AII.AIOIK OK Dlt WliKiHT. ^ '97 



Secretary at War*. But the opposition which he 

 met with from the London College of Physicians in 

 its corporate capacity, was never allowed to disturb 

 the harmony of private friendship. A line of distinc- 



* Dr Wells, in his celebrated letter to Lord Kknvon, since re- 

 published with his own Autobiography, and, with his Essays on Vi- 

 sion and on Dew, (London, 8vo, 1818,) gives the following account 

 of Dr Wright's appointment : — 



" Suspicions having arisen in the beginning of the present war, 

 that the dreadful mortality of our troops in the West Indies had, in 

 part at least, been owing to their want of proper medical aid, it ne- 

 cessarily became an object of great national concern, that the im- 

 mense armament which was preparing in 1795 to be sent to these 

 countries under the command of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, should 

 be provided with able physicians. In this state of things, Dr Wil- 

 liam Wright of Edinburgh was mentioned to a person in power 

 as being well acquainted with the diseases of the West Indies ; in 

 consequence of which a gentleman connected with administration, 

 authorized a common friend to make him the offer of being a phy- 

 sician to the armament. Having signified his willingness to accept 

 this appointment, he was desired to remain in Edinburgh until his 

 services should be required. ■ 



" It is proper to say somewhat here concerning the fitness of Dr 

 Wright for the situation to which he was designed. He tvas a 

 Fellow of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and had for- 

 merly served his Majesty seventeen years, chiefly in the West In- 

 dies. He had, besides, practised medicine in Jamaica, while uncon- 

 nected with the army, for thirteen years, during great part of which 

 -time he was physician-general to the militia of the island. His ta- 

 lents had not in the mean while been confined to the cultivation of 

 the practical part "of his profession. Having included natural his- 

 tory among the objects of his study, he had, during his residence in 

 Jamaica, explored almost the whole of it, in his attempts to extend 

 the limits of that science, and had in consequence made many im- 



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