Excerpt from Biographical Sketch of Sir Benjamin Brodie, Late Sergeant-Surgeon to the Queen and President of the Royal Society Such considerations must be present to our minds if we would form a correct estimate of Sir Benjamin Brodie. He furnishes a rare instance of a man who, having in early life had no particular advantages on the one hand, nor any great drawbacks on the other, obtained the highest place in a learned profession, as well as the greatest honour which English science can bestow on a scientific man - the Presidency of the Royal Society. A brief record of his progress, considered not only as that of an adept in science and a master in the noblest of arts, but as a man, will be well worthy a place in the Proceedings of the Royal Society - a Society which is not only directly concerned in advancing human knowledge for its own sake, but indirectly also in interesting the most complete minds in the advancement of that knowledge. It must set a special value on the example of one who proved to demonstration, by a long and admirable career. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.