630 MR SMALL S BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF PROF. ADAM FERGUSON. 



the stipulations contained in the convention of Saratoga, the commissioners found 

 at length that the decision of the American disputes was to be left to the sword. 

 They accordingly set sail from America about the end of November, and reached 

 Plymouth on the 19th December 1778. The time for which they had been ap- 

 pointed expired on the 1st of June 1779, when they formally demitted office. 



They had the honour to receive a formal intimation of the royal approbation 

 of their services, through Lord George Germain, who also expressed his regret 

 that his correspondence with them, from which he had received so much infor- 

 mation, had come to a conclusion. 



On his return to Edinburgh in 1779, Ferguson resumed the charge of his 

 class, which had been conducted during his absence by Mr Dugald Stewart, 

 and continued the preparation of his ' Roman History.' But before that work 

 made its appearance, a serious illness befell its author. Towards the end of 1780, 

 Ferguson had an attack of paralysis, probably occasioned by his free manner of 

 living. His recovery from this illness is still quoted by medical authors as one of 

 the most remarkable on record. 



Under the treatment of his distinguished relative Dr Black,* the symptoms 

 gradually became more favourable, and Ferguson was able, after some months, 

 to undertake a journey to Bath. But he did not receive so much benefit from 

 the use of the waters there as from the Pythagorean course of diet which he 

 adopted, and which brought about a complete restoration. During the long 

 period of thirty-six years that elapsed between his paralytic attack and his death, 

 Ferguson enjoyed remarkably good health. The occasional ailments he had 

 seem to have been in no way connected with the disorder from which he made 

 so wonderful a recovery. 



Of his many sympathising friends, no one was more sincere than Sir John 

 M'Pherson, now about to proceed to India as a member of the Supreme Council. 

 The following letter expresses his feelings on this occasion : — 



" Kensington Gore, 13th January 1781. 

 " My Dear Friend, — Though your illness has not filled me with despondency, 

 the first reports I had of it took away the happiness I should naturally have had 

 in announcing to you my India appointment. The truth is, I was so little dis- 

 posed to mention that event to any of my friends in Scotland — while I under- 



* The resemblance between this case and the attack which ultimately proved fatal to M. De 

 Saussure in 1799 rendered that eminent French philosopher anxious to learn the mode of treat- 

 ment employed by Dr Black, under which Ferguson had recovered. De Saussure's physician, 

 Dr Odier, accordingly requested Dr Marcet, then a student at the University of Edinburgh, to obtain 

 from Dr Black the desired information. Dr Marcet, accompanied by Professor Dugald Stewart, 

 waited on Dr Black, who, after a long and interesting conversation, delivered to him, in writing, 

 for transmission to De Saussure, an account of the case and its treatment, which has been printed 

 in the ' Medico-Chirurgical Transactions' (vol. vii. p. 230), and is the more interesting, as it is, 

 perhaps the only existing memorial of the medical practice of that distinguished chemist. 



