C U R 11 1 E. 



furrie. mother country was by this time interrupted. He 

 ""~V""" took his route from North Carolina by St Eustatius 

 and Antigua, and after making some narrow escapes, 

 having at one time fallen overboard, and being at 

 another driven by stress of weather into the Azores, 

 where he was exposed to the imminent risk of ship- 

 wreck, he arrived at London in the year 1776. 



From London he went to Edinburgh, where he con- 

 stantly resided for three years, prosecuting his medical 

 studies with zeal and success, and gaining for himself a 

 high reputation among his fellow students. In the 

 Royal Medical Society, of which he was a distinguished 

 member, some papers of merit written by him are still 

 preserved, one of which we shall afterwards have occa- 

 sion to mention, as it is of some importance in the his- 

 tory of one of the most happy discoveries which have 

 ever been made in the healing art. 



During the prosecution of his studies at the univer- 

 sity, Currie resided in the house of his aunt Miss 

 Duncan, who, on the death of his father, had remo- 

 ved to Edinburgh with his sisters, and to whom he 

 was now partly indebted for the means of support. The 

 funds of this benevolent woman, however, were but 

 scanty, and he Mas well aware that, with his utmost 

 economy, his necessary expences must strain her re- 

 sources. He knew, indeed, that she would chearfully 

 have divided with him her last shilling ; but, under no 

 circumstances, would his spirit have suffered him to re- 

 main easy in a state of dependence ; and, situated as he 

 was, he felt inexpressible distress, from the conscious- 

 ness of adding to the burdens of his best friend. He 

 resolved, therefore, at all hazards, to find out some 

 opening, where he might have an opportunity of sub- 

 sisting by his own exertions. With this intention he 

 turned his views to a medical appointment in the army, 

 and procured an introduction to General Sir William 

 Erskine, who gave him an ensigncy in his regiment, 

 with the office of surgeon's mate. Some of his friends, 

 however, hearing of the step he had taken, thought the 

 situation inadequate to his abilities, and determined to 

 use their influence, for procuring him a more honour- 

 able and lucrative employment. A medical establish- 

 ment being at that time about to be formed for the for- 

 ces in Jamaica, it was resolved that an attempt should 

 be made to place him on the staff of the army, by get- 

 ting him appointed physician, or assistant physician, to 

 the hospital in that island. No time, however, was to 

 be lost, and a difficulty of considerable magnitude oc- 

 curred. Though he had attended the university during 

 the regular term, he had not yet graduated, and there 

 are only two days in the year in which medical degrees 

 are conferred in Edinburgh, the nearest of which (the 

 24th June) was two months distant. This difficulty 

 was overcome, by his procuring a degree from the col- 

 lege of Glasgow, and be immediately began to solicit 

 for his appointment. Except among his fellow students 

 in the university, he had few friends, for he had lived 

 a retired life of hard study, and of necessary economy. 

 Among these, however, there were many to whom his 

 virtues and talents had warmly endeared him, and who 

 were eager to use their interest in his favour; and in- 

 deed some of the professors were not insensible to his 

 merits, and offered their services in the most flattering 

 manner. He went up to London, therefore, loaded 

 with letters of introduction, which represented his cha- 

 racter in terms of merited approbation. He was, how- 

 ever, unsuccessful. On his arrival, he found the ap- 

 pointment filled up by a young Irish physician, a man 

 ©f great merit, the interest cf Sir John Pringle having 



517 



yielded to that of Mr Surgeon General Adair. Before 

 leaving Scotland, he had, at all events, determined not 

 to return ; and contemplating the probability of a dis- 

 appointment, he had formed the resolution, even in 

 this case, to proceed to Jamaica, and attempt practice 

 there, in the certain hope of having an easy opportuni- 

 ty of passing to his friend and kinsman at Richmond, so 

 soon as peace should be re-established. It happened 

 that the fleet in which he was to sail was delayed from 

 time to time, in consequence of which he passed the 

 greater part of the summer of 17J-0 in London. He 

 here renewed his intimacy with a few of his colWe ac- 

 quaintances, who had become eminent for their literary 

 and professional talents, and was introduced into some 

 of those circles, which render London to a man of taste 

 and genius so desirable a residence. In this society, 

 his abilities were quickly appreciated, and his friends 

 began to persuade him, that he might obtain success in 

 his profession, without the necessity of leaving the king- 

 dom. He listened to such agreeable suggestions at first 

 without hope ; but on hearing them repeated and 

 warmly urged, he began to see in them something plau- 

 sible as well as flattering, and willingly suffered his 

 mind to indulge in prospects so congenial to his wishes. 

 An illness with which, about this time, he was seized 

 added strength to the arguments of his friends, and when 

 at length the fleet sailed, he allowed it to depart without 

 him, determining to wait for the next convoy, and, in the 

 mean time, to put these arguments to the test of experi- 

 ence, by endeavouring to find a settlement in England. 

 In the course of his enquiries, he paid a visit to some of his 

 acquaintances in different parts of the country, and after 

 some unsuccessful attempts in other places, hearingof Dr 

 Dobson's removal to Bath, he repaired to Liverpool, 

 where that gentleman had left a flourishing practice, and 

 he settled in this great commercial town on the 7th of 

 October 1780 At the time of his arrival, he was not 

 acquainted with a single individual, but he was warm- 

 ly and affectionately supported by some of his early 

 friends, and he carried with him about forty letters of 

 introduction, which procured him many invitations, and, 

 by making him generally known, prepared the way 

 for more useful connections. By great and perseve- 

 ring exertions, he secured to himself part of the vacant 

 practice; and his prospects were brightened in 1" 83, by 

 his marriage with Miss Lucy Wallace, a lineal descend- 

 ant of the Scotish hero of that surname, and daughter 

 of an Irish gentleman, who was settled in Liverpool 

 as a merchant, and whose probity, honour, and worthy 

 had gained him universal respect. 



Previous to this fortunate event, he had formed an 

 intimate acquaintance with the then most remarkable 

 in Liverpool for their taste and science; and in 1782 

 was the chief instrument in forming a literary club, of 

 which Mr Roscoe, who has since by his writings acqui- 

 red such deserved celebrity, and that most admirable 

 man William Rathbone, were constituting members. 

 Speaking of this circumstance in a MS. account of his 

 life written by himself, and contained in a confidential 

 letter to a friend, from which the principal facts men- 

 tioned in the former part of this memoir are taken, he 

 expresses much amiable satisfaction. " I am proud of 

 this," says he ; " it was the means of binding us all in 

 friendship and confidence, and gave a considerable im- 

 pulse to my literary pursuits." This society acquires 

 additional importance when it is remembered, that it 

 was the first institution of the kind in Liverpool, and 

 may justly be considered as the parent of those splen- 

 did literary establishments which now embellish that 



Currie. 



