ast eyes, and lofty intellectual forehead which are conspicuous in
his later portraits. He was steady in conduct, serious in manner,
precise in his way of expressing himself; and while these qualities
helped him in the mental application which was so necessary if he was to
profit by his student days, he needed a little shaking up in order to
adapt himself to the ways of other men in the sphere of active life.
This was given him by the constant activities of the hospital, and by
the demands which the various societies made upon him; but he did not
allow them to interfere with his own researches, for which he could find
time when others were overwhelmed by the routine of their daily tasks.

His first bit of original research is of special interest because it
connects him with his father's work. He made special observations with
the microscope of the muscular tissue of the iris of the eye,
illustrated his paper by delicate drawings of his own, and published it
in the leading microscopical journal. This and a subsequent paper on the
phenomena of 'Goose-skin' attracted some attention among physiologists
at home and abroad, and brought him into friendly relations with a
German professor of world-wide reputation. They also gave great
satisfaction to his father and to his favourite teacher Sharpey.

But Lister's development henceforth was to take place on Scottish
ground, and his visit to Edinburgh in 1853 shaped the whole course of
his career. James Syme, under whose influence he thus came, was the most
original and brilliant surgeon then living in the British Isles, perhaps
in all Europe. His merits as a lecturer were somewhat overshadowed by
his extraordinary skill as an operator; but he was a remarkable man in
all ways, and the fact that Lister was admitted, first to his
lecture-room and operating theatre, and then to his home, was without
doubt the happiest accident in his life.

The atmosphere of Edinburgh with its large enthusiastic classes in the
hospitals, its cultivated and intellectual society outside, supplied
just what was wanted to foster the genius of a young man on the
threshold of his career. In London, centres of culture were too widely
diffused, indifference and apathy too prevalent, conservatism in
principles and methods too strongly entrenched. In his new home in the
north Lister could watch the boldest operator in his own profession, and
could daily meet men scarcely less distinguished in other sciences,