Court, Fleet Street, and which was at that time the only society in the metropolis, in which the opinions of any of the established practitioners could be heard. He attended its weekly meetings, and, as was his custom, entered actively into the interchange of information, which it was the object of the institution to promote. During this year; while he was half determined to fix his residence in London, he had meditated, together with one of his fellow students, settled in the metropolis, on the want of a good periodical journal, which, by appearing quarterly, might command a sufficient quantity of valuable materials, to be more uniformly interesting than the only monthly medical journal then existing; and Dr. Reeve had himself drawn up a prospectus of this projected work. At the same moment, however, Dr. Duncan, junior, had formed the design of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, upon the same plan, and had taken some steps for its commencement; but, having heard of the intention of his two friends, he communicated his proceedings to them, and suggested the mutual advantages which might result from uniting their labours, a proposal to which the latter immediately acceded. Dr. Reeve continued, as long as his health permitted the exertion, to give his valuable aid, in various communications, to which we shall have occasion to allude, as well as in the supply of a considerable share of the anonymous criticism.

During his residence at Edinburgh, Dr. Reeve had formed a most intimate friendship with Mr. now Dr. De Roches, a fellow-student from Geneva, of an amiable disposition and considerable talents, who, after his graduation, also continued his medical studies in London. This gentleman being about to return home, in the spring of 1805, Dr. Reeve determined to accompany him, for the purpose of visiting as many of the interesting countries of the continent, as were not rendered inaccessible by the occupation of the French armies. They embarked at Harwich, and having landed at Husum, were compelled, by the presence of the French in the Electorate of Hanover, to go northward, by Lubec, to Magdeburg, whence they travelled through Halle, Leipsic, Weimar, Frankfort, &c. into Switzerland. In the three first places they spent some time, examining the anatomical museum of Loder, and visiting professors Reil, Sprengel, Gilbert, Kuhn, and other learned

men. In about six weeks they reached Neufchatel, which, being then under the protection of the king of Prussia, afforded a safe asylum to an English traveller. Here Dr. Reeve remained two months alone, with the view of perfecting himself in the French language, and his friend proceeded to Geneva. Here he seems, in consequence of his solitude in a foreign country, to have had a slight degree of the maladie du pays, and to have suffered, perhaps for the only time in his life, a considerable depression of spirits; for on his return, at the expiration of two months, Dr. De Roches found him pale and thin, and disposed to avoid society and cheerful occupations. The company of his friend, and the commencement of a tour, speedily restored him to his usual hilarity and health. They visited Berne together, and examined its hospitals, of which Dr. Reeve published an account in the fifth volume of this Journal. He was much delighted with a national festival, in one of the most romantic spots of Switzerland, near Interlacken, which was called the Fête des Bergers, and at which all the athletic feats of the Swiss peasantry became the subjects of contests and prizes. From thence, under the protection of a little pardonable ruse de guerre, he ventured to accompany his friend to Geneva, as an American. His stay, however, was necessarily short, and with much regret on the part of Dr. De Roches and his family, they once more separated. Dr. Reeve now hastened, in consequence of the advancing season, to the glaciers of Chamouny, and thence passed through many interesting scenes in the Valais and petits cantons, by Zurich, Baden, and Basle, to Schaffhausen; whence he proceeded by Munich to Ratisbon, where he embarked upon the Danube, and made the voyage to Vienna.

During this part of his journey in Switzerland, his attention was attracted to the celebrated baths of Leuk, in the Valais, and he published, through the medium of this Journal,† an interesting account of the springs which supply them, and of the surrounding country; describing also the temperature of the baths, the mode of bathing, and the effects of the operation, as well as the diseases which are said to be remedied by resort

Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. V. p. 253. † Vol. III. p. 150.

ing thither. In the course of the same journey, his inquiries were directed to the nature of that singular condition of the human economy, which characterizes the Cretins; and he obtained drawings of the skull of one of these unfortunate beings, which he brought to England, and laid before the Royal Society, accompanied by a brief memoir on the subject.* He likewise contributed to this Journal an interesting communication on the same subject, under the title of "Some Account of Cretinism," which was illustrated by two sketches of the skull. He ascertained that there is no necessary connection between the goitre, or tumour of the thyroid gland, and Cretinism; nor between either of these diseases and the use of snow-water: but he was disposed to ascribe the disease of the Cretin to the same causes, to which a somewhat analogous malady, the rickets, appears to have owed its origin in this country; namely, bad air, unwholesome food, want of cleanliness, &c.

On reaching Vienna, he determined, in consequence of the disturbed state of the Continent, to make that metropolis his place of residence for the winter. This determination, however, compelled him to break an engagment, into which he had entered previous to his departure from London. During his short stay there, his zeal and information had become so far the ob ject of notoriety, that he was solicited to deliver a course of lectures at the Royal Institution, "on the moral and physical history of man;" and his name was actually announced by the committee among the lecturers of that year.

His residence at Vienna, during the winter of 1805, was the source of much interest; as he not only obtained an extensive introduction to various persons of rank and eminence, but remained there during the occupation of that metropolis by the French, after the defeat of General Mack, and had frequent intercourse with the medical and other officers of the French army. The German language was a leading object of his attention while at Vienna, and he cultivated it with considerable success. A knowledge of this language indeed has become highly important to the medical philosopher, since it has been enriched by the writings of Blumenbach, Reil, Richter, Spren

*See Philosophical Transactions, Vol.

See Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. V. p. 31.

gel, and many other able physiologists and physicians. He likewise availed himself of the opportunity, which a winter at Vienna presented, of prosecuting his researches in regard to the phenomena of torpidity: and for this purpose he kept several marmots, and a hamster, at his lodgings, carefully investigating the state and changes of the functions in these hybernating animals. Several communications to the newly established Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal were the result of his observations at Vienna; particularly, an account of the state of Vaccination on the Continent, including a statement drawn up at his request by Dr. De Carro;*-two papers, descriptive of the general hospital, and the school of medicine at Vienna; and an "Inquirer," respecting the then state of medical science in Germany.‡

Dr. Reeve quitted Vienna early in the spring of 1806, and visited Prague, Dresden, and several other cities, which offered objects worthy of attention. At Berlin he remained for some time, having been introduced to the principal literati and other persons of distinction, and embraced the opportunities, which were afforded him, of examining the state of medicine and science in that metropolis. The result of this investigation was briefly detailed in the Edinburgh Journal, together with a list of the diseases which had occurred in the great hospital there, for the space of four years. Still obliged by the state of continental affairs to pursue a northern course, he went from Berlin to Hamburgh, and thence to Cruxhaven, where he embarked for England.

For some time after his return, Dr. Reeve was undecided as to the place where he should finally settle to practise his profession, balancing especially between London and Norwich. The metropolis, as the great centre of learning, science and wealth, presents many attractions to a professional man of liberal education. It opens before him a wide field for honourable ambition; it abounds with intelligent and polished society; and its very magnitude deprives professional competition of all its personal jealousy and enmity. The road to practice, therefore,

*Vol II. p. 126. † Ibid, p. 491, and Vol. III. p. 122. Vol. IV. p. 69. § See Some Account of the Medical Topography of Berlin, Vol. II. p. 375.

appears to be both broad and smooth, in comparison with pr vincial situations. But having weighed, on the other hand, t extreme uncertainty of ultimate success, and the necessari long period which must elapse, before any considerable rep tation or emolument can be obtained in London; and placin also in the balance the many highly valued friendships whic he had formed at Norwich, the probability of more speedy ad vancement into practice in that smaller circle, and the mor substantial happiness of domestic society, and of that intimat intercourse with a smaller number of real friends, which a pro vincial residence affords, he decided upon settling at Norwich Accordingly, in the autumn of this year, 1806, he went to re side in that city. There was another circumstance, indeed, from which also he promised himself more essential happiness tha from the splendour of metropolitan reputation or wealth namely, the completion of an early engagement with a young lady, every way worthy of his attachment, and, in fact, remarkably resembling himself, in the possession of abilities and of solid attainments above the usual acquirements of her sex, as well as in the unaffected cheerfulness, candour, and benevolence of her disposition. This prospect was fully realized, and he ever rejoiced in the determination which fixed him at Norwich. He was married to Miss Taylor in 1807.

Although the medical practice at Norwich was greatly preoccupied, especially by Dr. Lubbock, and by two or three distinguished surgeons, yet the value of Dr. Reeve was speedily recognized by the public, and he was almost immediately appointed physician to the Public Dispensary, on the resignation of Dr. Lubbock; and, on the occasion of the death of that much respected friend, in the year 1808, he was appointed his successor in the offices of physician to the Norfolk and Norwich hospital, and to the Bethel.

In the year 1809, Dr. Reeve committed to the press his only literary work, (his thesis, and the various papers mentioned in this memoir excepted) which was entitled, "An Essay on the Torpidity of Animals." He had pledged himself, at the conclusion of his inaugural thesis, in 1803, to prosecute the subject farther; and this essay comprises a considerable addition of information, both original and collected, to that which the thesis.