4 ADVERTISING FOR ''THE DOCTOR:'

As I could not hear privately of any one willing to accompany

our party, who seemed suitable, I considered the best thing to

do was to advertise in the principal medical journals ; I also

put an advertisement in the Times" and "Athenaeum." The result was, I was inundated with replies. Some of these

were most amusing.

The evident difficulties some of my correspondents found

in describing their personal qualifications may be best illus-

trated by the following extracts from some of their letters,

which I here subjoin. One, after stating that his age was forty-

three, and that he had never had a day's illness, went on to

say that he possessed " a disinfectant, unknown to the profes-

sion, for the prevention of fevers ; also, the means of curing

the same without medicine." He had had more experience

in the treatment of fever than most medical men in England.

His concluding sentence we all thought delicious, and felt he

was quite the man to rough it in Central Africa. I again

quote from his letter : " I like a cigar after my dinner and

supper, with a glass of mild ale, and meals at regular Jionrs ; so

that I call myself an abstemious man, and one to be depended

upon day or night." Another applicant kindly observed, "If

the expedition is of a scientific character, I should not object

to take professional charge, provided that I am allowed to

obtain a sufficient stock of Jaborandi (?), Warburg's tincture,

and other prophylactics against marsh-fever, without which it

would be unsafe to venture into that country, or to permit

others to do so. Furnished with these, I would, using proper

precautions as regards sanitation, food, and clothing, face the

Terai or the Gold Coast without fear or hesitation. I have

an excellent constitution, delight in tropical climate (barring

swamp), am never sea-sick, and accustomed to rough travel,

and to carry my life in my hand. Like all old Westminster