16 MEDICAL DIPLOMA. 



toward each other, and much respected those of the neigh- 

 boring gentry who, like the late Lord Douglas, placed some 

 confidence in their sense of honor. Through the kindness 

 of that nobleman, the poorest among us could stroll at 

 pleasure over the ancient domains of Bothwell, and other 

 spots hallowed by the venerable associations of which our 

 school-books and local traditions made us well aware; and 

 few of us could view the dear memorials of the past with- 

 out feeling that these carefully-kept monuments were our 

 own. The masses of the working-people of Scotland have 

 read history, and are no revolutionary levellers. They re- 

 joice in the memories of "Wallace and Bruce and a' the 

 lave," who are still much revered as the former champions 

 of freedom. And, while foreigners imagine that we want 

 the spirit only to overturn capitalists and aristocracy, we 

 are content to respect our laws till we can change them, 

 and hate those stupid revolutions which might sweep away 

 time-honored institutions, dear alike to rich and poor. 



Having finished the medical curriculum and presented a 

 thesis on a subject which required the use of the stetho- 

 scope for its diagnosis, I unwittingly procured for myself an 

 examination rather more severe and prolonged than usual 

 among examining bodies. The reason was, that between 

 me and the examiners a slight difference of opinion existed 

 as to whether this instrument could do what was asserted. 

 The wiser plan would have been to have had no opinion of 

 my own. However, I was admitted a Licentiate of Faculty 

 of Physicians and Surgeons. It was with unfeigned delight 

 I became a member of a profession which is pre-eminently 

 devoted to practical benevolence, and which with unwearied 

 energy pursues from age to age its endeavors to lessen 

 human woe. 



But, though now qualified for my original plan, the opium 

 war was then raging, and it was deemed inexpedient foi 

 me to proceed to China. I had fondly hoped to have 

 gained access to that then closed empire by means of the 

 healing art; but there being no prospect of an early peace 



