It was not only in regard to fevers that Murchison held a conspicuous place and published works of great value. In 1868 he published an excellent series of “Clinical Lectures on Diseases of the Liver,” which reached a second edition in 1877, when he added to them the Croonian Lectures on “Functional Derangements of the Liver,” delivered at the College of Physicians in 1874. In 1871, when St. Thomas’s new hospital was opened, Murchison was invited to join its staff as full physician and joint-lecturer on medicine. In this growing school he found full scope for his great talent as a clinical teacher. Of his success in this capacity the _Lancet_ said[11]—“His teaching was a reflex of his singular lucidity of thought and expression, which not only attracted the student with its distinctness and brilliancy, but furnished him with a method on which to found his own facts and observations.” His inaugural address as President of the Pathological Society in 1877 gave further proof of his marked originality of thought. Murchison’s accomplishments and personal attractiveness were as remarkable as his professional talents and industry. In botany, zoology, chemistry, and geology he had very wide knowledge, and he edited the palæontological memoirs of his friend Hugh Falconer, the explorer of the Miocene fauna of the Siwalik Hills. Fly-fishing was his favourite recreation. “In personal appearance,” says the _Lancet_, “Dr. Murchison was slightly below middle stature, and before the commencement of his fatal illness, of sturdy robust build, with the appearance of one well fitted to bear the trials and struggles of life. His head was large, the forehead high and full, the hair black, and eyes of surprising brilliancy and power of expression. In manner he was reserved, sparing of speech, and free from that impulsiveness which hails the ordinary acquaintances of life as esteemed friends. To those who knew him intimately, however, his full character was revealed, and they found in him a depth of love, tenderness, and sympathy, together with a constancy and devotion in friendship, rarely found in more demonstrative natures.” He attached himself particularly to the younger members of his profession, and never spared time or trouble in assisting them with his counsel and sympathy. He suffered severely from heart disease for several years before his death, which took place suddenly in the interval between the departure of one patient and the announcement of another, on the 23d April 1879. FOOTNOTES: [11] Obituary notice, May 3, 1879, p. 645. CHAPTER XVIII. _SIR JOSEPH LISTER AND ANTISEPTIC SURGERY._