1 28 HEROES OF INVENTION AND DISCO VER Y. 



received from her and his brothers, but chiefly from her and his 

 beloved « Sandy.' " 



The members of the medical profession, it has been remarked, 

 are often peculiarly conservative regarding new discoveries or 

 new methods of work. Simpson was entirely free from this, 

 indeed, *' in the advocacy or defence of new methods of treat- 

 ment, or of new remedies, he seldom took into account the 

 prejudices, or even the honest convictions, of others." In his 

 first session as professor, he met with some sharp antagonism, 

 which he repelled as sharply. Regarding the way in which he 

 did his professorial work, Professor Duns writes : " His genial 

 bearing among the students, the earnest way in which he did 

 the work of the class, the forcible and lucid style of his prelec- 

 tions, his breadth of view as a public teacher, the pleasant talk 

 and sallies of quiet humour with which he often relieved the 

 dry exposition of methods of research or the didactic statement 

 of principles, the abundance and freshness of his illustrative 

 facts, and his happy art of laying fields of thought outside of his 

 profession under contribution, to give force and clearness to the 

 special topics under review, all conduced to make him a favourite 

 of the students generally, and to win the admiration, respect, 

 and love of those who were foremost among them in mental 

 power and accomplishments." 



An address which Professor Simpson delivered to medical 

 students contains the following high ideal of his profession : — 



" The profession is," he said, " in many respects, the most 

 important secular profession which a man can follow. Its im- 

 portance depends on the priceless value of the objects of the 

 physician's care and study, viz., the guardianship of the health 

 and lives of our brother men, and the defence of the human 

 body and human mind against the attacks and effects ot disease. 



