Page:Memoir of George McClellan MD.djvu/32

 merit,—that of a medical instructor in all the departments of writer, private preceptor, public professor and clinical teacher. He excelled in all of them. That happy unison of eye and hand, more than once adverted to, did not more certainly secure to him surgical dexterity, than did that more important unison of a rapid mind, tongue and pen secure for him eloquence in teaching.

As a writer, he has been the contributor of original medico-chirurgical reports; one of the conductors of the American Medical Review and Journal; the commentator on Eberle's Theory and Practice of Physic; and soon will be known as the author of a system of American Surgery. Through the politeness of the publishers, Messrs. Grigg & Elliot, I have been permitted to glance over three hundred pages of proof. One hundred of it unfolds new and important principles of shocks, reactions and irritation. The rest of them is also a rich mass of medico-chirurgical principles illustrated by his own extensive clinic. The entire work will make about five hundred pages octavo. It is one of genius and of high practical value. Its style that which can only be attained by good sense, simplicity, experience, and extensive knowledge.

These remarks may surprise some!—perhaps many! McClellan's off-hand manner did not, to the ordinary observer, bespeak cultivation, but rather that he was only one of the mere knife-men in surgery, and not one of the gentlest. Such indeed is the impression with many.

Permit me to introduce here an interview between McClellan and a medical friend, which will present this matter in a correct light:

“Having read me,” says the latter, “the section on burns of his new work; I remarked that he had