Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 2.djvu/573

 was, as that of every practitioner should surely be, to discover them during life, and to prevent or to remedy them. His continual care, added to his excellent abilities, and great professional learning, made him, in my estimation, a physician whose opinion was almost unerringly correct, and whose practice comprehended whatever was prudent and rational in the whole range of medical science, domestic or foreign, modern or ancient. His knowledge, in every department of his profession, was so full and so exact, that no one ever sought his opinion who went away unsatisfied. That these valuable qualities and acquirements were freely and extensively exercised, for the poor as well as the rich, is testified by the respect and affection with which his name is yet mentioned in every part of the populous town in which he lived: and that he always freely imparted his views to those who wished to be acquainted with them, many friends can bear testimony.

Among the medical men of his own neighbourhood, few held so honourable a rank. Many who, for a time, misunderstood or feared him, had learned to respect him by the casual introductions occurring in practice. He was resorted to in every difficulty; and the general practitioner felt that, with him, not only the patient, but the reputation of the medical adviser who had been previously employed, was secure. In all the common affairs of life, or occurring between medical men, he was often consulted by those only a few years younger than himself, like one whom long experience had made sage: and no perplexities of circumstances, no temptations to give pleasing but delusive counsel, ever led his upright