men who in every age and country have improved or elevated that profession. Variety of knowledge was never seen to encumber the possessor; on the contrary, it prepares an ampler space and a firmer footing for all that is to come after. In the numberless and unexpected emergencies which occur in the relief of diseases of the body and the mind,—in the ever varying combinations of causes and of character which present themselves, an almost universal acquaintance with nature and art would seem to be demanded. The power of making good observations, a retentive memory, a fixed attention, and the habit of generalizing, are among the most important qualities of the physician,—and these can only be acquired or strengthened by an early and extensive intellectual education. Some of the most enlightened governments of Europe have perceived this truth during the present century, and now exact from the candidate for medical honours a course of more or less rigorous preliminary studies in general literature: we may cite France and Prussia in particular. The science of medicine is truly an alembic, through which the most dissimilar ingredients may be distilled into a pure and precious elixir vitæ.
A new field of exertion awaited Pringle, when, in 1742, he was appointed physician to the Earl of Stair, who then commanded the British army on the continent. This was the golden moment of his life, from which his eminence begins to date. For this appointment he was chiefly indebted to his friend Dr. Stevenson, an eminent physician at Edinburgh, who was intimately acquainted with
