Page:Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (ser 03 vol 05).djvu/71

Rh doubtless more effectually made by him than it had hitherto been.

With a just sense of human responsibility, Dr. Wood thus endeavored to make his pecuniary resources, as well as his time and talents, subservient to the welfare of his fellow-men, and his prolific brain was always teeming with thoughts and expedients for that purpose. Hospitals he considered one of the most unexceptionable forms of public charity, because, while they afforded a desirable refuge for the sick, they made in various ways—the increase of medical knowledge, and the practical training of physicians and surgeons—the very afflictions of mankind promotive of the general good. He would gladly have built and endowed such an institution with his own private means, had they been, consistently with other claims, sufficient for that purpose; and he fondly hoped that he had made by his testamentary dispositions provision at least for large extension and accommodation.

It might be supposed that the mental constitution of Dr. Wood would have induced him to take delight in all the problems of abstract science. His reasoning faculty was strong, and he was in his appropriate element in whatever required minute investigation and research. Sound common sense was a distinguishing characteristic of his active and penetrative mind. In everything he was methodical, accurate, and exact. His memory was retentive, and he had a competent, if not a familiar, acquaintance with several modern languages, especially French and German. He preserved to the last his love of letters and his early taste for classical literature. He read much on general, as well as on professional, subjects, and duly appropriated what he read. On almost every topic—politics, religion, literature, science—he had well matured and decided opinions. His conversational