34 GETS HIS DIPLOMA. 



also took interest in the theological and other studies 

 of his brother Joseph, who was preparing to enter the 

 church, and there he indicated his true character — 

 the early manifestation of his grandfather's inherit- 

 ance, theological as well as medical — by insisting 

 unweariedly that his brother was neglecting what 

 ought to be his main study, that of the Bible itself. 

 His brother's experience to this day testifies to the 

 wisdom of that warning. 



In 1835 he became a licentiate of the Eoyal 

 College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. All he had to say 

 on his becoming a surgeon was — " The examination 

 lasted half-an-hour, and was most satisfactory and 

 pleasant to me, I do assure you." After aiding Mr. 

 Nasmyth, he joined his father in practice at An- 

 struther. His love of anatomy prompted him to 

 carry to Anstruther an entire "subject" for dissection, 

 a most hazardous undertaking, by coach and steam- 

 boat. He turned all his dissections to good account 

 by casts ; and those he made of the perineum (1837) 

 are now in the Anatomical Museum of the University. 

 The Eev. Mr. Goodsir says — "John was endowed with 

 the natural gifts of strongly-marked intellectual and 

 artistic powers, and with the unwearied assiduity, or 

 rather with that capacity of deriving pleasure from the 

 exercise of his powers, which is as necessary as the pos- 

 session of power itself for the accomplishment of true and 

 valuable work." Goodsir became an excellent medical 

 practitioner, and occasionally had the opportunity of 

 proving his dexterity in operative surgery. He was 



