438 EDWARD HAMMOND CLARKE. 



up new and interesting facts in theif foraging excursions, but never 

 co-ordinate them by serious and continuous reflection. And some who 

 are curious, observant, and reflective, are full of ingenious ideas, and it 

 may be of useful suggestions and even sound opinions, yet want that 

 decisiveness of character which makes its possessor choose his ground 

 firmly after balancing evidence, where others waver and hesitate, and 

 thus gives him that authoritative weight which is felt at every bedside 

 and in every consultation. 



Dr. Clarke had all these gifts, and added to them very great industry, 

 entire concentration on his professional work, and that other requisite 

 which commends all the rest to public favor, a manner and address 

 eminently adapted to inspire confidence. It js not to be wondered at, 

 therefore, that he obtained a great hold upon the respect and affections 

 of a very wide circle of patients. In fact, his work became too much 

 for his bodily strength, even before he was attacked with the first 

 symptoms of his fatal malady. 



This disease was a malignant affection of the lower portion of the 

 intestinal tract, slow in its progress, distressing in its symptoms, in- 

 evitable in its consequences. If the highest test of philosophy or of 

 Christianity is found in the manner in which the greatest trials of life 

 are borne, it would be hard to find a better example of the practical 

 illustration of either than was furnished by Dr. Clarke, during the 

 three years of his slow martyrdom. He bore all his sufferings with 

 wonderful patience and even cheerfulness. He kept himself busy with 

 continuous thinking on a subject which had long interested him, and 

 left a manuscript upon which he wrote so long as he was able to 

 hold a pen, and until within a short time before his death. This manu- 

 script, since published, shows no trace whatever, so far as I can see, 

 of the pains as of a woman in travail in the midst of which it was 

 written. 



Although Dr. Clarke's life was chiefly devoted to medical practice, 

 he found time for various other duties and offices. In 1855, he was 

 chosen Professor of Materia Medica in the Medical School of Harvard 

 University, which place he held until 1872, when he resigned. 



As a teacher, he was singularly successful. He made a department 

 commonly thought unattractive a favorite one with the students who 

 listened to his lectures. He was considered, and deservedly so, a high 

 authority on the subject to which his Professorship related, and wrote 

 many articles for the new American Cyclopaedia respecting various 

 remedies. 



His published works are the following : ^ — 



