Should any one feel aggrieved by the exposures I have made in the details which follow, let me assure him that no one is more exposed--nor, indeed, has more cause to be aggrieved--than myself. Let us all, then, as far as is practicable, keep our own secrets. Let us not shrink from such exposures as are likely, in a large measure, to benefit mankind, while the greatest possible inconvenience or loss to ourselves is but trifling. Some may wish that instead of confining myself too rigidly to naked fact and sober reasoning, I had given a little more scope to the imagination. But is not plain, "unvarnished" truth sometimes not only "stranger," but, in a work like this, better also, than any attempts at "fiction"? THE AUTHOR. AUBURNDALE, March, 1859. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. EDUCATIONAL TENDENCIES 1 II. MY FIRST MEDICAL LESSON, 6 III. THE ELECTRICAL MACHINE, 9 IV. THE MEASLES, AND POURING DOWN RUM, 11 V. LEE'S PILLS AND DROPSY, 13 VI. THE COLD SHOWER BATH, 16 VII. MY FIRST SICKNESS ABROAD, 18 VIII. LESSON FROM AN OLD SURGEON, 20 IX. LEE'S WINDHAM BILIOUS PILLS, 23 X. DR. SOLOMON AND HIS PATIENT. 26 XI. PHYSICKING OFF FEVER, 28 XII. MANUFACTURING CHILBLAINS, 31 XIII. HOW TO MAKE ERYSIPELAS, 34 XIV. STUDYING MEDICINE, 38 XV. NATURE'S OWN EYE WATER, 41 XVI. THE VIPER STORY, 43 XVII. STRUCK WITH DEATH, 46 XVIII. EFFICACY OF COLD SPRING WATER, 51 XIX. CHEATING THE PHYSICIAN, 56 XX. MEDICINAL EFFECTS OF STORY TELLING, 58 XXI. OSSIFIED VEINS, 61 XXII. HE WILL DIE IN THIRTY-SIX HOURS, 64 XXIII. ABOUT TO DIE OF CONSUMPTION, 72 XXIV. MY JOURNEYMANSHIP IN MEDICINE, 81 XXV. MY TEMPERANCE PLEDGE, 85 XXVI. TRIALS OF A YOUNG PHYSICIAN, 87 XXVII. A DOSING AND DRUGGING FAMILY, 90 XXVIII. POISONING WITH LEAD, 96 XXIX. STANDING PATIENTS, 102 XXX. KILLING A PATIENT, 105 XXXI. A SUDDEN CURE, 109 XXXII. GIGANTIC DOSES OF MEDICINE, 112 XXXIII. THE LAMBSKIN DISEASE, 115 XXXIV. MILK PUNCH FEVER, 120