Cooper for "Bransby" Cooper, Dr. "Bennet" for Dr. "Bennett," &c. And in one place Dr. Duns actually goes out of his way to contradict a statement quoted by Sir William Hamilton from St. Augustine, to the effect that if the bodies of certain centipedes or myriapods be divided, the segments will for some time continue to move independently, a fact we should have supposed sufficiently familiar to any professor of natural history, and, indeed, to everybody, as it is one of which schoolboys are in the habit of giving daily practical demonstrations, in no laudable spirit of curiosity.

But it is time for us to approach the real object of the ensuing pages, which is to give a very brief notice of Sir James Simpson's life, entirely extracted from the biography before us, with a more detailed account of the famous

homœopathy" controversy in which he played so notorious a part. Bearing in mind this latter object, we shall also examine, though more cursorily, Sir James Simpson's controversies (to give them no harsher name) with the Edinburgh Senatus, Professors Syme, Miller, and Lister, and the opponents of chloroform; chiefly as affording illustrations of the spirit in which he carried on disputes of any kind, so that we may be the better enabled to estimate his ferocious attack upon homœopathy at its true value, and criticise it accordingly. It is, of course, no part either of our duty or our intention to offer any remarks on the portion of Dr. Duns's work which specially deals with Sir James Simpson's moral and religious character. We are quite willing to believe that in this, the highest of all considerations, Sir James Simpson was unimpeachable; and, even had we thought otherwise, it would have afforded us no pleasure to blacken the memory of a gifted and industrious man. Such distasteful work we leave to our cynical contemporary the Medical Times and Gazette, which scurrilous periodical assailed the spotless fame of the late Professor Henderson, almost before he had been laid in his grave, with mendacious insinuations of selfishness and dishonesty.

James Young Simpson was born at Bathgate, Linlithgowshire, on the 7th of June, 1811, the descendant of a line of "small farmers" who had long lived in that county. His father, David Simpson, born in the same town, had for some years worked as a journeyman baker in London, Glasgow, and Leith, and in the year 1810 settled in his native place in the same line of business. Besides his youngest, the subject of this biography, whom paternal fondness always regarded as the genius of the family, David Simpson had six other sons and one daughter. His third, son, Alexander, who succeeded to his business, and ultimately rose to the position of banker in his native town, was the kind and generous supporter of James Simpson during his youth while he needed aid; and it is gratifying to have to record that this liberality was not forgotten or unrequited by the younger brother when, in later years, he had risen to well-earned opulence and fame. Indeed, some of the most pleasing passages in this biography are those which describe the affectionate intercourse and mutual helpfulness of the various members of Sir James Simpson's family. After

going through the usual curriculum at the parish school at Bathgate, James Simpson entered the University of Edinburgh in 1825, where, for two years, he attended the classes of Greek, humanity, and mathematics, without, however, gaining much distinction. He commenced his professional

In

studies in 1827, and during his first medical session he also took the classes of natural and moral philosophy. In later years he was accustomed to speak of his attendance on the arts classes as having been very useful to him through life, which makes it the more surprising that we find him, in 1867, disparaging classical education, in a strain, however, displaying considerably more zeal than knowledge. 1830 he obtained his surgical diploma, and in 1832 graduated at Edinburgh as M.D. He then became candidate for the situation of parish surgeon to the small village of Inverkip, a post which, fortunately for himself and his profession, he failed to obtain. Shortly after he became assistant to Professor John Thomson, who, we are informed, had been struck with the excellence of Simpson's inaugural

dissertation; and it was while he held this situation that he resolved to devote himself to that department of practice in which he subsequently acquired such distinction. He wrote several papers on professional subjects, which attracted so much attention abroad as well as at home, that they were translated into German, French, and Italian. He became a member of the Royal Medical and Royal Physical Societies of Edinburgh, of both which he was later elected president. In 1835 he was enabled, by his brother's liberality, to accompany Dr. D. Maclagan on a tour of study and observation through London, Paris, Brussels, and Antwerp. In 1836 he was elected corresponding member of the Medical Society of Ghent, and in the same year he obtained the post of house-surgeon to the Edinburgh Lying-in Hospital. Next year he was appointed interim lecturer on pathology at the University, as that enlightened body-the Edinburgh Town Council-had, with their wonted officiousness, raised a clamour against Professor Thomson on account of some ridiculous charges they had managed to trump up concerning him; and in 1838 he commenced his first course of lectures on midwifery as an extra mural teacher. It is right to add that both his obstetric and pathological courses were largely attended, and his students publicly testified their sense of the value of his prelections.

Thus far things seem to have gone smoothly enough, on the surface at any rate; but from this time, until Sir James Simpson's death, we shall have to force our way through an uninterrupted series of rancorous and, too often, discreditable contentions. These may be said to date from the summer of 1839, when Dr. Hamilton resigned the chair of midwifery; and, as an illustration of the temper in which Simpson was likely to encounter any slight or opposition, we may extract the following anecdote, which refers to the same year, and is here reproduced in the words. of Dr. Duns:

"Dr. Simpson and Dr. Lewins were conversing together in the reading room of the College of Physicians

Soon after, the conversation turned to an anonymous letter

that had lately appeared in the newspaper on Queen's College, Ireland. 'What a precious piece of humbug!' said Lewins, in reference to a remark of Simpson's on another matter. Turning to Lewins, and looking him full in the face, he said, 'That was a scandalous and lying article in the Observer; I hope you were not the author of it." " As Lewins was the author, and as Simpson clearly showed by his manner that he knew, or, at least, suspected this to be the case, we are not surprised to learn that the result of this classical colloquy was a threatened duel, which was, however, fortunately averted by the friendly interposition of Dr. Handyside and others.

Upon the resignation of the chair of midwifery by Prosessor Hamilton, Drs. Lee and Kennedy, as well as several others of less note, offered themselves, together with James Simpson, as competitors for the vacant professorship. The two former of these, at any rate, were men of European celebrity, mature age, and long experience. Not unreasonably, there was a strong feeling among many of the professors and others that the claims of these were preferable to Simpson's. Mr. Syme, in particular, seems to have exerted himself strongly in favour of one of Simpson's rivals, a fact which Simpson seems never either to have forgotten or forgiven. Sir Charles Bell also expressed himself to the effect that, in a case like the one under consideration, regard ought rather to be paid to the duration of a candidate's professional career, and the amount of his experience as a teacher, than to the mere number, or even character, of personal testimonials from friends and others, the supply of which, of the most flattering nature, is generally found to be equal to the demand. Of these latter documents Dr. Simpson seems to have possessed abundance, and he had, as we have seen, other more solid recommendations. But Dr. Duns feels it his duty to comment very severely on Sir Charles Bell's very sensible remarks, and to adminster no small dose of flattery to the Town Council for their remarkable sagacity in disregarding them. It is a happy thing that, in the present instance, the result justified their choice: that Sir James Simpson did not prove another Monro

tertius, and that his election over the heads of his seniors did not turn out to be an electioneering blunder, like that which installed Christopher North in the chair of moral philosophy in preference to Sir William Hamilton.

Dr. Simpson's chief claims were as follows:-he had for one session delivered an extramural course of lectures on midwifery with considerable applause; he had also, for a time, discharged the duties of interim lecturer on pathology at the university; he was the author of several articles on obstetrical subjects which had been deemed worthy of translation into various continental languages; he had written an article on "Hermaphroditism" for Todd's Cyclopædia of Anatomy which gained much commendation; he had been chosen a member of the Medical Society of Ghent; he was president and honorary member of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, and member of the Royal Physical Society in that city; and, lastly, he had a not inconsiderable and daily increasing obstetric practice. On the other hand, he was only twenty-nine years of age, and hardly eight years had yet elapsed since his graduation; while among his opponents were veteran obstetricians, with claims to consideration greatly superior to his own. Dr. Simpson's success may, in part, be attributed to the confusion arising from the appearance upon the scene of a considerable number of competitors, many of whom withdrew before the close of the contest; partly to the energetic canvass of himself and his friends; partly to the influence of Ritchie and the whig party, who, fearing Simpson might contest the chair of pathology with their candidate Dr. W. Thomson, or otherwise obstruct that appointment, were anxious so to provide for him as to render this impossible; and partly to a rumour (true or false) that Dr. Kennedy, in spite of his attainments and experience, was not a fluent lecturer. However this may be, we have now every cause to rejoice in the result of the election, and we can only regret that Dr. Simpson should so strongly have resented Mr. Syme's opposition as to maintain a lifelong quarrel with the distinguished surgeon, and even to visit the sins of the fatherin-law on the head of the son-in-law by extending his