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philosophy, which he cultivated with great success. Bnt he ulti- 
mately adopted medicine as his profession, to which he was probably 
drawn by the example and influence of his distinguished relative the 
late Dr James Gregory, and in which he was destined to find an 
appropriate career for his talents, acquirements, and virtues. 
It would be idle in me to detail or dilate upon the particulars of 
his professional life, which was in all respects eminently successful, 
and in the course of which he came to hold a high place both as a 
teacher of medical science and as a practising physician. The notice 
of him which has lately appeared in the “ Medical Journal” is so full 
and complete as to leave nothing to be desired in this respect ; and 
if I were to attempt to abridge it, I should only weaken its effect, 
and probably fall into errors from which no unprofessional man can 
easily keep free. Neither can it be necessary to inform any one 
here present of the valuable contributions which Dr Alison made to 
the theory of medicine, or of the great skill, the indefatigable 
patience, and the unfailing benevolence by which, as a physician, he 
was uniformly distinguished. His published works are generally 
regarded as entitling him to a high place as an expounder of the 
philosophy of medicine, and his powers as an oral teacher were 
peculiarly efficient, and exercised a marked influence on the progress 
of medical science. The time, the strength, and the resources 
which he bestowed upon the sick poor were almost incredible, and 
such as no one could have given who to vigour of bodily frame had 
not added the impulse of the warmest benevolence and the highest 
principle. As a practical philanthropist, his name deserves to be 
placed not far behind that of Howard himself. 
It would be a serious omission in any notice of this ex- 
cellent man if his views and exertions, with reference to the Poor 
Laws of the country, were not in some degree commemorated. Two 
theories upon that subject, diametrically opposed to each other, 
were at one time advocated by two distinguished men in Scotland — • 
Dr Chalmers and Dr Alison. Chalmers, misled, I think, by the 
enthusiasm of his own genius, and overlooking the peculiar powers 
which he himself possessed, conceived the romantic idea, that a com- 
pulsory or legal provision for the poor might be altogether dispensed 
with. He maintained, that even the great towns, if they were duly 
subdivided and furnished with a certain amount of religious machi- 
nery and superintendence, might be so purified and elevated in the 
