1$09.] 
societies could, I dare say, testify that I 
expressed; and every thing thar I have 
since seen of practice and of literature 
has tended to confirm it. After a lapse 
of years, and without the smallest com- 
munication, it is satisfactory to find the 
associated faculty and their correspon- 
dents concurring to make it the basis of 
a legislative measure, and certainly with- 
out being actuated by the least ill-will 
towards any medical school in the uni- 
verse, 
- “T know not whether any impartial 
person, after seriously reflecting upon the 
surest way of advancing in so dithcult a 
study, ever surveyed the medical classes 
at Edinburgh. He would see that per- 
petual bodily hurry which is generally at- 
tended with a good deal of confusion of 
mind. No sooner does the college hour- 
bell toll, than the audience rush out in 
full stream, leaving the last word half 
finished in the mouth of one professor, 
not a few fearing lest they should miss 
the first words of another. Will you call 
this mere juvenile ardour? The young 
men there were generally, and doubtless 
sill are, earnest im their pursuits; but it 
was a common feeling, that each at- 
tempted too much at once; and if it be 
true, that figures and hues which are to 
last, must be laid again and again on the 
mind, with pauses between to allow them 
to fix, somewhat as in fresco painting, 
this feeling would appear to be right. A 
ealculation had been made, and “the re- 
quired attendance distributed ag well as 
possible through the three years. Consi- 
dering the number of professors, and the 
necessity for those, who were to trust to 
this school solely,to attend certain courses, 
(as the anatomical, practica}, and clini- 
cal,) two or three times; considering, be- 
sides, that the merit of “outelecturers will 
have ‘lairts upon the inquisitive, and that 
many had no other chance for acquiring 
a smattering of natural philosophy and 
natural history, how could any student, 
and especially the most ardent, avoid at- 
tempting too much at once? The conse- 
quence was too apparent. Our acade- 
mica] architects, in their hurry to finish 
the structure, failed to lay a solid foun- 
dation.” 
It appears evident, that Dr. Beddoes’ 
residence in Scotland did not prevent 
him from keeping his terms, and parti- 
¢ipating in the honours of his own uni- 
versity; for on his return, he again re- 
sorted to Pembroke, and took his de- 
grees, in the manner, and at the times 
already eon . 
Memoirs of the late Thomas Beddoes, M.D. 
45 
It may be necessary to state here, that 
chemistry had always been a favourite 
study with the subject of this article; 
and that after having first viewed it, 
merely as a branch of medicine, he ater- 
wards addicted himself to this pursuit, 
with a more than ordinary degree of 
avidity. His reputation, indeed, as well 
as his acquirements, in this very elegant, 
and very useful department of human 
knowledge, must have been very exten 
sive, for in 1786, we find him acting as 
reader of chemistry to his “Alma Mater ;” 
there was no professorship of this kind, 
established at that period, or indeed 
until 1803, at Oxford, although one had 
been founded so eaily as 1706, at Cam- 
bridge. 
In the course of 1787, he visited 
France, and appears to have been for 
some time resident at Dijon. While at 
Paris, he of course became acquainted 
with Lavoisier, whose reputation was, at 
that period, at its height, and not only 
acquired his esteem, but also carried on a 
scientific correspondence with him after 
his return. At the evening parties of the 
amiable and accomplished Madame La- 
voisier, his wife, he also saw some of the 
first Company m the French metropolis, 
among whom were many who have since 
figured in the political stage, and been 
swept away by the volcano, that soon 
after burst forth. Here, too, he beheld 
the first symptoms of that Revolution, 
which, after shaking France to her centre, 
was destined to convulse the whole 
world. 
That an ingenious young man, whe 
with a liberal education had imbibed 
generous notions of both science and 
government, should be disgusted with the © 
tyranny of the Bourbons, and the horrors 
of an arbitrary government, even while 
administered under its mildest forms, by 
a weak but amiable prince, is little to be 
wondered at. He certainly, like thou~- 
sands, did experience great joy at the 
glorious prospect, which has since been 
so completely blasted; and who can 
blame him for witnessing with satisfac- 
tion, the first efforts of the French na- 
tion; who, in 1788, and 1789, in imita- 
tion of the English people in 1688, at- 
tempted a melioration of their political 
system. 
With ideas, such as, or at least similar 
to these, the mind of Dr. Beddoes: be- 
came deeply imbued, and it cannot be 
denied, that they had a considerable 
effect on his future fortunes, studies, and 
pores In all governments bcs ldpsty 
the 
