X THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



but completed his fiftieth year. He received his early education at 

 King's College School and later entered St. John's College, Cambridge, 

 but having decided upon a medical career he withdrew from Cam- 

 bridge before graduation and entered upon his medical studies at 

 King's College, London. As a student he pursued an especially 

 brilliant course, and after receiving the degree of M.B., and, later, 

 M.D., from the University of London, he was appointed in 1890 

 Demonstrator of Physiology in King's College, under Professor Halli- 

 burton. This appointment was decisive so far as his future career 

 was concerned, though even in his student days he had shown an in- 

 terest in and marked aptitude for physiological investigation, his 

 earlier contribution on Muscular Elasticity still remaining authorita- 

 tive. 



His abilities as a teacher soon led to more responsible positions 

 and in 1894 he was appointed Senior Demonstrator of Physiology at 

 the London Hospital, in the succeeding year Lecturer in Physiology 

 at St. Thomas Hospital and in 1899 his ability as an investigator 

 was recognized by his appointment as successor to Professor Sims 

 Woodhead in the Directorship of the Research Laboratories of the 

 Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons. This last position he 

 filled with distinction until 1902, when, from motives of economy, the 

 Colleges closed the Laboratories in order that they might be able to 

 lend support to the newly established Lister Institute of Preventive 

 Medicine. For a few succeeding years Professor Brodie, like several other 

 English scientists of distinction before him, was forced to eke out a 

 livelihood by combining the emoluments from several positions, each 

 one by itself yielding an altogether inadequate and insufficient re- 

 muneration. He was at once Professor of Physiology in the Royal 

 Veterinary College, Professor-Superintendent of the Brown Animal 

 Sanatory Institute and Lecturer in Physiology to the London School 

 of Medicine for Women, which last post he had held throughout his 

 tenure of the Directorship of the Laboratories of the Royal Colleges. 



The work thus entailed was excessive, but Professor Brodie never- 

 theless managed to continue his investigations and in 1904 the merits 

 of his contributions were recognized by his election as a Fellow of 

 the Royal Society of London. When in 1907 the Chair of Physiology, 

 as it is at present defined, was established in the University of 

 Toronto, Professor Brodie was offered and accepted it and in the 

 autumn of 1908 entered upon the duties that were to be his to the 

 end. His thorough knowledge of the requirements of a physiological 

 laboratory, both for teaching and research, stood him in good stead 

 in his new position and his ability for organization soon placed 

 him in control of a laboratory, which, as regards its equipment, 



