146 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. III. 



tion, which have flashed on the gifted physician and decided his 

 practice, while the man, like me, of common gifts, is feeling 

 pulse, and looking at tongue, and touching skin, etc., after the 

 approved method handed down by Galen and Hippocrates to 

 their medical posterity. One after all is puzzled to know what 

 to think or what to do. This sagacity, which has much in it of 

 a noble instinct, John has largely, and he has cultivated it by a 

 zealous attendance on hospitals and dispensaries, by a generous 

 expenditure on books and other means of acquiring knowledge, 

 and by a hearty enthusiasm in his profession ; further, he is an 

 exceedingly well-informed person on most matters, and, though 

 not very speculative, fond of hearing anything odd, and greatly 

 pleased with a joke ; to all this add great kindness of heart and 

 action, invariably shown me, and particularly in this present 

 instance, you will not think me so badly off in my daily walks ; 

 and let me say we don't always talk of medical things, of which 

 more hereafter. 



" I trot about every day from ten till two, and most tiresome 

 it is, and when I come home, I am fit for very, very little. Up 

 to the present time, however, I have taken geology in hand, and 

 get on with considerable speed, and with very great delight ; 

 but I have got nothing done at chemistry. There is no room 

 for working at home, and I cannot work to my heart's pleasure 

 in Dr. Christison's. I must have no one overlooking, even 

 kindly ; so, up to this time, I have been miserable from want of 

 my laboratory, and means to try, by the test of experiments, the 

 projects of my brain. It is the disagreeable mood of mind, at- 

 tendant on this state of things, which has kept me from writing, 

 though I had plenty to say, and have a great deal more than 

 this letter, big as it is, will hold. To-morrow sees my chemical 

 labours begin, as you will learn before you finish this letter ; 

 but lest I make this a mere preface and apology, and because I 

 have been wearying to say it, let me heartily congratulate you 

 on your success. I cannot, as mother did when she read it, 

 bring tears to my eyes ; that becomes a kind mother ; but a 

 kind brother will, with exulting, joyous feelings, wish you 

 all the comfort and happiness so auspicious an event should 

 bring, and feel his own soul bettered by the knowledge your 



