230 THE KOYAL INSTITUTION. [CHAP. IV. 



Soon after, to his uncle, lie says : 



Blumenbach lias shown me many civilities, but I am 

 most at home at Arnemann's, under whose roof I live, and 

 who has been long in Britain, and brought an English wife 

 home with him. You need not be afraid of my following 

 his example and marrying a German lady. I am not 

 likely to lose my heart here, though there are some tolerably 

 agreeable girls with whom I wish to be more acquainted 

 for the sake of exercise in the language ; for conversation 

 with women gives both a fluency of expression and a 

 delicacy of manners which are never to be learned from 

 men. 



On April 30 he passed his examination before the 

 Medical Faculty. 



I made [says he] no preparatory study, as is usual here, 

 and also at Edinburgh not uncommon, under the name of 

 grinding. The examination lasted between four and five 

 hours. The four examiners were seated round a table, well 

 furnished with cakes, sweetmeats, and wine, which helped 

 to pass the time agreeably. The questions were well cal- 

 culated to sound the depth of a student's knowledge in 

 practical physics, surgery, anatomy, chemistry, materia 

 medica, and physiology ; but the professors were not very 

 severe in exacting accurate answers. Most of them were 

 pleased to express their approbation of my replies. We 

 were all previously obliged to give a summary account of 

 the manner in which our lives had been spent. 



He wrote to his uncle towards the close of his resi- 

 dence in Grottingen thus : 



I have this morning been upon the back of the Springer. 

 To mount this terrestrial Pegasus is considered here some- 

 thing like Summos in re equestri honores, and is seldom 

 attained without long practice. I finish my lessons this 

 week and look back with satisfaction on the health and 



