THE LIFE AND WORKS OP BROWN-SEQUARD. 679 



detail it here in order that we may understand the course which Brown 

 pursued for a long time and the incomplete character of his works. 



At 15 years of age he became a clerk in a colonial provision store, 

 which was also, as in Italy, a place of rendezvous and gossip, so that the 

 young man was in contact not only with the laboring people but also 

 with the cultivated residents of the neighborhood. He showed the 

 influence of the latter by writing poetry, romances, and plays, a begin- 

 ning often made by those who have not received a regular education. 

 In reality these attempts are about equivalent to the scholastic exercises 

 produced by the rhetoricians and philosophers of our graduating classes. 



At 20 years of age Brown set out with his mother for Paris, then the 

 ideal center of attraction for natives of Mauritius. Immediately on his 

 arrival in 1838, counting innocently on his literary talents for support, 

 he presented his works to Charles ^odier, who hastened to enlighten 

 him as to their true merit by saying, "In order to live you must take 

 up some regular business, my friend." 



Claude Bernard had in a similar manner begun by writing a tragedy. 

 But without being rich he was not so poor as Brown-Sequard. The 

 latter, also like Bernard, followed the advice given him and decided 

 that he would become a physician, a profession for which he had hith- 

 erto shown no predilection. 



This profession did but little toward satisfying his immediate wants, 

 for it could bring in nothing until after long years of apprenticeship. 

 Besides, Brown-Sequard had no preparation for it whatever; preliminary 

 scientific knowledge was wanting as well as material resources. Special 

 qualifications were also needed, but of these there was fortunately net 

 lack. 



The mother and son leased rooms in the rue Fcrou near St. Sulpice, 

 and there gave board and lodging to students from Mauritius who were 

 more fortunate than they. 



These little groups of foreigners, clustering around their com patriots, 

 are common in Paris; it is greatly to be regretted that the administra- 

 tion has of late years made constant efforts to discourage them and to 

 get them attached to faculties in the provinces, Avhere they will not 

 acquire so readily a hearty sympathy with our national life. 



In the meantime Brown-Sequard was at work trying to amend, or 

 rather to completely renew, his education. He prepared at the same 

 time his medical examinations and two baccalaureate courses in letters 

 and sciences; for it had not yet pleased the authorities to prolong the 

 duration of the courses which are now retarded by a series of barriers 

 regulaily spaced off'. 



Our future colleague filled a double office, that of pupil in the labo- 

 ratory of Martin Magron and that of tutor, transmitting the knowl- 

 edge that he had just acquired to his less active and less intelligent 

 comrades. This is a profession in which more than one of us has com- 

 menced his career, thus finding, as did Brown-Sequard, the pecuniary 



