Genre:

Serial—Essay, Drollery; Diary, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Education, Universities, Dissection, Anatomy, Electricity, Narcotics

Institutions mentioned:

Society of Apothecaries—Apothecaries' Hall

    Describes the academic and social life of a medical student at the University of London. Notes the student's religious attendance at the dissecting-room and his prankish activities there. Protagonist Joseph Muff joins other men dissecting the brain in search of the hippocampus major. The student's many 'jocose pursuits' include administering poison to the 'toxological guinea-pigs' and hunting rabbits 'kept for galvanism'. Describes the students' preparation for and sitting of a Latin examination. Notes medical students' gregariousness and aversion to dining alone.