A direct result of the reputation obtained through his course of lectures and improved professional position was the rapid increase of his practice and the improvement of the class of his patients, so that pecuniary profit came within his reach. He continued to be a general practitioner, however, attending to all classes of cases that came to him; but his zeal for midwifery and the diseases of women, together with his renown in those subjects, brought mostly patients of the female sex to his consulting-room. With the improved position there came necessarily increased expenditure, which at first exceeded the income; he never stopped to consider the patients' circumstances or whether he was likely to be paid for his services. "I prefer to have my reward in the gratitude of my patients," he said. He treated all that came to him, and his generous nature was oftentimes taken advantage of by persons very well able to remunerate him; moreover, at this time, when his pecuniary profit did not equal his professional reputation, he cheerfully helped many who appealed to him with amounts he could ill spare. His father-in-law generously and willingly stood by him until the fees began to come in more freely--his brother Sandy, who had supported him hitherto, having now other claims upon his purse. He found two ordinary but costly steps advisable--first, to move into a better and more centrally situated house; and, secondly, to obtain a carriage, "both to support my rank among my wealthier compeers and to save my body from excess of work." The outlay was justified in the result; the fees from students and from his private practice very soon enabled him to repay the debts to his brothers and his father-in-law without inconvenience and with grateful pleasure. Once and for ever within the first few years of his professorship he placed himself in a safe position, free from all pecuniary anxiety.