He laid no claim to eloquence, nor had he that gift. A peculiar huskiness of voice, indeed, rendered first hearings from him painful; but this was soon felt less on acquaintance, and the ear once accustomed to the peculiarity, the mind was quickly interested in the matter of his discourse, for he always spoke earnestly, clearly, and to the point. In the societies he spoke very often, and gave expression to views, on which he had spent great thought, with a generous freedom which, in so far as the fame of his originality was concerned, had been better held in reserve. It had been better, that is to say, for him to have carefully elaborated some of his views in the closet, and published them fully, than to have sent them forth in the hurry of debate. Had he lived, he would possibly have collected many stray labours thus put forward, and have given to them the matured consideration which they deserved. One of his views, on which he would have bestowed great attention, refers to the origin of various morbid growths, as cancer. He believed that these morbid formations are all of local origin; that they arise in the parts of the body where they are found, from some perversion of nutrition; and that the constitutional effects are secondary to and dependent on the local disorder. He had made many observations on this important subject, notices of which are to be found scattered, here and there, in the proceedings of the Medical Society of London, but no connected record was ever completed.