202 Anniversary Address. 



naturalist or a physician to whom I owe so much ! and how can 

 it be expected that I should delineate his character as a man, 

 except according to my own feelings, after an uninterrupted 

 friendship of more than twenty-five years ? As, however, I 

 perfectly coincide with you, that there is no such fitting place to 

 record his many contributions to science as in the Transactions 

 of our own Club, so is there no place more suitable for a sketch 

 of his life and character. Imperfect indeed it must necessarily 

 be. I have trusted little to my own opinions or feelings, but 

 have contented myself with using what has already been recorded 

 of him by others, who were much more competent than myself 

 to form a correct opinion of his position in every relationship 

 of life. 



George Johnston was born on the 20th of July, 1797, at Sim- 

 prin, in Berwickshire. Soon after his birth the family removed 

 to Ilderton, in Northumberland, and there he spent his earliest 

 years. He went to school for a short time at Kelso, and after- 

 wards to the Berwick Grammar School. From thence he pro- 

 ceeded to the University of Edinburgh, residing in the family of 

 the late Rev. Dr. M/Crie, the author of the ' Life of John Knox.' 

 On his selecting medicine as his future profession, he was ap- 

 prenticed to Dr. Abercrombie, under whom he prosecuted his 

 professional studies, as well as all the branches connected with 

 it, with a steadiness and zeal which ensured his future eminence. 

 During these years he joined the Royal Medical Society, and 

 attended the usual course of lectures ; but whatever benefit he 

 might have derived from them, he has frequently told me, he 

 attributed his knowledge to the care and instructions of his 

 friend and master. In 1817 he obtained the diploma of the 

 College of Surgeons. After this he then proceeded to London, 

 where he studied under Joshua Brooks, and soon after established 

 himself in practice at Belford in Northumberland. Here how- 

 ever he remained only a short time, for in 1818 he removed to 

 Berwick-on-Tweed, where he continued to reside until his death. 

 In 1819 he returned for a short time to Edinburgh, for the 

 purpose of obtaining his degree of M.D., his thesis being 'De 

 Hydrope/ and in 1824 he became a Fellow of the College of 

 Surgeons, his inaugural dissertation being on the subject of 

 cancer. 



Although his practice in Berwick, even at the commencement of 



