Memoirs of John Abernethy With a View of His Lectures, His Writings, and Character; with Additional Extracts from Original Documents, Now First Published

"La première chose qui s'offre à l'Homme quand il se regarde, c'est son corps. Mais pour comprendre ce qu'elle est, il faut qu'il la compare avec tout ce qui est au-dessus de lu...

It has been stated by an acute observer that it was impossible for any man to be with Abernethy, even for a short time, without feeling that he was in communion with no common m...

In this Treatise, the Author claims to have developed the Law regulating, in a general sense, the sites occupied by diseased actions, as the highest generalization yet reached i...

Mankind have long established, by universal consent, the great importance of "Manner." It has been so ably and so variously discussed by different writers, that it is next to im...

"Trace Science, then, with Modesty thy guide; First, strip off all her equipage of pride; Deduct what is but vanity of dress, Or learning's luxury, or idleness, Or tricks to sho...

"From the barr'd Vizor of Antiquity Reflected shines the Eternal light of Truth, As from a mirror; all the means of action, The shapeless masses, the materials, Are everywhere a...

When we consider the object which the distinguished Author had in view, in the immortal Work whence we have taken the foregoing simple but instructive aphorism, we cannot but pe...

In endeavouring to give some idea of Abernethy's manner in more sustained compositions, we have made some selections from the Lectures he delivered at the College of Surgeons. W...

We believe that there is no greater fallacy than that which supposes that private advantage can be promoted at the expense of the public good. We are very well disposed to belie...

A writer[84], of no ordinary judgment and discrimination, has observed, that "it often happens in human affairs that the evil and the remedy grow up at the same time: the remedy...

"Philosophy directs us to bear evils with patience and fortitude, because they are inevitable; but Christianity gives us consolation under sufferings, by assuring us that they a...

The first thing, in consulting Abernethy, if you were a medical man, was to be clear, and "well up" in the nature of the case; and the next thing, not to state any opinion, unle...

In tracing the progress of science, it is difficult to assign to each individual his just share of merit. The evidence, always incomplete, seldom allows us to do more than to ma...

We have already observed that Abernethy had begun to feel the wear and tear of an anxious and active life, when, after a tenure of office for twenty-eight years as assistant, he...

The cliff which we left "beetling" seems to beetle still; mountains appear to be everlasting; yet, were seas and rivers to disclose even a small part of their mission, the Danub...

In our brief sketches of Abernethy's works, we are quite as desirous of showing why he did not do more, as we are of setting down faithfully our many undoubted obligations to hi...

Trite as this remark may be, the caution it involves is just that which is too frequently overlooked or unobserved. By a careful attention to the distinction it implies, we may...

PRATT, Archdeacon.—Scripture and Science not at Variance; or, the Historical Character and Plenary Inspiration of the earlier Chapters of Genesis unaffected by the Discoveries o...

A large London Hospital is (if we may be excused the Hibernianism, as Mr. Abernethy used to call it) a large microcosm. There is little in human nature, of which an observant ey...

"The Author of Nature appears deliberate throughout His operations, accomplishing His natural ends by slow successive steps. And there is a plan of things beforehand laid out, w...

"Love all, trust a few, Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend Under thine own Life's key: be check'd for silence, But never tax...

When we look abroad amongst mankind—nay, even in the contracted sphere of our own experience—it is interesting to observe the varied current of human life in different cases. In...

Whoever has wandered to the south side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, will have found himself in one of the "solitudes of London"—one of those places which, interspersed here and ther...

Perhaps, of all known torments, there is none that can be compared, either in intensity or duration, with that curious disease which has been called Tic Doloreux. Like the term...

"Nunquam ita quisquam bene subductâ ratione ad vitam fuit Quin res, ætas, usus, semper aliquid apportet novi Aliquid moneat; ut illâ quæ te scire credas, nescias: Et quæ tibi pu...

There are few subjects on which people are more agreed than the value of "good matches;" neither do they seem to differ very widely as to what that phrase is intended to convey....

Mankind naturally feel an interest in the boyhood of men of genius; but it often happens that very little attention is paid to early indications; and, when observed, it is certa...

HAMLET. Ay, marry, is't: But, to my mind, though I am native here And to the manner born, it is a custom More honoured in the breach than the observance.

In the foregoing experiments, the reader will have observed the significant words, "having killed a frog"—Abernethy not approving of experiments on living animals. When we refle...

No man, perhaps, ever made a happier application of a Divine precept to the conduct of human pursuits than Lord Bacon, when he said that the kingdom of man founded in the scienc...

His mind was so quick at perceiving the difficulties which lay around any subject, that it appeared to radiate on the most difficult, a luminosity that made it comparatively eas...

Abernethy's humour was very peculiar; and though there was of course something in the matter, there was a good deal more, as it appeared to us, in the manner. The secret of humo...

Consultation. We are to have a consultation! What a sound is that! How many a heart has been set thumping by this one word. We doubt whether there be any in the English language...

"L'art (de délicatesse) consiste à ne pas tout dire sur certains sujets, à glisser dessus plutôt que d'y appuyer; en un mot, à en laisser penser aux autres plutôt que l'on n'en...

"There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. Were there no positive command which enjoined it, nor any recompense laid up for it hereafter, a generous mind...

"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio," is a sentiment which, in some form or other, occurs to the most uninformed peasant, a...

LITTON, Rev. E. A.—The Mosaic Dispensation considered as Introductory to Christianity. Eight Sermons preached before the University of Oxford, at the Bampton Lecture for 1856. B...