the middle, as though they had been enclosed. They always bore the Edinburgh post-mark however. His father took it into his head one day to journey over to Edinburgh to see what his son was really doing, and to his astonishment found that he had been away from his lodgings for several weeks. He had been sending letters from Glasgow to his Edinburgh landlady for her to post. Going over to this city, the father found him walking one of the principal thoroughfares with a pretty, fair-haired damsel. So A. B. had money given him that same day for Australia, as well as a few tear-besprinkled and mixed blessings from his despairing parents. After a good deal of roughing it for some time, on sheep farms, and as mailcart driver, he suddenly received the news of his father's death and an intimation that money was waiting for him. He returned at once to England, and before very long took up quarters in Edinburgh again. Fortunately he had been quite forgotten by his old masters and associates, after some eight or ten years' absence. He started to work attending lectures and hospital again, and made a model student. In a very short time he became qualified. I admired him very much for this exhibition of pluck and determination.

I could introduce the reader to many fairly successful medical practitioners of my present acquaintance who were good average men at everything as students; at one time doing a little work, and at another "wasting;" doing nothing very thoroughly but going a jog-trot through everything that came in their way. Some of those I am thinking of at the moment had either some means, and they bought practices after qualifying, or they stepped into their father's positions; one or two without means began practising as assistants, either to remain as such or to become junior partners eventually.

I ought not to forget Dr. Norman Pamperd whose career is somewhat note-worthy. He was an only son, and therefore a good deal petted by a fond mother and three or four sisters.

They all made so much of him that he did no work for examinations. He soon passed from careless to reckless; and temptations dragged him down lower and lower, until he developed distinctly evil tendencies. His mother and sisters eventually grew quite ashamed of him. At length his father gave him an ultimatum, which was disregarded, so our only son had to pack his gear for America. After a time he became repentant and contrite, and a few letters written by clumsy, frostbitten fingers from some frigid northern region softened the hearts of those at home. He had his return passage-money sent him. When I knew him—at the time he related the above history-he was once more attending lectures, having renounced the pomps and vanities of this wicked world for ever. He passed his examinations at this second time of asking and is now doing well in practice in the Provinces.

Dr. Rushley Reid was an interesting type of student. He had a stronger devil-may-care spirit than any man I ever knew-and he had brains withal. He recklessly rode through the ranks of the peaceful and raided into forbidden territories with all the dash of an outlaw. But now and again he would plunge into work, and all of a sudden turn up at the examination room. Often he failed; but by turning repeatedly back he ultimately scrambled over. He became qualified in the end. For many years I lost sight of him. One day, however, I was driving home after a round of visiting and I met him in the high-road. There was no missing or mistaking him. I noticed someone coming along the road in the distance, in a doctor's gig, driving furiously, and when near enough I soon recognised the eagle eye and resolute countenance of my old friend. "Hallo! What the deuce! Why, I remember your face!" was his first ejaculation. I soon explained that I was practising in the neighbourhood and was making my way home if he would drive along with me-only close by-and take some refreshment. He was

glad to hear of any refreshment going, and also somewhat pleased to see me, so he acquiesced to my proposal. Then his experiences since I last saw him, many years ago, soon came out, for he did everything quickly. After becoming qualified, his father was so pleased with him—having always considered him hopeless-that he invested a little more than a thousand pounds in a practice for him. And a capital practitioner he proved to be for a time. He made a great impression at first; but after a week or two he thought he would like a little excursion from home in order to "look up" an old friend or two. He went away "the inside of a day," on his own quiet resolution; but in the delirious excitement of the occasion, when he got clear away, he was "quite overcome," and he remained away from his practice three whole days and nights. Of course patients and practice suffered on this account, and he was looked upon as a questionable and unreliable practitioner. Several times these little outings were repeated, and there were rumours in the neighbourhood that there were lively goings-on when the doctor gave house parties; noisy company was being constantly entertained. Within twelve months he sold his shattered practice for one-fourth of cost price, and went to London to enjoy himself after " a season of hard and worrying work," as he described it. He soon spent all the money derived from the sale of his practice, and when I met him driving he was acting as locum tenens for some sick practitioner-or rather he had driven some distance away, as he said "to see what the horse was made of, just for a little change, you know."

Dr. Hurrell-Brown, scarcely deserves to be immortalised in print, but I will give a lightning sketch of his career by way of illustration. He was rather wild as a student, and after being sent to first one medical school and then another, so that he might be drawn from bad company, he at length qualified. He would not have had a farthing to invest if he had not possessed

the good opinions of a man of means and of the world. This patron believed in Hurrell-Brown because he was a good judge of a racehorse, and could play a game of billiards; he thought him a "smart" fellow, and he offered to lend him money to buy a practice with, feeling sure that he would "make things hum" in his profession. Events showed, however, that the patron had made a mistake. Hurrell-Brown bought his practice and settled himself in it; but he was too fond of giving people tips for races, and too often to be found in the billiard-room of a local hotel. General opinion soon went against him. In less than a year he sold the remnants of his practice at a great loss. Then he went as assistant somewhere, and I lost sight of him; but I have heard that in this position he made a firstrate junior practitioner, when he was well looked after and kept in order.

CHAPTER II

TO BE OR NOT TO BE A DOCTOR?

Most doctors would rather confess themselves to be exactly what so many of that great laity, the general public, think them to be, naturally; but I must needs make myself an exception. What is a doctor in the eyes and estimation of the majority of people? He is a well-dressed man, almost invariably having pleasant manners and a nice disposition; well-off as regards means; having a good-sized house, a pleasant and often pretty wife, a first-rate horse or two, and an assortment of driving conveyances. He is accounted a sort of autocrat, who is living comfortably and taking delight in responding to the many calls of the sick and needy, for the love of the thing and for the sake of having something to drive out for a kind of personified benevolent institution, who is nice because it is his nature, who has such a comfortable and easy time of it that he could never very well be worried, and would not make much of a fuss even if he were not well paid by his patients.

But what is he, really, as a rule? He is well-dressed, because he is obliged to make a study of his appearance. It pays him to do so. Keen competition makes him alive to the fact that he may make a better income if he is dressed properly for his part. There is nothing extraordinary in this business idea of his. One could not very well blame him for it. It is very human and very sensible after all. He is a nice man and has almost invariably pleasant manners because he finds these