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disciple of the immortal Boerrhaave, but his image is constantly present to my mind. I have always before my eyes the venerable simplicity of that great man, who possessed in an eminent degree the powers of persuasion. How often have I heard him say, when he spoke of the precepts of the gospel, that the Divine Teacher of it had much more knowledge of the human heart than Socrates! He particularly alluded to that sentence in the New Testament, Whosoever looketh upon a woman,' etc. Matt. v. 28; 'for,' added my illustrious master, the first attacks of vice are always feeble; reason has then some power over the mind. It is then in this very moment that such thoughts occur as have a tendency to withdraw us from our duty, that, if we with diligence suppress them, and turn our attention to something else, we may avoid the approaching danger, and not fall into the temptations of vice."" Whether it be the fault of the disciple or the preceptor, the above sentiment, however just, is not clothed, it must be confessed, in language so forcible as the subject appears to demand. The direction with which it closes is especially feeble and inadequate, as containing no allusion to a strength superior to that of sinful humanity. But we have reason to hope, from one anecdote related by his biographerfar more frigid still as he is in his expressions with reference to religion-that Boerrhaave had deeper views of it than would seem to be implied in the above quotation, and other pas

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sages that might be transcribed:-" When he heard," says he, "of a criminal condemned to die, he inculcated the reflection, 'May not this be a better man than I? If otherwise, the praise is not due to me, but to the grace of God.'" His resignation to the will of God was likewise exemplary. A deviation from this state of submission, when he had been racked with incredible torture for fifteen hours successively, gave him, on one occasion, great concern. had prayed earnestly that the disease might put a period to his life and misery. A friend suggested, by way of consolation, that a request, under such circumstances, was not only natural to human frailty, but precedented by the case of Job. But Boerrhaave checked himself by saying, "This maxim, however, I wish to abide by, living and dying, That only is best, and alone to be desired, which is perfectly agreeable to the Divine Goodness and Majesty."

In the year 1701, not very long after Boerrhaave had entered upon the duties of his profession, he became lecturer on the institutes of physic. In 1709, the professorship of medicine and botany was conferred upon him. In 1714, he arrived at the highest dignity in the university-the rectorship. No professor was ever attended, in public as well as private lectures, by so great a number of students, from such different and distant parts, for so many years successively. He indulged, it is true, in theories, many of which in the present day excite a smile; but the world was not then accustomed

to the Baconian method of deduction from facts only. In practice he was successful, and amassed great wealth; but he is reported to have been liberal to the distressed, though without ostentation; and his manner of obliging his friends was such, that they often knew not, unless by accident, to whom they were indebted. Music and gardening were his constant sources of amusement and relaxation. Having suffered several severe attacks of illness, he found himself under the necessity, in the year 1729, of resigning the professorships of botany and chemistry. Yet, in private labours he was not less assiduous, till the year 1737, when a difficulty of breathing first seized him, and afterwards gradually increased. In a letter written at this time to baron Bassaud, he writes thus of himself: "An imposthumation of the lungs, which has daily increased for the last three months, almost suffocates me on the least motion; if it should continue to increase without breaking, I must sink under it; if it should break, the event is still dubious: happen what may, why should I be concerned? since it cannot be but according to the will of the supreme Being, what else should I desire? God be praised! In the mean time, I am not wanting in the use of the most approved remedies, in order to mitigate the disease by maturation, but am no ways anxious about the success of them I have lived to upwards of sixty-eight years and always cheerful." After this, from the unusual pulsations of the artery in the right

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side of the neck, and intermissions of the pulse, he apprehended there were polypous concretions between the heart and lungs, and wrote an account of his case to Dr. Mortimer, secretary of the Royal Society. For some days, there were flattering hopes of his recovery, but they soon vanished, and he died on the 23rd of September, 1738.

Not long before he died, he told his friends that he had never doubted of the spiritual and immaterial nature of the soul; but that, in a very severe illness with which he was afflicted, he had a kind of experimental certainty of the distinction between corporeal and thinking substances, which mere reason and philosophy cannot supply, and had opportunities of contemplating the wonderful and inexplicable union of soul and body. This he illustrated by the effects which the infirmities of his body had upon his faculties, "which yet they did not so oppress and vanquish, but that his soul was always master of itself, and always resigned to the pleasure of its Author."

The works of Boerrhaave were both numerous and elaborate. Amongst these, his "Institutions" and "Aphorisms," his works on botany and chemistry, and his "Opuscula," were the most important.

WILLIAM HEY, ESQ.

THIS venerable man was not more distinguished by eminent professional talent than by Christian integrity. With the most unfeigned truth may it be said of him, that he feared and served God in his youth; that he made a diligent use of the various talents with which he was intrusted throughout a long and chequered pilgrimage; and that his "hoary head was a crown of glory," because he was still "found in the way of righteousness."

Mr. Hey was born at the village of Pudsey, near Leeds, on the 23rd of August, 1736. At the age of four years, he received an irreparable injury. As he was cutting a piece of string, the edge of the penknife being directed upwards towards his face, on dividing the string, the point of the knife entered his right eye, and totally destroyed its power of vision. His father was much affected by the simplicity of his reply to a question respecting the sight of the injured eye. "He saw light," he said, "with one eye and darkness with the other." The sight of the left eye was, however, remarkably good even to a very late period of life-so much So, that he was always able to read small print without the aid of glasses. We may readily imagine that he speedily gave indications of that singular vivacity and mental vigour which added a charm even to his declining years. B 2

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