206 . DR. ARNOT'S ELEMENTS OF PHYSICS. of England ; ladies who, in no single circumstance, are inferior to the " wives, widows, and female relatives," of the igncrant, conceited, malignant, lying, insulting, boasting, hospital surgeons of this metropolis. If Carlisle had made it the chief object of his life to accomplish the degradation of general practitioners, he could not more completely execute his task than in the adoption of his proposal. The wife, quoth this benighted oyster, " may thus

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... ecure his female patients against the inroads of his competitors, and establish a respectable maintenance for such females;" so that we are to believe, first, that the talents of the general practitioner are not a sufficient security against the inroads of competitors ; and, secondly, that he is incapable of procuring for his wife those comforts which, from her station in society, she requires ; two inferences so truly insulting to the feelings of this class of gentle-. men, that it is with pain we commit them to paper, although for the purpose of exposure and refutation. In this country, and we are delighted that it should be so, it is considered that nothing bespeaks want of talent, want of energy, want of industry,