Victorian London - Publications - Humour - Punch - cartoon 39
THE
MEDICAL STUDENT
[from 'VALENTINES' section, ed.]
Son of the scalpel! from whatever class
You grind instruction just enough to pass
St. George's, Guy's, North London, or King's College -
Thirsting alike for
half-and-half and knowledge -
Thou who must know so well (all jibes apart,)
The true internal structure of the heart -
This heart - which you "a hollow muscle" call,
I offer thee - aorta, valves and all.
Though to cheap hats and boots thy funds incline,
And light rough Chesterfields at one pound nine;
Though on virtues of all plants thou'rt dumb
Save the Nicotiniana Tabacum,
(Pentandria Digynia! - Lindley - mum!)
Though thou eschewest the hospital's dull gloom,
Except to chat in the house-surgeon's room,
And practically practise, in addition,
The "Physiology of Deglution."
Yet much I love thee, and devoutly sweart,
With lips that move controll'd by "the fifth pair,"
That I will ne'er know peace until our hands
Shall form a "ganglion" with Hymen's bands,
Then haste, my love, and let me call thee mine,
Precious and dear as sulphate of quinine,
Sparkling and bright as antimonial wine,
Sharp as the angles of a new trephine,
My reckless, noisy, fearnought, VALENTINE!
Punch, Jan.-Jun. 1842