Of all the unlimited powers possessed by irresponsible man, I know of nothing at all equal to his, who, _mero motu_, of his own free will and caprice, can at any moment call a meeting of the dread body at whose head he stands, assemble the highest dignitaries of the land--archbishops and bishops, chancellors, chief barons, and chief remembrancers--to listen to the minute anatomy of a periwinkle's mustachios, or some singular provision in the physiology of a crab's breeches-pocket: all of whom, _luto non obstante_, must leave their peaceful homes and warm hearths to "assist" at a meeting in which, nine cases out of ten, they take as much interest as a Laplander does in the health of the Grand Lama, or Mehemet Ali in the proceedings of Father Mathew.
By nine o'clock the curtain rises, displaying a goodly mob of medical celebrities: the old ones characterised by the astute look and searching glance, long and shrewd practice in the world's little failings ever confers; the young ones, anxious, wide awake, and fidgetty, not quite satisfied with what services they may be called on to render in candle-snuffing and crucible work; while between both is your transition M. D.--your medical tadpole, with some practice and more pretension, his game being to separate from the great unfeed, and rub his shoulders among the "dons" of the art, from whose rich board certain crumbs are ever falling, in the shape of country jaunts, small operations, and smaller consultings. Through these promiscuously walk the "_gros bonnets_" of the church and the bar, with now and then--if the scene be Ireland--a humane Viceroy, and a sleepy commander of the forces. Round the room are glass cases filled with what at first blush you might be tempted to believe were the _ci-devant_ professors of the college, embalmed, or in spirits; but on nearer inspection you detect to be a legion of apes, monkeys, and ourangoutangs, standing or sitting in grotesque attitudes. Among them, pleasingly diversified, you discover murderers' heads, parricides' busts in plaster, bicephalous babies, and shapeless monsters with two rows of teeth. Here you are regaled with refreshments "with what appetite you may," and chat away the time, until the tinkle of a small bell announces the approach of the lecture.
