public either look with suspicion, or only glance at and forget, the really valuable papers these periodicals often contain, regarding them in the same light they do the ephemeral or party writings with which they are mixed up, and that really to command attention, a work must stand forth on a more permanent and independent basis of its own.

It was not, however, till a few years before his death, that my father became convinced of this, and, consequently, of how many opportunities he had lost of doing good, and how much time he had wasted; for though, as he himself says, his pen was seldom idle, and his writings, if collected, would fill many volumes, still he felt that he had nothing which he could point as his own, or which he could hope would survive himself.

During the many years he was employed on active service, the composition of any connected work was of course not to be thought of; and something may perhaps be due to the unsettled habits engendered by so long a period of restless activity, that disinclined him from undertaking any extensive literary work. When, however, in after years, he began to feel himself unequal to the active pursuits of his profession, and its exercise was no longer an object of much importance to him in a pecuniary point of view, he determined to record, for the benefit of the public, the fruits of his personal experience.

The result of this determination was the composition of the present volume, as far as page 124, which was completed, as now published, in the autumn of the year 1843; when, thinking that enough was done to show at least what the work was intended to be, the composition was for a time suspended, and the manuscript was shown to several parties, preparatory to arrangements being made for its publication. Nothing, however, had been definitively arranged, when he was attacked by his last illness in November, 1843; and from that time till after his death it

remained sealed up in my hands; for though, owing to the assiduous care and unwearying watchfulness of those around him, he so far rallied from an almost hopeless attack of paralysis as to enjoy the society of his family and friends, he never recovered sufficiently to be able himself to undertake the revision of his work, though still well enough to be aware of all that was going on, and to have felt anxious and fidgetty about its progress through the press, and its reception by the public, had that task been attempted by another; which, therefore, under the circumstances of his health, could not for a moment have been thought of. The manuscript was therefore laid aside for more than two years and a half, and it is only now, that, in consequence of a testamentary request, I have undertaken the task of Editor, and offer it to the public; though, in doing this, I am perfectly aware of many defects the work unfortunately possesses, and which might deter some from risking its publication. In the first place, it is manifestly imperfect, ending abruptly with the article on Syphilis, without any peroration or resumé; and I know it was my father's intention to have added considerably to it, besides correcting many minor defects in its passage through the press. But even had this been completed, it then would have been only half the intended work, which was to have had a second volume, comprehending his opinions and experience of the civil branch of his profession, as this volume did of the military; and as for more than a quarter of a century he had exercised his profession as a physician in Edinburgh and at Windsor, the second would probably have been the more interesting and amusing volume of the two. In this latter it was, I believe, his intention to have abstracted, and indeed rewritten, the papers on Plague, Yellow Fever, Typhus, Cholera, &c., which are reprinted in the second part of the volume almost verbatim from the periodical publications in which they originally appeared.

Notwithstanding these defects, I feel that there is information and valuable suggestions in the work, the results of long practical experience, that will well repay the trouble of perusal, and make the reader forget its blemishes; and much as I may regret that the author did not live to complete his work, and put the finishing hand to it himself, I cannot doubt for one moment the propriety of sending it to the press, even if I should not feel very confident of its being appreciated by the public as perhaps my too partial judgment may lead me to believe it deserves.

In performing the task of Editor, I have not permitted myself to alter or improve the work according to what I, or any one else, may have thought would be improvements; and whatever my own ideas may be, with regard either to the whole or any part of the work, all I have proposed to myself has been to bring it out as nearly as possible as I believe my father would have himself published it in the spring of the year 1844, had his health permitted; and though, as above stated, the materials at my command do not admit of this being fully carried out, I can only say I have done so as far as they would permit ;-and all I have ventured upon has been to arrange the manuscripts, to correct the press, and occasionally to transpose a word, and add an adverb or expletive when the sense appeared to require it.*

One thing, as Editor, it might have been expected that I should have done, which is, to bring the information down to the present

* The papers that form the latter part of the volume having all been written as separate and detached essays, and published at different times, though referring to similar subjects, they often necessarily contain not only repetitions of the same arguments, but of passages nearly in the same words as are found in other parts of the work, which I would willingly have expunged to avoid the tautology; but in every instance where I have attempted this, I have found the chain of argument so weakened by it, that I have been forced to allow them to remain, though I am aware that this has given rise to much repetition that cannot fail to strike even the most cursory reader.

day; but even this I have not attempted; and though I am aware that, since the work was written, much has been done to ameliorate the condition of the soldier, -the terms of enlistment have been modified-flogging, if not abolished, at least discountenanced, and much progress made towards many of the reforms he so earnestly advocates, and that much new light, confirming my father's views, has been thrown on the subject of plague and quarantine, by commissions appointed by the French and Russian governments, which I could easily have added, I have not done so, for I feel that my father throughout represents the army rather as it was when he served with it, than as it is; that he desired to reprobate abuses even though they had been reformed, to stigmatise them if still existing, and to point out the means of removing them; and that in this resides the value of the work; not in a methodical enumeration of trivial details, or a complete statistical account of the practices of the army, or the details of nosology. But for this feeling, I have been strongly tempted to extract, in the shape of Notes, the reports on plague, as well as the numerous passages in the despatches of the army of the Sutledge, which have come to land during its progress through the press, and which bear so strongly on the military part of the subject, and confirm almost every word of the text, not only with regard to the qualities of the British soldier, but also as to the deficiency of his equipment, and that lamentable paucity of artillery, which there, as every where, has proved so fatal to the British Infantry. These, however, are matters of note, fresh on the mind of every one, and will occur to all who read these pages; but I cannot deny myself the pleasure of extracting one little passage which from its brevity may have escaped general attention, but which so strongly confirms all that is stated in this volume, regarding national regiments and small-sized men, that it seems almost to have been written on purpose.

In the middle of his despatch of the 13th of February, 1846, relating to the battle of Sobraon, Sir Hugh (now Lord) Gough remarks: "I must pause in this narrative especially to notice the determined hardihood and bravery with which our two battalions of Ghoorkas-the Simoor and Nusseeree-met the Sikhs whenever they were opposed to them: soldiers of small stature but indomitable spirits, they vied in ardent courage, in the charge, with the grenadiers of our own nation; and, armed with the short weapon of their mountains, were a terror to the Sikhs throughout this great combat.'

These men do not average five feet in height, and their weapon-the kookree-is a sort of bill-hook or dirk, not longer than a highlander's. On the eve of a not improbable contest with America for the territory of Oregon, the remarks in the text with regard to the rifle, may, before we are much older, prove even more fatally prophetic to our gallant soldiers, than those on artillery did of the fate of those who perished so needlessly at Ferozeshuhr.

In offering a posthumous work to the public, it may be expected that it should be preceded by a biographical sketch of the author, and I admit that this might be an improvement; but not on me should this task fall, for I feel it is impossible for me to write regarding a parent so long revered, and so recently lost, without either putting that constraint on my feelings which would expose me, and justly, to the reproach of affectation, or, on the other hand, giving way to praise which, to strangers, would appear as fulsome panegyric.

Few men had a more numerous circle of friends than my late father-few, friends of longer standing and more tried-and very few, I may be permitted to add, were more beloved within that circle than he was,-on them, therefore, not on the suspicious partiality of a son, let the task devolve, if it is thought worth while,