Under the distinguished patronage of Cullen, Brown opened a boarding-house for the students of the univer sity ; the profits of which, with those of his profession, enabled him to marry. About this time he had the pri vilege of illustrating, every evening, the morning lec ture of Dr Cullen, and for this purpose he was entrusted with the manuscript. But in spite of all these advan tages, Mr Brown's total want of economy, and of atten tion to those matters which claim the notice of every honest man, soon involved him in pecuniary difficulties, horn which he never appears to have been ever after freed. A compromise with his creditors at this time relieved his most urgent necessities.
Alter these unfortunate events, he laboured very hard, in hopes of obtaining a professorship in one of the in fant seminaries of North America, then belonging to Great Britain ; but this expectation was disappointed. Ile subsequently ascribed his want of success to selfish motives on the part of Dr Cullen : but it does not ap pear to have been a well-founded suspicion. Soon after wards, he was farther disappointed in his views towards the chair of the Theory of Medicine, to which the pre sent Dr Gregory was then elected. This event, which he also ascribed to the unfair conduct of his old patron, was followed by his rejection, on applying to become a member of the society which published the Edinburgh Medical Essays ; which completed the breach between the professor and his quondam friend. Without better information than can be easily obtained at present, we cannot pretend to decide how far Brown's allegations may be founded in truth, or if Dr Cullen had not some cogent reasons for having withheld his support on the occasions stated. It is not improbable that the irregu larities of the former might have had their share in de termining Dr Cullen's conduct, even if we adopt the very partial statement made by Brown's advocates. The whole of Mr Brown's speculations with respect to professorships having failed, he applied most diligently to grinding, and employed the manuscript of his " Ele nzenta illedicince," as his text-book. His most sanguine expectations were exceeded by the progress wliich his opinions made among the students. Nor is it at all wonderful, when we consider the materials which com pose the great body of medical students in the university of Edinburgh.
In the autumn of [779, Brown took the degree of Doc tor of Medicine at the University of St Andrew's, dread ing lest his rupture with the professors of Edinburgh would thwart his wishes, had he attempted to realise them there. St Andrew's is celebrated for conferring degrees without residence, or even previous study, if the candidate be recommended by two physicians known to the university.
About this period, the contest between his partizans and those of his opponents, were carried to the highest possible pitch. The zeal of one party to convert, and the distaste of the other to be converted, produced all the effects consequent on such extreme absurdity. No man possessed of common understanding, would quar rel with another for differing with him on medical topics. But, strange to relate, many duels were fought to de termine whether opium was a stimulant or a sedative Probably about this time Dr Brown discovered, that the medical practitioner, who devotes himself to the useful though unambitious pursuit of his profession, must anticipate no higher reward than the ephemeral applause which success, even in the hands of a block head, cannot fail to procure ; while those who venture into the dangerous regions of medical speculation and controversy, may not only enjoy all the advantages that result to their less ambitious brethren, but have the fur ther satisfaction of being regarded as the founders of systems equally vague, hypothetical, and untrue. as those of their predecessors. The foregoing conjecture is in some measure confirmed by the publication of the first edition of the "Elementa 11 fedic ." in 1780.
The next five years do not appear to have been occu pied by any remarkable event. In i 785, the Doctor in stituted the masonic lodge of the Roman Eagle. His views have been variously stated ; but it is scarcely fair to seek for motives, when we have some of considerable weight assigned in the obligation signed by all the members of this institution. During this period, as well as every other, Dr Brown's inattention to his con cerns involved him in continued difficulties ; and once, it is recorded by one willing to palliate every error, he was reduced to the necessity of concluding a courseof lectures in prison, to which his imprudence had carried him. Borne down by this continued train of misfortune and misery, he left Edinburgh with a wife and eight children for London, there hoping to retrieve his lost opportunities of comfort. Soon after his arrival in the metropolis, he delivered three successive courses of lectures at the Devil's Tavern ; but being scantily at tended, his profits were small. He also received a small sum from Johnson of St Paul's Church-yard, for the translation of his "Elementa It seems that a paltry intrigue disappointed him with regard to a situation offered to him by the Great King of Prussia ; and a still more paltry revenge cast him into the King's Bench prison. By some means, too, it is said, that on a former occasion he lost the appointment to the Professorship of Medicine in the University of Padua.