Page:Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (ser 03 vol 05).djvu/40

xxx educated; the wisdom which he there imbibed, he would he careful to teach others; and it has been thus briefly adverted to, in order to indicate its influence in forming his own opinions and character.

The two friends differed as much in their personal appearance as in their mental constitution. Dr. Parrish was rather robust in form, of medium height, sanguine temperament, handsome countenance, benevolent expression, and very agreeable and popular manners. He dressed in Quaker costume, which well became his comely person; and was one of the last of those who clung to the fashion of small-clothes, silk stockings, and high-topped boots. He was an enthusiast in his profession, the study of which he began rather later than usual, and without the preliminary training which, great as were his qualifications, would have placed him so far above ordinary men. He was himself a pupil of Dr. Wistar, for whose memory he cherished the profoundest veneration; and his views, always practical and conservative, were independent, and often original;—anticipating in several important particulars, the discoveries and conclusions of a later and more scientific age. He was better read in the book of Nature, than in the current literature of his profession; more intent on the study and interpretation of the phenomena which she daily submitted to his observation, than conversant with the ideas and works of others; for which, indeed, little leisure was allowed by the exacting and paramount claims of a large and responsible practice. His lectures—full of good sense, wholesome doctrine, and thoughtful deduction—were not written on any regular and systematic plan, but were somewhat discursive in their range, and were made up chiefly of the results of his own experience; consisting, for the most