commenced practice, occasionally engraving a little, among the rest a skeleton from Albinus enlarged to near three feet. I contrived to get two or three impressions by means of a long lever, but my work became disjointed and went to pieces. 
   I soon discovered that the practice was a different thing from the study of physic. The responsibility appeared too great for the state of my mind. However, I labored on till the fatal yellow fever of 1798, when I was again employed in the Hospital; but after a few days bade adieu to it as I had lost my wife and child. In a short time followed the loss of my brother, father, mother and almost all my friends whom I visited in their illness "all within three months. This succession of calamities seemed rather too sever; I sought consolation in change of scene and made a voyage to the West Indies to visit an uncle, Dr. Alexander Anderson, King’s Botanist in the island of St. Vincent. I remained at the Botanic Garden (a perfect paradise at that time) about three months; and, after rejecting an offer that would have made me independent returned to my native place.
   I had a craving for quiet and retirement, with the hopes of supporting myself by my favorite employment. But my solitary life led me to indulge