486 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. XL 



from lecturing, much to my distress, at the very beginning of 

 the session. 



" It would be a very great favour if you could lecture for me 

 this week, beginning on Tuesday. My present topic is the 

 Amylaceous group, including starch, gum, sugar, and cellulose, 

 and falls quite in your way. My assistant will see that the 

 carriage goes down every day to bring you up, with diagrams 

 and specimens, and four assistants will be at your service 

 every day. I trust you will be able to render me this service ; 

 but if you cannot, please inform the bearer, that I may make 

 other arrangements." 



Dr. Balfour kindly consented, and no further allusion was 

 made to temporal affairs. Towards mid-day, on Monday, he 

 requested a note to be addressed to Dr. Duncan, saying, that as 

 there was no improvement, he thought it would be prudent to 

 have another medical friend associated with him, naming Dr. 

 Bennett as the one he should prefer. This done, he asked his 

 sister to read to him, from the ' Athenaeum' of the week, Captain 

 M'Clintock's Narrative of his Voyage to the Arctic Seas. To- 

 wards evening there seemed tokens of Death's approach, and the 

 medical men could only cherish fond hopes from the marvellous 

 recoveries he had made before. His voice also was clear and 

 strong, and this was a hopeful symptom. Stimulants were 

 ordered to be given at short intervals during the night. On the 

 first being brought, he looked at it with reluctance, but learning 

 the doctors' wishes, he made an effort to take it, saying after- 

 wards, " I did not think I could have swallowed it." The good 

 effect of the draught sdbn appeared in the distressing cough 

 being soothed to quietness. " The doctor was right," he re- 

 marked; and the next restorative was taken with readiness. 

 The night passed peacefully, and at its close he said, with a 

 gleam of his old cheerfulness, " I think I have turned over a 

 new leaf." Hope once more animated his nurse's heart : she 

 had seen him as ill before, and yet recover. The doctors con- 

 firmed this hope, saying, that if a few days were got over all 

 might be well. So sanguine notes were addressed to several 

 friends, Dr. Cairns amongst the number. But at mid-day the 



