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his invaluable work on Diseases of the Joints. His nice discrimi- 

 nation of the tissues affected, and of the exact value of pain in the 

 joints as evidence of organic disease, has altogether altered the prac- 

 tice in such cases, and has tended greatly to reduce the number of 

 amputations. What a reflection for a man at the close of life ! 



To pursue further the details of his active professional life belongs 

 to the purely Medical biographer. Here it need only be said that 

 he published, besides the work on Diseases of the Joints, three other 

 surgical volumes, and contributed numerous papers to the ' Trans- 

 actions of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society,' and that he 

 did not cease to lecture on surgery at St. George's Hospital, with 

 more or less frequency, till 1843, his instruction being sought with 

 avidity, for it was simple and drawn from the life. None who heard 

 him can forget the graphic, yet artless, manner in which, sitting at his 

 ease, he used to describe minutely what he had himself seen and done 

 under circumstances of difficulty, and what under like circumstances 

 he would again do, or would avoid. His instructions were illustrated 

 by valuable pathological dissections which during many years he 

 had amassed, and which he gave during his lifetime to his Hospital. 



The threefold character of scientific man, author, and surgeon, 

 thus early formed, was maintained till his sight failed shortly before 

 his death. A few words must be said on his qualities in each respect. 



As a scientific man his several works were marked by distinctness 

 of purpose, adaptation of means to end, and rigid determination to 

 conclude no more than observation completely justified. His rela- 

 tions to other scientific men may be best understood by recalling the 

 just, courteous, and candid manner in which he conducted the business 

 of the various societies whenever he was called upon to preside, and 

 the lucidity with which he kept the main points before a meeting. 

 He always advocated and supported open discussion, and in this way 

 did good service to the Royal Society. 



As an author, he was not voluminous ; nor did he speak much in 

 public. He discarded all arts of style, aiming solely at precision and 

 brevity : he wrote as he spoke, only when duty called, or when there 

 was something which he believed he could write or say well. He 

 was well versed in the literature of his profession and of those 

 sciences which interested him ; but he had not much love for books 

 as instructors in his calling, because he knew that observation and 



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