20 MEMOIR OF JOHN BARCLAY. 



The first thing that struck a pupil, in the Doc- 

 tor's lectures, was the " lucidus ordo," the clear ar- 

 rangement of his subject, which at once carried con- 

 viction to the hearer that he not only perfectly under- 

 stood what he had undertaken to teach, hut under- 

 stood also the best method of communicating to 

 others what he knew himself. His illustrations 

 were clear and copious, and not unfrequently an ap- 

 posite anecdote fixed more strongly on the memories 

 of his hearers the particular part which he was demon- 

 strating ; and, at a time when it was by no means 

 fashionable, he never omitted to point out the wis- 

 dom of God as displayed in that most wonderful of 

 all his works the formation and support of the 

 human body. 



Assiduously attentive to his laborious duties as a 

 teacher, the Doctor, nevertheless, found time to con- 

 tribute liberally to his professional literature. His 

 first performance was the article Physiology, in the 

 third edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which 

 gave high promise as a scientific treatise, and which his 

 next publication (1803) " A new Anatomical Nomen- 

 clature," did not belie. He had perceived the im- 

 mense advantages that flowed from the new Chemi- 

 cal Nomenclature, which tended more than almost 

 any thing else to facilitate the knowledge and acce- 

 lerate the progress of that science, and he was anxi- 

 ous to supply some such improvement in anatomy, 

 by substituting precise significant terms in place 

 of the vague, capricious Babel-language then and 

 still too much in use. The ability with which the 



