[5] Sir William Hamilton: Lectures on Metaphysics, p. 40.

[6] Jacobi: Von der Gottlichen Dingen; Werke, p. 424-426.

[7] Translation, 1776, Yol. ii. p. 103.




CHAPTER I.

In the year 18-- I settled as a physician at one of the wealthiest
of our great English towns, which I will designate by the initial L----.
I was yet young, but I had acquired some reputation by a professional
work, which is, I believe, still amongst the received authorities on
the subject of which it treats. I had studied at Edinburgh and at
Paris, and had borne away from both those illustrious schools of medicine
whatever guarantees for future distinction the praise of professors
may concede to the ambition of students. On becoming a member of
the College of Physicians, I made a tour of the principal cities of
Europe, taking letters of introduction to eminent medical men, and
gathering from many theories and modes of treatment hints to enlarge
the foundations of unprejudiced and comprehensive' practice. I had
resolved to fix my ultimate residence in London. But before this
preparatory tour was completed, my resolve was changed by one of
those unexpected events which determine the fate man in vain would work
out for himself. In passing through the Tyro, on my way into the
north of Italy, I found in a small inn, remote from medical attendance, an
English traveller seized with acute inflammation of the lungs, and
in a state of imminent danger. I devoted myself to him night and