xi THE ISLAND OF MINORCA 123 



powder to be taken in the course of twenty-four hours. 

 The certainty of its results in controlling the course of the 

 fever leads him in a humorous mood to quote his favourite 

 Virgil (Georg. iv. 86) : 



Hi motus . . . atque haec certamina tanta 

 Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescent. 



He was convinced, he says, of the innocency and efficacy 

 of the remedy, and he heartily wished he had given it 

 with more freedom. Elsewhere he writes of the large 

 spleens commonly found, and which he had noted in the 

 sheep also, but he does not connect them with the fever. 

 Some account follows of cholera, dysentery (in which he 

 gave ipecacuanha), pleurisy and smallpox, with reports 

 of his own cases. He also devotes much space to a record 

 of the weather, and of the epidemics during the course 

 of six years. An introductory chapter gives a clear and 

 concise description of the island of Minorca, its vegetable 

 and animal productions, and the conditions of life upon 

 it. The people were gay ; one-fourth of their time was 

 made up of holidays, and they were fond of feasting and 

 of " poetical disputes." Snails were much used for food 

 by the poorer families. Cleghorn's book was well 

 received ; it passed through five English editions, and 

 was translated into German. 



Whilst in London Cleghorn attended the lectures of 

 Dr. William Hunter. In 1751 he settled in Dublin, and, 

 emulating Monro and Hunter, began himself to give 

 lectures on anatomy. Two years later he was appointed 

 Anatomist in the School of Medicine attached to Trinity 

 College, a school still in its early and rather troublous 

 days. In 1761, the Lecturer on Anatomy having been 

 dismissed as the result of a dispute, Cleghorn was elected 

 in his stead. In this office he continued many years, 

 lecturing in English instead of in Latin, to ever-increasing 

 classes of students, drawn even from beyond the seas ; 

 the school growing under his influence in reputation and 

 efficiency. He was made Professor of Anatomy in 1785. 

 In the meantime he practised as a surgeon in Dublin 



