Ixviii 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
him that I was an English gentleman, travelling in 
quest of natural history, he remarked that he had 
been mistaken in his surmise, for that he had taken 
me for a damned Yankee. 
In the autumn of 1814, as I was shooting with 
my excellent brother-in-law, Mr. Carr, I had a proof 
that, although a man may escape with impunity in 
distant regions, he may stumble on misfortune at 
home, when he least expects it. My gun went 
off accidentally. I had just rammed the paper 
down upon the powder, when the ramrod, which 
was armed with brass at both ends, passed quite 
through my fore finger, betwixt the knuckle and 
the first joint, without breaking the bone; the 
paper and ignited powder following through the 
hole, and rendering its appearance as black as 
soot. I repaired to a tenant's house and poured 
w^arm water plentifully through the wound, until 
I had washed away the marks of the gunpowder ; 
then collecting the ruptured tendons, which were 
hanging down, I replaced them carefully, and bound 
up the wound, not forgetting to give to the finger 
its original shape as nearly as possible. After this, 
I opened a vein with the other hand, and took away i 
to the extent of two and twenty ounces of blood. ! 
Whilst I am on phlebotomy, I may remark, that I 
consider inflammation to be the root and origin of i 
almost all diseases. To subdue this at its earliest j 
stage has been my constant care. Since my four i 
and twentieth year, I have been blooded above one 
hundred and ten times, in eighty of which I have 
performed the operation on myself with my own 
