for everything and everybody, when the talent of his rivals was in question, had its root in his naturally haughty character-completely despising the opinions of others-those of the past as useless, and those of the present as inferior.

"What I have said of the professor exhibits his qualities as a surgeon. It is allowed by all that Dupuytren was the most remarkable man in the profession of his epoch. Few have possessed that vast and rare assemblage of qualities which constitute a great surgeon. He had especially an admirable strength of judgment, which rendered his diagnosis so true and affirmatory, that it struck every one with astonishment. Moreover, in the observation and application of precepts, there was an exactness of analysis, a certainty of practical good sense, and a depth of examination, which are certainly rare. Although bold, without the least trace of pusillanimity, he never operated until the last moment, when he was certain that this furnished the last resource of art. *

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Arrived at the height of his reputation, Dupuytren desired to be not the chief but the tyrant of French surgery; and the most exclusive and bitter individuality dominated his entire being, dictated his thoughts, and governed his actions. So, in his social relations, he much preferred unexacting friendships and passive unconditional devotion.

"Justice obliges us to add, that the high faculties of this great surgeon were not those which may be termed transmissible. He had not a genius for discovery, but for application. This leaves but little harvest for succeeding generations to reap. From such great talent and renown one would expect an imposing succession of works which would add to the acquirements of science, and long leave their traces there. Alas! what remains to us of Dupuytren, what his biographers will carefully collect, is not to be compared with that which we had a right to hope for. It is this which has given rise to the saying that, after all, this great man was only a famous man. In studying

this celebrated surgeon with care, we may, to a certain extent, explain this defect of accordance between his labours and talent, and the insignificant amount of results. He possessed much more of the talent for teaching, and all that required the aid of speech and action, than for slow, continuous labour. Next, he had embraced the whole circle of surgery. He was not one of those who devote their lives to the production and realization of an idea. He wished to know and distinguish himself in every part of his profession, whence it resulted that he only contributed here and there to the progress of some portions of surgery. Add to this, that, desirous of becoming the first in all, he wished to accomplish this by the aid of a large fortune, and the amassing this occupied him incessantly, especially as this was a natural bent of his disposition."

A lofty pride seemed to have been his distinguishing feature, which accompanied him in every act and word, and the inordinate ambition hence arising doubtless was one of the causes of his merit and renown. To serve this ambition, however, he would condescend to almost any meanness and duplicity, so as to impart to its character, observed for any length of time, the most strange contrasts. When his object was to be answered by it, it was painful to see "the insinuating air, the wheedling suppleness of so proud and irritable a man.” He was surrounded by flatterers, but he was also exceedingly susceptible to the attacks and criticisms his own disdainful conduct provoked.

"Criticism irritated him as an injury, while blame tormented him as an intole rable novelty. Admirers and acquaintances he had, but few or no friends, and found the surgical crown, like others, was not without its thorns. His genius, talent, and dignities were envied, but no one was ignorant that beneath this brilliant surface were anguish and chagrin. He was looked upon as a sort of power whom one must prevent from becoming an enemy, but with the impossi

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bility of ever becoming his friend. Every one stretched a hand to him, but no one shook his cordially. He was at once admired, feared, and blamed—a singular destiny for a man of such incontestible superiority. Let us add that, like other proud, susceptible, and irritable beings, he was unequal and changeable. Literally, to use the vulgar expression, one did not know which end to lay hold of him by. He did good and evil by starts and caprice. If, in some cases, he might be taxed with falsehood and harshness, in others, he exhibited an exemplary loyalty and unheard-of disinterestedness. Although he felt little disposed to oblige those who surrounded him, we find him one day rising at four in the morning to go to Bicêtre to solicit the favour of Murat for a friend. This strangeness of character equally influenced his general bearing and even personal appearance. Who does not recollect his strange, old-fashioned gaiters, his everlasting, worn-out green coat, his seldom-shaved beard, his apron up to his armpits, and the roll which he munched while driving from place to place in a shabby hackney-cab ?"

With all this affectation of simplicity he coveted scientific distinctions, .and was especially fond of his title of Baron. Probably from the obstacles to his progress which he found his poverty to offer in early life, he acquired an insatiable love of money, and became immensely rich. Having heard that Astley Cooper possessed six millions of francs he would never rest until he had accumulated the like. To this end he sacrificed all the time that might have been devoted to the advancement of science; and even his Clinical Lectures would not have been preserved but for the care of some of the auditors. Dupuytren himself published nothing, except a wretched letter in the newspapers of 1832, announcing decoction of poppy. heads a cure for the cholera! His riches, however, brought no satisfaction, but only the desire to add to them; he was not organized for happiness and never possessed it. He died aged 58. His will, M. Parise says, does high honour to him, but he does not state its dispositions.

Broussais.

Entering life amidst the turbulence of the French Revolution, the early part of the career of Broussais was stormy and uncertain. Soldier, corsair, hospital-clerk, navy-surgeon, student, civil practitioner, and lastly, military surgeon in the Napoleon campaigns, his existence was destitute of repose. Nevertheless, robust in body, firm in determination, and gifted with great aptitude for work, he pursued his studies in spite of every fatigue and difficulty. He eventually came to Paris and became a pupil and an intimate of Bichat, and an ardent admirer of the opinions of Pinel. His treatise Des Phlegmasies Chroniques, which had cost him immense labour, fell almost still-born from the press; but, although he felt the disappointment in the keenest manner, he concealed it, and pursued his indefatigable researches in Spain and Italy, examining thousands of bodies, accumulating a vast mass of facts, and meditating over them for years.

"It was in 1815 that he commenced his private course. It was only two paces from the Faculty that he cast forth his haughty defiance and raised altar against altar, doctrine against doctrine. From the first he announced himself as a reformer of science, proceeding by physiological demonstration to a complete rebuilding up of the structure of medicine. And let it not be supposed his course resembled any other of this kind, that is a simple and calm exposition, methodically elaborated, of the principles of the art. No, it was literally a true arena

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where the professor fought alone and to the death. It was on his part an exhibition of harshness and frankness, an aggressive and ill-boding discussion of received theories, a continued explosion of recrimination against the science of formerly and its constructors, a constant affirmation of his own doctrines, a haughty and disdainful treatment of those of others-the like of which had never yet been seen. Then, the choleric argument, the passionate tone, abrupt gestures, the thundering voice of the professor, and his animated countenance, for he always seemed as if illumined with inspiration, added much to the effect of his addresses. The numerous and crowded auditory kept the deepest silence, the more as their attention was always, so as to say, enslaved, because it was continually excited. Broussais joined to a great penetration a very cultivated mind; and thus we may remark in his lectures, in his reiterated appeals to the progress of science, a skilful mixture of truth and error, a certain art of presenting the latter with the probabilities of reality. Although exclusive in his ideas he announced solid principles. Not content with observing and collecting many facts, he knew how to compare them, and deduce from them consequences often strained, but at other times undoubtedly just. To consider science under aspects until then unknown; to open a new horizon to ulterior researches in the study of diseased organs; to state his principles in an exact and precise manner; to reduce them to the rigour of a theorem; such was the end he proclaimed, and which he flattered himself he attained. So much knowledge and application, such high pretensions, united to the fire of conviction which seemed to animate him, to that ardour of proselytism, to that perseverance in self-glorification, to that fanatical esteem of his system, perpetually announced as the complete resumé of the entire range of medical truths, gave to the lectures of Broussais an astonishing popularity. Auditors crowded and pushed their way to them as to a theatrical amusement, and, more than once, pupils, who were unable to gain admission, might be seen taking their notes in the sun or rain when the loud tones of the professor allowed them to seize the purport of some of his observations."

In 1815 his Examen appeared. In this, the opinions of his adversaries were handled with the bitterest sarcasm and irony, and his own doctrine developed with surpassing skill. His success was prodigious. Not only were his dogmas received with enthusiasm by the schools, but even the convictions of elder practitioners were much shaken; so that the advent of a new era of medicine was proclaimed on every side. The deceptive simplicity of the system, and the magical words "progress" "advancement of science," "new doctrine," contributed immensely to its popularity; and those who dared attempt to oppose its reception were covered with terms of reproach and contempt. It is not surprising that Broussais became intoxicated with the incense constantly poured out before him, and imagined himself exalted into supreme judge of what should or not be received as sound doctrine. Yet, at the end of a few years, it was discovered that he, like many other reformers, was more potent in criticizing and destroying present structures than in raising new ones; and that the system of the man who had been so ready of visiting those of others with sarcasm and contempt, was not itself proof against the shafts of the critic. Remarks, criticisms, exceptions, and objections now multiplied on every side; but we need not follow the exposure of the errors of a system which never obtained much currency here, notwithstanding the Gallomania which some of our Journals endeavoured to foster. M. Parise exhibits concisely not only the unscientific character of the principles laid down, but the bad effects which too frequently flowed from their practical adoption; for

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a practice which had been borne by the robust young soldiers coming within the sphere of Broussais' observation, was ill-suited to the feebler constitutions so often met with in civil practice. Once submitted to a rational examination, the system rapidly declined in estimation; and even when in the possession of an official professorship its constructor could not raise it from the neglect and disfavour into which it had fallen. His vehement denunciations against the older systems no longer drew the crowded auditories of heretofore, and the few pupils who attended his lectures seemed to do so more as a curiosity of by-gone days than as a reality of the present. Whether from faith in its truth, or from the desire of drawing upon himself the public attention which had so notoriously flagged, Broussais next became a propagator of phrenology. Again he had a large and applauding, if not a judicious auditory: "but the concessions he made to his adversaries were so numerous, that Gall would hardly have recognized his own doctrine in his discourses." He adopted for the defence of this the same paradoxical arguments, the mixture of error and truth by which he had sought to defend the doctrine of irritation. It will not seem surprising that Broussais only attained a rank in the practice of the profession very disproportionate to his merits and reputation. His exclusive mode of viewing cases so limited his range of therapeutical indica. tions, although the force of circumstances sometimes obliged him to make concessions. One of those related of him is amusing enough. A patient having declared to him that he could support his regimen no longer, and that he was literally dying of hunger, Broussais reflected for a moment and replied, "Very well, you carnivorous animal, I will satisfy you," and ordered him a spoonful of broth in a glass of water. However, concessions of any kind were wrung from him with difficulty, for he prided him. self upon his inflexibility to objections or adversaries. Nevertheless, after venting the most bitter sarcasms on places and riches, he allowed himself to accept some of these, and the great agitator was found lecturing in the professor's gown, and placing six lines of honourable titles after his name in one of his works!

Regarding Broussais with impartiality, uninfluenced by the excessive praise of his admirers or the bitterness of his detractors,

"We shall find he was a man of rare capacity and incontestible merit. It will be allowed that he has rendered services to science and has proclaimed truths which will endure. Nevertheless, if he appears great, the narrowness of his views is striking when compared with those of Bichat. This is because he was too exclusive, too absolute, in his ideas, because he has forcibly referred facts to two or three principles only, that is to either too few or too many, and because he has, with a view to his system, proclaimed the true and the false with an equal ardour. In the place of pruning, adding, and extending, he was desirous of radically destroying and re-constructing; and, at a period when doubts were raised, he struggled for the most formal materialism. Thus, although he has shed a luminous ray on science, although he proclaimed himself its master, his opinions have been attacked, his pedestal shaken, and his titles to true glory strongly contested. What remains of him now? Has Broussais done what he ought and could? Has he fulfilled his mission worthily and completely? Posterity, that high court of appeal for reputations, will decide in time to come. She will be just, yet severe; for, according to Scripture, much is required from him to whom much is given.

Chervin.

Nicholas Chervin is one of the men of science of whom France has just cause to be proud, and we regret our limits forbid our availing ourselves at any length of the glowing picture of his devotedness furnished by M. Parise.

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He was intended for commercial pursuits, but happening to accompany a friend at Lyon to an anatomical lecture, he was so delighted with the lucid description furnished of the difficult bone, the sphenoid, that he at once resolved to devote himself to the study of medicine. He entered the army, but at the Peace came to Paris. At a breakfast party consisting of medical men, the contagiousness of the yellow fever became the object of debate, and Chervin observed that, as far as he had read on the subject, he disbelieved in its contagion. "What can you know about it?" replied one of the company. "I can furnish some proofs in support of my opinion," said Chervin. "Truly," added his adversary," these will never be obtained on the banks of the Seine." Chervin felt himself hurt by this sally, and to such an extent that, from that moment his money, time, labour, and entire life were devoted to the elucidation of this question. At a period when the yellow fever was an object of dread amongst medical men, he at once sailed for America to visit the enemy in its sources and fastnesses, and the narration of his labours, exertions, and dangers, would occupy pages in their recital. Wherever the disease had prevailed or was prevailing he bent his steps, no matter at what cost of time or risk of health, and took up his temporary residence in even the most pestilential districts. Frequently he tasted the black vomit, and he arduously pursued anatomical investigations under a tropical sun, with a temperature of 106°. Nothing alarmed, nothing arrested him. He accumulated an immense mass of authentic documents properly testified, and returned to Europe. The yellow fever, however, then breaking out in Spain, he at once repaired thither, and thence returned to Paris, bearing with him his documents, and the unalterable conclusion, to the practical carrying out of which he devoted the rest of his life," that the yellow fever is of paludial origin, its violence and gravity resulting from severity of climate; that it is not contagious; and that lazarets and quarantines should be considered onerous to governments, and especially injurious to commerce."

His desire was to bring his documents enforcing this doctrine before the public, and to enable him to do this he was content to submit to any privation. He took a wretched apartment in Paris for six months, and inhabited it for nearly nineteen years. He knew the interests and prejudices he had to contend with, but never despaired of ultimate victory. He was always prepared for every adversary, and overwhelmed him with documents, proofs, and authorities, whose refutation was not a little difficult. The truth before everything was his maxim, and he refused to bend to any authority in opposition to this. A man of this stamp, active in the pursuit of what he considered a duty to humanity and to the well being of his country, and who advanced his arguments with the bold tones of one con vinced of their unalterableness, of course met with numberless opponents. He was denounced as a visionary, an innovator, almost as an anarchist. "I am strong enough," he proudly exclaimed, "to brave injustice, ingratitude, ill-nature, and even poverty, that implacable enemy to social