He was indeed clothed in well-nigh impenetrable armour, and provided with powerful weapons, when in the autumn of 1835 he returned from his foreign tour to commence the serious fight in which his avowed object was not only to obtain professional eminence, but to stand forth a proud benefactor of the human race. Although he appealed always directly to Nature and used his own well-trained eyes and ears in preference to those of others, he did not completely brush aside authority as Sydenham had done; he hesitated neither to extract all that was valuable, nor to discard what appeared worthless from the writings of past masters. CHAPTER IV EARLY PRACTICE AND PROFESSORSHIP. 1835-1840 President of Royal Medical Society--Personal appearance--Practice among the poor--Corresponds with Miss Grindlay--Lecturer on obstetrics--Resignation of Professor Hamilton--Applies for vacancy--Active candidature--Strong opposition--Marriage--Account of the midwifery Chair--The medical professors at the time--Their opposition--Cost of candidature--Triumphant election. In November, 1835, Simpson was elected one of the annual Presidents of the Royal Medical Society; a position which has been occupied by many young Edinburgh graduates, who have subsequently risen to fame. He took pains to make his inaugural address worthy of the occasion, and chose a subject connected with the pathology of obstetrics. It was a great success, and contributed largely towards giving him a recognised position as an authority in that branch of study. After appearing in the _Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal_ for January, 1836, it was translated into French, Italian, and German. It also obtained for him his first foreign honour--one of a long list that was made up through his lifetime--that of corresponding member of the Ghent Medical Society; indeed, his early works received more attention and appreciation abroad than at home. In 1836, in order to widen his experience in his chosen subject, he filled the post of house-surgeon to the Lying-in Hospital, and held it for twelve months. He was also elected a Fellow of the Edinburgh College of Physicians. From this time he became a profuse writer on professional subjects, and developed an easy and convincing style; he carried on this work _pari passu_ with practice amongst the poorer classes of the city and in addition to his work in connection with the Pathology Chair, always keeping in view his great object of becoming an obstetrician. It was not until 1838 that he became an independent lecturer on Midwifery. He had intended to do so earlier, but owing to Professor Thomson's ill-health, he had been called upon to act as Deputy-Professor of Pathology, a most valuable and useful employment.