REMINISCENCES OF LORD LISTER.
99
them. He entered with tender sympathy into any troubles
and anxieties in the family circle, and could always be relied on
for rendering all the personal help that lay in his power.
Later holidays we often spent together at Lyme Regis, in
a country home owned by my uncle and father. The mornings
would be occupied by my uncle over letters—my aunt being the
faithful amanuensis—or with my father in the engrossing study
of fungi. When some problem had to be solved my uncle would
pace up and down in the garden absorbed in thought. On such
an occasion the gardener reported: "There was Sir Joseph
walking in the garden, so solemn and so grand." The after-
noons were devoted to drives combined with long cross-country
walks from which the brothers would return radiant and often
late for the evening meal. It was a great privilege to us when
We were older to share in these Walks, when games connected
with noticing flowers and birds were often lively features of
the expedition.
I may mention an incident showing my uncle's unfailing
kindness. One day as we were starting for a walk we met
the friendly woman who supplied us with poultry, with her wrist
bound up. She explained how she had sprained it and how
the chemist had given her a lotion for it. My uncle asked if he
might be allowed to see the wrist and, having removed the
bandage, he found that a bone was broken. He then carved out
a splint, and applied padding and bandage, with the result that
in a few weeks the wrist was sound and the patient endlessly
grateful.
In 1875 two of us accompanied our parents and uncle and
aunt on a tour on the Continent. After staying on the Riviera
and in Italy we returned through Germany that my uncle might
visit some of the large hospitals where the antiseptic system
had already been adopted. I remember the morning after our
arrival in Munich, we were in our hotel sitting-room when the
door opened and two gentlemen in evening dress were ushered
in. One was small and the other tall; the former glanced round
the party and then with extended arms ran forward and embraced
my uncle, who received his attentions cordially, but rather
shyly. The guests were Prof. von Nussbaum and his assistant,
Dr. Lindpaintner, who carried a large bouquet for my aunt.
Prof. von Nussbaum was chief surgeon to what had once been