SCOTCH DUBS NOT ALL SCOTCH MEN

763

SCOTCH DUBS NOT ALL SCOTCH MEN.

SAWNEY.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SiR,—Though far from wishing to throw ka veil over the vices of my countrymen, I sam still anxious the public slic-uld be aware, tthat James Johnstone, editor of the late .Quarterly Journal, although an "Aberdeendub," is not a Scotchman, but a child of ,the Emerald isle.

;

However infamous in many respects thedub system may be, and however fortunateit be that THE LANCET is employed for itsamendment, it is but fair, Mr. Editor, thatyou give a true account of the extractionand education of the worthy members ofthis Dub Association. Now James Johnsonis a native of Carrickfergus ; he has all thecharacteristic features of the Hibernianrace. Any of your readeis who may wishto examine his phrenological developmentmay find an opportunity any evening in the Bshop of Burgess and Hill, where they willfind him encircled by innumerable unsold Icopies of tiie " bundles of trash," and ofhis dyspeptic volumes.

SAWNEY.lBIarch 6th, 1829.

DELINQUENCIES OF PUPILS.

A BARTHOLOMEW PUPIL.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.Sm,---As I look upon you to be censor-

general to the profession, and as you haveparticularly exerted yourself for the welfareof medical students, I do not think it ne-cessary to make any apology for introduc-ing the following subject to your notice.Your strictures on public characters, and,amongst the rest, on public teachers, havebeen by no means deficient, either in fre-

queucy or severity ; and, I trust, that youwill not hesitate to exercise the same author-

rity and salutary castigation, towards pupils,when you are made acquainted with theirdelinquencies. Not a few evils have sprungup, and are fostered with wanton inconsi-’derateness among them ; but the one whichit is now my object to place before yourjudicial attention, is the practice of iater-rupting out- lecturers in the midst of their du-ties. This they regularly do without anyregard to good feeling, decorum, or self-interest. They inflict by it a direct injuryon the lecturer, their fellow-students, andthemselves. There needs no argument toprove this. Even those who, with childishmischief, indulge in the habit to which 1allude., must, if they do not find it too muchtiouble to ieflect at all, immediately be con-vinced of its truth. It would, perhaps,evince too much credulity to suppose theywould acknowledge their conviction. Those

gentlemen would do well to remember, thatthey hare ceased to be boys ; and, Unther,that they have entered a profession whichboasts of its good discipline, honourablebehaviour, and liberal manners. Their pre-sent conduce intimates that they have forgot-

ten these tllinas, and they seem blindly un-

aware, that the part they are now daily act-ing ia arbitrary, ungentlemanly, and alto-gether unwarrantable.

I make this protest for myself and fellow-pupils, and it may not be amiss to assert,that no lecturer has the slightest knowledgeof what I now do.

A BARTHOLOMEW PUPIL.Feb. 25th, 1829.

BARTHOLOMEW’S HOSPITAL.—THE CERTIFI-CATE TRADE.

FOR a considerable time past the demonstra-tor, and till) pupils who are regular intheir attendance, have been very much dis-turbed and annoyed, by stragglers enteringthe theatre of this hospital, during the de-monstrations, at intervals of every fewminutes, and sometimes until within evenfive minutes of the hour of breaking up.five minutes ot the hour of breaking up.

Mr. Skey, on Wednesday morning, feltit his duty publicly to notice this nuisance." He believed, that at most, if not at all, thescliools throughout London, as well as this,there were such thines as certificates, andthat those things were considered by a greatmany, as merely things of form,—matters ofcourse. He was sorry to add, that hitherto thejurmhad ploved victorious. Many gentlemenhad come to him for certificates who heknew perfectly well had very rarely, if ever,heard a demonstration. By the irrebular at.tendance too of those who were a little morein the habit of making their appeaia.nce, notonly was he very inconveniently interrupted,so as, at one time, not to have had the oppor-tunity of demonstrating for a full hour, butsuch gentlemen &s were anxious to acquirea knowlege of their profession, and werepunctual to the hour, were insufferably an-noyed. Under these circumstances, how-ever painful it was to him to complain, hebegged the class to take notice that certiu-cates of attendance should not, as far as re-garded himself in future, be matters of ’ form

and of course,’ and that the late system ofirregularity should not be permitted to pro-ceed, if even, to put a stop to it, recourse) were tol)e had of shutting the doors at agiven period every morning."

These observations might fall very sea-

sonably from the lips of the anatomicallecturer as well as from Mr. Skey ; and as

far as punctuality to tile hour is concerned,why not adopt the college rule of shuttingthe doors at the moment the clock strikes ?