180 BRITISH PHYSICIANS. by the determination of the president and eouncil, to the author of the best experimental observa- tions made during the preceding year. This pecuniary offering was, at length, converted, with greater propriety, into a gold medal ; and Pringle ably carved a new road to personal dis- tinction and utility, by the excellent discourses which he took occasion to deliver on the pre- sentation of this annual tribute. Six of these have been edited by Dr. Kippis, and display an intimate acquaintance with the history of philo- sophy, a noble zeal for its advancement, and a style unaffected, elegant, and perspicuous. The subject of the fourth discourse was particularly suited to his disposition and pursuits ; it accom- panied the award of the medal to Capt. Cook, and discussed the means employed by that sagacious commander towards preserving the health of sea- men. The intimate friendship which subsisted between them renders it probable that Pringle had communicated some valuable suggestion on the subject to his intelligent friend ; and no pupil in the scliools of Hygiene has ever existed, more capable of reducing its rules to practice, — since, with a crew of one hundred and eighteen men, Cook performed a voyage of three years and eighteen days, throughout all the climates between fifty-two degrees north and seventy-one degrees south, and only lost one companion of his wander- ings. The use of sweet-wort^ a rigid attention to cleanliness, and the careful preservation of his company from wet, and other injuries of weather, formed the chief part of his dietetic code. His example has not been lost upon our navy, which
