Am.. Tour  Pharm.  f 
July,  1881.  t 
Memoir  of  W.  II.  File. 
363 
Sept.  9,  1828.  I  am  engaged  with  William  Hodgson,  Jr.,  on 
Arch  street,  near  Tenth  street." 
He  remained  with  Wm.  Hodgson,  Jr.,  until  the  fall  of  1829,  when 
he  engaged  with  Thomas  Evans,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Third  and 
Spruce  streets. 
April  22,  1830.  He  writes:  I  have  erected  in  the  shop  a  "shock- 
ing affair,^^  which  settles  the  nerves  of  no  small  number  of  customers 
daily,  and  affords  amusement  to  all." 
Mineralogy  and  entomology  were  attractive  studies  to  him  about 
this  time,  and  reference  is  made  to  them  in  his  correspondence. 
When  the  automatic  chess  player  was  attracting  public  attention,  he 
writes,  .Nov.  14,  1830,  '^I  went  lately  to  see  him,  and  examined  him 
very  closely.  When  I  came  home  I  began  and  finished  a  small  model 
of  him  in  the  same  proportions,  together  with  a  man  of  like  propor- 
tions, to  be  concealed  within;  the  whole  about  4x6  inches.  With 
this  model  I  can  exhibit  the  same  manner  of  opening  and  closing  the 
doors  (exactly  as  Maalzel,  the  owner,  does  with  the  original)  and  yet 
have  space  within  for  my  man.  I  have  convinced  several;  Mr. 
Schulze,  who  wwks  for  Maalzel,  has  the  model  at  present,  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  it  to  him.  The  idea  is  not  quite  original,  having 
seen  a  description  of  him  in  an  encyclopedia,  or  a  supposition  how  a 
person  could  be  concealed,  but  my  model  differed  somewhat  from  this." 
April  10,  1831.  "1  have  been  thinking  seriously  of  studying 
medicine — at  least,  I  have  determined  to  attend  a  summer  course  on 
surgery  and  anatomy." 
Shortly  after,  he  writes  :  "  I  have  taken  tickets  for  a  summer  course, 
as  follows :  Hopkinson,  on  Anatomy  ;  Randolph,  on  Surgery ;  Grif- 
fiths, on  Materia  Medica;  B.  H.  Coates,  on  Practice,  and  Bache,  on 
Chemistry." 
He  speaks  of  Dr.  Randolph  in  a  way  which  leads  to  the  belief  that 
he  was  his  preceptor. 
Jan.  3,  1832.  I  have  had  a  fine  opportunity  to  study  clinical 
practice  during  the  past  fall,  on  my  own  person,  in  a  case  of  haemop- 
tysis (of  which  attack  he  gives  the  details) ;  was  treated  by  Dr.  Evans 
by  free  venisection,  etc.  I  have  left  Thomas  Evans  and  the  wulgar 
Apothecary  shop." 
He  now  took  up  the  study  of  medicine  as  a  profession,  and  gradu- 
ated at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  March,  1833.  His  inau- 
gural essay  was  Malaria." 
