STUDENT PARTNERS PREFERABLE TO SLEEPING ONES.
A passage in Dr. Thosisores History of Chemistry (National Library, No. Ill) contains an anecdote of Dr. CULLEN and WILLIAM HUNTER, which might be made of very general appli- cation and great utility. These two .young men of talent felt, at the time when professional men begin to think of establislimg themselves, that they had, like so many others, and those the best, by no means finished their education ; and they entered into a very singular partnership for the purpose of carrying on busi- ,ness and instruction together. " It was while Dr. Cullen was a practitioner in Shotts that he formed a connexion with William, afterwards Doctor Hunter, the famous lecturer on anatomy in London, who was a native of the same part of the coun- try as Cullen. These two young men, stimulated by genius, though thwarted by the narrowness of. their circumstances, entered into a co- partnery business, as surgeons and apothecaries in the country. The chief object of their contract was to furnish the parties with the means of carrying on their medical studies, which they were not able to do separately. It was stipulated that one of them, alternately, should be allowed to study in whatever college he preferred, during the winter, while the other carried on the common business in his absence. In con- sequence of this agreement, Cullen, was first allowed to study in the University of Edinburgh, for a winter. When it came to Hunter's turn' next winter, he rather chose to go to London. There his singular neat. ness in diSsecting, and uncommon dexterity in making anatomical pre- parations, his assiduity in study, his mild manners, and easy temper, drew upon him the attention of. Dr. Douglas, who at that time read lec- tures on anatomy and midwifery in the capital. He engaged him as his assistant, and he afterwards succeeded` him in the same department with much honour to himself, and advantage to the public. Thus was dissolved a copartnership of perhaps as singular a kind as any that occurs in the annals of science. Cullen was not disposed to let any engagement with him prove a bar to his partner's advancement in the world. The articles were abandoned, and Cullen and Hunter kept up ever after a friendly correspondence; though there is reason to believe that they never after- wards met." The circumstances of these two eminent individuals are shared by multitudes. One business carried on by one is capable of sup- porting two (single men) ; yet, as 'partnerships are usually consti- tuted, the labour as well as the profit is divided. It would be greatly to the honour of professions, and much to the advantage of the community, if instead' of sleeping partners, studying psrt- fiers were adopted. Let not the ladies imagine that by " sleeping partners "-we mean taives,though it might be gently hinted that marriage is a sad iinpedimentin the way of scientific improvement: but this objection, however, goes only to recommend a postpone- ment.
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