The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-09-24 00:00:00

MR ERASMUS vry...19? IN HENRIETTA-

-tiTTtEkT:

Prow Celebrities at Rome irs the WORLD.
While press-gangs yet roamed near the Thames,
seeking for brisk youths to servo the King, there came
one day to the Tower-irtaire a young Scotchmnn on
the errand oonsmon to his countrymen. 'The youth
had not, like Tobiaa Swilled, a tragedy in his pocket,
although his destiny was for a while not very die-
simanr from that of the immortal author of Roderick
Random The new arrival had ill fact while
domiciled in the North, studied rather medicine than
the humanities, and came to London to seek as an end
what Smollett accepted as a passing necessity. No
sooner had he stepped ashore than he saw an officer
bravely attired in gold lace and cocked-hat, who came
th up, and, taking him by e hand, shook it heartily,
and asked him whither he was bound. The Scot
answered that he was making for Surgeons' Hall, in
the bops that he might be admitted as a surgeon in
the Royal Navy. "Your hand feels more like that of
a sailor than of a surgeon," said the officer doubtfully'
whereupon the youngster ex ined that he had
worked his passage from Scotland before the mast.
After one more glance at the tell-tale head, the aloe,
said, "Then good bye, my lad, and God Wins you r
and William Wilson, of Aberdeen, having thus escaped
by the skin of his teeth, went his way, passed his
examinatioa, served his country, and at the oonaludon
of the Freed war mottled at IJartiord, in Kent, in
"civil practice." . . .

A re; ie.-sinister, to be nearer the skips in ordinary
U Greenhithe, he moved to that part of the pariah of
tiwanscombe. Here hi. son Erasmus, who had already
received hi. early education at the Dartford Grammar
School, had the idea:tugs of instruction from the
learned rector, Mr. George Renouard. His father,
however, entertaining the opinion that • boy could
wa he launched too early iu the world, set him to
practical work in the workhouse infirmary at Dart-
ford, and obtained his admission, at the age of 16, to
the imatornitad class of John Abernethy. It was
while suing at the feet of this genial, blue-coated,
braeobuttoned Ganialiel that Erasmus Wilson ae-
+lire' a Mae for the study of anatomy, and • hope
that he might one day be able to teach it. He also
made many friends, among whom were George
Gulliver, Richard Owen. Richard Partridge, John
Walter, of Antigua, and George Langstaff.
It wee Walter who lint induce] Wilson to under-
take the study of b Laity for It. own sake, and not
merely as • help to the knowledge of drugs. In the
summertime he visited his friend at Dartford, where
he found Dr. Peete, a botanist of considerable
eminence. Rambling .ide by side with Walter through
cone of the moot beautiful rural scenery in England,
rich in botanical rarities, and perfumed by chalk-
loving plants% F.rannus W Ram received his first
lesson. in Natural History. Entomology was pursued
in the rich preserve. of Darenth Wood, in company
with George Langstaff; and the studies of Wilson
received &n impulse, the effect of which became vieible
in Later year. in his commentary on the Cbsseirication
lharaeu of at &Ha. In 1821, and again in 1830,
Wilson visited Paris.. and followed the diniceres
Dupnytree, Boyer, Orfila, Breschet, and Lisfrane ;
and attended the lectures on botany. comparative
anatomy, and natural history, in the Jardin du Rcd,
where la was presented to Cosier and Geoffroy de St.
Hilaire. At la Paid him diesectiona were so neat
sad careful that his fellow-studenta dubbed him •
Moak.* lAnglkd, "sap"), a nickname which perhaps
never hurt any but the over-vain, eager for • repute-
lion for Crichtonism.
lii addition to a decided taste for natural blituty.
Wawa had another quality which distinguished him
frost his fellow.. Prom his mother, the daughter of •
Norwegian settled in England, he inherited • taste for
drawing, which stood him In good stead in the curse
of hi. anetornical studies, and served materially in
moulding hit career. Forty or fifty years Ago drawing
was a rare accomplishment, and the advantage of
being able to copy he diagrams of an anatomical
111100011 Into a note- wee ear, great. This faculty
was tamed to soutat an, Uaiversity College.
Waters acted as witeat to Jame quaia, whil. he
wenpad the ask of anatomy MA peorealese scabs
didana awl altrertitteadiat
Dr. Quainh Ilareesir ; sad ease mote la perf
similar office for Holiest Lam, when be was
for th. Ibl. Pr..6.t=1."""" see
publidiall la UM.
"Oafaluiretilyirm sallwrlVlL dispigast
verm:
diMalibill" 1•••••• •