to come into any sort of personal contact with their pupils. It is particularly one of the evils of the Edinburgh university, that scarcely ever does any tie exist between the pupil and the professor; they seldom come necessarily into personal communication, and consequently the greater is the credit due to those professors who cultivate the acquaintance of their students, and take as much interest in their studies without as within the walls of the university. Dr James Anderson, who had every opportunity of judging correctly, informs us, that "the general conduct of Dr Cullen to his students was this; with all such as he observed to be attentive and diligent he formed an early acquaintance, by inviting them by twos, by threes, or by fours, at a time, to sup with him; conversing with them on these occasions with the most engaging ease, and freely entering with them on the subject of their studies, their amusements, their difficulties, their hopes, and future prospects. In this way he usually invited the whole of his numerous class, till he made himself acquainted with their .abilities, their private characters, and their objects of pursuit Those among them whom he found most assiduous, best disposed, or the most friendless, he invited most frequently, until an intimacy was gradually formed which proved highly beneficial to them. Their doubts with regard to their objects of study, he listened to with attention, and solved with the most obliging condescension. His library, which consisted of an excellent assortment of the best books, especially on medical subjects, was at all times open for their accommodation, and his advice in every case of difficulty to them, they always had it in their power most readily to obtain. From his general acquaintance among the students, and the friendly habits he was on
with many of them, he found no difficulty in discovering those among them who were rather in hampered circumstances, without being obliged to hurt their delicacy in any degree. He often found out some polite excuse for refusing to take
payment for a first course, and never was at a loss for one to an after course. Before they could have an opportunity of applying for a ticket, he would lead the conversation to some subject that occurred in the course of his lectures, and as his lectures were never put in writing by himself, he would sometimes beg the favour to see their notes, if he knew they had been taken with attention, under a pretext of assisting his memory. Sometimes he would express a wish to have their opinion on a particular part of his course, and presented them with a ticket for that purpose, and sometimes he refused to take payment, under the pretext that they had not received his full course; in the preceding year, some part of it having been necessarily omitted for want of time, which he meant to include in this course. These were the particular devices he adopted with individuals to whom economy was necessary, and it was a general rule with him never to take money from any student for more than two courses of the same set of lectures, permitting him to attend these lectures for as many years longer as he
pleased, gratis. He introduced another generous principle into the university, which ought not to be passed over in silence. Before he came to Edinburgh, it was the custom for medical professors to accept of fees for medical assistance when wanted, even from medical students themselves, who were perhaps attending the professor's own lectures at the time; but Dr Cullen would never take fees as a physician from any student at the university; although he attended them when called in, with the same assiduity and care as if they had been persons of the first rank, who paid him most liberally. This gradually induced others to adopt a similar practice; so that it has now become a general rule at this university for medical professors to decline taking any fees when their assistance is necessary for a student."[1]
Dr Aiken, who was also a pupil of Dr Cullen. bears similar testimony to the
- ↑ The Bee, or Literary Intelligencer, vol. i. p. 48, 49.
