squash there is! I can hardly breathe! Oh for a

sofa and this week's 'Owl'!"

Depend upon it no such corrosive thoughts disturb the ingenuous breasts of our gobbling youngsters; therefore, dear youngsters, pray gobble still.

If you gobble judiciously when you are grown-up, you may perhaps make a reputation as a "gourmand;" that is the respectful term, children, by which "society" designates a full-fledged gobbler. Let us tell you a story about one :—

a waiter observed his

A rich gormandiser subscribed to half the charities in London that he might enjoy an 66 annual dinner" every week. At one of these feasts eating powers, and determined to feed him assiduously, just to see how much he could eat.

66

"Some of this, sir?" offering a fifth side-dish with a long French name. "Please," helps himself liberally, waiter is going-" and, I say, waiter. !" Yessir waiter stops expectantly. Dives drops his fork, raises his left hand with a rhetorical flourish, looks very serious, and, as soon as his mouth is empty, slaps his left thigh to give emphasis to the solemn injunction-" Waiter, bring me EVERYTHING!"

Being chaffed by a friend about his gastronomic powers, he observed that it was a faculty he had inherited, and he could not understand why other people had not inherited it to the same degree, being all descended from Adam and Eve.

"Adam and Eve! What have they to do with stuffing?"

"Ah, my dear fellow, I'm afraid you didn't keep chapel regularly when you were at Cambridge! When I was at college I remember a scholar was reading the

first lesson in chapel one Sunday morning,* and he came to a verse which he thus pronounced, to the enlightenment of our understanding :- She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and gave also unto her husband with her, and he DID eat!''

CHAPTER VI.

THE HOSPITAL.

Clinical lectures and instruction-St Vitus's dance- Organisation of a London hospital staff-Clinical clerks and dressers -Bathos by the chairman-Number of beds in the various hospitals of London-The Children's Hospital-Convalescent hospitals—How to dress sick children-The slidingscale-The tumult.

in

It is in the wards of the hospital that the medical student learns the most important part of his profession, where he receives what is called "clinical instruction," both in the form of set "clinical lectures the operating theatre by the physicians and surgeons, and in practical remarks by the members of the staff as they visit each patient.

"Well, good-bye, Mr Clericus; I am very glad to have seen you; but now I must be off to clinical," we said one day, after meeting our old friend, the clergyman of the parish.

""Clinical!' what is 'clinical'? The last time I was in town you were just going to 'clinical.' Is it what you students call your lunch, in the same way as your old Indian uncle calls it 'tiffin'?"

This is a question that is frequently asked by people

not in the profession; so we may as well put down

our answer.

"Oh dear, no! clinical means a clinical lecture— that is, a lecture upon patients in the hospital, notes of whose diseases have been taken at the bedside (πgos Tǹv zλívny, you know) by a student, hence called a clinical clerk. We assemble in the operating theatre, the 'C. C.' reads the cases, and the physician under whose care they are makes remarks upon them, giving us the most modern views with regard to their nature and treatment. When a clinical is carefully prepared-as it always should be, or it is apt to be prosy and desultory—it is far the most interesting lecture of the day, and the examining boards insist more upon attendance at these than at any other lectures. Will you come? We shall have a good one to-day; it is to be upon chorea,' that is 'Chorea Sancti Viti,' well known as 'St Vitus's dance.""

And he did come, and was much interested, for there were several good cases. One was a little girl, who was frightened by some "bogies," which turned out to be nigger-singers more hideously disguised than usual; another was a young woman seized with chorea on hearing of the loss of her lover's ship with all hands, before the lifeboat could reach them; another little girl had been desperately frightened by being nearly run over in crossing the street; and the most interesting case of all was that of a man in whom it was brought on by losses in his business. The interest was great, both because the complaint is rare in men, and from the control which he could exert over it when absolutely necessary. Though shaking in every feature and limb, he was able to write his signature to

receipts, a specimen of which was handed round, and it was perfectly legible, but rather different from his usual writing, because he could make only one letter at a time with a spasmodic effort, and was obliged to stop a few moments before attempting the next.

The good clergyman's attention was quite captivated by the details of these cases, and he brought all the men's eyes upon him by a loud "Dear me !" when the physician pointed out the frequency of fright in producing the complaint, and mentioned Sir Astley Cooper's oft-quoted case of the little girl who was frightened into chorea by one drunken man, and frightened out of it by another, before she had been long under treatment.

He was so much edified by what he heard, that he said he should certainly keep a constant look-out in his parish for "good cases," and send them to the hospital for the benefit of the young doctors, as well as the patients-an excellent example for all clergymen, we voted.

The medical staff of the hospital, according to modern organisation, consists of many different elements; you will not find all these elements yet at every hospital, but we will write down a list of medical officers, and their subdivision of labour, in the various branches of the profession, as you may find them existing, if you visit a number of hospitals. It seems to us that before long every large hospital will provide itself with an efficient staff of scientific men, who will share the duties somewhat after this fashion, and take it by turns to hold the office of "dean" for a year, a post equivalent to that of "tutor" at Cambridge.