114 MEMOIR OF DR WRIGHT. 



tion, as to be offered the honorary rank of an extra- 

 licentiate, which, however, he thought fit, under all 

 the circumstances, to decline. 



In the month of October 1798, Dr Wright pro- 

 ceeded to Edinburgh, and shortly afterwards to Aber- 

 deen, where the business of a friend required his atten- 

 tion. From Aberdeen he returned to Edinburgh, by 

 way of Perthshire, where he appears to have concluded 

 the year, in the bosom of his brother's family, and sur- 

 rounded by his early friends. 



Upon his arrival in Edinburgh, after obtaining and 

 fitting up a proper residence, his first attention was 

 directed to the arrangement of his books, and the in- 

 spection of his numerous dried specimens in botany, 

 and other branches of natural history, which, with his 

 recent additions, had, by this time, amounted to one 

 of the greatest private collections in the kingdom. 



While these matters were in progress, Dr Wright, 

 in answer to some inquiries from Dr Garthshore, on 

 the subject of Diabetes, writes to him as follows : 



" Spallanzani, and the works of John Hunter, may be 

 consulted with advantage ; but in what manner the saccharine 

 process is carried on in the animal economy, is one of the ar- 

 cana of nature which cannot well be developed, even with the 

 assistance of the new chemistry. 



" In the boiling of sugar, I have known some hogsheads 

 spoiled by a mischievous Negro squeezing a few limes or lemons 

 in a sugar-mill. No granulation took place, and the whole 

 was obliged to be sent to the distillery. It was not this cir- 

 cumstance which gave me the hint of treating diabetes. 



" Such cases as fell under my inspection were recent, and 

 were either accompanied by remitting fever, or took place in 



