APPOINTED PROFESSOR: STUDIES IN PHILADELPHIA. 105 



The temptation was strong to attend other courses of 

 lectures, and I attempted it ; but soon found that I must 

 confine my attention mainly to my own pursuits, and there 

 fore I relinquished all, except two extraneous courses, which 

 I will presently name. 



I attended an introductory lecture of Dr. Benjamin 

 Rush, and had the satisfaction of identifying his person 

 and manner, and I occasionally met him in society. His 

 voice was musical, his person and features pleasing, and 

 his diction clear and emphatic. Alluding to the use of the 

 lancet in yellow fever, he called it in his lecture, that 

 " magnum donum Dei. " 



Dr. Barton was a learned professor of materia medica 

 and Botany, and his name is perpetuated in several valu 

 able works. He was also a proficient in natural history 

 generally, and he offered a private course I think on 

 zoology. This I attended in the evening, and was enter 

 tained and instructed. After the course had advanced far 

 enough to make illustrations from specimens instructive, 

 our Professor one evening remarked to us, that it would 

 be desirable to visit Peale's Museum, which was rich in 

 preserved specimens of animals, birds, reptiles, &c. The 

 week being filled with lectures, Dr. Barton proposed that 

 we should go, by special permission of Mr. Peale, on Sun 

 day, as that was a day of leisure, and then we should 

 not be interfered with by the usual visiting company. The 

 proposition was no sooner made than it was adopted by 

 general silent consent. With some hesitancy I rose, and 

 in the most respectful terms stated that I regretted to in 

 terfere with the wishes or convenience of the Professor and 

 the class, but that for myself I had other occupations on 

 the day proposed, and if that were to be the time, I must 

 lose the instruction. After a moment's pause, the Pro 

 fessor named Saturday afternoon, which was adopted. A 

 few days after, when passing down Market Street, I met a 

 Dr. Parish, a young Quaker physician, who caught me by 



