GOOCH. 339 able to resume his medical practice, but still obliged to restrict himself to a very limited number of hours of active employment. His mind was, however, rarely at rest ; he was either occupied in preparing for publication his work on the diseases of women, or in contributions to periodi- cal publications. In whatever he engaged, there was an earnestness of purpose which not unfre- quently exhausted his bodily powers. The few remaining years of Gooch's life exhibited a strik- ing contrast between mental vigour and bodily weakness. His best health was that of a complete valetudinarian ; but he was able to see a consider- able number of patients most days, and to devote some hours to literary labour. The summer of 1827 he passed at Southborough, near Bromley ; that of the following year at Hampstead and Tun- bridge Wells. Gooch had now been for a considerable part of his life engaged in attending more particularly to the diseases of women, and he was not a man upon whom the lessons of experience were lost. The publication of his work on this subject was, there- fore, sure to add to his reputation. He corrected the last sheets of this volume while at Brighton, in the summer of 1829 ; and he lived long enough to know that he had not disappointed the high ex- pectations of his medical friends. On his return to town he found that his book had been praised by every professional reader, and that he could have increased his practice to any extent had his health permitted. But his strength was unequal even to the former demands upon it. His bodily powers failed gradually and progressively, but his z 2
