ABSTRACT
BRIDGES had now to decide on a profession, as his hopes of a scholar's life in Oxford were at an end. Had he obtained his first class, he would undoubtedly have been elected a Fellow of his own college, and would have been appointed tutor, as were Harrison and Thorley. The quality of the literary, philosophic, and historical essays he found time to write in the midst of a life crowded with administrative work prove to what a rank he must have attained could he have devoted himself to scholarship. He was an inspiring teacher, and could he have remained at Oxford one may think of him as occupying in the ’60’s the place held by T. H. Green in the ’70’s or Edward Caird in the ’90’s as a trainer and leader of men. But religious tests had not yet been abolished; a definite profession of orthodoxy was still demanded for a university career, and this he could not give. The Church was closed; he had no inclination for the Law, and with only third class honours he could not hope to make his mark as a school master or professor. Medicine was practically the only profession which lay open to him, and he turned to it as a career which would enable him to realize his vision of service, and open out a new field of learning. His Rugby scholarship was not yet exhausted, and it allowed him to remain for another year at Oxford to study mathematics and science before going up to a London hospital. He never allowed himself to regret this choice of a profession and wrote many years afterwards to a young friend, then entering on medical studies :
