Abernethy's illustrations were usually drawn from some source already familiar; and if they were calculated to impress the fact, he was not very scrupulous whence he drew them. This would sometimes lead him into little trippings against refinement; but these were never wanton. Everything had its object, from the most pathetic tale down to the smallest joke. When the thing to be impressed was not so much single facts or propositions, as a more continued series, he had an admirable mode of pretending to con over the lecture in a manner which he would first recommend students to do—something after this fashion: "Let me see—what did he say?" "Well, first he told us that he should speak of Matter in general; then he said something about the Laws of Matter, of Inertia, &c. Well, I did not understand much of that; and I don't think he knew much about it himself;" and so on. There would now be a general smile; the attention of the class would be thoroughly alive; and then he would, in this "conning over," bring forward the points he most wished to impress of the whole lecture. A very striking proof of how much power he had in this way, came out in a conversation I had with Dr. Thomas Rees. This gentleman knew Abernethy well, and, in kindly answering some inquiries I made of him, he spoke of his power in lecturing. Amongst other things, he said: "The first lecture I ever heard him give, impressed me very much; I thought it admirable. His skill appeared so extraordinary! At the conclusion of the lecture," said Dr. Rees, "he proposed to the students to con over the lecture, which he proceeded to do for them." Dr. Rees then continued repeating the heads of the lecture, and this after at least thirty, perhaps forty years.