VISIT TO EUROPE: RESIDENCE IN EDINBURGH. 173 



the creation, and bringing monkeys, or the quadrumana, 

 the cctacea, the carnivora, the amphibia, the rodentia, and 

 pachydennata alongside of man, to illustrate their com- 

 parative corporeal structure, and, so to speak, mental 

 powers also, and the perfection of their respective organiza- 

 tions. A statue of the Venus de Medici stood elevated on 

 a pedestal to illustrate the beau ideal of the human figure ; 

 while the head of a crocodile was placed side by side with 

 a human cranium, the frontal orb of the latter rising in in- 

 tellectual grandeur, the same portion of the skull of the 

 former being very shallow and depressed, leaving little room 

 for brain and intellect. Thus he followed the intellectual 

 gradation of animals from its lowest to its highest develop- 

 ment ; and in fact he showed himself the master of human 

 and comparative anatomy and of physiology, in both brutes 

 and men ; while the whole range of natural history afforded 

 him ample and happy illustrations. One of his most favor- 

 ite topics was muscular action and its laws. On this sub- 

 ject he was great ; and his thoughts and illustrations were 

 afterwards published in a work which, I believe, has a high 

 reputation among anatomists. He was himself a striking 

 example of powerful muscular organization. His figure 

 was short and very robust, with powerful limbs ; a massy 

 figure constructed for strength and not for speed ; and, in- 

 deed, judging from his energetic, decisive manner, he could 

 hardly regret that he was not made for flight, for I believe 

 he would not have fled in battle. Although more than half 

 a century has passed away since I heard his voice, I can 

 see him now, with his iron frame and firm features, enforc- 

 ing his lucubrations by the gestures of his brawny arm, and 

 earnestly enforcing the truths he taught, with his broad 

 Scotch dialect and intonations, not softened, as in the case 

 of the professors whom I have named, in them de- 

 prived in a great measure of national peculiarities by 

 southern cultivation in England and even by foreign travel. 

 While writing these reminiscences of Edinburgh chiefly 



