1 Obituary Notice-of: Dike Gaspar Spurchetn: 369 
burn,* that if desired, it might be at the disposition of his friends in 
Europe ; a secure and proper disposition of his papers, 
and effects, was made, in the hands of responsible: ‘men; a solemn 
and pathetic ode was composed for the occasion of his funeral; the 
medical association met and passed appropriate resolutions to’ enor 
his memory, and no circumstance was omitted which could gratify 
the living or honor the dead. 
- Dr. Spurzheim’s temperance and abstemiousness were very re- 
_ “We have seen him, (says Dr. Follen,) sitting down to 
sumptuous meals provided in honor of him, and have seen him fast- 
ing for the want of food adapted to his simple taste.” The same 
fact was conspicuous at New-Haven ; at evening, a tumbler of milk 
and a cracker, or a piece of the simplest cake, satisfied the demands 
of his athletic and commanding frame, and left his fine intellect with- 
out a cloud. 
In his last sickness he appears to have relied too confidently upon 
the strength of his constitution, and the simplicity of his habits of 
living, which led him to neglect the use of medicine; his vigorous 
intellect sunk under the exertion of its own intense energy, end his 
physical powers were broken down by his mind; as was happily said 
by another, the sword eat up the scabbard. Such var datentophe should 
prove a geen to all ardent, intellectual men, who, when impelled 
i tives, are in peculiar danger of prostrating their ee 
and of coming prematurely to the grave. 
Dr. Spurzheim was in New-Haven during the week of the annual 
commencement. He was much interested in the public exercises, 
the whole of which he attended, and it was easy to read in his ex- 
pressive features the impressions made upon his mind by the differ- 
ent speakers; it was obvious that he understood every thing that he 
heard. In the evening of the commencement day he ‘the 
annual meeting of the society of the Alumni, and listened attentively 
to their discussions. 
He dissected the brain of a child that had died of hydrocephalus, 
and gave great satisfaction to the medical gentlemen present by the 
unexampled skill and the perfectly novel manner in which he per- 
formed the dissection. At Hartford he was deeply interested in the 
fine Institutions in that city, particularly in the Asylum for the deaf | 
and dumb, and in the retreat for the insane. 
ste Sea 
* The Pére la Chaise of Boston. 
Vou. XXHI.—No 2 47 
