o
require both hands to disengage it. Without the slightest hesitation
he put the worm into his mouth to hold it while his hands were engaged
with the line, and he seemed greatly to enjoy the laughter which his
queer proceeding forced from those who were present.

In the course of his professional career, many honours were bestowed
upon him. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society; was elected a
member of the French Institute; and was honorary member of nearly
every important surgical school in Europe. He was also created
magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for the County of Warwick. He had,
though few knew it, considerable influence in quarters where his name
might hardly be expected to be known. He was generally consulted as to
the fitness of local gentlemen proposed for magisterial honours;
and as none of the parties are now alive, I may state that some days
before the Queen's visit to Birmingham, in 1858, it was to Mr. Cox
that application was made for information respecting the then Mayor,
upon whom there was some hesitation as to whether the honour of
knighthood should be conferred. Mr. Cox suggested, in reply, that the
honour, although of course nominally given to the Mayor, would really
be granted as a compliment to the town, which had chosen him as the
chief magistrate. Acting on this suggestion, the Government of the
day, as is well known, decided on the honour being bestowed.

I have alluded to some indications of a miserly disposition in Mr.
Cox. These were, at the time, a psychological puzzle to my mind; but
I have learned since that a man may have strong acquisitive instincts,
and yet be without selfishness; that he may be even greedy to acquire,
and yet deny himself in almost every possible way, in order to benefit
others; and that the faculties of benevolence and conscientiousness
will, in many cases, direct into unselfish channels the riches
which have been accumulated by the mere animal instinct of selfish
acquisitiveness.

Such is a faithful and honest attempt to exhibit something of the
character, habits, and manners of one of Birmingham's most worthy
sons; a man who, whatever his faults and failings, did much to elevate
the noble profession to which he belonged, and thereby to alleviate
the sufferings of thousands of his fellow creatures, not only of his
own time, but for generations to come. To him, unquestionably, we owe
the existence of two of our noblest institutions--the Queen's College
and