The Autobiography of Joseph Leconte Author:Joseph LeConte Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III MEDICAL STUDY IN NEW YORK; TRIP THROUGH THE NORTHWEST I Spent the whole winter and the spring until May attending lectures at the College of Ph... more »ysicians and Surgeons, then on Crosby street, New York. It was a constant grind, grind of lectures, six lectures every day for six days in the week. During the winter course of four months the professors were Drs. Parker, Gil- man, James M. Smith, Watts, Beck, and Torrey. This was followed by a spring course of two months by specialists, of whom I particularly remember Dr. Alonzo Clark, who lectured on pulmonary diseases. I took advantage of every opportunity offered, attending the hospitals on the occasions of operations, joining the quiz class when there was one, and taking a coach, Dr. Lewis Sayre, then a very promising young surgeon. I also took charity patients and thus had a little practise, under the advice, when necessary, of the professors. Of course I took dissection, and found it strangely fascinating, the very horror of the thing adding greatly to the fascination. Such was my work all winter and spring, a regular cram; monotonous enough, but yet interesting to me, especially the more scientific part of the curriculum, such as physiology, anatomy, pathology, and chemistry. As most of the students were imperfectly educated, the fact that I was a Bachelor of Arts was a fine plume in my cap. The summer of 1844 was an eventful one for me, and I believe of great importance in my development. About the middle of May, when we were through with our spring courses, my cousin, John Lawrence Le Conte, and I started on a summer trip westward. We knew not and cared little where we would fetch up, being intent only on having a good time. If we had known our course, we certainly would have carried a very different kin...« less