son dernier mot_:" while to the lawyer
the leanings of self-respect will make him always impart a favourable
view of his case. To the physician he will be candid, and even more
than candid--yes, these are the men who, watching the secret workings
of human passion, can trace the progress of mankind in virtue and in
vice; while ministering to the body they are exploring the mind, and
yet, scarcely is the hour of danger passed, scarcely the shadow of
fear dissipated, when they fall back to their humble position in life,
bearing with them but little gratitude, and, strange to say, no fear!

The world expects them to be learned, well-bred, kind, considerate,
and attentive, patient to their querulousness, and enduring under
their caprice; and, after all this, the humbug of homoeopathy, the
preposterous absurdity of the water cure, or the more reprehensible
mischief of Mesmerism, will find more favour in their sight than the
highest order of ability accompanied by great natural advantages.

Every man--and still more, every woman--imagine themselves to be
doctors. The taste for physic, like that for politics, is born with
us, and nothing seems easier than to repair the injuries of the
constitution, whether of the state or the individual. Who has not
seen, over and over again, physicians of the first eminence put aside,
that the nostrum of some ignorant pretender, or the suggestion of some
twaddling old woman, should be, as it is termed, tried? No one is too
stupid, no one too old, no one too ignorant, too obstinate, or too
silly, not to be superior to Brodie and Chambers, Crampton and Marsh;
and where science, with anxious eye and cautious hand, would scarcely
venture to interfere, heroic ignorance would dash boldly forward and
cut the Gordian difficulty by snapping the thread of life. How comes
it that these old ladies, of either sex, never meddle with the law? Is
the game beneath them, where the stake is only property, and not life?
or is there less difficulty in the knowledge of an art whose
principles rest on so many branches of science, than in a study
founded on the basis of precedent? Would to heaven the "Ladies
Bountiful" would take to the quarter-sessions and the assizes, in lieu
of the infirmaries and dispensaries, and make Blackstone their
aid-de-camp--_vice_ Buchan retired.

[Illustration]

A NUT FOR THE PRIESTS.

[Illustration]

There would be no going through this world if one had not an
India-rubb