CHAP. XXXVL] MEDICAL STUDENTS. 211 



I made a geological excursion with Dr. Yandell, one of the 

 Professors of the University of this place, into the neighborhood, 

 going to the summit of a hill called Button-Mould Knob, so 

 named from the joints of encrinites with which the lower strata 

 of the carboniferous formation are charged. Here we enjoyed a 

 wide prospect of the surrounding country, which,, if all the val 

 leys were filled up, would form an even table-land, the nearly 

 horizontal strata having been evidently planed off at a certain 

 level by the denuding action of the sea. The valley of the Ohio 

 forms the principal break in a region otherwise void of any strik 

 ing feature in its natural scenery. A few spring flowers only 

 were to be seen, the most plentiful being the Houstonia and the 

 Claytonia. 



We went to an evening party at the house of one of the Pro 

 fessors of the University, and met many of his colleagues, and 

 some medical students. Two of the latter informed me, that 

 they had been sent to London to finish their course of study, 

 having been brought up to feel great respect and veneration for 

 English educational establishments. They had been received 

 kindly and politely by the professors, but the prejudices of the 

 majority of their fellow pupils against the institutions of the 

 United States, and still more their rude remarks about the vul 

 garity of all Americans (of whom they knew scarcely any thing), 

 had so wounded their national feelings, that they had written 

 home to entreat their parents to allow them to attend classes at 

 Paris, or in some German University, to which they had reluct 

 antly assented. These young men, being of good families in 

 Kentucky, were gentlemanlike in their manners, in this respect 

 decidedly above the average standard of students of the same 

 profession in England, and they spoke with no bitterness even on 

 this annoying topic. Talking over academical matters, some 

 elders of the company complained of the wish of the democratic 

 party to apply their favorite dogma of &quot; rotation in office,&quot; or, 

 &quot; le.t every man have his turn,&quot; not only to members of the 

 executive and the election of judges, but actually to University 

 professors. &quot;You may amuse your countrymen,&quot; said they, &quot;on 

 your return, by telling them of the wisdom of our sovereign rulers, 



