Page:Biographical Notice Of The Late George McClellan.djvu/11

 Dr. McClellan's excellent classical education was blended with a continued fondness for literary pursuits, and a lively interest in general science. He read much, but wrote little. He always took up his pen with reluctance; and it was only at the earnest and long-continued promptings of his friends, that he at length commenced his "Principles of Surgery." The first printed sheet was placed before him during his brief illness; but he was already too much exhausted to notice its contents. The work, however, has been ably edited by his son, and it is now before the world an abiding memorial of the skill and genius of its author.

Novelty in practice is not the test of excellence or superiority in either surgery or medicine. The annals of our profession are full of proofs of the truth of this axiom. Dr. McClellan has made no parade of originality; but he has set forth, with the hand of a master, the multiplied experience of more than a quarter of a century; and this experience was no doubt as extensive as that of any private practitioner among us, during that long period of professional toil. Skill, decision and promptness were in him remarkably conspicuous, and they were combined with a judgment that had become matured in the school of observation and reflection. In the "Principles of Surgery," we find no temporizing treatment, no timid practice; but the positive knowledge of a mind that knew and relied upon its own resources.

Dr. McClellan possessed a sensitive and generous spirit, blended with a confiding manner that strongly marked his intercourse with men. His feelings were quickly excited and warmly expressed at the sense of unkindness or injustice; but there was a magnanimity in his nature that readily forgave an injury. He often regretted the differences into which he was led by the impulsive indiscretion of youth; and emphatically declared, that were it possible to live that part of his life over again, his course should be influenced by greater conciliation and forbearance. In connection with this subject, however, it must not be overlooked, that the period between the years 1820 and 1830 was one of peculiar