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LXXXIV

t the new year Philip became dresser in the surgical
Aout-patients’ department. The work was of the same
character as that which he had just been engaged on, but
with the greater directness which surgery has than medi-
cine; and a larger proportion of the patients suffered from
those two diseases which a supine public allows, in its prud-
ishness, to be spread broadcast. The assistant-surgeon for
whom Philip dressed was called Jacobs. He was a short, fat
man, with an exuberant joviality, a bald head, and a loud
voice; he had a cockney accent, and was generally described
by the students as an ‘awful bounder’; but his cleverness,
both as a surgeon and as a teacher, caused some of them
to overlook this. He had also a considerable facetiousness,
which he exercised impartially on the patients and on the
students. He took a great pleasure in making his dressers
look foolish. Since they were ignorant, nervous, and could
not answer as if he were their equal, this was not very dif-
ficult. He enjoyed his afternoons, with the home truths he
permitted himself, much more than the students who had
to put up with them with a smile. One day a case came up of
a boy with a club-foot. His parents wanted to know whether
anything could be done. Mr. Jacobs turned to Philip.
‘You’d better take this case, Carey. It’s a subject you ought
to know something about.’