by the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association

“ Callous, indeed, must that heart be which the sterling worth and overflowing benevolence of Dr. Thackeray would not have softened. And as human nature is ever true to the principles with which the great Creator has endued it; as worth pays to worth ever the tribute of its esteem. Dr. Thackeray did find amongst mankind those sympathies which he most prized. ”

“ It would be a melancholy recital which should record the fate of the many ingenuous and highly cultivated minds, that have sunk under the complicated difficulties with which they have thus had to struggle. Many such, and, perhaps, not the least estimable, daily wither in their bloom, disappear, and are forgotten; while ignorance of their fate misleads others to engage in the same cheerless career, betraying them into hopes and expectations never to be realised. ”

“ Thackeray commenced his professional career, by settling, in 1812, at Northampton, where favourable prospects opened to him. It was not any apprehension of failure that induced him to abandon this ground, but the unsatisfied energies of his mind, for which the necessarily limited sphere of private practice furnished no adequate exercise. Conscious of powers which could embrace a far wider scope of active exertion, and possessing an innate benevolence, which incited him to employ these powers in the service of his fellow-creatures, he longed for a hospital ”

“ Thackeray acted with sound intellect, correct judgment, and enlightened benevolence. It is an error to which even benevolent minds occasionally, through want of reflection, incline, to consider the sole end of public hospitals to be the relief of the sick poor, for whose use they are more immediately provided. The view is a narrow one which so regards them. Far higher and more extensive are the purposes for which they are available. Of charity, as of mercy, it may be truly said, that it is twice blessed ”

“ Yet how is the experience of the young physician to be formed, on the scanty share of practice which the present state of the profession allots to him, unless he obtain, in addition, the wider field of observation which hospitals or dispensaries supply? If he have not the good fortune to procure some such appointment, he has to endure the double mortification of feeling that all his laboriously acquired knowledge is profitless, from want of exercise ”

“ When directed by a devout spirit and benevolent heart, it raises the individual high in the scale of moral excellence, calls into activity all his nobler faculties, and so far as the imperfection of his nature admits, advances him towards that perfection to which, however unattainable in this world, all are directed to aspire. Such beneficence carries with it its own reward in the feelings inseparable from it; rich as he was in this source of enjoyment, Dr. Thackeray's life must have been a happy one ”

“ Feeling that good servants merit and are entitled to humane consideration, when, through age or infirmity, they become incapable of further labour, and unwilling that such should be a burden on the general funds of the charity, or liable to the uncertainties which any fluctuation in its income might occasion, he created a special fund, from which such retiring allowances as might be required for the attendants of the hospital, should be with certainty supplied. ”

“ Expansive in his benevolence, influenced by that divine charity which makes no distinction where suffering humanity pleads for relief. Dr. Thackeray had often lamented the restrictions imposed on the admission of patients who could not substantiate a local claim. His heart panted to extend to all who were in need, the benefits of the charity which he administered. With this view he urged the governors to remove all limitation, by constituting the infirmary a general hospital. ”

“ Few are ignorant of how much of what is necessary to constitute the skilful physician, remains to be learned, after the most perfect course of elementary instruction and scholastic preparation has been completed. However extensive the literary attainments, however profound the science acquired, all combined will not enable the practitioner either to do justice to his patients, or satisfy his own mind, unless guided, in their application, by that familiarity with the aspects and changes of disease, and that practical tact, which diligent observation of actual disease alone can give. ”

“ Joseph Thackeray, whose premature fate it is our melancholy office to record, departed this life at Bedford, on the 5th July, 1832, in the 49th year of his age, the victim of a bilious fever, and after an illness of ten days. He was born at Cambridge, on the 27th March, 1784, being the 16th child of Thos. Thackeray, an eminent medical practitioner of that town. Ere we proceed to commemorate the useful and exemplary life of the son, a passing tribute should be paid to the memory of the venerable and excellent parent. ”

“ With great natural humility, he possessed both moral and physical courage to support the dictates of his higher sentiments, as many anecdotes both of his boyish and riper years would exemplify. As a boy he ever protected the weak against the strong, the oppressed against the oppressor ”

“ FEW species of literary composition excite so deep or so general an interest as biography. It is not difficult to trace to its source this prevalent feeling. The interest felt in any literary work must depend on the nature and number of the mental faculties to which it is addressed, and to the gratification of which it ministers. ”

“ His funeral was numerously attended by all classes; the governors of the infirmary, the gentry of the county, and a large body of his friends, uniting to pay this last sad tribute of respect. Sermons were preached on the occasion, both by churchmen and dissenters; and the poor, in the unaffected grief which they displayed, gave unequivocal evidence of those grateful feelings which genuine kindness is ever sure to excite. ”

“ Thus all his projects were realised, and though it pleased Heaven to remove him at an early age, when the matured perfection of his powers held out the promise of a long career of active usefulness, he could bend in meek submission to the fiat of his Maker, with the soothing consciousness of not having lived in vain. ”

“ Each is impressed precisely according to the faculties of his mind, which are aroused to sympathetic exercise. If intellectual powers be portrayed, it is the corresponding intellect that will be most incited, and this precisely in the degree in which each reader himself possesses it. Kindness of heart most impresses those who are endued with a high degree of benevolence ”

“ In this he sought not merely the benefit of the institution, but, with the enlarged and enlightened benevolence which characterised all his designs, he aimed at promoting the well being of the whole community. Knowing how greatly the welfare of the community is dependent on the competency of their medical attendants ”

“ Dissatisfied with the precariousness of gratuitous spiritual superintendence, he laboured to establish a fund from which a chaplain's stipend might be permanently derived. Wisely regarding a library and museum as legitimate objects of support by the charity itself, and as intimately connected with its best interests, he obtained from the governors an annual grant of £10 for their extension. ”

“ For the lamented being over whom they mourned, the poor had ever entertained the highest veneration, and of him it might be truly said, as of the Patriarch of old, that when the ear heard him then it blessed him ”

“ XVI.—Case of Osteo-Sarcoma of both Jaws, in which Amputation of the Joint was effected, and very considerable Portions of each Bone were removed by Operation. By William Hetling, Esq. M. R. C. S. Lecturer on Surgery, and Surgeon to the Infirmary, Bristol. ”

“ VI.—On the Treatment of Hypertrophy of the Heart, and Chronic or Sub-acute Inflammation of the Pericardium, especially in reference to the beneficial use of small doses of Mercury in those Affections. ”

“ IV.—A Statistical Report of Cases of Amputation, Lithotomy, and Hernia, in the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford; read at the Twentieth Anniversary Meeting of the “ Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, ” held at Oxford, on Wednesday and Thursday, July 21 and 22, 1852. By E. L. Hussey, Esq., one of the Surgeons to the Infirmary, Oxford. ”

“ Fully qualified to exercise his art for the advantage of those committed to his care, he discharged his duty to them with ability, diligence, and zeal; often with an excess of anxiety prejudicial to his own health. ”

“ I.—On Anaesthesia and Anaesthetic Substances generally; being an Experimental Inquiry into their Nature, Properties, and Action, their comparative Value and Danger, and the best means of counteracting the effect of an over dose. ”

“ I.—An Experimental Inquiry into the Effects of Hydrocyanic Acid, produced upon Animal Life. By Thomas Nunneley, Esq., F.R.C.S.E., Surgeon to the Leeds Eye and Ear Infirmary, and Lecturer on Anatomy in the Leeds School of Medicine. ”

“ VI.-A Statistical Report of the Surgical In-Patients of the Royal Berkshire Hospital, from its Establishment, May, 1839, to May, 1845. By George May, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, Surgeon to the Royal Berkshire Hospital. ”

“ I.—A Concise Practical Treatise on Neuralgia; its various Forms, Pathology, and Treatment. By Edwin Morris, M.D., Fellow, by Examination, of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Surgeon to the Spalding Union Infirmary, Spalding, Lincolnshire. ”

“ Contributions were liberally supplied, a distinguished individual having presented to the building fund the munificent donation of £2000, being one-half the estimated expense. In 1828, the committee reported the completion of the additional buildings, and from a statement published in 1829, it appears that the amount contributed was £6294, the building account £5700, leaving a surplus of £594. ”

“ XIII.—Suggestions as to a form of Register for Hospitals, Dispensaries, and private Practice. By Charles Cowan, M.D. Physician to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and Reading Dispensary, Fellow of the London Statistical society, and Member of the "Société Médicale d'observation" de Paris. ”

“ Physician to the Manchester Royal Infirmary; Consulting Physician to the Ardwick and An coats Dispensary; late Physician to Her Majesty's Embassy to Persia, in Medical charge of the British Detachment serving in Persia; late Physician to the Royal Household of Persia, and to the Persian Armies ”

“ V.—Additional Facts and Observations on the Efficacy of Strychnia in some forms of Paralysis. By James Lomax Berdeley, M. D. Physician to the Manchester Royal Infirmary, &c. 200
VI.—Observations on the Treatment of Syphilis without Mercury. By Thomas Green, M. D. Bristol, 241
VII.—Observations on Chronic Peritoneal Inflammation and its Treatment, with Cases. ”

“ VII—Two Cases of Gangrene of the Lungs. By William England, M.D., Wisbeach, Fellow of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London ; late Physician to the Norwich Guardians' Dispensary. 365
VIII.—A Case of partial Ectopia Cordis and Umbilical Hernia. By John O'Bryen, M.D., Bristol. (Illustrated with Drawings.) ”

“ IX.—Case of Hydrocephalus. By Thos. Stewart Traill, M. D. late of Liverpool; now Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the University of Edinburgh. 173
X.—A Proposal to establish County Natural History Societies, for ascertaining the Circumstances, in all Localities, which are productive of Disease, or conducive to Health. By J. Conolly, M. D. Warwick, late Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the London University, &c. 180
XI.—History of a Case of what has been commonly called Spina Bifida, occurring in the Adult. By Jas. ”

“ VIII.—Report of Cases at the Chester General Infirmary during the Years 1838, 1839, and 1840. By Thomas Beavill Peacock, Esq., House Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, late House Surgeon to the Chester General Infirmary. ”