In his own lessons, whenever he met with any apparent imperfection, and wished to impress its real beauty of adaptation, Abernethy was very fond of what he termed his argumentum ex absurdo. He would suppose various other arrangements, and point out in succession their unfitness for the purposes required. Tried in the same manner, we can see nothing better than that which really happened.
If Abernethy met with coldness where he expected warmth—and dispute and discussion where he might have calculated on grateful concession,—how well-fitted must have been that reverence and affection which longingly awaited his retirement at home. If the greatest worldly success, in that occupation in which he had always felt most pleasure, was still not without its dark lights—shadowing forth what the world really is,—what could he have had better to concentrate his views on those substantial sources of comfort, of which he had long believed and estimated the value, and on which he was contented to repose. It had always been a favourite expression of his, when in any doubt or difficulty: "Well, I will consult my pillow, and we shall see." We believe that pillow seldom flattered.
[76] It was accordingly named the Apteryx, or wingless, from the Greek Alpha and Pterux.
[77] We have derived great pleasure from our correspondence, during some years, with Professor Ethelbert Dudley, of Lexington, Kentucky, and from the evidence it affords of Abernethy's principles having been recognized, and practised with great success, by one of the most distinguished surgeons and successful operators in the Western World. Professor E. Dudley, himself a distinguished surgeon and lecturer, and a man who unites with an extremely clear and vivacious perceptivity, a most untiring zeal in his profession, is the nephew of the celebrated B. Dudley, whose fame extends through the great Mississippi Valley. This gentleman, now advanced in years, was an early pupil of Abernethy, of whom he is a great admirer. He is a remarkably successful operator, and, during his more active period, was sometimes sent for several hundred miles. He is said to have performed lithotomy 200 times, with the loss of only six cases. His unusual success in operations he attributes not so much to any peculiar dexterity as to the manner in which he conducts the preparatory and subsequent portions of the Constitutional treatment of his cases. He seems also to have practised some other of Abernethy's habits: the most careful consideration of the pecuniary circumstances of his patients, interspersed with not a few examples of almost unexampled generosity.
[78] See Lancet, 1828.
CHAPTER XXX.
HIS RELIGION.