generation, and consult the corresponding parts of the physiological catalogue.
As the vital organs and their functions had occu- pied a large share of his physiological inquiries, it is not surprising that the views which he thereby acquired were made available by him in his inves- tigation, in his explanation, and in his treatment of disease. The powers of the absorbent system, the structures and properties of blood-vessels, the properties of the blood, the reciprocal influence of the different organs on each other, and a number of other physiological truths, all occupied their place in his pathology and practice. If he may have rated the powers of the lymphatics too highly, and sometimes given them too prominent a place in his views of morbid action, he did not over-esti- mate the power of absorption—an estimate which, with his true appreciation of the cause of failure in the old operation for aneurism, led to one of the most brilliant improvements in the treatment of dis- ease to be found in the whole history of surgery.
It is scarcely possible to praise this improvement too highly, so great in itself, and so fertile in its re- sults, for it has conferred life upon hundreds. It was not only that a safer and more successful operation was introduced, but this very safety and success led to its application to numerous cases of the disease, which, under the old method, durst not be meddled with, the patients being left to their fate.
Knowing that Mr. Benjamin Phillips had been for some time occupied in collecting from English
