MEDICAL DIPLOMA. 7 



felt by the villagers in all public questions, and they furnished a 

 proof that the possession of the means of education did not render 

 them an unsafe portion of the population. They felt kindly to- 

 ward each other, and much respected those of the neighboring- 

 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 without feeling that these carefully kept monuments were 

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

 read history, and are no revolutionary levelers. They rejoice 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 stethoscope for its 

 diagnosis, I unwittingly procured for myself an examination rath- 

 er more severe and prolonged than usual among examining bod- 

 ies. 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 for me to proceed 



starts; for if you do not, temptation and other things will get the better of you ;" 

 and Thomas Burke, an old Forty-second Peninsula soldier, who has been incessant 

 and never weary in good works for about forty years. I was delighted to find him 

 still alive ; men like these are an honor to their country and profession. 



