1840-42. INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 127 



together at various topics of a chemico-physiological cha- 

 racter. I shall send you the first-fruits of our labour as 

 soon as it is published, which will be on the auspicious 

 ist of April. John Goodsir will be hampered by circum- 

 stances which may prevent him lecturing ; I shall, whether 

 he does or no. 1 I do not expect pecuniary return from 

 these lectures; I shall have to give away a number of 

 tickets, and only the senior students will attend. But I 

 have no doubt I shall clear all expenses, and I shall 

 raise up a host of friends who will tell upon my winter 

 course, besides making myself better known. If my health 

 only improves, with God's blessing, I shall do bravely. 



" In the meanwhile I have engaged to deliver, next week, 

 three lectures to one of the surgery classes, on the compo- 

 sition and mode of analysing calculi. The preparation for 

 this has prevented me writing you sooner. These lectures 

 are intended as prefatory and introductory to the summer 

 course, and are delivered at Dr. Robertson's suggestion 

 and request. 



"As to myself and my state of health, I am much 

 better, and hope soon to bid farewell to my present aches. 

 That I have often written to you in another than the old 

 merry mood will not surprise ; you know with all my faults 

 I am not a hypocrite, and never conceal, or seek to conceal, 

 the mood I am in. But if I have been grave, I have never 

 been melancholy ; I have neither desponded nor repined, 

 but have struggled throughout to bear patiently every pang. 

 I bow myself with the most sincere resignation to God's 

 will, and pray that I may in all respects be strengthened 

 and bettered through affliction. And yet overflowing mirth 

 which could disport itself in letters, I could rarely boast 

 of. For the last five weeks I have not had a night's 

 1 Mr. Goodsir was unable to carry out this arrangement. 



