Obituary JVotice of Dr. Gaspar Spurzheim. 369 



burn,* that if desired, it might be at the disposition of his friends in 

 Europe ; a secure and proper disposition of his papers, specimens, 

 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 honor 

 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- 

 markable. " We have seen him, (says Dr. Follen,) sitting down to 

 sumptuous meaj^ 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, and his 

 physical powers were broken down by his mind; as was happily said 

 by another, the sword eat up the scabbard. Such a catastrophe should 

 prove a warning to all ardent, intellectual men, who, when impelled 

 by great motives, are in peculiar danger of prostrating their faculties, 

 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 attended 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. 



*The Pore la Chaise of Boston. 



Vol. XXIII.— No 2. 47 



