remarkable, that though he had, during his whole illness, been very sensible of his increasing weakness, and had watched and marked accurately all its gradations, yet he spoke, in the last moments of his life, of going down stairs as usual, (he had been carried up and down for several days,) and said, 'it could not require more than a very few weeks now to wear him out;' not appearing to be at all aware that his end was so very near, till about half an hour before his death. Finding himself extremely languid, he took a little milk, and desired that air might be admitted into the room; and on being asked if he felt relieved at all, said, 'Very little: I can hardly distinguish, indeed, whether this is languor or drowsiness which has come over me; but it is a very agreeable feeling.' Soon after, he said suddenly, 'I surely must be going now, my strength sinks so fast; and on my making some observation on the glorious prospect before him, he added, 'Oh, yes! I am GLAD to go, if it be the Lord's will.' He shut his eyes and lay quite composed, and by-and-by said, 'What glory! the angels are waiting for me!'-then, after another short interval of quiet, added, 'Lord Jesus, receive my soul!' and to those who were about him, 'Farewell!' These were the last words he spoke: he gradually and gently sunk away, and, in about ten minutes, breathed his last, calmly and without a struggle, at nine in the morning of the 9th of April, the very day on which, twelve months

before, his mind had first been awakened to the hopes and joys of the ever-blessed gospel!

"What a contrast did his actual departure form with what I had had reason to apprehend, when I watched over his couch in London, expecting that every moment would be his last; and when, with a hard indifference and insensibility, he talked only of going to his 'last sleep!' And how can I worthily acknowledge the goodness of Almighty God, who effected such a change in his state!

"It appears that he preceded his revered, though unknown, instructor, Mr. Scott, exactly one week. He never ceased to remember, with the deepest gratitude, his obligations to that excellent man. It was only the evening before his death that he was recommending with great fervency, to a young friend, whose mother, under affliction, was first beginning to inquire after religious truth, to engage her to read 'Scott's Essays,' acknowledging, with fervent gratitude, the benefit he had himself received from that work, and concluding an animated eulogium, by saying, 'How have I prayed for that man!' What a blessed meeting may we not suppose they have had in the world of glory!

"The medical friend before alluded to has most justly remarked, that the entire simplicity and sincerity of Dr. Bateman's natural character give additional value to all that fell from him. He never used a language that was at all at variance with his real feelings; and

was in no degree given to vain imaginations.' This testimony is very true, and this remarkable simplicity and sobriety of his natural character remained unaltered in the great revolution which took place in his principles and dispositions he went into no exaggerations of feelings, or excesses of enthusiasm. And surely the merciful Providence which preserved his sound understanding, in all its integrity, to the last moment of his life, must silence the gainsayer and "the disputer of this world," who might strive to attribute the sacred influence of religion on his mind to the errors of an intellect impaired by long disease and suffering."

EDWARD JENNER, M.D.

IF it be the chief end of medical science to insure to the community the largest amount of health, and in the most successful manner possible to alleviate suffering and avert the stroke of death, then may the name of this illustrious individual be considered as justly entitled to rank highest among practitioners of the healing art. What discovery or improvement ever hitherto arrived at, in the annals of the profession, can bear a parallel with that which ministers, in every part of the globe, to the prevention of disease and deformity, and, in a great proportion of cases, to exemption from actual destruction? Into whatever corner of

the world the blessings of civilisation have been conducted, it has followed in their rear, and will doubtless be hailed by all future generations as one of the greatest temporal benefits ever conferred on mankind.

The father of Jenner was vicar of Berkeley, in Gloucestershire, a possessor of considerable landed property, and a member of a family of great antiquity in that county and Worcestershire. The illustrious subject of this biographical sketch was his third son, and was born at the vicarage, on the 17th of May, 1749.

Before Edward Jenner was nine years of age he manifested a growing taste for natural history. He had already formed a collection of the nests of the dormouse; and when at Dr. Washbourne's school, at Cirencester, he spent the hours devoted by other pupils to play, in searching for the fossils which abound in that neighbourhood. He was instructed in the elements of surgery and pharmacy by Mr. Ludlow, of Sudbury, near Bristol, a man of considerable eminence in his profession. After the completion of his apprenticeship, he proceeded to London to pursue his studies under the care of the celebrated John Hunter, in whose house he resided as a pupil for two years. Jenner was now in his twenty-first year, and John Hunter in his forty-second. This difference of age did not prevent the formation of a real friendship; a community of tastes and pursuits united them to the last. The pupil, like his patron and instructor, became an enthusiast in the pursuit

of natural history in its most extensive sense, and did not neglect to avail himself of the advantages he enjoyed. In the dissection of tender and delicate organs, he was unrivalled, and his minute injections were remarkable for the accuracy and elegance with which they were finished off. He bequeathed to Dr. Baron, of Gloucester, his able friend and biographer, a preparation which combines all these qualities. It represents the progress of the ovum in the domestic fowl, from its first development to its full and complete growth.

During the period of his residence with Hunter, captain Cook returned from his first voyage of discovery. The specimens of natural history which had been collected by sir Joseph Banks were principally arranged by Jenner, who was recommended by Hunter for that service. And so great was the science and dexterity evinced by him in the execution of this task, that he was offered the appointment of naturalist to the next expedition, which sailed in 1772. But neither this flattering offer nor any more enticing prospect, could divert him from his fixed purpose of establishing himself as a medical man in his beloved native county. He returned to Berkeley, and, taking up his residence with his eldest brother Stephen, who had been the guide of his orphan years, rapidly acquired a degree of reputation rarely attained at so early an age. Still he abstracted from the fatigues of a country practice, a sufficient portion of time to accumulate, within a short