W. N. P. Barbellion

W. N. P. Barbellion’s diary, 1908

March

10 March 1908
Am working frantically so as to keep up my own work with the daily business of reporting. Shorthand, type-writing, German, Chemistry classes, Electricity lectures,…

7 April 1908
Sectioned a leech. H---- has lent me a hand microtome and I have borrowed an old razor. My table in the Attic is now fitted up quite like a Laboratory. I get up…

1 May 1908
Cycled to the Lighthouse at the mouth of the Estuary. Underneath some telegraph wires, picked up a Landrail in excellent condition. The colour of the wings is a…
2 May 1908
Dissected the Sheldrake. Very entertained to discover the extraordinary asymmetry of the syrinx....
3 May 1908
Dissected Corncrake, examining carefully the pessulus, bronchidesmus (incomplete), tympani-form and semi-lunar membranes of a very interesting syrinx....
6 May 1908
Dissected one of the Sea Mice. It has a remarkable series of hepatic ducts running into the alimentary canal as in Nudibranchs....
9 May 1908
Spring in the Woods Among the Oak Saplings we seemed enveloped in a cloud of green. The tall green grasses threw up a green light against the young green of the…

1 June 1908
A Small Red Viper Went to L---- Sessions. After the Court rose, I transcribed my notes quickly and walked out to the famous Valley of Rocks which Southey described…

18 July 1908
Have had toothache for a week. Too much of a coward to have it out. Started for P---- early in the morning to report Mr. Duke, K.C. After a week's pain, felt a…

17 August 1908
Prawning Had a glorious time on the rocks at low tide prawning. Caught some Five-Bearded Rocklings and a large Cottus bubalis. The sun did not simply shine…

1 September 1908
Went with Uncle to see a Wesleyan minister whose fame as a microscopist, according to Uncle, made it worth my while to visit him. As I expected, he was just a silly…

1 October 1908
Telegraphed 1,000 words of Lord ----'s speech at T----. Spent the night at a comfortable country inn and read Moore's lyrics. "Row gently here, my Gondolier," ran…

3 November 1908
Aristotle's Lantern Dissected the Sea Urchin (Echinus esculentus). Very excited over my first view of Aristotle's Lantern. These complicated pieces of animal…

3 December 1908
Hard at work dissecting a Dogfish. Ruridecanal Conference in the afternoon. I enjoy this double life I lead. It amazes me to be laying bare the brain of a dogfish…
4 December 1908
Went to the Veterinary Surgeon and begged of him the skull of a horse. Carried the trophy home under my arm--bare to the public view. "Why, Lor', 'tis an ole…