sarily become acquainted with many of the vices and the secrets of their husband's patients, and

start not at this frank avowal, for there must be a medium of communication between the doctor and the patient, and the domestic servant is not well suited for so delicate a task. Too much may be inferred from a note or message, a prescription or a medicine, to allow a mere servant to become the communicating medium. It is, however, chiefly the country surgeon's wife whose life is devoted to her husband's service, and not so much the London doctor's lady. There is this one grand trait in the character of the doctor's wife, and in which she differs most completely from her sex: no matter how infamously her husband may be treated no matter what the provocation-and daily do we hear of the most cruel persecutions of medical men- -never does this noble creature divulge the secrets of the prison-house, sweet as might be the triumph of revenge. A rose grafted on a thorn is emblematic of the doctor's wife. What other woman would submit, without a murmur, to the constant trials and hardships of a life devoted to every interest but her ownwith a limit to enjoyment-a constant guard upon her tongue-all her little favourite occupations interrupted-her rest disturbed - her

What

very bed deserted night after night? woman, did she but know beforehand the trials she must endure, would leave the lap of luxury to share the broken rest and thankless toil of that great public slave, the doctor?

While on this theme I cannot resist the temptation to record another example of devotion, in what is commonly termed "the doctor's trumpeter," or favourite patient; for what doctor has not his favourite patient? and that patient a lady, too! We need not suspend our breath while we record this simple fact-nor need we blush to place it side by side with the object of his devotion and his love.

There are many Florence Nightingales in the world who are not known to fame-who do their good by stealth; and what doctor has not one who sings his praise, and shares his toils, and shields his fame? How many doctors owe their whole advance in life to the warmth of woman's friendship, which never chills and never tires! A medical man can have no better friend and trumpeter than an amiable woman; and what man can so well appreciate the inestimable advantage of a woman's friendship as the hardworked, ill-paid doctor?

Having thus, far too briefly, disposed of the ladies' claims, I shall now resume my sketches of

medical men, and describe their various orders, commencing with the WEST-END PHYSICIANa gentleman with whom, excepting in occasional consultations, the public are not likely to come in contact, for his services are reserved for the élite of society. The Consulting Physician sits in a gloomy library, surrounded by the insignia of his calling,-books-stethoscopes-test-tubes

spirit-lamp-microscope-and the latest numbers of the medical journals, or such of them as may have especially contributed to place him in his present proud position. If he have published a work himself-which is generally the caseyou fail not to observe the precious tome, well thumbed, and carefully placed to attract the eye -a very pardonable weakness! In most of these apartments devoted to science you observe that prince of medical journals-the "Lancet," which has done more to raise the status of the profession than all the other journals put together -good and valuable as they are.

After waiting a considerable time in a gloomy anteroom, scantily provided with well-worn furniture, in company with an old and dirty number of the "Illustrated London News," and some half-dozen sickly, yellow-looking specimens of that biped man, keenly eyeing each other, and inwardly speculating upon the chances of pri

ority, the door suddenly but noiselessly opens, and you find yourself addressed by a seriouslooking gentleman of affable manner and extreme condescension, evidently assumed for consultation hours. You rise, and follow the speaker, who conducts you into his consulting-room-points you where to sit-puts sundry questions, such as, Who attends you? what is the matter with you ? what have you taken? what colour and what taste was your medicine? &c.—and then requests to see your tongue, and feel your pulse; and while performing the latter office, he regards attentively the ticking dial of a large gold watch, as if expecting to receive some timely aid. He then commences sundry pantomimic antics on your ribs-lays his ear affectionately on your heart-tells you to hold your breath, or cough, or count—and then, with a grave mysterious air, expressive of profoundest thought and magic penetration, he stretches forth his hand, and draws within his reach a sheet of note-paper, on which he scribbles sundry cabalistic words, and parts of words, in a language only known to the initiated, but believed to be a pure canine Latinity or mad-dog Latin-from its causing such a dread of swallowing when "faithfully dispensed." He now directs you as to diet, exercise, and air-hands you the prescrip

tion-takes his fee-and politely bows you out and another in—cleverly combatting your every effort to propose the all-important question "Doctor, what do you call my complaint? You now find yourself in the open street, with a bit of paper in your hand covered with senseless hieroglyphics your mind dissatisfied - your query of queries unanswered the specific gravity of your pocket lighter by one-pound-one -and your spirits heavier than when you first approached with heavy heart and faltering step the doctor's door. You have, perhaps, to change your diet to change your medicines-to change your air-to change your habits-and when you consult "a popular celebrity," you find you have to change your surgeon too.

Now as to the query- What is the name of my complaint? There does not certainly appear to be anything very irrational in asking such a question; and yet it is very frequently a question which cannot be satisfactorily answered. Many organs may be affected simultaneously one shall be most deranged to-day, and another to-morrow-but none sufficiently so to indicate disease. Under these circumstances one doctor may say nerves· -another bile-another heart— another spleen-just as the more prominent symptoms may direct; while another, more