Dr. Stowe told the following story of Dr. Abernethy and a live Irishman:—
“It occurred at Bath. A crowd of pupils, myself one of them, were following Mr. Abernethy through the crowded wards of the hospital, when the apparition of a poor Irishman, with the scantiest shirt I ever saw, jumped from a bed, and literally throwing himself on his knees at the doctor’s feet, presented itself. We were startled for a moment, but the poor fellow, with all his country’s eloquence, poured out such a torrent of praise, prayers, and blessings, and illustrated it with such ludicrous pantomimic displays of his leg, all splintered and bandaged, that we were not long left in doubt.
“‘That’s the leg, your hon-nor. Glory be to God. Yer honnor’s the buy what saved it. May the heavens be yer bed. Long life to yer honnor. To the divil with the spalpeens that wanted to cut it off!’ etc.
“With some difficulty the patient was replaced in bed, and the doctor said,—
“‘I am glad your leg is doing well, but never kneel again, except to your Maker.’
“The doctor took the opportunity of giving us a clinical lecture about diseases and their constitutional treatment. Every sentence Abernethy uttered, Pat confirmed.
DR. ABERNETHY IN THE HOSPITAL.
“‘Thrue for yer honnor; divil a lie at all, at all. His honnor’s the grathe doctor, entirely,’ etc.
“At the slightest allusion to his case, off went the bed-clothes, and up went the leg, as if taking aim at the ceiling. ‘That’s it, be gorra! and a betther leg than the villain’s that wanted to slice it off, entirely.’