32G 



BROOKES. 



through the day. Most frequently, these evening 

 assemblies are devoted either to the discussion of 

 questions before the whole association, or to the 

 hearing of single lectures of an interesting order, 

 and sometimes, also, to the exhibition of experi- 

 ments. These evening meetings are generally at- 

 tended by great numbers of ladies. Fetes, dejeu- 

 ners, and banqueting?, fill up very agreeably the 

 remaining leisure time of the members and visitors. 



Perhaps the most beneficial result of the asso- 

 ciation is the production of certain valuable reports 

 en the progress of science, which distinguished 

 members of the association have been induced to 

 draw up annually, at the request of their col- 

 leagues, or of the section-committees. These re- 

 ports bring before the association and the world the 

 advances and discoveries in interesting 

 branches of science. Besides thus appropriating 

 subjects to individual members, the sections, at 

 the end of each annual meeting, issue general re- 

 commendations or instructions to the members at 

 large, to investigate certain points of interest (lur- 

 ing the intervals of meeting. 



I'.KOOKES. JOSHUA, F. R. S. F. L. S. F. Z. S. 

 mi eminent teacher of anatomy, was born on the 

 24th of November, 1761. He was one of a nu- 

 merous family; and, after having obtained an excel- 

 lent classical education, commenced his professional 

 studies at the early age of sixteen, under the care of 

 Mr Magnus Falconer, and subsequently attended the 

 lectures on anatomy and surgery by Dr Marshall, 

 Mr Hewson, Mr Sheldon, and Dr William Hunter. 

 After attending the practice of the surgeons of the 

 principal hospitals and public institutions in Lon- 

 don, he received his diploma as a surgeon. As it 

 was his intention to become a professor of anatomy 

 in the metropolis, he went over to Paris in order 

 to improve himself in the study of practical ana- 

 tomy, as well as the most important operations in 

 surgery ; for this purpose, he was a constant atten- 

 dant at the Hotel Dieu, and the other Parisian 

 hospitals, then under the superintendence of the 

 most eminent surgeons who existed prior to the 

 first French revolution. His passion for anatomi- 

 cal pursuits was developed at a very early period 

 of his professional career: having witnessed the 

 anatomical museums of Dr Hunter, and those on 

 the continent, he was anxious to form one of a 

 similar nature ; and it is well known to the scien- 

 tific public to what perfection he brought the ob- 

 ject of his ambition. 



He commenced his career as a professor of ana- 

 tomy, pathology, and surgery, when about twenty- 

 six years of age; and it is worthy of remark, that 

 the house which contained his museum, theatre, 

 &c., had been previously tenanted by the Hon. Mr 

 Cavendish, the philosopher ; and it was in Blen- 

 heim Street, Great Marlborough Street, that this 

 gentleman made his important discovery of hydro- 

 gen gas. In consequence of his having reduced 

 the fee for a perpetual admittance to his anatomical 

 instructions, from twenty guineas (the usual sum 

 charged by his contemporary professors) to ten, he 

 was looked upon as an innovator on the established 

 rule ; which caused his school to be viewed with 

 a jealous feeling; and this was increased, on his 

 determining to deliver a summer course of lectures, 

 justly conceiving, that the science of anatomy 

 could b as well taught in the summer as during 

 the winter season. From the hour of the lecture 

 being seven in the morning, his class was in gen- 

 eral composed, at this period, of apprentices and 



medical assistants, who were, by their avocations, 

 prevented from attending the three-o'clock or af- 

 ternoon course. Hence Mr Brookes may justly be 

 considered us the founder of the cheap schools of 

 anatomy and medicine, which are now so prevalent 

 in London and the principal provincial towns. As 

 a lecturer, he was extremely minute in his descrip- 

 tion of the various organs under demonstration; 

 and was considered by some students as rather 

 tedious in consequence. His minuteness was a 

 general proverb throughout the medical profession ; 

 and to his credit be it spoken, that he rarely had 

 a student rejected by the court of examiners at the 

 royal college of surgeons, for lack of anatomical in- 

 formation. Sir Astley Cooper has, on more than 

 one occasion, complimented Mr Brookes, bv stating 

 that his pupils were by far the best anatomi- 

 any school in London. And Mr Brookes, who 

 frequently examined his pupils prior to their col- 

 lege examination, used to observe, " that, if a pupil 

 passed his last examination, he could stand the 

 test before any court of examiners in the kingdom." 

 In general, a course of anatomical instruction oc- 

 cupies the lecturer seldom more than three months; 

 hut, in consequence of the extent to which Mr 

 Brookes followed his descriptions of every part of 

 the human frame, they generally required between 

 five and six months for their delivery. From this 

 cause, his summer course (as already stated), which 

 generally began about the first week in June, at 

 seven in the morning, was seldom concluded until 

 the month of December, and we have known it 

 extend to January ; while his winter afternoon 

 course commenced about the first of October, 

 which in London forms the commencement of the 

 annus medicus : so that the professor was in the 

 constant, habit, of delivering two lectures daily for 

 six months in the year. In addition to these, his 

 forenoon labours in the dissecting-room occupied 

 about three hours of his time ; during which period, 

 he demonstrated to each pupil the parts he had 

 dissected ; and this alone, particularly in the win- 

 ter season, was any thing but a sinecure ; in fact, 

 it was a far more laborious task than the mere de- 

 livery of a lecture. Besides which, he injected 

 and prepared the subjects for dissection. The 

 preservation and preparation of the specimens or 

 his museum likewise occupied a great share of his 

 time, as he was almost daily adding to its valuable 

 contents. His museum may be justly ranked as 

 second only to that of the late John Hunter (now 

 in the royal college of surgeons, in London,) in its 

 number of specimens ; but the osteological prepara- 

 tk.ns far outnumbered those in the Hunterian col- 

 lection. In fact, it was the admiration of all who 

 beheld it: it was always open to scientific foreigners, 

 and, on certain days in the year (generally one Sa- 

 turday in a month), to the public at large; while 

 private gentlemen were frequently granted admis- 

 sion on other occasions. Yet, to the disgrace of 

 the British nation, this admirable monument of his 

 industry was, in his declining years, disposed of and 

 dispersed by the hammer of the auctioneer; and 

 that collection, which had cost him so much la- 

 bour and anxiety, and upwards of 30,000, was 

 sold for a mere trifle. 



In 1826, in consequence of ill health, Mr Brookes 

 was compelled to retire from his duties as a teacher 

 of anatomy. As a teacher, his perseverance, kind- 

 ness, and zeal for the welfare of his pupils rendered 

 him universally beloved by them ; and his acute- 

 ness never failed to distinguish those students who 



