WILLIAM LAWRENCE was born at Cirencester in July 1783, his father having practised as a surgeon in that town for many years. After being educated at a classical school near Gloucester, young Lawrence was apprenticed in February 1799 to the celebrated Abernethy, in whose house he went to reside. In after years, when lecturing before the College of Surgeons for the first time, Lawrence spoke thus eloquently of his teacher:—“Having had the good fortune to be initiated in the profession by Mr. Abernethy, and to have lived for many years under his roof, I can assure you, with the greatest sincerity, that however highly the public may estimate the surgeon and the philosopher, I have reason to speak still more highly of the man and the friend; of the invariable kindness which directed my early studies and pursuits, of the disinterested friendship which has assisted every step of my progress in life, and the benevolent and honourable feelings, the independent spirit and the liberal conduct, which, while they dignify our profession, win our love, and command our respect for genius and knowledge, converting those precious gifts into instruments of the most extensive public good.” Lawrence proved himself so zealous a pupil that in the third year of his apprenticeship, Abernethy appointed him to be his demonstrator of anatomy, a post which he filled for twelve years. Becoming a member of the College of Surgeons in 1805, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1813, and in the same year was elected F.R.S. Already in 1801 he had published a translation from the Latin of a Description of the Arteries, by Murray, Professor at Uppsala. In 1806 he won a prize offered by the College of Surgeons, for an essay on the Treatment of Hernia. This essay when printed gained immediate acceptance, and numerous editions were published. Lawrence’s contributions to anatomy and surgery now followed rapidly, several appearing in the _Edinburgh Medical and Physical Journal_. His observations on Lithotomy showed the way to a revival of the true system of operating laterally with the knife. In 1814 Lawrence was chosen surgeon to the Eye Hospital at Moorfields, and in 1815 to the Royal Hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlehem. In the latter year he was selected for the Professorship of Anatomy and Physiology at the College of Surgeons, and hence arose one of the bitterest controversial tempests of the early part of this century.