169 
John Percy, Lyon Playfair, Allan Thomson, and a number 
of others now living amongst us or passed away with 
honoured names. 
Of discoveries made by the microscope at this period of 
Goodsir’s life, we may mention that of the stomachic fun- 
gus, Sarcina ventriculi. This discovery is thus related by 
Dr. Lonsdale : 
“ His contributions to the different societies in Edinburgh (1 841 — 1844) 
show how earnestly he laboured for a front place in the ranks, hoping by 
all laudable methods to put himself in a favorable position for any more 
lucrative or substantial appointment which might cast up. One of these 
contributions relating to the Sarcina ventriculi in cases of pyrosis or 
‘ waterbrash’ — a pretty discovery of itself for any man to make — helped 
to disclose much that had been obscure and enigmatical in digestion. 
The perversity of the stomachic functions, caused by the presence of 
organisms which no gastric juice could control, was viewed as strangely 
curious. The Sarcina attracted most attention in England, where stomach 
complaints disturb the gastronomical ‘John Bull,’ as the ‘sair head’ 
does the plodding Scot, and ‘ smotherings about the heart ’ affect the 
Irish Celt. The discovery attracted many by its novelty, though parasi- 
tical growth had for some time been a matter of discussion. In this 
country Professor O wen ( 1 832) detected the presence of a greenish vegetable 
mould in the lungs of the Phcenicopterus, and was led to infer that internal 
parasites embrace entophyta as well as entozoa. Italian, French, and 
German observers, and notably Meynier, Schonlein, and Langenbeck, had 
written on parasitic growths; and Gruby of Vienna (Valentin’s ‘Reper- 
torium,’ 1841) had given a complete history of them, bestowing special 
attention on the crusts of the Tinea favosa made up of Mycodermata. 
Hughes Bennett in Edinburgh, Rayer and Cazenave in Paris, confirmed 
Gruby’s views. Mr. George Busk gave an excellent review in the ‘ Micro- 
scopic Journal’ (December, 1841) of all that had been done, and embodied 
his own researches with it, so that parasitic formation was one of the ques- 
tions of the day when Goodsir discovered the stomachic enemy.’ As 
Sarcina affects all phases of life, from Lazarus at the gate to Dives in the 
palace, Goodsir became involved in a large amount of correspondence 
with doctors and patients soliciting information and curative means. The 
history of the case gave him position and authority as a minute and accu- 
rate observer in little explored fields, and where natural history pursuits 
afforded light to strictly pathological questions.” 
In 1846 Goodsir was appointed Professor of Anatomy in 
the University of Edinburgh. From this time to the day 
of his death he devoted himself to the duty of teaching 
anatomy. He did not neglect the use of the microscope, 
and he had the satisfaction of seeing his colleagues, more 
especially Dr. Hughes Bennett, the Professor of the Insti- 
tutes of Medicine, introduce this instrument into his practi- 
1 “ If Edinburgh was first made acquainted with the Sarcina, so was its 
* Philosophical Journal’ the first to convey to the world, in 1819, Sir J. 
Herschel’s researches on the hypo-sulphites — salts of such significance in 
counteracting the parasite. 
