XXX 



of Dr. Monro on Anatomy, Drs. Black and Hope on Chemistry, Mr. John 

 Allen on the Animal Economy, Drs. "Wilson and Gregory on the Practice of 

 Medicine, Dr. Hamilton on Midwifery, Dr. Home on Materia Medica, Dr. 

 Duncan and Mr. James Russell's Clinical Lectures, and, to his especial 

 interest and delight, those on Moral Philosophy, by Professor Dugald 

 Stewart, from whom he received much kindness, and for whom he always 

 expressed a peculiar regard. While thus diligently engaged, he was in the 

 summer of 1/97 prostrated for a time by a severe attack of typhus fever, 

 which he caught in the wards of the Infirmary, and which nearly proved 

 fatal. On the 2.5th of June, 1798, he took his degree of M.D., being then 

 only 19 years of age. The subject of his thesis, which he dedicated to his 

 uncle Romilly, was " De Chemicse Affinitatis Legibus." In the same year 

 he wrote a letter to Dr. Beddoes on the non-prevalence of consumption 

 among Butchers, Fishermen, &c, which is published in that writer's 1 Essay 

 on the Causes &c. of Pulmonary Consumption,' London, 1799. 



After a summer and autumn spent in a trip to the Falls of the Clyde and 

 the English Lakes, and a succession of visits to Dr. Darwin at Derby, Mr. 

 Keir (the Chemist) near Birmingham, Dr. Beddoes at Clifton, and the 

 Marquis of Lansdowne at Bowood, Dr. Roget came to London and con- 

 tinued his professional studies, first at Dr. Willan's Dispensary in Carey 

 Street, and shortly after as a pupil of St. George's Hospital, where he at- 

 tended Dr. Baillie's lectures in the early part of 1799. In that year he 

 wrote a letter to Davy on the effects of the respiration of the then new gas 

 (oxide of azote, or nitrous oxide), which communication appears in Sir 

 Humphry Davy's 'Researches,' published in 1800. 



In October 1800, Dr. Roget spent six weeks with Mr. Jeremy Bentham, 

 who it is understood consulted him at that time upon a scheme which he 

 was concocting for the utilization of the sewage of the metropolis. It may 

 easily be imagined with how great an interest that most remarkable man 

 was regarded by the young physician. In November he began to attend 

 Abernethy's lectures at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. 



At the end of the following year he went to Manchester on an engage- 

 ment to travel with the two sons of Mr. John Philips of that town ; and 

 it was while thus employed that he met with an adventure which he ever 

 after regarded as forming the great crisis of his life. The peace of Amiens 

 having thrown open the continent to English tourists, Dr. Roget and his 

 two pupils spent about thiee months in Paris in the early part of 1802, 

 and thence proceeded in the summer to Geneva, having for their travelling 

 companion thither Mr. Lovell Edgeworth, brother of the authoress Maria 

 Edgeworth. There Dr. Roget found his old friend and preceptor Chauvet, 

 and stayed for some time at his home. The succeeding winter was spent 

 amidst the congenial society of Geneva, and in forming plans for a summer 

 tour in Switzerland. These prospects were, however, suddenly dispelled 

 by the news of the rupture of peaceful relations between England and 

 France, of which country Geneva then formed a part. 



