MEMOIR OF JOHN BARCLAY. 21 



brated Mr. John Bell, and under his direction, with 

 that of his brother Charles, (now Sir Charles Bell), 

 he incessantly applied himself to his favourite pur- 

 suits. 



It must have been about this time that, during the 

 severe illness of John Bell, young Barclay, in the 

 spirit of true and disinterested anxiety to render him- 

 self useful, offered his services as assistant to his 

 talented preceptor, to keep up the lectures till his 

 health was restored. His offer was refused, with 

 what Barclay attributed to disdain and contempt, 

 which, however galling, was greatly the means of 

 his future eminence ; for he instantly communicated 

 the circumstance to his patron, Sir James Campbell, 

 who advanced him the pecuniary assistance required 

 for the completion of those studies which, with his 

 indomitable perseverance and talents, were the means 

 of his outstripping not only his accomplished master, 

 but all competitors in the science of anatomy in 

 Edinburgh. We had this detail from his own lips, 

 and to his credit the sum required was exceedingly 

 small, though of his own naming to Sir James ; and 

 we rather think the Doctor never required farther 

 aid during life. 



In 1796, he obtained from the University of 

 Edinburgh his degree of M.D. His Thesis, " De 

 Anima seu Principle Vitali" received the approba- 

 tion of the late Dr. Gregory, one of the most distin- 

 guished classical scholars of his day, to whom, along 

 with Mr. John Bell, it was dedicated, both for its 

 elegant Latinity and its ingenious development of the 



