Page:Lives of British Physicians.djvu/39

 CAiUS. 23 inscribed " Humilitatis the next, which was a portico of handsome structure, was inscribed, " Virtutis ;" and on the opposite side was written, Jo. Caius posuit sapientiye." The gate leading to the public schools, through which all passed for their degrees, was inscribed " Honoris." Caius seems to have derived great satisfaction from this disposition of his bounty ; for he made this man- sion of learning the retreat of his old age ; and after resigning the mastership of the College, he resided as a fellow commoner, assisting at daily prayers in the chapel, in a private seat built for his own use. But besides being the founder of a college at Cambridge, which is, to this day, the chief medi- cal college in that celebrated University, and the author of an interesting treatise on one of the most curious diseases that have ever appeared among us, Caius distinguished himself as a na- turalist, and was the correspondent of the cele- brated Gesner. Between Gesner and Caius an intimate friendship existed ; and the former, who was so eminent a scholar, philosopher, and na- turahst, as to have acquired the name of the Pliny of Germany, speaks of Caius in terras of the highest commendation. In his preface to his I cones Animalwrn, he styles him a man of consummate erudition, judgment, fidelity, and diligence ; and in an epistle to Queen Elizabeth, bestows upon him the epithet of " the most learned physician of his age." At the request of Gesner, he composed a treatise on British dogs, which was afterwards greatly improved and enlarged in 1570.