Obituary Notice of Dr Heddh. 77 



than anyone else's, and I may truly say of it, as was said of 

 the timber carried by one of the giants of old, that ''his staff 

 was like a weaver's beam." 



Like most other persons of strongly marked character, the 

 Doctor evinced strong likes and dislikes, and therefore occa- 

 sionally made enemies. Bat his dislikes to the persons in 

 question were usually founded upon their having violated 

 some principle, and not upon some motive affecting the 

 Doctor himself. I cannot recall a single instance known 

 to me of the contrary. In the case of a small number of 

 persons of whose public conduct the Doctor had more or 

 less reason to disapprove, the very mention of their names, 

 even when he was in a state of extreme bodily and 

 mental prostration, acted upon him like the sound of a 

 trumpet-call to an old war-horse, and then those around 

 him had the greatest difficulty in bringing him back to a 

 state of quiet. 



Notwithstanding these little weaknesses, which are com- 

 mon to so large a section of mankind, the Doctor was much 

 admired by those who really knew him. For myself, who 

 had much to do with him, I may say that, taking him all in 

 all, I looked up to Dr Heddle much as Bos well looked up to 

 Johnson. Like his prototype, Dr Heddle did a vast amount 

 of original work of good quality, and in the face of many 

 difficulties; like Dr Johnson he was modest, and never 

 sought honours (so none were conferred on him) ; like Dr 

 Johnson he never appropriated other men's ideas ; and, like 

 Dr Johnson also, he was much given to doing kindly acts, 

 in a quiet way, towards his fellow-men, and looking for no 

 reward. The memory of one of whom we can truly say these 

 things must surely long remain fresh in the minds of men of 

 science. 



