OF DR. BRIGGS. 181 



fication and delight ; and my obligations to him 

 for his judicious advice and kind attentions I can 

 never sufficiently express. The uncommon equa- 

 nimity of his temper, the total absence of all 

 selfishness, and his desire to make the best of 

 everything, rendered him a most invaluable 

 companion at all times; while his prudence and 

 judgment were of essential service to me on 

 many occasions. 



It was a bitter addition to my sorrow, that I 

 had been instrumental, in a great measure, in 

 bringing him out with us. When I determined to 

 accompany the expedition, I wrote to him, then 

 at Cambridge, offering him the appointment of 

 medical officer to the expedition. He had re- 

 ceived my letter while at commons, retired from 

 table, and accepted the offer by return of post. 

 I knew his value at a sick-bed, as he had visited 

 and nursed me when I was labouring under a 

 malignant typhus fever in Edinburgh, in 1829; 

 I was acquainted with his value as a friend, as 

 I had known him from infancy, — as a man of 

 science, for I had witnessed the high ground 

 he had taken among men of his own standing ; 

 and I fondly hoped that we should have returned 

 home with our friendship more firmly cemented 



