Page 643 - middlemarch

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 con-
stitution; 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 ungener-
ous man, and liked to give others their due, feeling that he
could afford it. He had caught the words ‘expectant meth-
od,’ 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 com-
peers.’
This had happened before the affair of Fred Vincy’s ill-
ness 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 re-
flections 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 pret-
ty generally invited, so that the other medical men had to
meet him at dinner in the best houses; and having to meet

Middlemarch