LIFE OF DR. 110LLEST0N. XXI 



one of the lady nurses, slight as they are, may give an idea of 

 what he seemed to others. ' During the nine months that I 

 spent in the Hospital at Smyrna, I nursed almost exclusively 

 under him in the Division confided to Dr. Leared's and his care, 

 so that I had constant opportunities for understanding his fine 

 character, so full of talent and energy, so kind, and with so 

 much earnestness beneath his playful manner. Looking back 

 I see a tall slight fair young man moving up and down the 

 long corridors lined with the beds of the sick, and the wards 

 opening from them, giving his orders clearly, attending to every 

 case most carefully, always kind and cheering in his manner, 

 and most pleasant and considerate to those working under 

 him. . . . He was very successful in " fighting the fever," as he 

 used to call it, and for a long time his Division was mostly 

 filled with such cases.' 



On May 25, 1 855, the young physician writes to his sister : — 

 'Everything just now wears the couleur de rose. The last few 

 days of April we got our hospital nearly empty ; and the first 

 six days of May brought us down two shiploads of sick from 

 Balaclava. The first ship, the " Sydney," steamed in on the 

 1st of May about 10 a.m., ran out her anchor and ran up a 

 yellow flag about 300 yards out away from the Hospital. It 

 was very exciting. We found however that the cases she 

 brought down were not so serious as had been expected ; and 

 the second ship, the " Brandon," which came on the 6th, had still 

 fewer cases on board. Matters, in fact, are improving in the 

 Crimea, and we have not now the wretched depression and 

 utter prostration to deal with of which we had so much in 

 March last. It is a short three weeks since these arrivals took 

 place, and the Hospital is rapidly assuming the appearance of 

 a convalescent establishment again. Can anything speak more 

 strongly for our organisation and sanitary condition? The 

 English have put unbounded means at the disposal of the 

 authorities everywhere throughout the Levant ; we, here at 

 Smyrna, have made use of them, and the results will justify the 

 expenditure. Elsewhere, I believe, the good things sent out 



