ABSTRACT
Dogs are rarely met within university lecture rooms, and whenever they do appear there, their presence is generally not very welcome and is of short duration. My small four-legged lecture assistant, 'Rushton', provides an exception to this rule—he is portrayed in these pages. Rushton's origins are not quite clear, but there is no doubt that he was originally modelled on one of my children's toy dogs. His first appearance at a certain well known university in the southern part of England was confined to some rather pithy comments on various aspects of university life (figure I). But he first really appeared before the public when I pressed him into service as my lecture assistant.
