Saint Mary's beacon., 1870-11-17
THE ROMANCE OF MEDICINE.

THE ROMANCE OF MEDICINE.
Every ore has his story 10 tell OF Aber.
nethy. The Stery Of his marriage il .
good one. He wrote oif-hand to lady ,
note Of proposal. saying that he was toe
busy to attend in person, but he would
give her fortnight for consideration.
Ashley Cooper, think. lecturcd ~ usual
the day he was married. We have ouly
heard one opinion from all perscns whl
have had any intimacy with. Abernethy
that under that roughest Of manners Be
vailed one Of the kindest d hearts. In
occasional encounters his patients some
times had decidedly the best Of il. One
/ gentleman went 10 eens1k him ahout I
bad pain in his shoulders Abernethy
brusquely said, ..Well. I know nothing
about it," II don't know how you
should, 7" was the sharp retort; "but il
you will have patience till tell you, per-
haps you then may" Abernethy at once
said. "Sit down." and treated him with
the greatest kindness. One day LADY
who went to consult him found him e1-
tremely uncourteous. Il have heard of
your rudeness before came, sir, but I
did not expect this" When Abernethy
gave her the prescription, she said. "Wha.
shall do with this?" Anything YOU
like; put in the fire if you please" The
lady took him at his word, laid his fee on
the table, and threw the prescription in
the fire, and hastily left the room. Aber-
nethy followed her into the hall. pressing
her to take back her fee, or let him give
her another prescription but the lady
was memorable. and left the house. Aber-
nethy's eccentricities are partly to be ex-
planned by the fact that he was great
humorist. Beyond this, he had a very
fdgety organization, probably to be ex-
planned by some structural flaw in the
heart, to which eventually his death was
to be referred. His brethren always speak
well Of Abernethy. Sir Charles Bell
wrote II think Abernethy has taken a
kind of hankering kindness to me. Yes
terday he called, and chased him from
chair to stool round the room, in the way
of argument. To-day l dined with him.
| have been entreating him to go to a
dance with me tomorrow. No. says he
'.they make such quiz of me- : =
took my frs; ride with Abernethy My
companion is quite peculiar character
but | believe the infection of my delight
made him unusually free and frisky."
As matter of fact, medical men are
exceedingly kind-hearted. They illus
trate Bishop Buffers law that sympathy
is not dulled but heightened, if manifested
in kindly action.
Ihave just been noticing some instan-
ces of the waTxwhich doctors have treat
ed royalty. Radcliffe told Queen Anne
that her disease was nothing but the va
pors. "She is in as good state of health
as any woman breathing, only she can't
make up her mind to believe it," Viii
liam the Third was told by his doctor that
he would not have his two legs for his
three kingdoms.
Although unfavorable to the doctors,
the case of George the Third might serve
as an illustration. We are told in Sir
George Ross diary of the opinion Of the
kings medical men in his last irrecovera-
ble illness. ''The opinion of the physi-
clans is more than ever confident of recov-
cry, but still uncertain as to time. DR..
Willis has not the slightest apprehension
of another paroxysm now. The unani-
nous opinion, also, of the physicians is,
that state of some irritation must pre-
cede the recovery, but that recovery is as
certain as anything can be-" There new
er was worse guess, except, perhaps in
the case of his son. George the Fourth. =
That king asked DIR. Wardrop: Tell
me, Wardrop, honestly. if you think
shall recover" Wardrop answered that
his Majesty must be perfectly aware that
any disease of a vital organ like the heart
could not be free from danger.
Countless instances might be given of
the bcnevolence of medical men. DIR.
Hope, when he prescribed flannel to the
poor, always used to give them flannel
DR.. Bailic prescribed that a young lady
should spend the Winter in a mild eli
mate, and when he knew that she could
not afford it. presented her with an ade-
quate sum to defray her expenses
Perhaps the largest fee ever given was
presented to Sir Henry Thompson for a
successful operation in the case of the late
King Leopold. 1t was hundred thous-
and francs. But ono would hardly say
tina. any fee under such extraordinary cir
cumstances was too large II will easily
be understood that the operator himself.
under snch circumstances. has mighty in
terests at stake, and that failure might
be fraugh. with ruinous results. So great
a risk requires ample compensation
A consulting physician ough. to be par
ticularly courteous and considerate to the
ordinary medical man. Abernethy was
called one day to inspect a sick man :
limb. The ailing member was bandaged
..What are all these wrnps:~ said Aber-
nethy. Bandages. he was told. Pooh,
pooh ~ said Abernethy. Its all very
well to say Pooh. pooh - remarked the
family doctor afterward: :. but tha,
Pooh. pooh los. me good many gui-
meas"
| have heard of = case where the phys-
ician found man given over by his doe
tors and dying from sheer exhaustion. -
He called them lot of hard names, and
said that the patient only wanted beef and
brandy to recover; which proved to be
the case.
| heard Ease the other day Of the fol-
lowing kind A physician being called
prescribed = powerful medicine fr 4 "a.
tieus. and directed the effect to be care
fully watched. The medicine was i'm.
properly msde sp. and the effect was no,
watched. Directly the phy>ieisn SET eyes
On his rsticns the f,Isowinr p,orr;rc \.