26 REMINISCENCES OF 



" The Shadow Dance/' and Madame Vestris in " The 

 Cork Leg." 



I heard Lablache sing "L'Elixir d'Amour," and 

 lastly, I saw O'Keefe in " High Life Below Stairs."* 



On reaching home, I found arrangements had 

 been made to place me as medical student with 

 Mr. Thomas Weddell, a rising general practitioner 

 in Scarborough. The direct results of this arrange- 

 ment were of a varied character, some good, others 

 the reverse. But several events occurred during the 

 three years I occupied that position which materially 

 influenced my future life. 



Meanwhile the general circumstances of students 

 destined for the medical profession in provincial 

 towns were, at the beginning of the century, so 

 different from anything existing now, that I propose 

 to put some of these conditions on record, if only to 

 show to medical students now living how great are 

 the advantages which they enjoy, compared with 

 those of their representatives of half a century ago. 



On being transferred to this new sphere, I found 

 an older student of the name of Hopper, son of the 

 proprietor of the well-known Bell Hotel of the town. 



The day on which I entered upon my duties 

 was significant of what was to follow. A consider- 

 able part of the day was spent at a big pestle and 



* Dr. Williamson enjoyed to within six months of his death 

 describing these scenes. To his mind no danseuse equalled 

 these old ones, and not even Toole's Paul Pry was quite 

 equal to the one he knew. A. C. W. 



