reports, and wrote to van Swieten that it was her warmest wish that, when he came to Vienna, he might not experience any unpleasantness. “I would rather,” she added, “abandon completely my personal interest in this matter than have you made unhappy by the contemplated visit to Vienna.” While these gracious words from the Empress were greatly appreciated by van Swieten he was not willing to appear in Vienna in the rôle of a censor or a reformer; and so one is not surprised to learn that he did not take up his residence in the Austrian capital before June 7, 1745. * * * * * VAN SWIETEN’S WORK AS A MEDICAL REFORMER.—So far as the teaching of medicine was concerned van Swieten found everything in the University in a state of confusion; indeed, nothing worthy the name of medical science existed in Vienna at that period of time. He had left a city in which the teaching of this branch of knowledge had reached a high degree of development and had come to one where the very foundations of such work had yet to be laid. He recognized at the first glance just what steps would have to be taken, and he was much encouraged by the thought that he could count upon the powerful support which Maria Theresa was only too glad to give him. According to Mueller, he realized that the most serious obstacle in his way was sure to be the very great influence wielded by the Jesuits, who had for many years controlled all educational matters in the Austrian Empire. He began his work by delivering a course of lectures on methods of treatment and on Boerhaave’s Principles of Medicine (“Institutions”), and he managed within a comparatively short time to attract large numbers of auditors, in whose minds was thus created a strong interest in the personality of the lecturer. At the same time van Swieten remained conscious of the fact that many of the members of the Faculty had not ceased to look upon him with keenly jealous eyes. In his memorial to the Empress on the progress which had thus far been made in the study of medicine he wrote: “Although the Faculty have not included my ‘Commentaries’ in the list of books which they recommend to the students, they emphasize by this very act the fact that physicians everywhere—as shown by the publication of five separate editions and two translations of my book in only six years—do not agree with these gentlemen in regard to the value of this work.” The continued favor shown to van Swieten by the Empress and the consciousness that he was doing his full share toward advancing the science of medicine compensated in large measure for the ungenerous spirit which animated his colleagues. * * * * *