GENERAL STUDIES IN LATER YEARS. 305 



mair nor less ! " When he received the carnations, these 

 being new to him, John had determined to discover their 

 botanical class, and finding, as he said, stamens converted 

 into petals and similar 'transformations of organs, he had 

 just ended this examination when his friend looked at him, 

 by brushing away the last flower-leaf as rubbish spoiled by 

 man. To crown this dashing of his hopes, John tried to 

 convince the florist that the majority of mankind had a 

 perverted taste, to pamper which man had sought out many 

 inventions, " sick's that floories ! " 



He always carried on his study and practice of drugs, 

 treating himself and neighbours, and believing in their 

 efficacy as proved by long experience. Amongst others, his 

 friend John Taylor speaks with lively gratitude of John's 

 medical services to him in 1 874, when he was a farm-servant 

 at Tillychetly, near Droughsburn. The young man was then 

 very ill with rheumatism, and was at once called upon by 

 the old herbalist, who prescribed for him. John continued 

 to visit the patient regularly at the farm and, after his 

 removal to his home, watched the progress of his treatment. 

 He took him out to walk when convalescent, and instructed 

 him in the cure of this trying disease, to which outdoor 

 workers in the country are very liable on account of their 

 exposed life. 



In Politics, he remained a stanch and advanced Liberal, 

 and his interest in them continued unabated all his life. 

 He regularly read the newspapers, latterly the Scotsman, 

 with remarkable zest, and followed the many new questions 

 evolved by the progress of events with unusual eager- 

 ness and intelligence for an old man. War, free trade, 

 chartism, and the land laws were keenly studied by him. 



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