Page:Introductory lecture delivered to the class of military surgery in the University of Edinburgh, May 1, 1855 (IA b21916469).pdf/5

4 me, and to other friends, show how speedily and correctly he fixed his eye on the points most essential to the health of an army—the position of encampments—the feeding of the troops—the prompt attention to the first symptoms of disease, and the cheering influence which the prospect of meeting the enemy has ever been found to exert on the health and spirits of a good soldier. He says, in a letter to me, in allusion to his own health, which had suffered before he left Varna,—"I have no doubt, however, that a day or two of the sea, and a sight of Sebastopol, will soon put us all to rights." I shall not, Gentlemen, attempt to add any thing to the encomiums which have so generally and so justly been paid by the public press to Dr. Mackenzie's merits. It was to the 79th Regiment particularly that his services were devoted, in conjunction with his friend Dr. Scot, an old pupil of this class, and of whom he says (speaking of the comparative immunity of the 79th from cholera), "This, I have no hesitation in saying, is due to the energy and efficiency of Scot and his assistants. I have seen much that shows me more than I could have believed, the importance to a regiment of having an energetic and a good surgeon." The manner in which my