of Edinburgh, Session 1881-82. 
341 
had a retentive memory, and often in conversation or discussion pro- 
duced an apt quotation especially from Horace or Lucretius. It was 
his work as a member of the Medical Council rather than his literary 
efforts which led his Alma Mater, the University of Edinburgh, to 
confer upon him the degree of LL.D. 
In the matter of general politics, Dr. Wood had, as was usual 
with him, very decided opinions. Other people called him a Con- 
servative ; he avowed himself to be a Tory. He never, however, 
allowed politics to make any difference for him in the amenities of 
private life, and thus it came that many of those who were his most 
loved and loving friends were entirely of opposite political opinions. 
In both these respects he was a close follower of his genial and 
esteemed father, William Wood. In medical politics he followed 
no system which could be designated as Conservatism. His position 
in medical politics would best be expressed by a term borrowed from 
the German Parliamentary vocabulary ; he was a Progressist. His 
great desire was to see the medical profession not merely main- 
tained but elevated in public and social estimation. Pully estimat- 
ing the necessity for the rising generation of medical men being 
thoroughly equipped in all that pertains to modern advances in 
professional knowledge, he was particularly anxious that good 
preliminary education should be insisted on, and that the young 
doctor should first of all be a well-educated gentleman. 
His ecclesiastical position was that of a member of the Scottish 
Episcopal Church, as his forefathers had been. He was not one of 
those who carry their profession of faith on their sleeve. He never 
paraded his religion before the world. He would and did talk 
earnestly and piously on religious topics with his intimate friends, 
and being in his private relations a loving husband, an affectionate 
father, an attached friend and an upright straightforward man, he 
was a capital example of the unpretentious sincere Christian gentle- 
man. 
In the social relations he was esteemed by all who had the 
privilege of his friendship. A certain almost boyish exuberance 
of animal spirits made him the centre of a hilarious group, when- 
ever he foregathered with his friends in the University Club, or at 
the festive board of the iEsculapian or the Medico-Chirurgical 
Club. He had the true clubbable quality of being able to give and 
