1839-40. THE BROTHERHOOD OF TRUTH. 225 



wants ; and his utterances were compressed into sententious 

 commonplaces of an exceedingly matter-of-fact and simple cha- 

 racter, always wound up with a smack of his lips and a slap on 

 his cork-leg. When he had nothing else to do, he diligently 

 employed some mechanical genius he was persuaded he pos- 

 sessed, in effecting improvements on his cork-leg, whereby he 

 gradually converted it into a mass of timber and iron hoops, 

 fitter to have served as an anchor than a help to locomotion ! 

 Many a laughing argument we had with John about his ' im- 

 provements/ the chief object of which was to draw forth one of 

 his grave matter-of-fact aphorisms ; for John never laughed, or 

 perceived that anybody else did. He remained an object of in- 

 terest and kindly help on George's part as long as he lived." 



The brotherhood referred to in this letter was an object of 

 deep interest to George Wilson, and exercised an influence over 

 him so beneficial in many respects, that we cannot pass it over 

 without special notice. It arose out of the association of stu- 

 dents who edited the ' Maga,' spoken of in the preceding chapter. 

 Various records of its commencement exist among the private 

 papers of the Society. In an address to its members, by the 

 chief office-bearer in 1838, its formation is thus mentioned : 

 " Established by a few congenial souls to commune together, it 

 was first called the Maga Club ; its objects were literature and 

 good fellowship. The principles which regulated it, however, 

 were so excellent that many craved an admittance into it, and 

 its objects became enlarged, its aim more pretending ; from 

 a club it rose to a brotherhood, a brotherhood devoted to the 

 search of truth in every department of knowledge." 



Though thus called a club, there was no institution of any 

 kind formed until the Order was founded. The contributors to 

 the 'Maga' in 1834 and 1835 were accustomed to meet weekly 

 for the editing of this publication, and one evening after they 

 had left, Forbes drew up a paper which proved the germ of the 

 Order, embodying its first principles. Dr. Bennett, in his Memoir 

 of Edward Forbes, 1 says of the students composing his circle of 

 friends, " There was a geniality and good fellowship thrown 

 over their scientific, literary, and professional discussions ; an 



i ' Monthly Journal of Medicine/ January 1855. 

 P 



