Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/305

Rh cure." Little is known concerning the persons with whom Dr Cullen associated at this period; but that he acquitted himself satisfactorily and honourably, and gained the approbation and esteem of his master is evident from the flattering manner in which Mr Paisley acted towards him; for many years after his apprenticeship had terminated, when Dr Cullen was a lecturer in the university of Glasgow, Mr Paisley testified his regard for him, by throwing open his library for the use of his students. The life of a man so devoted to science must necessarily be of a studious and sequestered character; but, that he felt that desire of distinction, which is so often the indication of superior talents and the best pledge of future improvement, appears, by a circumstance related of him by one of his early friends, the late Mr Thorn, minister of Govan. This gentleman mentioned to Dr Thomson, that if Cullen happened to be in the company of his fellow students, when any subject of speculation or debate was started with which he was imperfectly acquainted, he took very little share in the conversation, but when they met again, if the same discussion happened to be introduced, he never failed to show that in the interval he had acquired a more useful knowledge of the question, in all its bearings and details, than that to which the best informed of his companions could pretend

Having terminated his studies at Glasgow, Dr Cullen, towards the end of the year 1729, went to London, with the view of improving himself in his profession, and there, soon after his arrival, through the interest of commissioner Cleland, who was a friend of Pope, and author of a letter prefixed to one of the editions of the Dunciad, he obtained the appointment of surgeon to a merchant ship, which traded between London and the West Indies. On the occasion of this appointment he underwent a medical examination, at which he acquitted himself with satisfaction to his examiners, "who," says his younger brother, "were strongly to persevere in that diligence which it was evident to them he had employed in the study of his profession." Mr Cleland, a relation of his own, was fortunately the captain of the vessel in which he obtained this appointment. During the voyage in which he was now engaged, he did not neglect the opportunity it afforded him of studying the effects of the diversity of climate on the human constitution, and the diseases which are so prevalent and fatal in our West Indian settlements. The facts he then gathered—the observations he then made,—he subsequently referred to in his lectures in Glasgow and in Edinburgh. After returning from the West Indies he remained a short time in London, where he attended the shop of Mr Murray, an apothecary; and it is supposed that here it was that he first paid particular attention to the study of materia medica. About this period—the end of the year 1731, or the beginning of the year 1732—in consequence of the death of his eldest brother, the duty of arranging his father's affairs devolved upon him; besides which, the necessity of providing for the education of his younger brothers and sisters, rendered it expedient for him to return to Scotland. Aware of these circumstances, his friend, captain Cleland, invited him to reside with him at his family estate of Auchinlee in the parish of Shotts, and to take charge of the health of his son, who was affected with a lingering disorder. This -situation was peculiarly convenient for Dr Cullen in commencing the practice of his profession, for it was near to Hamilton, the place of his birth, and in the vicinity of the residences of many of the most respectable families in the county of Lanark, besides which, it was in the neighbourhood of his patrimonial property, the lands of Saughs, and of another small farm which belonged to his family in the parish of Shotts. Whilst residing there, he seems to have combined with his