MEMOIR OF RONDELET. 19 



manhood. He was accustomed to say. in after life, 

 that he had experienced every disease to which 

 human beings are subject, except leprosy. He was 

 consequently unable to attend to any branch of 

 education for many years, and his father concluded 

 that he would always continue unfit for engaging 

 in any of the active duties of life. He therefore 

 determined to place him in a convent, setting apart 

 a very scanty provision for his support, and leaving 

 the rest of his fortune to his other children. In so 

 acting, it is said that the elder Rondelet calculated 

 on the protection and assistance of a near relative, 

 who held a station of importance in a monastery, 

 being extended to his helpless son ; but it does not 

 appear whether any benefit arose from this relation- 

 ship. As he grew older, however, his disorders and 

 debility began to abate, and mental powers of a 

 superior order developed themselves with his re- 

 turning health. By the time he had attained his 

 eighteenth year, he had acquired a degree of strength 

 which none who had witnessed his previous suffer- 

 ings could have anticipated, and this was accom- 

 panied with great activity of mind, and an earnest 

 desire to repair the defects of his education. This 

 disposition soon created a dislike for the indolence 

 and inutility of a monastic life, and accordingly he 

 was not long in altogether abandoning it. 



After taking this step, he entered upon his studies 

 with great zeal, directing his views towards the 

 medical profession. His slender means being al- 

 together inadequate to his decent maintenance, he 



