Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England Medical Life in the Navy By Gordon Stables Published by Robert Hardwicke, 192 Picadilly, London. This edition dated 1868. Medical Life in the Navy, by Gordon Stables. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ MEDICAL LIFE IN THE NAVY, BY GORDON STABLES. CHAPTER ONE. BY RAIL TO LONDON. LITTLE MOONFACE. EUSTON SQUARE. I chose the navy. I am not at all certain what it was that determined my choice; probably this--I have a mole on my left arm, which my gossiping old nurse (rest the old lady's soul!) used to assert was a sure sign that I was born to be a rover. Then I had been several voyages to the Arctic regions, and therefore knew what a sea-life meant, and what it didn't mean; that, no doubt, combined with an extensive acquaintance with the novels of Captain Marryat, had much to do with it. Be this as it may, I did choose that service, and have never yet repented doing so. Well, after a six weeks' preparatory read-up I packed my traps, taking care not to forget my class-tickets--to prove the number of lectures attended each course--a certificate of age and another of virtue, my degree in surgery (M.Ch.), and my M.D. or medical degree; and with a stick in my hand, and a porter at my side, I set out for the nearest railway station. Previously, of course, I had bidden double adieus to all my friends, had a great many blessings hurled after me, and not a few old shoes; had kissed a whole family of pretty cousins, ingeniously commencing with the grandmother, although she happened to be as yellow as a withered dock-leaf, and wrinkled as a Malaga raisin; had composed innumerable verses, and burned them as soon as written. "Ticket for London, please," said I, after giving a final wipe to my eyes with the cuff of my coat. "Four, two, six," was the laconic reply from the Jack-in-the-box; and this I understood to mean 4 pounds 2 shillings 6 pence of the sterling money of the realm--for the young gentleman, like most of his class, talked as if he were merely a column in a ledger and had pound shilling penny written on his classic brow with indelible marking ink, an idea which railway directors ought to see carried out to prevent mistakes.