"I don't think I shall live long," he then said to a friend; "my mind will--must work itself out, and the body will soon follow it." A strange confession for a boy to make! But he gave his physical health no fair chance.

His life was all brain-work, study, and competition.

When he took exercise it was in sudden bursts, which did him more harm than good.

Long walks in the Highlands jaded and exhausted him; and he returned to his brain-work unrested and unrefreshed.
It was during one of his forced walks of some twenty-four miles in the neighbourhood of Stirling, that he injured one of his feet, and he returned home seriously ill.

The result was an abscess, disease of the ankle-joint, and long agony, which ended in the amputation of the right foot.