ral surgeons, not caring to incur the
risk of entering so exposed an edifice, agreed to cast lots who
should go in and see to the invalids; but Jackson, with
characteristic nerve and simplicity, at once stepped forward: 'No,
no,' said he, 'I will go and attend to the men!' He did so, and
returned unhurt.

After this we find him a prisoner in the hands of the Americans and
French at New York Town, Virginia. As on the former occasion, he was
treated with all imaginable kindness; and, being released on parole,
returned to Europe early in 1782, and proceeded by way of Cork,
Dublin, and Greenock to Edinburgh, where he abode for a short time.
Thence he started for London; and, desirous of testing the best way
of sustaining physical strength during long marches, and urged
perhaps also by economical considerations, he resolved to make the
journey on foot. His West Indian and American experience had taught
him that spare diet consisted best with pedestrian efficiency, and
it was accordingly his practice, during this long walk, to abstain
from animal food until the close of day, nor often then to partake
of it. He would walk some fourteen miles before breakfast--a meal of
tea and bread; rest then for an hour or an hour and a half; then
pace on until bedtime--a salad, a tart, or sometimes tea and bread,
forming his usual evening fare. He found that on this diet he arose
every morning at dawn with alacrity, and could prosecute without
inconvenience his laborious undertaking. By way of experiment he
twice or thrice varied his plan--dining on the road off beefsteaks,
and having a draught of porter in the course of the afternoon; but
the result justified his anticipations. The stimulus of the beer
soon passing off, lassitude succeeded the temporary strength it had
lent him; and, worse than all, his disposition to early rising
sensibly diminished.

His stay in London, which he reached in this primitive fashion, was
not long. His kind friend Dr Stuart, who had exchanged into the
Royal Horse-Guards, gave him the shelter of his roof; but so poor
was Mr Jackson, that, although ardently desirous of improving
himself in his profession, he was unable to attend any one of the
medical schools with which London abounds.

The peace of 1783 having opened the continent to the curiosity of
the British traveller, Jackson curtly announced to his friends, that
'he was going to take a walk.' His poverty allowed him no other
mode of locomotion; so o