benevolence and hatred of quackery appear in his instructions--
"Learn to slaughter _gently_, dress the carcass neatly and cleanly,
in as plain a manner as possible, and without _flourishes_."--p. 167.

But whisky-toddy and fat mutton are not the only things our author
relishes. He must have been a farm-servant, living in a bothy, at
least as long as he drove on the road or practised surgery in the
slaughter-house. After describing the farm-servant's wages and mode
of living, he thus expands upon the subject of Scottish brose:--

"The oatmeal is usually cooked in one way, as _brose_. A pot of
water is put on the fire to boil--a task which the men (in the bothy)
take in turns; a handful or two of oatmeal is taken out of the small
chest with which each man provides himself, and put into a wooden
bowl, which also is the ploughman's property; and, on a hollow being
made in the meal, and sprinkled with salt, the boiling-water is
poured over the meal, and the mixture receiving a little stirring
with a horn-spoon, and the allowance of milk poured over it, the
brose is ready to be eaten; and, as every man makes his own brose,
and knows his own appetite, he makes just as much as he can consume." [2]

[Footnote 2: "The fare is simple, and is as simply made, but it must be
wholesome, and capable of supplying the loss of substance occasioned
by hard labour; for I believe that no class of men can endure more
bodily fatigue for ten hours every day, than those ploughmen of
Scotland who subsist on this brose three times a-day."--Vol. ii. p.
384.]

But if the _life_ of the ploughman is familiar to our author, the
_work_ he has to do, and the mode of doing it well, and the reason