of medical knowledge, and, struck with the inconsistencies which existed as to
the absolute and relative size and weight of the principal organs of the body, he
commenced another laborious investigation on this subject. He introduced
weighing-machines into the pathological theatre, by means of which the weight
of the entire body was first ascertained, and then, respectively, the weights of
the different organs." In 1839 Dr. Reid was candidate for the chair of medicine
in King's College, Aberdeen, but was unsuccessful; in the same year he was
candidate for the chair of anatomy in Marischal College, and was again unsuccessful. These disappointments, however, he bore with such good humour, as
consciousness of desert, and hope of better luck in store, acting upon a naturally
cheerful, buoyant spirit, seldom fail to supply. Already he had broken ground,
and most successfully, into those discoveries upon the anatomy and physiology
of the heart, and especially of the nervous system, upon which he may be said
to have established for himself a European reputation; and in the latter department he had produced and read before the British Association an epitome of his "Experimental Investigation into the Functions of the eight pair of nerves,
or the glosso-pharyngeal, pneumogastric, and spinal accessory." The light
which was dawning upon him in the course of these investigations was soon to
be worth more than the distinction that can be conferred by a seat upon the
bench of a College Senatus Consultum. All this was soon after attested at a public scientific meeting, in which it was declared, among other just encomiums,
that Dr. Reid, by his " original investigations into the physiology of the nervous system, had made the profession acquainted with valuable facts, which had at once enriched the science their discoverer cultivated, and procured for himself an extensive and enviable reputation." Such was the testimony of Professor Alison, one of the most competent of judges upon such a subject.
Having now attained a high reputation in his own favourite walks of science, an appointment soon offered that consoled Dr. Reid for his late mischances. This was the professorship of anatomy in the university of St. Andrews, which was conferred upon him in March, 1841. He had now only reached his thirty-first year; and from what he had already accomplished, combined with his robust, vigorous, healthy constitution, it was hoped that a long life was yet in store for him, as well as an ample field of research and discovery. He commenced in winter the course of lectures that properly belonged to his professorship; but as this class, composed of medical students only, was too limited a sphere, he also delivered a course of lectures on comparative anatomy and general physiology, which all were free to attend gratuitously, whether from town or college. A delighted crowd usually assembled at these prelections, composed not only of professors, ministers, and students from several classes, but also of the citizens of St. Andrews, whose earnest animated attention would of itself have been a rich reward to any public instructor. But even amidst all this, Dr. Reid felt that there was something wanting. St. Andrews was not a medical school of any mark, as most of the county students destined for the healing profession were wont to pass over to the university of Edinburgh. Besides, it was difficult to procure subjects, without which anatomical dissertations are all but useless—for even yet there still lingered among the living of Fifeshire that jealous care of their dead, which was placarded riot a hundred years ago over one of their cemeteries, in these ominous words: "Whoever enters this churchyard will be shot." These drawbacks he felt so sensitively that he was impatient for wider action, until 1844, when St. Andrews was converted into a
