of a disease with all its phases seen in clear
delineation, and that he probably had the rare strength of mind voluntarily to
become the test of a rational procedure, and thus make the disorder of his
pulmonary functions a general benefit to society.
    Mr. Trumbull acquiesced at once, and entered strongly into the view that an
illness of his was no ordinary occasion for medical science.
    »Never fear, sir; you are not speaking to one who is altogether ignorant of
the vis medicatrix,« said he, with his usual superiority of expression, made
rather pathetic by difficulty of breathing. And he went without shrinking
through his abstinence from drugs, much sustained by application of the
thermometer which implied the importance of his temperature, by the sense that
he furnished objects for the microscope, and by learning many new words which
seemed suited to the dignity of his secretions. For Lydgate was acute enough to
indulge him with a little technical talk.
    It may be imagined that Mr. Trumbull rose from his couch with a disposition
to speak of an illness in which he had manifested the strength of his mind as
well as constitution; and he was not backward in awarding credit to the medical
man who had discerned the quality of patient he had to deal with. The auctioneer
was not an ungenerous man, and liked to give others their due, feeling that he
could afford it. He had caught the words »expectant method,« and rang chimes on
this and other learned phrases to accompany the assurance that Lydgate »knew a
thing or two more than the rest of the doctors - was far better versed in the
secrets of his profession than the majority of his compeers.«
    This had happened before the affair of Fred Vincy's illness had given to Mr.
Wrench's enmity towards Lydgate more definite personal ground. The new comer
already threatened to be a nuisance in the shape of rivalry, and was certainly a
nuisance in the shape of practical criticism or reflections on his hard-driven
elders, who had had something else to do than to busy themselves with untried
notions. His practice had spread in one or two quarters, and from the first the
report of his high family had led to his being pretty generally invited, so that
the other medical men had to meet him at dinner in the best houses; and having
to meet a man whom you dislike is not observed always to end in a mutual
attachment. There was hardly ever so much unanimity among them as in the opinion
that Lydgate was an arrogant young fellow, and yet ready for the sake of
ultimately predominating to show a crawling subservience to