1838-S9. TE MEDICINE DOCTOEEM CREO. 209 



utters the words ' Tc medicines doctorem creoT I create thee 

 doctor of medicine." A foot-note says in addition : " The cere- 

 mony referred to above, should, I believe, in strictness of lan- 

 guage be termed the hatting rather than the capping ; the hat 

 being the academic symbol of the doctorate ; the cap the sign of 

 the status pupillaris. Each doctor, also, should have a hat for 

 himself, instead of one serving for all. To modern unacademic 

 eyes, however, accustomed to the stiff material and towering 

 dimensions of our awkward hats, the soft and pliant velvet hat 

 of an older period passes for a cap. Hence the name by which 

 the graduates of Edinburgh, unversed in the mysteries of the 

 diversified graceful caps, hoods, and gowns, of the English Uni- 

 versities, distinguish the solitary ceremony at which once in his 

 college-life, an Edinburgh student of medicine wears for some 

 two hours a gown ; and for a moment a doctor's hat." 1 



On the day following he hastens to share the news with the 

 " dear and only brother," who so fully sympathized with every 

 incident in George's career. 



" My last letter was very hurried, ill-arranged, and ill- written ; 

 the present will be written more leisurely, and will be the more 

 pleasing to you, as it is likely to contain more that will interest 

 you than the former did. Yesterday, the 1st of August, I, and 

 a hundred and eighteen more young graduates, were created 

 doctors of medicine. I send you a list of our names, which you 

 will find to contain the cognomens of several of your friends 

 and acquaintances. You will see that Samuel Brown has got 

 one of the medals ; he is the most deserving of the whole four 

 who have been thus crowned. The others were all of them 

 above thirty. 



" You will see that my Thesis and John Niven's were among 

 the seven given in (by the professors) as worthy of the prize ; 

 from these Samuel Brown's and Carpenter's were chosen, and 

 we must be content with the two stars which flourish at our 

 names. I never expected a prize, because I was soon aware 

 that S. B.'s was a more valuable chemical essay than mine, and 



1 ' Life of Dr. John Reid/ pp. 15, 16. 

 



