xlviii 



clinically, but, with Mr. Wilson, in Windmill Street, to teach 

 systematic surgery ; arid he continued to do so for nearly twenty 

 years. His mode of instruction was then more peculiar than it 

 would be now. His object was, as Abernethy's had been, not to 

 gain applause, but to teach the pupils. He found this could not be 

 done by reading out his lectures ; and he soon accustomed himself, 

 as all great teachers do, to pour forth his knowledge, previously 

 arranged and digested it is true, but flowing at the moment sponta- 

 neously and unconstrained. 



At this time (1810) his Anatomical Lectures became more fre- 

 quent; and he was engaged in preparing his work for the day 

 following till three or four in the morning. When not so engaged, 

 he sought instruction and recreation with his literary and other 

 friends ; and, strange as it may seem to those who do not see the 

 bearing of scientific study on practical work, he continued his re- 

 searches on philosophical anatomy with Clift and Home. He also 

 undertook some original physiological investigations, the results of 

 which were communicated to the Royal Society, he having been 

 elected a Fellow in 1810. The object of these communications 

 deserves consideration. It has been remarked that it is an instinct of 

 genius not only to suggest what work can, but what work cannot be 

 attempted with advantage, in other words, that intellectual efforts 

 are not made by great minds except in cases when they will succeed. 

 Brodie's physiological researches " On the Influence of the Brain on 

 the Action of the Heart, and on the Generation of Animal Heat/' 

 were made in 181 1, fifty years before his death* His mind was keenly 

 alive, as we have seen, to the value of purely scientific research, without 

 any regard to the immediate utility (so called) of the inquiry. On 

 the other hand, the relief of suffering and the prevention of disease 

 were the cynosure of his life. The four important essays which 

 appear in our Transactions viz., the one just alluded to, with its 

 sequel (published in 1812), and two on the "Mode in which Death 

 is produced by certain Poisons" (one printed in 1811 and the other 

 in 1812) all give a clue to the large views of the young surgeon. 

 He goes straight to the cardinal points to be noted in the apparatus 

 for the maintenance of life, and inquires into some of the crucial 

 instances in which death is rapidly produced. The mutual relation 

 between the nervous system, which is the organic differentia of 



