100 



MEDICAL H2:<T. 



but, I believe, honest people, of the ' 

 province of Munster, where also I 

 was born, at Newmarket, in the 

 county of Cork, in the year 1750. 

 My father being employed to collect 

 the rents of a Protestant gentleman 

 of small fortune, in that neighbour- 

 hood, procured my admission into 

 one of the Protestant free schools, 

 where I obtained the first rudi- 

 ments of my education. I was next 

 enabled to enter Trinity College, 

 Dublin, in the humble sphere of a 

 sizer." And so he continued for 

 several minutes, giving his asto- 

 nished hearer a true but irresistibly 

 laughable account of his "birth, 

 parentage, and education," as de- 

 sired, till he came to his illness 

 and sufferings, the detail of which 

 was not again interrupted. It is 

 hardly necessary to add, that Mr. 

 Abernethy's attention to his gifted 

 patient was, from that time to the 

 close of his life, assiduous and de- 

 yoted. 



.ABEttNETIir A CLASS ILLUSTRATION. 



Few old pupils (says M'llwaine, 

 who was one of them) will forget 

 the story of the major who had 

 dislocated his jaw. This accident 

 is a very simple one, and easily put 

 right ; but having once happened, is 

 apt to recur on any unusual exten- 

 sion of the lower jaw. . Abernethy 

 used to represent this as a frequent 

 occurrence with the hilarious major ; 

 but, as it generally happened at 

 mess, the surgeon went round to 

 him, and immediately put it in 

 again. One day, however, the major 

 was dining about fourteen miles 

 from the regiment, and, in a hearty 

 laugh, out went his jaw. They sent 

 for the medical man, whom, said 

 Abernethy, we must call the apo- 

 thecary. Well, at first he thought 

 the jaw was dislocated; but he 

 began to pull and to show that he 

 knew nothing about the proper 

 mode of putting it right again. 

 On this the major began to be very 



excited, and vociferated inarticu- 

 lately in a strange manner ; when, 

 all at once, the doctor, as if he 

 had just hit on the nature of the 

 case, suggested that the major's 

 complaint was in his brain, and 

 that he could not be in his right 

 mind. On hearing this, the major 

 became furious, which was regarded 

 as confirmatory of the doctor's opi- 

 nion. They accordingly seized him, 

 confined him in a strait-waistcoat 

 and put him to bed, and the doctor 

 ordered that the barber should be 

 sent for to shave the head, and 

 blister to be applied to the par 

 affected. The major, fairly beatci 

 ceased making resistance, but made 

 the best signs his situation and his 

 imperfect articulation allowed for 

 pen and paper. This being hailed" 

 as indicative of returning rations 

 lity, writing materials were set be 

 fore him ; and as soon as he wa 

 sufficiently freed from his bonds 

 he wrote "For God's sake send 

 for the surgeon of the regiment." 

 This was accordingly done, and 

 the jaw readily reduced, as it 

 been often before. " I hope," adde 

 Abernethy, " you will never forge 

 how to reduce a dislocated jaw." 



JENNER AND THE FOREIGN POTEN- 

 TATES. 



When the foreign potentates arri- 

 ved in this country in 1814, they 

 all expressed a wish to see Dr 

 Jenner ; he was first introduced t 

 the Grand Duchess of Oldenburg! 

 when the conversation turned upor 

 philosophical subjects, and her ii 

 perial highness astonished the doc 

 tor by the extent of her informa 

 tion. Dr. Jenner requested he 

 imperial highness, when she wrot 

 to her august mother, to have the 

 goodness to say that he had a grat 

 ful remembrance of the kind attei 

 tion which she showed him. " W/it 

 I write V she replied, " I will writ 

 this very evening !" At partin 

 she said, " Dr. Jenner, you mus 



