Autobiography of the Late Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, Bart. (Longman.)
—This is an interesting little work. Somebody has said that any one may
write a readable book who will only tell the truth about himself, his feel- ings, and his doings. This Sir B. Brodie has certainly done in a very sim- ple, modest, and unaffected way. There are useful hints scattered through
the 187 pages, as, forexample, on simple remedies at p.16, and on note.tak- ing in the hospital at p. 56, and there is much kindly criticism on celebri- ties of the profession. One valuable lesson that the author takes pains to inculcate is this, that what is wanted for success in a profession, medi- cal or other, is not special aptitude or inclination, but conscientious work and determined perseverance. He certainly seems to have illus- trated this in his own person. With no particular taste for the way of life he was led to adopt, be rapidly rose to the highest honours and emoluments. At forty he was making an income of 6,5004 and when
the offer of a baronetcy came ten years later he had accumulated enough
to produce 2,5001. a year independent of his practice. It is but just to say that this was the result of very hard work, and that he did not
neglect the duties that charity imposes on the profession, to which it so nobly responds. "For thirty-two years," he says, "the hospital (St. George's), as far as my profession was concerned, was the greatest object of interest that I possessed. Except during the brief intervals of my absence from London, it rarely happened that I was not some time during the day within its walls." This unpretending little volume, though somewhat fragmentary, has been very properly given to the world, and will be very generally read.
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