Book Description

Excerpt from The London Medical Student and Other Comicalities Selected and Compiled Perhaps the psychology of laughter has never been better expressed than by Hazlitt. "Man," says Hazlitt, "is the only animal that laughs, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be." Laughter, then, is one of the distinguishing features of man. In aiding every medical man to assert and show his superiority over other animals, I feel confident that my present effort will receive the same appreciation which was accorded to the "Medical Rhymes." The London Medical Student is taken from the London Punch, where it was published about a half a century ago. To speak of the merits of Punch were as absurd as to paint the beauty of a rose: it is now, as it was formerly, the representative journal of English wit and humor. Despite my strenuous efforts I could not detect who wrote the sparkling portraiture of medical-student-life in the greatest metropolis of the world, but I was convinced by my investigation that its authorship belongs to Hood, Dickens, Thackeray, Mark Lemon, or Douglas Jerrold. Of one thing, however, I am absolutely certain, that is, that I am the first to introduce my friends, Mr. Muff and J. Randall, Esq., to the medical profession at large. They will not find them to be dull companions. After an interview with these London students, I fear my brethren in medicine will have to adjust their collars; therefore I suggest that they be taken off before the perusal of this book is begun. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.