76 HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO 



till 1848, when he was chosen vice-president. His 

 description of the fungus found on the gills of the 

 gold-fish (Cyprinus auratus), and his papers on the 

 Sarcina ventriculi and the potato-disease, were read 

 to the Botanical Society.'" 



Goodsir joined the Royal Medical Society in 1833, 

 but it was the session of 1840-41 before his presence 

 became known in the hall of debate. Every one, 

 however slightly acquainted with the Edinburgh 

 school, knows the high status of the " Royal Medical," 

 and that upon its roll are inscribed the honoured names 

 of Thomas Addison, Richard Bright, Marshall Hall, 

 Henry Holland, and others of metropolitan fame, with 

 those of equal distinction associated with the Scottish 

 and Irish universities and colleges — the men, in short, 

 who have been most prominent in the history of 

 British medicine and discovery during the last hundred 

 years. In November 1840 Goodsir read his "Dissert- 

 ation " to the society " On Changes produced in the 

 Caecum by Ulcers and Abscesses," in which he set 

 forth that the partial obliteration or contraction of 

 size in the caecum and appendix vermiformis takes 

 place according to a certain plan ; and further, that 

 " the normal and abnormal obliterating of organs and 

 parts of organised bodies is conducted according to 

 certain laws as definite as those which regulate their 

 development." As the general result of his observa- 

 tion, he concluded — 1st, That the caecum and appendix 



* An obituary notice of John Goodsir, from the pen of his loving friend 

 Professor J. H. Balfour, is recorded in the Transactions of the Botanical 

 Society of Edinburgh, vol. ix., 1866-67. 



