1832-37- DETAILS OF WORK. 1 9 



first meeting in Edinburgh, and was an object of great 

 interest to him, giving shape and consistency to many 

 vague longings after scientific occupation and successes in 

 what so soon became the favourite pursuits of his life. He 

 frequently alluded in after life to the influence this meeting 

 had on him. 



The Session of the succeeding winter, 1834-35, besides 

 continued study of anatomy under Mr. Lizars, brought 

 Surgery and Materia Medica into the field. Two years 

 previously, Dr. Christison, the present accomplished Pro- 

 fessor of Materia Medica, had been transferred from the 

 Chair of Medical Jurisprudence to that which he still holds. 

 " In his hands the subject soon became one of the most 

 attractive to the students. A museum, still in many respects 

 unrivalled, was, by indefatigable exertions, furnished step 

 by step with illustrative specimens. Many of these were 

 botanical, a few mineral, gathered from all quarters of the 

 globe. A large number were chemical, and were chiefly 

 prepared in the laboratory attached to the lecture-room, 

 where, assisted by some of the more zealous lovers of 

 chemistry among the students, the Professor spent many 

 hours each day in chemical research." 1 Of this laboratory 

 we shall hear again. Mr. Turner, the Professsor of Surgery, 

 " was a most uninteresting lecturer ; a timid, shy man, who 

 could not look his class in the face, and seemed fitted by 

 nature for anything rather than the duties and responsi- 

 bilities of an operating surgeon." 2 



The winter Session of 1835-36 found him attending the 

 lectures of Professors Alison, Home, and Syme, on the 

 Institutes of Medicine, the Practice of Medicine, and 

 Clinical Surgery, with those of Mr. Lizars on Anatomy. 



1 "Life of Edward Forbes," chap. iv. 



2 Ibid, chap. v. 



C 2 



