lect. viii] Of Digestion, Eighteenth Century. 201 



up to follow his father's career, and his early years at the 

 University of Leyden were largely given up to classical and 

 oriental studies, though he at the same time eagerly took up 

 mathematical physical learning in spite of this not being at 

 that period in much favour at the University. In 1690 he 

 became Doctor of Philosophy, choosing for the subject of his 

 thesis " The distinction between body and mind." An illness, 

 an obstinate ulcer of the thigh from which he suffered as a lad, 

 seems to have turned his attention to medicine ; and after his 

 graduation while preparing himself by theological studies for 

 his ordination and supporting himself (for his father died early) 

 by teaching mathematics and by occasional literary work, he 

 found time to study medicine and the ancillary sciences of 

 chemistry and botany. Though he seems in these matters 

 to have for the most part taught himself, attending but few 

 lectures, he made such progress that in 1693 he obtained the 

 degree of Doctor of Medicine, not however at Leyden but at 

 the University of Harderwick. He intended at first to use 

 this degree merely as an adjunct to his proper career as a 

 clergyman ; but having been led by his zeal for mathematics 

 to refute, in a public conveyance, someone who was ignorantly 

 declaiming against the doctrines of Spinoza, he acquired the 

 reputation of being an adherent of that heterodox philosopher ; 

 and either because he feared that this taint of heresy might 

 lead to difficulties about his ordination, or because the love of 

 medical science was becoming stronger in him than the love 

 of theology, he gave up the idea of the ministry and definitely 

 threw himself into the practice of medicine. Thus, in the 

 tangle of human events, Spinoza, by a roundabout way, gave 

 Boerhaave, and through Boerhaave gave Haller to medicine 

 and to science. 



His talents soon impressed the authorities of Leyden, and in 

 1701 he was placed in the chair of Medicine left vacant by the 

 death of Drelincourt in 1697. He was at first not made full pro- 

 fessor, only lecturer. The power, however, which he shewed as a 

 teacher rapidly made itself felt ; students flocked to his lectures ; 

 and the authorities of the University, lest he should be tempted 

 by offers from elsewhere, increased his emoluments, and gave 



