xYiv Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinhurgh. 
others during his debut, produced a dreadful tumult in the com- 
munity by the living props giving way, and his putting the whole 
mass in commotion by his fall, while his own chivalric effort pre- 
maturely died away in choking accents, some violent neighbour 
having apparently made fierce attempts to garrotte him. Never, I 
think, w^as melody produced under more disadvantageous circum- 
stances. Their chanticleeric endeavours, moreover, were not received 
with due encouragement by the crews of the ships around. At day- 
light our anchor had been raised to allow us to drift in with the 
tide ; and as we passed through the shipping, innumerable red- 
cowls from the buhvarks cursed our concert in every language 
under the sun.” 
He graduated in Medicine in the spring of 1853, and immediately 
afterwards w^ent to Paris to continue his studies. That great 
Medical School w^as then presided over by men of European renown, 
such as Velpeau, N^laton, Bouchardat, Jobert de Lamballe, Bicord, 
&c., and as his degree in medicine freed him from all fees for lectures 
or hospitals, he was able to make as much use as it was possible of 
his opportunities. As in Glasgow^, so here, anatomy and surgery 
claimed his chief attention, and many were the hints and valuable 
the experience he gained. The French School ever exerted its 
influence over him, and it was to their works that he was in the 
habit of first turning in all his after preparation. 
He returned from Paris in the autumn of 1853, spending some 
time on his way home in the London Hospitals, and settled down to 
practice in Glasgow, having by that time given up an idea of going 
to India, partly owing to family affairs, and partly because of better 
prospects presenting themselves at home. But it was not long 
before he was again away. Europe was beginning to echo with the 
call to arms, the Crimean War was on the tapis, and wBere better 
could a young surgeon gain that experience which was so necessary 
for him in his profession than on the field of battle 1 But how was 
he to get there ? While on the alert to seize the first chance which 
presented itself to achieve this most desirable end, the opportunity 
was most unexpectedly put in his way. One evening, at a dance, 
his host asked him whether he would be willing to go with a friend 
of his on a yachting cruise to Constantinople. He jumped at the 
chance of thus getting near the seat of the future war, and on the 
