the noble-hearted woman kept ever a smile for his sake, and wrote the many difficult letters of business that devolved upon her, while he slept.

Thus varying her services to the visitations of God, and spreading a gentle, protecting wing, like a guardian angel, over the enfeebled being whom she had once revered as her head and guide, she watched for the last time, with such a tide of bitter weeping, as none but a wife dismissed from such tender duties can know, his pale lips, that were to open no more, on the morning of July 30th, 1718, when he had nearly reached his seventy-fourth birthday.

1668

DR. HERMAN BOERHAAVE.

AMONG those who have rendered the medical profession illustrious by their talents, erudition, and piety, was Dr. Herman Boerhaave. He was a native of Holland, and born at Veerhout, a small village near Leyden, on the last day of the year 1668. His father was a clergyman, and having observed his fondness for study from early childhood, placed him when at the age of fourteen, at the public school in Leyden. Here his application and proficiency were so great, that in less than a year from his entrance, he was advanced to the highest class, which is allowed after a preparation of six months an admittance to the University.

Yet scarcely had he commenced a course of study at the university, ere the deepest gloom was cast over his prospects by the death of his father, whose numerous family were left in reduced circumstances. Thus early bereaved of fortune and an affectionate guide, he did not yield to discouragement or the apathy of grief.

Still diligently applying himself to the pursuit of education, he became distinguished both in the sciences and in literature. When he took his degree in Philosophy, he presented a thesis in opposition to the systems of Epicurus and Spinoza, which won him much reputation. After completing the usual course at the university, he pursued the study of theology under two distinguished professors, one of whom gave lectures on Hebrew Antiquities, and the other in Ecclesiastical History. He also devoted himself with great delight to the Scriptures in their original languages, with their interpretation by the ancient writers, pursued in chronological order.

But the necessity of gaining a subsistence, and the desire of aiding his poor relatives, in

duced him to change his design of pursuing the clerical profession, and to decide on becoming a physician. In the interval, being oppressed by the evils of poverty, he supported himself as a teacher of mathematics.

When he became known as a member of the medical profession, confidence and honor awaited him, and wealth flowed in upon him as a flood. The University of Leyden hasted to bestow on him the professorships of Botany, Chemistry, and Medicine, and the fame of his science and practical skill began to spread over Europe. The Royal Society of London, and the Academy of Sciences at Paris, elected him as an honorary member of their respective bodies. Several European princes committed pupils to his care, each of whom, during the course of his instructions, found in him not only an indefatigable teacher, but a faithful friend, and an efficient counsellor.

His high reputation, and laborious industry, were united with prudence, and while he expended liberally, he exercised a proper care over the surplus of his income, so that his possessions at the time of his death, amounted to

about a million of dollars. Wealth was to him but a secondary consideration, yet having been taught its value by the penury of early years, he considered it a duty to save a portion of his earnings, as an income for the time of infirmity or age; and that he might have the means of assisting and relieving others. When Peter the Great of Russia went to Holland in 1715, to perfect himself in maritime affairs, he attended the lectures of Boerhaave, and, as a pupil, received his lessons. His reputation spread over Asia, and the eastern nations, and so well was his name known in those distant regions, that a letter written to him from a mandarin in China, with this inscription, "To the illustrious Boerhaave, physician in Europe," came regularly to him without mistake or delay. Amidst all his honors he retained an humble estimation of himself, and united to an uncommon genius, and extraordinary talents, that active benevolence which renders them valuable to society.

The activity of his mind sparkled in his eyes, his appearance was simple and unassuming, and when deep study and age had changed