1832.] Affairs in General. 103 



as numerous as the actors ; the anatomical theatres on the other hand 

 are daily crowded to a degree of inconvenience, that threatens to put an 

 end to the operations of surgical science altogether. The contortions of 

 Gouffe or Grimaldi never excited half the sensation produced by the 

 contortions of sufferers in the schools of surgery. A spectacle was, it 

 seems, to have taken place the other day at St. Bartholomew's hospital ; 

 but the crowd was so unprecedented and impenetrable, that neither the 

 patient nor the surgeon, aided by a strong escort of pupils, not deficient, 

 it is to be supposed, in the art of elbowing, were able to obtain admit- 

 tance ; and the operation was actually postponed in consequence. On 

 a future day they were more fortunate probably the Horse-guards were 

 called out to check, in some degree, the rush of surgeons and sight- 

 hunters ; and the operation was eventually performed. The case was 

 one of extreme difficulty the removal of an extraordinary tumour on 

 the cheek of a female, which had been occasioned by a blow, and which 

 presented a spectacle sufficiently frightful to account for the inconve- 

 nient anxiety manifested to witness it. Mr. Earle, by the skill and 

 success of his operation, seems to have deserved the thanks and the 

 praises he received. But the most distressing circumstance attending 

 the postponement of the exhibition on the day first appointed was, that 

 Signor Paganini was deprived of an opportunity that had been afforded 

 him, for the gratification of his curiosity, by an " eminent surgeon," to 

 whom, it seems, he had expressed an anxious wish to witness some 

 " terrible operation." We all remember the anecdote of the painter of 

 the Crucifixion, who flourished when art and legislature were young, 

 and who nailed his sitter by the hands and feet to the wainscot, in order 

 to work out his notions of agony as naturally and as vividly as possible ; 

 and we remember, too, that when the great violin-prodigy first made his 

 appearance, some poetical describer insinuated, that his instrument 

 looked like a wild beast, which he was managing and manreuvring with, 

 in a style that was very likely to break the heart of M. Martin, as well 

 as those of the professors. But with all these flourishes on the part of 

 the fiddle-stick flatterers, we were not quite prepared to see Paganini 

 entering himself as a sort of amateur-pupil at St. Bartholomew's. Can 

 it be that he is going to give us a set of hospital-harmonies on his re- 

 appearance ? to describe upon a single string all the various grades of 

 surgical sublimity, from the first incision to the se wing-up ? No doubt 

 the " terrible operation" is to be the subject of a concert ; and we shall 

 be treated next season, to the delightful derangement of our nerves, 

 with a perfectly novel set of fac-similes of the agonies of an amputation, 

 and the blessings of a bandage. The patients will of course feel greatly 

 relieved by having their moans set to music. A cancer could scarcely 

 fail of suggesting some exquisite cadences, and a dislocation would be 

 attended with the most delightful result. His great triumph would be 

 to send his auditors away, as if every bone within them was breaking. 

 He broke their hearts last season, and he must now do something more 

 for his money. 



When he shall have gone through all other discordancies, we would 

 recommend him to try an imitation of the uproar of Babel, or Bedlam, 

 or the House of Commons, when a sinecure is brought up for slaughter. 

 There is no fear about his failing. After these, he may tune his violin 

 to some " Translations from the Unknown Tongue/' which we are ac- 

 tively preparing for him. 



