1804-24 POST-MORTEMS 15 



ghostly character, and the natural awe which the 

 human corpse inspires, especially in the youthful 

 mind, damped considerably, I must confess, my 

 ardour for the acquisition of a knowledge of 

 internal structure, when, the sheet having been 

 withdrawn from the pale, cold, collapsed features 

 of the deceased, the half-opened eyes seemed to 

 deprecate what then struck me forcibly as being 

 a desecration of the sanctity of the dead. It was 

 in vain that my elder fellow-pupil drew my 

 attention to the various pathological signs in the 

 thoracic viscera on which our master learnedly 

 descanted ; my gaze would still turn to the pale 

 cold features, and the glassy staring eyeballs. He 

 had been a young man, imprisoned for a term, 

 and carried off by a rapid consumption. His was 

 the first case that I had attended, and I had taken 

 medicine to him in the hospital. Another prisoner, 

 somewhat older, had died the day after, and his 

 body was examined the same day. These post- 

 mortem dissections were performed in the middle 

 room of the old tower, where the prison clothes 

 were also washed. I must say I quitted the scene 

 with both appetite and ardour for science some- 

 what damped. 



' A few fever cases had broken out in the gaol, 

 and I was charged to visit one that had reached a 

 critical height late in the evening, with medicines 

 to be administered if certain symptoms were pre- 

 sent. On this errand I set out about nine o'clock. 



