PREFACE. XV
most grateful acknowledgments to my re- spected friend, Mr. Fowler of Datchet, and his son, Mr. Alfred Fowler, Mr. Thacker and Mr. Tummins of Wolverhampton—three of them being old schoolfellows of Abernethy; to Mr. White, the distinguished head master of Wolver- hampten School, whose acceptable services have been further enhanced by the ready kindness with which they were contributed ; to Mr. Belfour, the Secrctary of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Mr. Stone, the Librarian, I have to cxpress my best thanks for their kind assistance, and to the latter especially for many very acceptable contributions.
I have also to acknowledge the kind interest taken in the work by Mr. Wood of Rochdale, Mr. Stowe of Buckingham, old and dis- tinguished pupils of Abernethy. My best thanks are also due to Dr. Nixon of Antrim, not only for his own contributions, but still more for the personal trouble he was so kind as to take in relation to some particulars concernng the ancestors of Mr, Abernethy ; to Mr. Chevasse of Sutton Coldfield, for very �