This was written in 1845. The Sir James Graham referred to was one of the blackest of all _Punch's bêtes noires_--in consequence of the postal censorship which earned for him the title of "The Breaker (not the Keeper) of the Seals," and prompted the savage cartoon of "Peel's Dirty Little Boy." He never had friendly treatment at the hands of _Punch_. Elsewhere it is insinuated that the measure played the game of the quacks, and the history of attempts to regulate their activities in the last seventy years goes far to justify _Punch's_ scepticism. But his censure was not confined to quacks; he says hard things of doctors who exploited and traded on _malades imaginaires_, and more than once exhibits impatience at the failure of medical science to arrive at any definite conclusions as to the causes or cure of the cholera epidemic in 1849. And when Mr. Muntz brought forward a motion in 1845 to oblige doctors to write their prescriptions in English and put English labels on their gallipots, the proposal was satirized as an effort to strip medicine of its indispensable mystery. It may be not unfairly contended that _Punch_, in his horror of humbug and condemnation of guzzling and gormandizing, was a disciple of Abernethy. His views on diet inclined to moderation rather than asceticism, and the new cult of vegetarianism, which seems to have had its origin in Manchester, was satirized under the heading, "Greens for the Green."
BOY: "I've had two jellies, seven of these, eleven of these, and six of those, and four Bath buns, a sausage roll, ten almond cakes--and a bottle of ginger beer."]
By far the largest number of the references to medicine, however, are concerned with the manners and customs of medical students, and if corroboration be needed for the unflattering picture of this class which has been drawn in _Pickwick_, the pages of _Punch_ supply it in distressing abundance. The counterparts of Bob Sawyer and Benjamin Allen, in all their dingy rowdiness are portrayed in a series of articles and paragraphs running through the early volumes.
Thus, under the heading Hospitals we read:--
The attributes of the gentlemen walking the various hospitals may be thus enumerated:
Guy's { Half-and-half, anatomical _fracas_, St. Thomas's { and billiards. St. George's Doings at Tattersall's. London Too remote to be ascertained. University Conjuring, juggling, and mesmerism. Bartholomew's State of Smithfield Markets. Middlesex Convivial harmony. Charing Cross Dancing at the Lowther-rooms. King's College Has not yet acquired any peculiarity. Westminster Dashes of all the others combined.