XI 



William Sharpey's education was carried on up to the age of fifteen 

 at the public school of Arbroath. In November, 1817, he entered the 

 University of Edinburgh as a student in the Faculty of Arts, attending 

 the Greek and Natural Philosophy classes. 



In 1818 he commenced his medical studies, in the University and 

 the extra- academical school of Edinburgh. In the latter school his 

 teacher in anatomy was Dr. John Barclay, well known for his 

 energy as a writer and lecturer and his ingenuity as an observer 

 in human and comparative anatomy. In chemistry his chief 

 instructor was Dr. John Murray, of whose scientific accuracy and 

 judgment Dr. Sharpey always spoke in the warmest terms. In 

 1821, at the age of nineteen, he obtained the diploma of the Edinburgh 

 College of Surgeons. He then passed some months of that year in 

 the study of anatomy at Brookes' School in London, and in the 

 autumn proceeded to Paris and remained there for nearly a year, in 

 attendance upon the medical and surgical wards of the hospitals, 

 more especially in the surgical wards of the Hotel Dieu, under the 

 instruction of the celebrated Dupuytren. In Paris he had the com- 

 panionship of his friend Dr. Robert Willis, and he first made the 

 acquaintance of Professor Syme, with both of whom he was ever after 

 on the most intimate and friendly terms. 



In August, 1823, he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the 

 University of Edinburgh, his printed inaugural dissertation bearing 

 the title "De Yentriculi Carcinomate ;" and in the latter part of the 

 year he went again to Paris to complete his studies in medicine and 

 surgery at the hospitals, and in natural history at the Garden of 

 Plants. After his return from France in the summer of 1824, his 

 plans seem to have remained for some time undecided until near the 

 end of 1826, when he finally resolved not to embark in medical 

 practice, but to devote himself to anatomical and physiological pur- 

 suits, for which he had long had a predilection, and to the study of 

 which he had already given a considerable share of attention. 



With this view he resolved upon completing his continental travels, 

 and obtaining the advantages of study in the Italian and German 

 schools, as he had already done very fully in the French ; and 

 accordingly, in the autumn of 1827, he proceeded by way of Paris and 

 Geneva to Switzerland, in which he made a three months' pedestrian 

 tour. He then travelled in the north of Italy, visiting Milan, Pavia 

 (where he spent some time in company with Panizza), Genoa, and 

 Florence. The winter was passed in Rome, Naples, and other places 

 of interest in central Italy ; and in the spring of 1828 he turned 

 his steps northward, taking the way of Bologna, Padua, and Venice, 

 to Verona and Innsbruck. The summer was spent in Austria and 

 North Germany, and he finally reached Berlin in August, where it 

 was his main object to devote himself to the study of anatomy. In 



