1845-46 ENTERS THE NAVY 33 



certificate is scribbled in pencil : " Well, 'tis no 

 matter. Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if 

 honour prick me off when I come on 1 How then ? " 



Finally, in 1845 he went up for his M.B. at 

 London University, and won a gold medal for 

 anatomy and physiology, being second in honours 

 in that section. 



Whatever then he might think of his own work, 

 judged by his own standards, he had done well 

 enough as medical students go. But a brilliant 

 career as a student did not suffice to start him in 

 life or provide him with a livelihood. How he came 

 to enter the Navy is best told in his own words. 



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 

 bottom there was written an instruction to call at 

 Somerset House on such a day. I thought that looked 

 like business, so at the appointed time I called and sent 

 in my card while I waited in Sir William's anteroom. 



VOL. I D 



