, asked, what method of cure I would follow
in wounds of the intestines. I repeated the method of care as it is
prescribed by the best chirurgical writers, which he heard to an
end, and then said with a supercilious smile, "So you think with such
treatment the patient might recover?" I told him I saw nothing to make
me think otherwise. "That may be," resumed he; "I won't answer for
your foresight, but did you ever know a case of this kind succeed?" I
acknowledged I did not, and was about to tell him I had never seen a
wounded intestine; but he stopt me, by saying, with some precipitation,
"Nor never will! I affirm that all wounds of the intestines, whether
great or small, are mortal." "Pardon me, brother," says the fat
gentleman, "there is very good authority--" Here he was interrupted by
the other with--"Sir, excuse me, I despise all authority--Nullius
in verbo--I stand on my own bottom." "But sir, sir," replied his
antagonist, "the reason of the thing shows--" "A fig for reason,"
cries this sufficient member; "I laugh at reason; give me ocular
demonstratio." The corpulent gentleman began to wax warm, and observed,
that no man acquainted with the anatomy of the parts would advance such
an extravagant assertion. This inuendo enraged the other so much, that
he started up, and in a furious tone exclaimed: "What, Sir! do you
question my knowledge in anatomy?"

By this time, all the examiners had espoused the opinion of one or other
of the disputants, and raised their voices altogether, when the chairman
commanded silence, and ordered me to withdraw. In less than a quarter of
an hour, I was called in again, received my qualification scaled up, and
was ordered to pay five shillings. I laid down my half-guinea upon the
table, and stood some time, until one of them bade me begone; to this I
replied, "I will when I have got my change:" upon which another threw me
five shillings and sixpence, saying, I should not be a true Scotchman
if I went away without my change. I was afterwards obliged to give three
shillings and sixpence to the beadles, and a shilling to an old woman
who swept the hall: this disbursement sank my finances to thirteen-pence
halfpenny, with which I was sneaking off, when Jackson, perceiving it,
came up to me, and begged I would tarry for him, and he would accompany
me to the other end of the town, as soon as his examination should be
over. I could not refuse this to a person that was so much my friend;
but I