prehensive tendency, or what are good. Thy knowledge, as
Thy power, is unlimited. I have taken Thee for my guide, and cannot err.
To the arms of Thy protection I intrust my safety. In the awards of Thy
justice I confide for my recompense.

Come death when it will, I am safe. Let calumny and abhorrence pursue me
among men; I shall not be defrauded of my dues. The peace of virtue and
the glory of obedience will be my portion hereafter.

JOHN BROWN

(1810-1882)

John Brown, the son of a secession-church minister, was born in Biggar,
Lanarkshire, Scotland, September 22d, 1810, and died in Edinburgh, May
11th, 1882. He was educated at the Edinburgh High School and at the
University, and graduated in medicine in 1833. For a time he was a
surgeon's assistant to the great Dr. Syme, the man of whom he said "he
never wasted a drop of ink or blood," and whose character he has drawn
in one of his most charming biographies. When he began to practice for
himself he gradually "got into a good connection," and his patients made
him their confidant and adviser. He was considered a fine doctor too,
for he had remarkable common-sense, and was said to be unerring in
diagnosis.

[Illustration: JOHN BROWN]

Dr. Brown did not, as is commonly believed, dislike his profession; but
later on he took a view of it which seemed non-progressive, and his
success as a writer no doubt interfered with his practice. His friend
Professor Masson draws a pleasant picture of him when he first settled
in practice, as a dark-haired man with soft, fine eyes and a benignant
manner, the husband of a singularly beautiful woman, and much liked and
sought after in the social circles of Edinburgh. This was partly owing
to the charm of his conversation, and partly to the literary reputation
he had achieved through some articles on the Academy exhibition and on
local artists. Though he had little technical training, he had an eye
for color and form, an appreciation of the artist's meaning, and an
instinct for discovering genius, as in the case of Noel Paton and David
Scott. He soon became an authority among artists, and he gave a new
impulse to national art.

He contributed largely to the North British Review. In 1855 he published
'Horae Subsceivae,' which contained, among medical biography and
medico-literary papers, the immortal Scotch idyl, 'Rab and his Friends.'
Up to this time the unique personality of the doctor, with its
delightful mixture of humor a