WHY ARE SEALS the most holy of animals? Because it is mentioned in the Apocalypse that at the last day an angel shall open six of them in heaven.” Arthur Conan Doyle recorded this joke in his private log on May 9, 1880, about two months into his voyage on the Hope, a whaling ship bound for Arctic waters. During the trip, he learned to hunt the seals and make tobacco pouches from their flippers. This was much more exciting than what he should have been doing: sitting exams in medicine at Edinburgh University. But one week before the Hope set sail, on the strength of a third-year student’s knowledge, he was offered the job of ship’s surgeon. He accepted, and left the exams for another year.
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