28 MEMOIR OF JOHN BARCLAY. 



testimony in their power; for in the year 180*, 

 that learned body resolved unanimously, " That 

 the attendance of candidates for diplomas and certi- 

 ficates, on Dr. Barclay's Lectures on Anatomy and 

 Surgery, shall be held as equivalent to the attend- 

 ance on the Lectures of Members of the Colleges of 

 Physicians or Surgeons of London, Dublin, or Edin- 

 burgh,, or of any other respectable college, on the same 

 subjects." During a few years that followed, Dr. 

 Barclay's life was one continued progress in scientific 

 acquirement ; but the silent and arduous labours of 

 the mind admit not of any narration, unless that mind 

 have recorded its own exertions either in private 

 memoranda or public works. Of the former, I 

 know not whether the Doctor left any memorial. 

 We can only therefore speak from the apparent re- 

 sults; and the increasing estimation in which his 

 prelections were held both at home and abroad, and 

 the nourishing state of his class, bore strong testi- 

 mony to his own individual improvement; for no 

 man can go on improving others who does not im- 

 prove himself. In 1805, Dr. Barclay became asso- 

 ciated with the Royal College of Physicians as a 

 licentiate; and in November next year, he was admit- 

 ted as a resident fellow of the same body. In 1808, 

 he published his treatise on the ff Muscular Motions 

 of the Human Body/' This treatise was chiefly 

 designed to extend a knowledge of the animal func- 

 tions; and through that medium, so far as the 

 muscular functions are concerned, to improve the 

 science of physic and surgery. He accordingly 



