DR. DARWIN. 



in argument or condu<t, and always re- 

 venged it by farcafm of very keen edge. 

 Nor was he lefs impatient of the Tallies of 

 cgotifm and vanity, even when they were 

 in fo flight a degree, that ftricl: politenefs 

 would rather tolerate than ridicule them. 

 Dr. Darwin feldom failed to prelent their 

 caricature in jocofe but wounding irony. 

 If thefe ingredients of colloquial defpotifm 

 were difcernible in unworn exiftence, they 

 increafed as it advanced, fed by an ever- 

 growing reputation within and without the 

 pale of medicine. 



Extreme was his fcepticifm to human 

 truth. From that caufe he often difre- 

 garded the accounts his patients gave of 

 themfelves, and rather chofe to colled: his 

 information by indirect inquiry and by 

 crofs-examining them, than from their vo- 

 luntary teflimony. That diftruft and that 

 habit were probably favourable to his ikill 

 in difcovering the origin of diieafes, and 

 B 3 thence 



