Sites.” A new hospital was required, and at first, in 1866, Syme was strongly in favour of a new building on the old site. But further experience of erysipelas and pyæmia in the old hospital convinced him of the necessity of having an entirely new building in which the old disadvantages would be absent. He consequently changed his view, and strongly advocated the new plan, which was ultimately, in 1869, accepted. But he did not live to see the new work begun. In private life Syme was genial and happy, throwing off all professional cares, quarrels, and anxieties in the home circle. His unobtrusive religion was an essential feature of his character. He was devoted to truth and earnest in its advocacy, and hence sprang many of his controversies; but he had no love for controversy as such. His domestic life was very happy, though broken at various times by death. His first wife died in 1846: of her numerous family two daughters only survived to adult age, one of them being now the wife of Sir Joseph Lister. His second wife was the sister of Burn, the architect: this union was equally happy with the former; but the second Mrs. Syme also died before him. Her youngest child was Mr. James Syme, the present proprietor of Millbank. This house and estate Professor Syme decorated and improved with all that horticulture and excellent taste could devise, and it was under his sway one of the most charming resorts near Edinburgh. His social gatherings of eight, ten, or twelve choice spirits were delightful, and his hospitality was both large and discriminating. It is pleasing to record that Mr. Syme welcomed the greatest surgical improvement of modern times, that brought forward by Professor Lister, his son-in-law. In 1868 he contributed a valuable paper to the _British Medical Journal_ “On the Antiseptic Method of Treatment in Surgery,” by which he greatly aided its progress. This was his last year of full practice. In April 1869 he was seized with paralysis, resigned his professorship and surgeoncy soon after, but recovered sufficiently in the autumn to receive a testimonial in St. James’s Hall, London (November 10, 1869), at a public dinner in which the leaders of the profession vied with one another in honouring him. The testimonial took the form of the endowment of a surgical fellowship in the University of Edinburgh, in addition to the placing of a marble bust in the Infirmary or University library. A bust was subsequently placed in both of these situations. Syme at length died, after repeated attacks of paralysis, on the 20th of June 1870.