AUTOBIOGRAPHY 9 



pursuits to drop them again quite as speedily. No doubt 

 it was very largely my own fault, but the only instruction 

 from which I ever obtained the proper effect of education 

 was that which I received from Mr. Wharton Jones, who 

 was the lecturer on physiology at the Charing Cross School 

 of Medicine. The extent and precision of his knowledge 

 impressed me greatly, and the severe exactness of his 

 method of lecturing was quite to my taste. I do not know 

 that I have ever felt so much respect for anybody as a 

 teacher before or since. I worked hard to obtain his appro- 

 bation, and he was extremely kind and helpful to the young- 

 ster who, I am afraid, took up more of his time than he had 

 any right to do. It was he who suggested the publication 

 of my first scientific paper — a very little one — in the Medical 

 Gazette of 1845, and most kindly corrected the literary 

 faults which abounded in it, short as it was; for at that 

 time, and for many years afterwards, I detested the trouble 

 of writing, and would take no pains over it. 



It was in the early spring of 1846, that, having finished 

 my obligatory medical studies and passed the first M.B. 

 examination at the London University — though I was still 

 too young to qualify at the College of Surgeons — I was 

 talking to a fellow-student (the present eminent physician. 

 Sir Joseph Fayrer), and wondering what I should do to 

 meet the imperative necessity for earning my own bread, 

 when my friend suggested that I should write to Sir William 

 Burnett, at that time Director-General for the Medical 

 Service of the Navy, for an appointment. I thought this 

 rather a strong thing to do, as Sir William was personally 

 unknown to me, but my cheery friend would not listen to 

 my scruples, so I went to my lodgings and wrote the best 

 letter I could devise. A few days afterwards I received 

 the usual official circular of acknowledgment, but at the 



