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large practice of Mr. Cline and the smaller one of Sir Everard Home, too confident of his position, had already begun to lose some of the vast reputation which he had previously enjoyed. Some one else was wanted, and I was ready to fill the vacant place. From this time my practice steadily increased, so that almost every year made considerable additions to it. Hitherto my income had been little more than sufficient to meet my annual expenditure, but I now began to lay by a considerable portion of it; and finding that I had the prospect of providing for my family, and of acquiring in the course of no very long time a moderate independence, I was relieved of much of the anxiety which I had formerly experienced.

In the same year in which I entered my new habitation, 1819, Lawrence having resigned the Professorship of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology at the College of Surgeons, the council of the college appointed me to succeed him, and I delivered my first course of lectures there in the year following. I do not know whether I acted quite wisely in undertaking that office.

With an increasing practice, my lectures on surgery, and my duties at the hospital, I had an abundance of occupation, and the having every year to make a fresh course of lectures on subjects on which I had not lectured previously was an almost frightful addition to my labours. It was only by giving up many hours which ought to have been devoted to sleep that I was able to fulfil my engagements, and even with this sacrifice I had not the satisfaction of knowing that my lectures were such as I could have wished them to be. On the other hand, in the composition of my lectures I had to go to the bottom of many things with which I was before only superficially acquainted, and thus I acquired much information which I should never have possessed otherwise, and which has been a source of interest to me ever since. I held the professorship until the year 1823, and delivered four courses of lectures. The two first courses related to the structure and physiology of the organs of respiration and circulation. In the third course I considered the organs of digestion; the subject of the last course

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being the anatomy and functions of the nervous system.

I may take this opportunity of observing that I have found few things to contribute more to my own improvement than the composition of my lectures, and the habit otherwise of recording my knowledge and thoughts in writing. It has enabled me to detect my own deficiencies, to avoid hasty conclusions, and has taught me to be less conceited of my own opinions than I should have been otherwise. Another result has been to give many things a permanent place in my memory, the impressions of which, without such artificial help, would have been evanescent. In the early part of my life I was accustomed to make written notes of books which I read, a few of which are still preserved among my papers, and I refer to them with no small degree of satisfaction as having rendered me an important service.

It was in the year 1821, and while I held the office of professor at the College of Surgeons, that I was first called on to attend the King, George IV., under the following circumstances.

His Majesty had one of the common encysted tumours which occur on the scalp, which was large enough to be troublesome to him. He showed it to Sir Everard Home, who advised him to have it removed by an operation. The King was anxious to undergo the operation. His Majesty, however, expressed to Sir William Knighton that he wished the operation to be performed by myself, Sir Everard being, however, present, and Knighton was commissioned to make this communication to me. I cannot say that I derived any particular satisfaction from it, as I found that I had already obtained the patronage of the public, and was quite contented with it. In the meanwhile, however, the subject of the proposed operation was mentioned to Lord Liverpool, who was then prime minister. Lord Liverpool represented to the King that it was a matter which might concern the public as well as himself, and urged that nothing should be done without Sir Astley (then Mr.) Cooper being first consulted, and that, if an operation was determined on, Sir Astley should perform it. Sir Astley being at that time the

most conspicuous person in his profession, I cannot doubt that Lord Liverpool's judgment was quite correct. Accordingly, Sir Everard Home, Sir Astley Cooper, and myself were summoned to Windsor; when, after examining the tumour, we agreed that nothing but an operation could be of any service, and that it should be performed when the King returned to London. Mr. Cline was consulted afterwards, who confirmed the opinion which we had given. Eventually the operation was performed by Sir Astley Cooper, in the presence of Sir Everard Home, Mr. Cline Sir William Knighton, the King's physicians, Sir Henry Halford, Sir Mathew Tierney, and myself, making indeed a very large assembly for so small a matter. After this attendance, Cooper was created a baronet, and Sir Everard Home, was comforted by being appointed to the office of surgeon to Chelsea Hospital, vacated by the death of Mr. Thomas Keate, and by his son, who was then a very young lieutenant in the navy, being advanced rather prematurely t the rank of commander. From this time, when any surgical operation was required, the King, for

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