250  Life  of  Robert  Bridges,  M.  D.  {^'A^\m&rm' 
claims  to  consideration.  He  was  always  content  to  leave  to  others  the 
appraisement  of  his  worth.  Without  being  ready  in  debate  or  at  all 
eloquent  in  speech,  he  was  an  admirable  and  efficient  teacher,  as  thou- 
sands of  his  pupils  can  testify.  They  will  teach  his  lessons  and  thus 
long  continue  and  expand  the  beneficent  influence  of  his  instruction 
and  example. 
Though  he  was  baptized  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and 
was  occasionally  present  at  its  services,  he  seemed  to  hold  views  in 
harmony  with  the  tenets  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  of  which  his  mother 
and  her  ancestors  were  members. 
Dr.  Bridges  was  notably  reticent  about  himself  among  his  most 
intimate  friends.  He  left  no  letters  or  papers  bearing  testimony  to 
his  merits.  A  friend  who  had  been  intimate  with  him  during  a  third 
of  a  century,  says,  in  a  letter,  September  10,  1881  :  "Few  men  in  this 
world — and  I  have  met  many  who  are  good  and  generous — have  ever, 
in  my  judgment,  with  such  self-sacrificing  generosity,  bestowed  as 
heartily  their  sympathy  and  their  best  efforts  to  gladden  the  lives  of 
those  around  them,  as  our  friend  Bridges  has  always  done.  And  the 
quiet,  earnest  and  unflagging  way  in  which  he  has  bestowed  the  best 
energies  and  all  the  small  rewards  of  his  life  among  his  friends  is 
beautiful  to  behold.  ****** 
"I  am  quite  surprised  to  hear  that  he  is  able  and  enjoys  so  much 
exercise  as  to  go  twice  a  day  to  the  cool  hall  of  the  Academy  to  read 
in  the  library.  I  am  very  glad  of  it,  and,  especially,  as  he  will  there 
have  the  benefit  of  the  refreshing  atmosphere  of  that  large  room;  and 
will  enjoy  the  very  best  thing  for  him,  not  unfrequent  meeting  with 
old  acquaintances,  and  always  find  most  congenial  topics  of  conversa- 
tion. I  never  shall  forget  the  force  with  which,  before  I  was  well 
acquainted  with  Dr.  Bridges,  an  assertion  of  Leidy  one  day  struck  me. 
Leidy  said,  he  thought  he  had  as  much  broad  and  general  knowledge 
and  accurate  learning  as  could  be  found  among  us,  and  that  he  was  a 
man  of  most  sound  and  solid  judgment.  This  I  have  found  to  grow 
upon  my  convictions  of  his  mind  and  acquirements  for  the  period  of 
thirty-three  years  since  Leidy  spoke  of  him  so  sincerely  and  soundly." 
His  knowledge  of  natural  history  in  general  was  extensive,  accurate 
and  always  at  command.  He  was  a  well-informed  botanist,  thoroughly 
versed  in  materia  medica  and  chemistry,  and  a  skillful  practitioner  of 
medicine.  Naturally  modest,  almost  shy,  his  manner  to  strangers  was 
somewhat  reserved,  but  cordial  with  his  friends,  all  of  whom  regarded 
