EXPERIENCES OF A SURGEON. 569 



they had contrived to thrust an adult into so narrow a compass 

 surprised me exceedingly, and not only so, but, like the common 

 puzzle of a reel in a bottle, I wondered how it was to be got out. 

 It had been pressed into the basket evidently by great force, in a 

 doubled posture, with the legs bent against the trunk ; and though 

 efforts had been made to dislocate the wrists, the parties had either 

 had no time to complete that purpose, or had failed from other 

 causes; as it was, they were jammed in between the knees and the 

 head, and thus kept upright. 



In this condition the rascals had left it, and ray new-born hopes 

 of spending the night at home were thus unpleasantly blighted. The 

 next thing to be done was to disengage it, and this proved a 

 work of no small difficulty. In vain I tugged and toiled and 

 fretted : it seemed to me as if the very face of the dead man was 

 twisted in mockery at my pains, as, in the struggle to overcome the 

 resistance, its stony eye-balls met my look of anger and impatience, 

 and more than once I rolled it on the floor, determined to leave it as 

 it was. At length, however, by a desperate effort I succeeded in 

 extracting one arm ; this made a little more room, and gave me a 

 longer handle to work by, and, after nearly exhausting my strength, 

 I had the satisfaction of getting it at liberty. At any other time I 

 might have felt some repugnance to dragging a body in the dead of 

 the night up-stairs, raising it in my arms and placing it on a table ; 

 but the exertion which had been required had fully excited me, and 

 I did all this without the slightest compunction. I now raised the 

 head, placed a block under it, stretched out the painting, opened a 

 manual of dissection, trimmed my candle, and set to work. The 

 body was that of an old man ; I should presume that death had 

 made but little change in the expression of the features : long white 

 hair, excepting where soiled and matted with damp earth, hung from 

 his head as it was laid back, and must during life have given him a 

 venerable and patriarchal aspect. This was no time, however, for 

 speculation : midnight was already tolling from numerous clocks, 

 and I pursued my labour silently and steadily, undisturbed save by 

 the incursions of the rats, the moaning and whistling of the night- 

 wind, and the waving of the "silver hair" as it yielded to the 

 currents of air in the room. 



For upwards of an hour I continued at work, and had exposed 

 the muscles of the forehead and eyes : I made slow progress, and 

 soon saw a very unsatisfactory exhibition must be the result, which 

 arose from the age of the subject. I now became excessively 

 starved : the previous exertion had been enough to make me perspire 

 profusely, and then sitting motionless in a cold room not very well 

 guarded against wintry weather, I grew chilled ; and in the end my 

 teeth chattered, and my hand trembled as if I had been in an ague 

 lit. I rose from my chair, clapped my hands d la voiturier, and 

 chased a large torn -rat, which had been unusually pertinacious in 

 locating himself rather too closely to my face. 



Whilst thus engaged, a low groan sounded through the room : 

 this at once cut short my career, and I cast a doubtful and anxious 

 glance on the body lying on the table, expecting to see some motion 



