The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1859-02-01
The Rough Deetor.
NJ wALrne rnonxssunr.

il ss, The Rough Destor. Fa
Dr wALrne rHoRxssu1r.
i A visit from Aberaethy was like dose /
! qainine-bitser but STRENGTHENING. Il va
. emily b paddle fribblss and your polishe
. boot fools he was . wiItsr blast, rude an
: blighting We select him IS fine type 9
the honest blunt doctor, and the healthy
rough, brave hearted, tssty Englishman--al
angular, eccentric, genius, too straightfor
ward 10 rub dying mems wounds as to-
, many in his profession do, with the cream,
! scented lies and batteries
.. Brave John Abernsthy was born in Cole
, man street, London, on the Sd Of April
our block Babel. Coleman street, the oh
street that Cowley celebrated, lit no specia
bonfire the bright hour the honest man wa,
born.
4 In due time John, stuffed, pctted, snubbed
when ho asked puzzled questions, handled
and teased, like other children, was sent t.
the Wolverhampton Grammar School found.
cd by knight in the reign of Henry WILL,
school where the bright bubble of wit,
Congreye, was educated John. careless,
but not slovenly in Dress as history kindly
condescends to tell u.s. duly trembled at DR..
Robertson, a learned passionate man, with a
redundant wig. He became after many
knueklings, &c, head Of the finest form, and
knewn - hard working, humorous, irrita
Die, rather bulldog sort ola boy, tsnaciously
Scotch, and hotlv Irish. He was very sharp,
sir, shy and hasty 1t is very important
not to let your boys shyness turn to sus-
| plciousness, or his fine ardor against wrong
into into mere i'll temper Dr. Robertson
having too great an admiration for the dead
languages to care much about English ~
John went to Miss Ready, in King street
to learn writing and Misunderstanding
IKE father who would clothe his son and
| nave him taught music, but compels him to
60 out and beg for his daily dinner.
Abernethy could have been a great actor
or great lawyer, his powers Of memory
ana concentration were 50 remarkable. He
used to boast that if his father had let him
De lawyer. he would know every Act Of
Parliment by heart
Work, work. That honest brain goes like
a splnning-wheel. In 1896 he becomes an
l.. r. >. ne writes papers for the Phil
Afansac, which were not mere papers. He
publishes Physiological Essays, penetrating,
clear, aod practical. He saw deeper, truer,
ana wider than most men. His paper on
injuries OF the head attracts attention; but
not waiting for foolish hand clapping, he
experiments on tumors and nervous irrita-
bllity, birth-marks, and aneurism Pupils
increase; and, last move of all, he moved |
to quit Bedford Row; January, 1850, no
marries-one of his most successful exper-l
lments. He married Miss Anne Threifall /
the daughter ofa retired tradesman living at |
Edmonston. He saw her first kindly nursing
one OF his patients, and fell in love with her
In SOBER rational, unpoetical way. Shy. I
proud, busy, afraid of being rejected, and
unable to dangle and fool, he wrote Miss
Anna note, telling the secret Of his plain
honest heart, and giving her fortnight to
reply. The answer was short but pleasant,
es. We wonder if the busy man kissed
the letter Or not Perhaps by the side of
some deathbed, it struck q sober and sub
dued JOY in his heart The Scotch heart is
q line heart but it never beats quick enough
for US. Southey left his bride at the church
door to start for Portugal John the day he
was married, did not miss his lecture; no
more he did, years after, the day his own
daughter was married. He would never even
come to consultation at two o'clock the
hour Of lecture.
How, at this epoch Of his life, his first
child was born, was written INV book on
his great simple doctrine of The Constitu-
tional Organ of the Local Disease 1t came
out in 1904. He wrote to show the value and
importance of the stomach. We do not live
to eat, . ye aldermen but eat to live Says
Abernethy, disease consists of an alteration
IN the condition of some structure, or the
function or occupation Of that structure, be-
ing fed by the stomach, must be influenced
for good and harm by the state of the stom-
ach. Hunter had taught him that the body
sympathises with all It's parts Abernethy
claimed for function-the whole work done
by the organ--that which Culver insisted
on and Owen examplifed in regard to struc-
ture; !. e. relationship inevitable between
the whole and its parts. He does not ex-
plain the nature of this sympathy, he only
proved its existance Doctors do not know
what diseases are; they only as yet know
their symptoms and their results
1t was in supporting Hunters theary Of
life that he reused such swarm of enemies,
and chief among them-'Et tn, Brute-Mr.
Lawrence, an old pupil Abernethy took
spiritual view OF that great mystery-life-l
The primum noble which sets matter to work
Lawrence, taking lower, more especial and
restless view Of it refused to regard it 40
anything bat high product of organism
lot of course denying the special work in the
world Of divinity as master workmen, but
carrying the miraculous to higher level
As colleague Of Abernethy the contrivers
esmed more painful and indecent. Aberne-
ny denied that life was o mere mechanic
electricity, or that mere motion implied SEN
alton. Mind he said, was power added to
life, as life was to structure. He called dis
rider faulty action Of nerves, which neg
ected became faulty action of vessels,
which was disease.
After long tenure of twenty-eight years ,
ssistant, Abernethy became surgeon to st.
Bartholomew s-the f1ayed Saint OF Smith
ield. John at Enfeln-where he could re-
air osummer afternoons after lecture, far
rom the moody stiffness and merkiness of {
Sedford Row, and mounted upon his favorite {
mare Jenny, happy as school-boy to get
ome. On such occasions he dotted his pro- ,
essional black knee breaches, silk stockings
nd shoes, and came to lecture, rural and {
quire like, in drab kerseymerss and top
cots. He delighted in getting chatty I
lubable friend down on the Saturday. Al. l
er London, the country 10 only an other {
anne for a lower heaven
AIFe6Oy, luminous KNOCKS came. ~ MS UO0E
fife His heart became violent and disor-
cred in action, his naturally irritable nerv- |
US system more restless In 1917 he took
nese CHASTITY hints, and bravely resigned I
is PROFESSIONALISM. 1t was time for leaks |
1ere springing in the old bark. lnAamma-
Dry sore throats, ending in ulcers, began to 8
enew their assaults, SO often repulsed, upon !
i'm. Rheumatism searched his joints, spasm-
d and wrecked him. Digestion grew ex- Z
citing Old carelessness about rain, trans
ions of heat and cold and neglect of diet, .
egan to exact revenge. The breach grew O
rider every day A crowd of diseases were t
houting round the crumbled walls. In IL. Z
5, in manly-this was almost manly-ac-
or lance with his own assertion that man
hould not hold such an appointment after
ixty, Abetnethy resigned his situation as |
ospital surgeon He became lame, and I
1ore and more broken but still seeing pa
tents, and saving others, though he could q
ot save himself He grew thin, his feat urea /
hrank, his hair thin, his eyes dull and LAM
mid He died at Enfield in April 1871 |