EXPERIENCES OF A SURGEON. 667 



It is true that wedlock, when properly estimated, has pleasures 

 and delights of a permanent character, though abundantly dashed 

 with care; and that no married man, who lives as a married man 

 ought to live, will ever have the gout unless he enjoys it as an 

 inheritance : these may indeed excite a sigh in the bosom of the 

 old Bachelor, when bed-ridden, and he sees every thing in confusion 

 around him, and finds no soft hand to smooth his pillow, and no well- 

 known tender voice to soothe his lagging hours. What then ? it 

 cannot last for ever; and he will have the satisfaction of caning his 

 footman, dismissing his housekeeper, and again enjoying the brim- 

 ming bowl, and well-spread feast, when the fiend has left him. 



EXPERIENCES OF A SURGEON. 



No. IV. A DISSECTING-ROOM INCIDENT. 



IN the fourth year of my apprenticeship, a medical school was 

 established in the town in which I became a pupil : its affairs were 

 conducted in a slovenly and unbusiness-like manner, and it did little 

 good. There was no demonstrator that is, no person to prepare 

 parts for explanation, and to superintend the labours of the students. 

 One day the anatomical lecturer, a man given to words and show, 

 had invited a party of gentlemen to hear him describe the muscles of 

 the face, and for this purpose a fresh subject was ordered to be in 

 readiness. It somehow or other happened that no person in the 

 habit of dissecting could be found to undertake the task of preparing 

 these parts for exhibition ; and in this dilemma the lecturer sent a 

 very urgent note to me, begging that I would, as a particular favour, 

 oblige him by having things in proper order. Not having as yet 

 commenced a regular course of dissection, I demurred ; but as he 

 promised me a plate for my guidance, I at last consented, and gave 

 very strict injunctions to the porter to be in waiting for me at eight 

 o'clock in the evening at the rooms, with a fire and candles, this 

 time having been fixed by the resurrectionists for bringing the 

 subject. 



At that hour, therefore, I repaired to my post; the men had, 

 however, not made their appearance, and I went home, promising to 

 return at ten o'clock. With the stable-lantern in my hand, I again 

 found myself in the narrow back street in which the rooms were 

 situated : every thing was dark and silent, and a bitterly cold wind 

 of the beginning of February was whistling about me. The place 

 was shut up, and the porter absent, so that I had to admit myself by 

 the help of a pass-key : I went up stairs, expecting to find the body 

 ready arranged on the table : the place was, however, empty, ex- 

 cepting its usual tenants the rats, which literally swarmed here, and 



