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mary expired in 1865, and at this time he gave up lecturing, as his 
private practice had so increased that he could no longer give the 
time required for this. For the same reason he was obliged to 
resign the office of Examiner in Medicine for the Edinburgh Uni- 
versity, to which he had been appointed in 1869. On relinquish- 
ing his connection with the Infirmary he devoted himself to private 
practice as a physician ; but after the death of his father, which 
took place in 1870, he found it necessary to retire from ordinary 
practice and devote himself to the work of a consulting physician. 
In this capacity he continued to labour till the close of his life; 
and in it he attained a position which has been described as almost 
unique in his profession, his consulting room, on days when he was 
to be seen at home, being crowded with patients of all classes, and 
his services being in request, not only in all parts of Scotland, but 
frequently also in England. For this he was indebted, in some 
degree, to the urbanity and kindliness of his manner, in a greater 
degree to the excellent footing on which he stood with members 
of his own profession, but most of all to his undoubted skill, know- 
ledge, and experience as a physician. 
In the midst of his professional engagements, Dr Warburton 
Begbie found time to furnish several valuable contributions to the I 
literature and science of his profession. These appeared, for the 
most part, in the pages of the “Edinburgh Medical Journal,” to 
which he was for many years a frequent contributor. He published 
also, at an early stage in his career, a little work, entitled “ Handy 
Book of Medical Information and Advice. By a Physician.” This, 
though published anonymously, speedily obtained an extensive 
circulation, which was much increased when the authorship of the 
work became generally known. In the literature of his profession 
he was deeply versed, and his extensive knowledge of the history 
of medicine enabled him to illustrate his own writings by appro- 
priate citations from his predecessors in the same field of inquiry 
and observation. To his other accomplishments he added that of 
being an excellent linguist; with the classical writers of Greece 
and Borne he was familiar, and he was able to converse freely in 
several of the modern European tongues. As a lecturer on medi- 
cine he was distinguished by the accuracy and fulness of his know- 
ledge, by the perspicuity of his style, and by the minuteness with 
