Descended from an old Scotch family (the Mackenzies of Scutwell), Dr. MORELL MACKENZIE is the son of the late Mr. Stephen Mackenzie, surgeon, of Leytonstone, by his wife Margaret, daughter of Mr. Adam Harvey of Lewes. Morell Mackenzie was born at Leytonstone, on the borders of Epping Forest, on the 7th July 1837. His father was a man of exceptional intellectual power, whose studies took the direction of metaphysics and mental diseases; hence he acquired great skill in treating nervous affections which border on insanity. His ability was testified to by Mr. Brudenell Carter in his valuable essay on Hysteria (see p. 268). Mrs. Mackenzie was a clever woman of a highly practical tendency. The untimely death of Stephen Mackenzie in 1851, when he was thrown out of his gig and killed on the spot, left his widow with nine children very slenderly provided for. Morell Mackenzie was educated by Dr. Greig of Walthamstow, many of whose pupils entered the service of the East India Company. Mackenzie always took a great interest in natural history, in which he was largely encouraged by his mother, and from an early period greatly desired to enter the medical profession. But a medical education being then beyond the means of the family so suddenly bereaved, he was placed at the age of sixteen in the office of the Union Assurance Company in Cornhill. Here he got on very well, but never abandoned the hope of becoming a doctor. Fortunately, by the kind aid of a relative, he was enabled to gratify this desire, and he accordingly resigned his clerkship, and became a student at the London Hospital.