I was in London more or less until I reached my 21st year (1830); by that
time the hospital and its teachers had gone stale, when the idea occurred
to me to visit the Scotch Universities. I took my way to Edinburgh by
steamer, and very pleasant the voyage was. There were pretty young ladies
on board, who soon became as friendly as if they had been relations. But
not to be forgotten was a gentleman who had wit and vivacity; I remember
his name quite well. He told me that he was crossing to get out of the
way of his creditors for a little time, and to visit his kinsfolk. He
looked to me about 45 years old, when he told me, as a sort of joke, that
he was a classical tutor in London and had been spending too much money,
adding, with self-apologetic glee, “You see what it is to be a young
fellow!” I did not know at the moment that he had been spending five
pounds of mine, nevertheless such proved to be the case before we parted,
for that was the trifle he—“by-the-bye”—wanted of me for a few days, his
days very much resembling the six notable ones during which the world was
created. He took me to Ambrose’s Hotel, a very comfortable one, the scene
of Wilson’s drunken _Noctes Ambrosianæ_, and we had a double-bedded room.
I was in bed first and it was left to him to extinguish the light, which
he did by blowing it out. It was a candle of tallow, and, to my disgust,
the stench of it soon filled the room. I protested vehemently against his
proceeding, when his reply was, “You don’t know now what you may get to
like in time!”
I acquired the friendly acquaintance, at Edinburgh, of Dr. Greville,
the eminent author of a work on the _Cryptogamia_; he was married to an
Eden, the sister of Mrs. Northmore of Cleve, whose husband I have already
spoken of, a noble old Devonshire squire.
Dr. Robert Knox was in his glory in those days, the greatest anatomist of
the time, whose splendid intellect, in opposition to Lyell and the rest,
foresaw that we had only to abide scientific progress to discover that
man belonged to an early period of time.
I am sorry that I never saw Dr. Knox; he was an enthusiast in his
devotion to anatomical science; it was his calling and his hobby in
one. A dentist once remarked to me that every man should have a hobby
besides his profession, and smilingly admitted that his was “making
money.” I have observed that surgery has engaged many enthusiasts in
its pursuit—anatomy and pathology may be added; but I do not remember
a physician of whom this could be so flatteringly said, unless it were
Sydenham, a true devotée. But formerly the practice of medicine was in
the dark: not altogether so now, since the introduction of physical and
chemical diagnosis, the work of Laenec and Bright. It is no want of
enthusiasm in character itself; it is not so very long since all the
science of the country was carried out and sustained by physicians.
At Aberdeen I enriched myself with the acquaintance of Principal Jack,
who showed me many attentions—not the least of which was that of
introducing me to his charming wife and daughter. Our acquaintance did
not then cease, but continued for some years.
I visited St. Andrews. What distressed me there, was to see a large
college building without windows or roof, announcing itself to be a ruin.
It is true the university is very old, but a seat of learning ought to
last for ever, and not be allowed to become a mere memorial of some
intellectual famine.
I then went to Glasgow, where Dr. Hooker was the professor of botany
in the university, and where Dr. Badham—a scholarly gentleman—was the
professor of physic, an appointment which, as I understood, was in the
gift of the London College of Physicians. Except Dr. Thompson, who had
the chair of chemistry, the other professors were of no account.
The college, a double quadrangle, stood in the middle of the town, where
it was established by an edict of the Pope in one of the middle ages.
It was a quaint old building, a credit to the learning of the city:
the present building being more a credit to its wealth. The ancient
structure, I presume, was pulled down and the site disposed of.