38 MEMOIR OF DR WRIGHT. 



lent gale, which lasted for several days ; so that twen- 

 ty-two sail parted company, " and no doubt some of 

 them," Dr Wright observes, " have fallen into the 

 hands of the rebels." The rest of the passage was 

 stormy, and would now be considered tedious, the fleet 

 having been at sea for sixty-five days. 



It was in the course of this passage that an event 

 occurred, which is not only important as it affords an 

 illustration of Dr Wright's character for moral cou- 

 rage and professional skill, but as it has become so pro- 

 minent an object in the history of the healing art, and 

 has had so material an influence in improving the lot of 

 humanity. It would be doing injustice to the subject 

 to record the fact in any other than Dr Wright's own 

 words. 



" On the 1st of August 1777, I embarked," he says.. 

 " in a ship bound to Liverpool, and sailed the same 

 evening from Montego Bay. The master told me he 

 had hired several sailors on the same day we took our 

 departure, one of whom had been at sick quarters on 

 shore, and was now but in a convalescent state. On 

 the 23d of August, we were in the latitude of the 

 Bermudas, and had had a very heavy gale of wind for 

 three days, when the above mentioned man relapsed, 

 and had a fever, with symptoms of the greatest malig- 

 nity. I attended this person often, but could not pre- 

 vail with him to be removed from a dark and confined 

 situation, to a more airy and convenient part of the 

 ship ; and, as he refused medicines, and even food, he 

 died on the eighth day of his illness. 



" By my attention to the sick man. I caught the con- 



