106 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Diseases of the Heart, and on 3/or- 

 ]>id Anatomy, illustrated by plates; 

 and, for the completion of them, he 

 allotted seven years. The materials 

 for the latter work were nearly 

 prepared, and the only difficulty 

 !he had to encounter in its publica- 

 tion was the enormous expense of 

 the engravings. But the subject 

 of "Diseases of the Heart" was 

 then not very well understood. 

 He had bestowed much thought 

 upon it, from the period of his 

 medical studies at Edinburgh. It 

 appeared essential that he should 

 continue his studies at some large 

 hospital, and he selected St. George's, 

 London, as the one to which his 

 ambition prompted him to hope he 

 should one day be physician, which 

 he afterwards became. Here he 

 soon became conspicuous for his 

 regular attendance and unvarying 

 application. Never was he to be 

 seen without his stethoscope, his 



book for taking notes of cases, and 

 a small ink-bottle attached to his 

 button. At that time there was 

 much prejudice in England, and 

 especially at St. George's, against 

 " auscultation" (the use of the 

 stethoscope,) in the examination of 

 diseases of the chest. This Dr. 

 Hope determined to remove, and 

 he adopted the most judicious 

 course, that, namely, of leaving 

 facts to speak for themselves. He 

 took the most minute notes of 

 them all, wrote down the conclu- 

 sions to which he was led in as 

 great detail as possible, and, before 

 proceeding to a post mortem ex- 

 amination, publicly placed his book 

 on the table that it might be read 

 by every one. He was invariably 

 correct. Attention was soon drawn 

 to him. His accuracy silenced 

 every objection, and all intelligent 

 and candid men became convinced 

 of the utility of the stethoscope. 



MISCELLANEOUS, 



DK. JOHKSON, AND OSEORNE THE 

 BOOKSELLER. 



Tom Osbome, the bookseller, was 

 one of "that mercantile, rugged race, 

 to which ithe delicacy of the poet is 

 sometimes exposed ;" as the follow- 

 ing anecdote will more fully evince : 

 Johnson being engaged by him 

 to translate a work of some conse- 

 quence, he thought it a respect which 

 he owed his own talents, as well as 

 the credit of his employer, to be as 

 circumspect in the performance of 

 it as possible ; in consequence of 

 which, the work went on, according 

 to Osborne's ideas, rather slowly ; 

 in consequence, he frequently spoke 

 to Johnson of this circumstance, 

 and, being a man of a coarse mind, 

 sometimes, by his expressions, made 

 him feel the situation of dependence. 

 Johnson, however, seemed to take 

 no notice of him, but went on ac- 



cording to the plan which he had 

 prescribed for himself. Osborne, 

 irritated by what he. thought an un- 

 necessary delay, went one day into 

 the room where Johnson was sit- 

 ting, and abused him in the most 

 illiberal manner : amongst other 

 thiogs, he told Johnson he had been 

 much mistaken in his man ; that he 

 was recommended to him as a good 

 scholar, and a ready hand ; bat he 

 doubted both ; for " Tom Such-a- 

 one would have turned out the work 

 much sooner ; and that being the 

 case, the probability was, that by 

 this here time the first edition would 

 have moved off." Johnson heard 

 him for some time unmoved ; but, 

 at last, losing all patience, he seized 

 a huge folio, which he was at that 

 time consulting, and, aiming it at 

 the bookseller's head, succeeded so 

 forcibly as to send him sprawling 

 on the floor. Osborue alarmed the 



