Dr. Wistar's countenance, though not handsome, was benignant in the extreme; even strangers were struck with this. Many of his students remember the courteous and sprightly smile with which he entered and departed from his lecture room. Ex treme suavity of deportment on every occasion of life, was his predominant mode of conduct. As a teacher, he allured by his gentleness and affability his students to flock around him on every occasion, and to ask him such questions as their want of in formation or misapprehension suggested. Ile was always on the alert to serve them in sickness, and to procure for them such places of profit and trust as his personal influence could controul, but inva riably, I believe, on such occasions, with a consci entious regard to his knowledge of their characters and to their qualifications. This principle of im partial, but merciful justice, always guided him in his decisions on the claims of candidates for medi cal degrees. Willing to attribute every deficiency to embarrassment, he only became convinced that it was ignorance, when every proper mode of in quiry, repeatedly and leisurely tried, proved the in capacity of the candidate. In such cases his deci sions were inflexible; as a conscientious man, having a public trust of first rate importance, he never consented for any one to take a recognised appoint ment in the profession, with a smaller share of knowledge than what he conceived necessary to the practice of medicine. From the goodness of his heart, I have no doubt that on many such occasions, he felt more for the candidate than the candidate felt for himself. His justice was evidently so im partial, and his goodness so conspicuous, that I have never heard the slightest breath of censure cast upon his proceeding, either by the fortunate or the unfortunate; on the contrary, their admira tion of hint had received a new impulse. In his social intercourse he possessed unusual tact in communicating pleasure. Though gifted with un usual strength and cultivation of intellect, and pos sessing varied and immense resources of conversa tion, he, on every occasion, seemed more desirous to hear than to be heard. From this turn of mind, his conversation abounded in a remarkable degree in questions; he culled information in that way from every source, and where he found a deficiency, he imparted abundantly of his own stock. Many young men, on first obtaining the pleasure of his acquaint ance, were struck with this peculiarity—he inquired concerning the mountains, the rivers, the natural productions, the manners of the section of country to which they belonged, and listened with patient and obvious satisfaction to their answers. These interrogations not being expected, the person to whom they were addressed was not always prepared to answer them correctly. But if, through a de sire of displaying more information than he actually possessed, the unfortunate individual answered like one who was well acquainted with the subject, another well-timed and pertinent question hinted to him that it was better for him to confess igno rance than to speak erroneously, for he was talking to one already acquainted with the subject of con versation. All this was clone with so much deli cacy, that pleasure instead of pain was excited, and I am sure, from my own feelings on returning home from such a discipline, that many persons must have resolved forthwith to make themselves well acquainted with objects so readily learned, and which, till then, it had never occurred to them, could become such interesting subjects of inquiry and of conversation. This happy tact made Dr. Wistar the charm of every circle. Unbounded in his hospitality, and fascinating in his manners, his house was the weekly resort of literary men of every description, both citizens and strangers: his company was courted equally by the young and the old, the gay and the sedate. It was very justly said of him,' if he addressed a promiscuous circle, he spoke like a man of the world, carefully avoiding every thing professional, technical, or in any way insulated; if an individual, he so suited his remarks to his taste and capacities, as to entice him into dis course, and draw from him his knowledge of the subject discussed."* So deeply had his philanthropy affected his gene ral deportment, that persons but just acquainted with him, were as fully persuaded of his disposition as those who had known him for years. In the sick room he was the ministering angel, compassionate, unwearied, prompt, and deeply-skilled; in bad cases never abandoning his patients, or ceasing to apply the resources of the art till life was extinct. In those terrible and unexpected accidents which some times come with overwhelming suddenness upon the practitioner of surgery, when even the stoutest and most collected hearts are paralyzed, Dr. Wis tar, though on common occasions the most sensi tive of mankind, found here all his faculties at their post. Whatever ingenuity could devise and skill combine, was rapidly executed. Ile was not one who in witnessing the immensity of a calamity, forgot the means by which it could be repaired or averted. In extending the benefits of his skill, the pecuniary recompense for it was the last of his thoughts. Ile practised, therefore, on the most dis interested principles, and being possessed of a good fortune with a lucrative professorship, his charges were proverbially moderate, and such as they were, very difficult to obtain. In this, however, he did a disservice to the profession, which I am sure he never intended. Inconsiderable charges from a man of his reputation and extent of business, in forming a sort of rule in the profession, of course affected deeply such as were only beginning, and such as had not the other resources which he wielded. Indeed, society itself is scarcely benefited
by such a proceeding, for it is generally admitted, that the most able members of the profession have, for the most part, received the first impulse from the stimulus of necessity, encouraged with the hope of reward; but if the value of the latter be dimin ished much, it turns the minds of enterprising men from the pursuit, and renders those who are already in it, lukewarm; under which circumstances medi cine loses much of its skill and respectability. No man, however, entertained higher notions of the value of professional services than Dr. \Vistar, and it was this very lofty conception of them which pre vented him from estimating their worth in pounds, shillings and pence.
Scrupulous and conscientious to an extreme in doing every thing for a patient which he thought could be of service, it is admitted that no other physician in the city encountered the same propor tionate labour that he did. His efforts went much beyond those of a simple medical attendant. He felt the deepest personal interest for his patient, and not unfrequently afterwards his mind was filled with the strongest sentiments of friendship, founded principally on the benefits which it had been his happiness to extend. In difficult chronic cases he made numerous and protracted visits, and entered into the most minute and comprehensive investiga tion of them. It was on such occasions that the solace and sympathy of friendship were superadded to the balm of the healing art, and that impressions of devoted affection to him are to be found among numbers of individuals yet alive in Philadelphia, who, upon any one touching this string even gently, find it vibrate to the inmost recesses of their hearts, and in the crowd of recollections which the asso ciation excites, incapable of utterance, give vent to them in a flood of tears. To call this man good, is only to show the insufficiency of human language.
In a point of vast importance to the harmony of society and to the efficacy of Christian convictions, I consider him to have been a perfect model. The rule " Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," was most indelibly and productively imprinted on his mind. Endowed by nature with a sensibility to be compared only with that of a delicate, youthful, and highly-refined female, it is not to be expected but that in our pro fession he received some rude shocks, enough so indeed to stagger a mind more coarsely organized than his ciNn. Incapable of injustice and of ran cour himself, when the first burst of jridignation was over, which he owed to human nature, then came the sunshine of a calm and undisturbed con science. Judging other men by himself, he trusted that there was some mistake, that it had not been intended, that the person had been betrayed into extremities by a vehement and uncontrollable dis position. If, however, a perseverance in injury proved that it was a deliberate and unrepented act of malice. no harsh retort came from his lips; they were closed forever upon the personal demerits of the individual, while he did ample justice to the merits, professional, or otherwise, which the per son may have possessed. From this Christian charity, even many of his most intimate friends de clare that they never heard him depart, nor utter an unkind word against such as had flagrantly injured him. The sense of the injustice, if retained in his memory, to the eyes of society was buried in oblivion. But if in his own justification it became necessary to expose the transaction, lie did it in the least offensive terms, and in such a manner as to express regret rather than resentment. Repeatedly have I witnessed this trait in his character.
The talents which had borne him up to this pe riod of life, were now applied with renewed vigour. Determined on discharging his duties to the best of his power, no pains, no expense, were spared. Well experienced in the best mode of instruction, in what was most useful to be learned, he sustained, in the maturity of his reputation, the high opinion that had been formed of him. As a teacher of anatomy, differing in many respects from his illus trious predecessor, his elocution was equally popu lar. Able, zealous, accomplished, with a great fund of solid information, with manners universally popular, his students who travelled abroad said of him, as has been said of Dr. Shippen, that no man they had met with was his superior, and very few his equals. His style of speaking was of that ear nest and fluent kind, which, abounding in important truths, without restricting itself to the formal rules of oratory, commanded irresistibly the attention. It was not so much the speaker that spoke as the subject which he was discussing; the absorbing interest was in the latter.
The last year of Dr. \Vistar.'s mortal career was marked by an unusual concourse of students, and by a series of lectures, in which he even exceeded his former reputation. In his fifty-eighth year, animated by a new and improved lecture room, but in an impaired state of health, his excessive fond ness for the duties of the chair still stimulated him to advance in the noble career. In this zenith of popularity and of public confidence, he was assailed with the malady destined by Providence to close his labours. He died, universally lamented, on the 22d of January 18 1 8.—.1bridgcd and compiled from Tilghman's Eulogy, Dr. Horner's Introductory Lec ture, and other sources, by ROBERTS VAUX.