward Bigly, M.D., one of the most eminent among London 

 obstetrical physicians, was born at Norwich on the 1st of August, 

 1804, the son of Dr. Edward Rigby, of that town, who attained 

 great celebrity by a valuable " Essay on Uterine Hemorrhage " and 

 other works. 



Dr. Eigby was one of twins, and it is a curious circumstance, 

 often adverted to by himself, that he was one of six children born 

 at two births, his mother at a subsequent confinement having pro- 

 duced four. 



His education was commenced at the Grammar School of Nor- 

 wich, then directed by the Eev. Dr. Yalpy, and among his school- 

 fellows were Sir James Brooke and Sir Archdale Wilson. He was 

 afterwards placed with the Eev. James Layton, at Catfield in Nor- 

 folk, where, however, he did not remain more than two years, and 

 at the age of 17 he attended the practice of the Norfolk and Nor- 

 wich Hospital, and in the same year had the misfortune to lose his 

 father. He afterwards proceeded to Edinburgh, where he graduated, 

 receiving his diploma on his 21st birthday. Subsequently Dr. 

 Eigby pursued the study of his profession in Dublin, Berlin, and 

 Heidelberg, where, from the kindness of Professor Nsegeli, he en- 

 joyed ample opportunities for improving his knowledge of obstetric 

 medicine. Professor Nsegeli's instructions and scientific know- 

 le dgewere so highly valued by his pupil, that Dr. Eigby undertook 

 a translation of the Professor's pamphlet on " The Mechanism of 

 Parturition," which was published in London in 1829. 



In the same year he became a house-pupil at the Lying-in 

 Hospital in the York Eoad, to which Institution he was after- 

 wards first junior and then senior physician. In 1831 he passed 

 the College of Physicians and commenced practice in London, 

 where his professional abilities at once placed him in a prominent 

 position. As a teacher, he began as Lecturer on Midwifery at 

 St. Thomas's Hospital, but in 1838 he was appointed to the Mid- 

 wifery Chair at St. Bartholomew's, where he continued to lecture 

 for ten years, when the pressure of his professional engagements 

 compelled him to retire. For nineteen years he occupied the 

 position of Examiner in Midwifery in the University of London, 

 vacating it only a few months before his death, which took place 

 on the 27th of December, 1860, as a loving biographer in the 

 'Medical Times' remarks, "scarcely full of years, butfull of honours." 



