"a brass" of Caligula to complete my set
of Roman emperors, I visited a dealer in
antiquities who trafficked in such commodities.
The old man was ill, but his assistant, having
searched in vain for "a brass" of Caligula,
gravely told me that he would have one made
for me in two days, if I gave the order." He
stunned me for the moment; but I gave the
order, thinking that this coin would pass muster
amongst the rest;—perhaps half my collection
was formed of similar forgeries. So with
medical degrees. It is an enterprising American
agent who supplies this article in London. I do
not know whether he deals also in wooden
nutmegs, dummy clocks, or corn fixings, but he has
a variety of diplomas, suited to the taste of all
purchasers. There is evidently competition in
the market, for his charge is but thirty-two
pounds in toto. You can obtain a diploma
dated five years back, ten years back, fifteen
years back, if old standing as an M.D. be
desirable, "without additional charge."

All this is most desirable to gentlemen
in my position. The public seldom look
beyond the brass plate upon the door, and if
your diploma with its flaring seal be enclosed
in a massive gilt frame, and hung up in
your consulting-room, your respectability is
established. Poor-law guardians have a proper
respect for the pockets of ratepayers, and are
by no means too inquisitive as to the source of
your degree. The position of physician to a
workhouse or dispensary gains a man other and
more lucrative practice. A discreet treatment
of a wealthy patient may make your fortune.
Consult the idiosyncrasies of your patient, and
lean as much as possible towards nature. If, as
in my own case, you buy your degree from an
American bagman or a Scotch practitioner, and
you fall in with a wealthy patient, be careful
to prescribe nice things; should there be an
appearance of danger, call in some celebrated
physician. As to the paupers, we all know that
death is a relief to them. And I never heard of
any objection made by guardians to a poorhouse
doctor who was followed by the undertaker
as by a shadow.

But as if providence now especially favoured
the victims of examiners, the General Medical
Council are now mysteriously moved to benefit
them still more. A portion of that body
proposed, on the 5th of June last, that the
diploma of any foreign university should be
recognised, on proof being given that that
university had adopted a satisfactory curriculum
of medical study. No proof is required
that the holder of a diploma really attended in
person the prescribed course of study. The
diploma is the sole test; consequently, if the
proposition of the Medical Council be carried
out, every purchaser of a diploma in absentiâ
will rank, so far as the title M.D. is concerned,
with the most eminent British graduates
in medicine.

There is a dark as well as a bright side to
every picture. The upholders of what I,
and many like me, consider to be a monopoly,
oppose this generous concession of the General
Medical Council. The British Medical Association
have been recently feasting, physically as
well as intellectually, in the Irish metropolis. Sir
Dominic Corrigan, president of the Queen's
College of Physicians, actually entertained the
Association with an account of the manufacture
of medical degrees, to which I owe my position
and my Mary! Nay, he exhorted the members
of the association to combine with him in
opposing the liberal and enlightened proposal
of the Medical General Council. Now, if
Sir Dominic Corrigan carries his point, poor-law
guardians will be compelled to pay something
more than seventy-five pounds yearly
for a doctor to physic paupers; and that, I
submit, is a violation of the British constitution.
Why should there not be free trade in physic as
well as in everything else? Sir Dominic would
establish in every county in England, a board of
examiners—the very word is horrible to me—to
test the qualifications of candidates for the degree
of M.D. Nothing more disastrous to
gentlemen like myself, who cannot translate a
prescription, could be devised. The rates would
be increased by one farthing in every pound, and
a nutritious hospital dietary would be established
in every workhouse in the kingdom. I really
cannot see why a military officer should be
allowed to purchase power to lead eight hundred
men to death, if men who are unable to answer
medical examiners should not purchase the
Pennsylvania or Giessen degree, and be Licensed
to Kill.

HOWARD'S SON

A STORY OF THREE DAYS

IN SEVEN CHAPTERS. CHAPTER I. ARBOUR-HILL.

THE marriage had been long talked of in
the district, but had come about in a quiet
imperceptible way. The Captain Hallam who
was to marry, had been quartered a few miles
off from Arbour-hill, the house where the marriage
was to be. He was asked over, and rode
over pretty frequently, first, to get rid of ennui—
afterwards, from a very natural interest, as
those who saw the young girl, who was the
precious stone of that house, could testify.
The officer was a manly honest officer, fairly
well-looking, with lively tastes and accomplishments,
had good connexions, and was tolerably
well off in the world. All the good
people of the place were sincerely glad "that
the Winters had got him;" those who were not
such good Christians talked with a little depreciation
of picking up a man  in a marching
regiment," with only "his pay to keep himself
on." The house where the captain had found
his prize was just such a solid, handsome, and
inviting casket as might hold such a treasure.
It was in the green lanes of a warm and sheltered
green country; it stood alone, as if it
were in a vast demesne of its own, and yet it
was only surrounded by a small meadow or two.
The road that led to it was a by-road; the village