resigned himself to his inevitable fate. He felt that he had been a great sinner; and he seemed to derive much comfort from "not despising the chastening of the Lord.” Professionally, this case was calculated to interest me, from the rareness of its occurrence, from its inherent malignity, and from the completeness of this particular instance, which could scarcely be exceeded in characteristic severity. It was, moreover, the case of an old schoolfellow, with whom, forty years previously, I had spent many a cheerful day, each “a stranger yet to pain." But its connexion with the fearful question, "Is not this dreadful sickness of mine retributive ?" made it doubly impressive. *

I may mention, in conclusion, that my poor suffering friend lived many weeks from the period of my first visit, and that when I saw him for the last time, which was a few days prior to his death, he only lamented that his sight had become so dim as to entirely prevent his reading. His sufferings upon the whole, he said, were less.

The tumours,

* Believing, as we must, that the very hairs of our head are numbered, and that" not a sparrow falls to the ground, but thou, O Lord, knowest it," who will dare to deny the retributive tendency of any particular judgment? Yet, it is neither consistent with Christian charity, nor with a knowledge of the usual course of God's proceedings upon earth, to show a readiness upon all occasions to array the incidents of life in the characters of extraordinary interposition. In the parable of our Lord, the tares and the wheat are allowed to grow together until harvest; and what a world would this be were it otherwise! Were we liable, at every instant, to be arraigned for every evil thought, word, or action, at any other bar than that of our own consciences, what would become of the doctrines of repentance, of probation, of faith? The power of the Almighty to destroy or to save upon fitting occasions, known to himself alone, must be recognized by every pious and reflecting mind. If we go beyond this, we deprive rational beings of freedom of will; we depress them below the standard of instinct, and drive them, bereft of their moral attributes, upon the confines of fatalism itself.

instead of advancing to the state of ulceration, had, with one or two trifling exceptions, shrunk as the frame generally became more emaciated; be even felt less inconvenience from cold extremities; and he was waiting with patience, and composure of mind, for the hour of his departure, which was evidently near at hand.

CHAPTER VII.

ON THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS.

IT is not my intention to follow the thread of Abernethy's publications seriatim, many of them being exclusively and technically surgical; but I must on no account pass by that noted work of his " On the Disorders of the Health in general, and of the Digestive Organs in particular, which accompany Local Diseases, and obstruct their Cure." It fixed more attention upon him than all his other writings, and served his purpose more ways than one; for whilst it tended to exalt the practice of surgery, it enabled him, without presuming (which he used to say he never did), to practise physic,—to liberate his mind, by concentrating, as it were, his medical opinions in a book, which purported to be part the second of his " Surgical Observations." The prescriptions, in fact, which the book contains, are few and simple; whilst its pages are replete with maxims appertaining to the regulation of the general health, without the knowledge of which, no surgeon can claim distinction, or be entitled to public confidence.

The golden maxim, upon which his argument was mainly founded, is, that "no part of the animal body can be very materially disordered, without occasioning a corresponding derangement of the whole constitution;" that there

is, namely, an established intercommunity and reciprocity between the whole body, and each part respectively. And what is this, but to adopt the language of an inspired Apostle, who, in his beautiful parallel between the human body, and the mystical body of Christ, or the church, (all the members of which, though they be many, and adorned with different gifts, yet make but one mystical body, united to their head, Jesus Christ,) thus speaks of the former ? "But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased Him. member, where were the body? members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor, again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it."1 Cor. xii. 18, &c.

And if they were all one But now are they many

With reference to the digestive organs, more especially, we are told, that "as local diseases disturb the functions of these organs; so, conversely, a deranged state of them, either induced by sympathy, or existing primarily, materially affects the progress of local complaints." The truth of his opinions he establishes by well-selected cases, which fell under his own observation; but, after his own fashion, I shall refer my readers for these to the book itself.

It is admitted by Mr. Abernethy, with his usual candour, that many writers, both ancient and modern, have been aware of the reciprocity that exists between general and

local disease, as well as of the connexion of both, with the common sensorium, the brain; but it is evident that this knowledge has become more general and practical, since he began to call the attention of the public to it; for although his writings are addressed to his professional brethen, they are written with unusual perspicuity, and are admirably calculated to let all mankind see that, what is called the "Art of Healing," is dependent on scientific principles, and claims a nearer affinity to the Divine nature, than any other art or science whatever. No one could feel this more sensibly than Abernethy, who was not more worthy of our admiration as a medical philosopher, than as a benevolent

man.

Perhaps a little more worldly-mindedness might have better suited some of his patients, who came to him to be cured by his prescriptions, rather than by his philosophy, which required reflection. With the exception of specific medicines for particular diseases, his prescriptions, as I have said, were few and simple; and, any one who may happen to be familiar with the practice of the late Dr. Baillie, as far as that can be gathered from the numberless prescriptions of his, which survive him, will perceive a great coincidence of plan between that eminent physician and Abernethy. Both possessed a thorough knowledge of the human frame, in its most perfect state of health, as well as after it had undergone the changes of disease; and, having ascertained, to the best of their power, the nature of the defect in any particular case under consideration, they pointed their curative means accordingly. Still these were mostly directed to the digestive organs, and we subjoin two of their