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"lie up" occasionally; and though obeying the doctor's orders in this way was a sore trial to a man of such active temperament, he would the more cheerfully comply inasmuch as he was full of resources where with he might spend his time agreeably; and in determining the treatment of a patient, whether in domestic life or in residence abroad, this was constantly in his mind. "Is he a man of resource?" said he, "or one who goes through life aimlessly, without one hobby?" Delighting in animals himself, he liked to see a fondness for them manifested in his friends and patients; the mewing of the domestic cat, the dog bounding in his glee, the high action of a well-bred horse, were noticed and commented on whenever seen. "Are dogs your special favourites, Dr. Maclagan?" said a lady to him in a country house. "Yes, I think so," was the answer; "but I love everything that lives." Then as to games, he recognised how important they were to the boy or the full-grown man, the football for the stripling, the less riotous cricket for manhood, and humorously would he counsel the clergy to take to the latter as a suitable enough game for their cloth, adding, " Those of you who don't care to play can always look on, or take the score." His rare sagacity, common sense, and humour would ever appear when in the witness-box as a medical jurist, or expert witness; and while he controlled his temper under the exasperating ordeal of cross-examination, he has been known to turn the tables even on eminent counsel. "Is this man's recovery impossible?" said Mr. Rutherfurd Clark to him regarding a railway accident case. "Impossible!" thundered Sir Douglas; "that is a word I have never used in my forty years' practice, and I am not going to begin now." In time counsel got to know his rare acumen, so that they were somewhat afraid to tackle so ready a wit, and hence cross-examination became very much a matter of form, and was sometimes dispensed with; but if any doubt remained in the Court as to the exact import of the evidence adduced, the presiding judge, in a few pointed questions addressed to Sir Douglas, would elicit to the jury the full meaning of the evidence they had just listened to. Previous to his appearing in the witness box, the busy Doctor would have delivered his forenoon lecture and seen his morning patients, to visit more of them in the afternoon, and, if possible, as he did on sundry occasions, enjoy a

game at billiards before his late dinner.

The evening would see him conning the literature of his profession in his library, followed by lighter reading or music upstairs. Up to old age, Sir Douglas dined out a great deal in the genial society of the leading doctors and lawyers of our city, when his playful bonhomie was tempered by a dignity which never allowed him to give himself away, or pass the limits of becoming mirth, for he had a horror of tomfoolery in any of its aspects; and while willing amply to contribute to the harmony of the evening, he did not monopolise either the conversation or the singing. Let us suppose that a goodly company are assembled at the table of the President of the College of Physicians, that dinner is over, and that conversation has been prolonged to that stage when the variety of song comes in opportunely; therefore, requested by his host and friends, Sir Douglas responds to the request for one of his songs, attuned to the well-known melody, "The Meeting of the Waters":

"Oh! there's not in all Deutschland a valley so fair
As the vale of the Waters of Neuenahr rare;
Oh! the last trace of gout will depart from your toe
If you'll but for a season to Neuenahr go.

Oh! it was not that Nature had furnished you there
With a mineral water beyond all compare ;
"Twas not that its virtues beat potion or pill;
Oh, no! it was something more exquisite still.

"Twas that Miller has written that there grows a wine
That's superior to any on Mosel or Rhein;
And it shows how the views of a writer improve
When reflecting on wine in the Neuenahr grove.

At Neuenahr's gasthaus how well could I dine,
Giving Miller the water, whilst I take the wine;
Where the teetotal question for ever would cease,
And each of us drink his own liquor in peace."

Such were the recreations of many a winter evening. And what of the summer? When his avocations permitted of it, Sir Douglas would often be seen strolling with members of his family in the delicious gardens opposite his house, where once a week, and mainly through his organisation, a musical

band played to a large audience, this being one of the numerous channels in which he sought to benefit the people. He delighted in flower shows and archery meetings, being himself no mean proficient with the bow and arrow; then when the heather was in bloom and the grouse ready, how keenly would he throw himself into that pastime, as for many a year he did on the slopes of Rannagulzion, in the Blairgowrie and Alyth districts of Perthshire, or on the Lanarkshire moors round Abington and Crawford. He was a good man for a week end or a “day off," whether it was by the river side or on the partridge field, and when evening came, whatever other songs were on the programme, the night's recreation was not complete without Sir Douglas's favourite song, " Donald Caird":

"Donald Caird can wire a maukin,
Kens the wiles o' dun-deer staukin';
Leisters kipper makes a shift
To shoot a muir-fowl i' the drift.
Water bailiffs, rangers, keepers,

He can wauk when they are sleepers;

Not for bounteth or reward

Daur they mell wi' Donald Caird.

Donald Caird can drink a gill
Fast as hostler-wife can fill ;
Ilka ane that sells guid liquor,
Kens how Donald bends a bicker.
When he's fou he's stout and saucy,
Keeps the cantle o' the causey :
Highland chief and lawland laird
Maun gie room to Donald Caird.

Donald Caird's come again!
Donald Caird's come again!
Dinna let the Shirra ken
Donald Caird's come again!"

Having dwelt perhaps too much on the remarkably genial character of the lamented Professor, the impression may have been given to some reader unacquainted with the more serious life of the man that in his leisure hours he was a votary of gay, fashionable life; but it was not so. Sir Douglas was a man of deep, earnest piety, but so unobtrusive in his religious

faith and creed that a casual observer was unable to form an adequate opinion of his genuineness in these particulars. He was so intensely practical that every hour of the day was spent in doing good, his motto being " Work while it is called to-day." His joyous light-heartedness was the outcome of a wholesome activity that lasted until he was fourscore and upwards; neither time nor trouble was grudged so long as he could benefit his fellow-men. The large field of his work has only to be considered, and we call to mind that not only the causes of medicine and science were materially advanced by him, but the leading philanthropic institutions of our city, from the Royal Infirmary to a local dispensary, were benefited by his constant supervision and personal help. Not a little of his usefulness is accounted for by the fact of his being so regular and methodical in the work that fell to his lot, and guiding others to follow in his steps, so that hundreds of students are now following a course of rectitude to which they had been in no small measure trained by their former venerated Professor, who had likewise stimulated their ambition to be men of light and leading.

Sir Douglas had survived almost all his cotemporaries, and we cannot remember any left behind him save two-Dr. Peddie, and Mr. John Ord Mackenzie of Dolphinton, W.S. Many were the joyous meetings these attached friends had, along with the late Dr. Moir, Dr. Wood, and a fraternity whose life-long friendship included Lord Ardmillan, the late Lord Justice General Inglis, Lord Moncrieff, and the distinguished lawyers of the last half century. To see Sir Douglas with his jaunty step while he was yet seventy-five, you would have said:

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But with the inevitable failure of strength that comes from the age of fourscore and upwards, the appropriate lesson was learned:

"Time, stern huntsman, who can baulk,
Staunch as hound, and fleet as hawk."

D. B. A.

426

A SPRING MORNING IN GALLOWAY.

By W. G. KYLE, Author of "Gallovidian Rambles," etc.

Two went hi comects Ghent with Bruges. They

WO cyclists were riding leisurely along the level, pollard

looked about them critically and curiously, and were obviously not contented with their environment. At length one of the strangers gave expression to his dissatisfaction by exclaiming wistfully:

"Oh, to be in Galloway, now that April's there!"

This heartfelt wish was echoed by his fellow-exile, who lamented that he could not improve the flat Belgian landscape by transporting thither some of the grey, granite hills of the bonny home-land. If they could only have heard the pathetic wail of the bereaved whaup they would have been happier amid that monotonously level plain.

Another spring-time came, and one of the wanderers was chewing the cud of a deep content, for he had attained his heart's desire, and was back among the rugged riddlings of the old province, and instead of flat Flemish vistas his gladdened eyes rested upon brown, serrated uplands and khaki-coloured moors, and at eventide and at daybreak there floated to the fervid brain through ever-open ears the langorous lullaby of whispering waves as they lazily lapped the tranquil shores of winsome Wigtown Bay. Earth holds other and fiercer delights, but the only ones which are never bitter when the appetite is satiated, and to which the memory longingly returns when life has lost its zest and its exotic pleasures pali and we are worldweary and exiled, are the simple joys of early days and the common sights and sounds which link us through life to the one spot which is dearest and loveliest to us above all other places the old earth possesses. And happy is he for whom the beauty and delight of such associations never lose their pristine freshness nor their power to charm, for they surely will bring him peace at the last.

Yes, it is spring again, and Nature is triumphant. Once more she is the regnant queen, more lovely and heart-ravishing

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