HUKTER AND CULLEST. 



223 



explosion having been in the di- 

 rection of the chimney. The de- 

 monstrator escaped without fur- 

 ther harm than the loss of his wig. 

 A professor of a northern uni- 

 versity, who was as remarkable for 

 his felicity in experimenting as 

 Pioulle could be for his failures, 

 was once repeating an experiment 

 with some combustible substances, 

 when the mixture exploded, and 

 the phial which he held in his 

 hand blew into a hundred pieces. 

 "Gentlemen," said the doctor to 

 his pupils, with the most unaf- 

 fected gravity, " I have made this 

 experiment often with the very 

 same phial, and never knew it 

 break in my hands before !" The 

 simplicity of this rather superflu- 

 ous assurance produced a general 

 laugh, in which the learned pro- 

 fessor, instantly discerning the 

 cause of it, joined most heartily. 



PETEE THE GREAT A SURGEON. 



The czar, excited by natural 

 curiosity, and his love for the sci- 

 ences, took great pleasure in see- 

 ing dissections and chirurgical ope- 

 rations. It was Peter who first 

 made these known in Russia, and 

 he was so fond of them, that he 

 gave orders to be informed when- 

 ever anything of the kind was 

 going on in the hospitals, and he 

 seldom failed to be present. He 

 frequently lent his assistance, and 

 had acquired sufficient skill to dis- 

 sect according to the rules of art, 

 to bleed, draw teeth, and perform 

 other operations, as well as one of 

 the faculty. It was an employ- 

 ment to which he was very partial, 

 and besides his case of mathemati- 

 cal instruments which he always 

 carried with him, he had a pouch 

 well stocked with chirurgical in- 

 struments. 



The czar once exercised his dex- 

 terity as a dentist in a very laugh- 

 able manner on the wife of one of 



his vcdets-de-chanibre, who wished 

 to be revenged upon her for some 

 supposed injuries. Perceiving the 

 husband, whose name was Bal- 

 boiarof, sitting in the ante-cham- 

 ber with a sad and pensive counte- 

 nance, the czar inquired the cause 

 of his sorrow? "Nothing, sire," 

 answered Balboiarof, " except that 

 my wife refused to have a tooth 

 drawn which gives her the most 

 agonizing pain." "Let me speak 

 to her," replied the czar, "and I 

 warrant I'll cure her." 



He was immediately conducted 

 by the husband to the apartments 

 of the supposed sick person, and 

 made her sit down that he might 

 examine her mouth, although she 

 protested she had not the tooth- 

 ache. " Ah, this is the mischief," 

 said her husband ; " she always 

 pretends not to suffer when we 

 wish to give her ease, and renews 

 her lamentations as soon as the 

 surgeon is gone." "Well, well," 

 said the czar, " she shall not suffer 

 long. Do you hold her head and 

 arms." Then taking out the in- 

 strument, he, in spite of her cries, 

 extracted the tooth which he sup- 

 posed to be the cause of her com- 

 plaint, with admirable address. 



Hearing, a few days after, that 

 this was a trick of the husband to 

 torture his wife, Peter chastised 

 turn severely with his own hands. 



HUNTER AND CULLEN. 



The celebrated Dr. William Hun- 

 ;er and Dr. Cullen, formed a co- 

 partnership of as singular and 

 .audable a kind as is to be found 

 in the annals of science. Being 

 natives of the same part of the 

 wuntry, and neither of them in 

 affluent circumstances, these twd 

 young men, stimulated by the im- 

 pulse of genius, to prosecute their 

 medical studies with ardour, but 

 thwarted by the narrowness of 

 iheir fortunes, entered into partr- 



