The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-08-17
Anecdotes of Doctors.

Anecdotes of Doctors.
At the age Of twenty Fothergil, the
son Of planter in Tortola, released his
fifty slaves and became a voluntary beg.
gar; then commencing practice, he
alnassed nearly two thousand pounds in
six months, and came to England, where
he soon became renowned for his benevo.
lence and learning.
Passing over Friend, whose Jacobitism
got him into the Tower and Cheseldon,
with his prediction for pugiism, we
pass on to that excellent man, the Quaker
physician Lettsom, who is said to have
made twelve thousand pounds per annum,
The charity and generosity Of this amiable
man knew no bounds. For highway.
man who stopped him and took his purse
he obtained commission in the army,
His rich patients he neglected for the
poor. uo was one Of the earliest supper.
ters Of the Margate. Sea. bathing IpGrma.
ry. lie promoted vaccination, and help.
ed forward the Royal Humane Society
Lettsom is described as tall man, with
dark yellow face. The well known epi.
gram upon him ran:
When any sick to me apply
physics, plecds, ana swcats en-;
If after that they choose to die,
What's that to mel Lettsom.
A greater man, and quite as social and
amiable. was Edward Jenner, the dis.
novarar n vooc;not;on A ,ko,oo $780,. Il.
Of a Gloucestershre dairymaid was the
origin OF this great ard useful discovery
He was the son of a Gloucestershre cler.
gyman /; and on the expiration Of his ap.
premiership to surgeon near Bristol
studied under the celebrated John Hun.
ter. ln 1700 Parliament voted Jenner
twenty thousand pounds, as it appeared
clearly from a report of the College
Physicians that, cut Of l64, ,311 cases Of
vaccination, there had been only three
deaths. ,Ienner seems to have been
meek, gentle, and modest man, astonished
at his own fame. The character of the
man is well shown in letter he wrote to
Cline, who assured him, if he came to
London, he would earn ten thousand
pounds year.
"Shall l." be says, "who even in the
morning of my days, sought the lonely
and sequestcred paths of life in the val.
Icy. and not the moppiain -shpll l.. now
self up as an object for fortune and for
fame ? Admitting it as a certainty that
| obtain both, what stock should add to
my little fund of happiness? And as
for fame, what is it ? gildod butt, for
ever pierced with the arrows of malig.
nancy
John Hunter was remarkable in-
stance Of natural genius discovering its
true bent The Glasgow cabinet makers
boy was right when he left the plane and
the chisel, and turned anatomical assist
ant, to be in time surgeon. general of the
army, and, without a doubt, the first sur.
geon of Europe. On his great collection
now in the college Of surgeons, Lincoln
Inn Fields, Hunter is said 10 have spen,
ninety thousand pounds. 1t was pur-
chased by government for fifteen thou
sand Hunters skilliulness may be gath
cred from the fact, that he once removed
a tumor as large as i mans head, and
healed the wound, as surgeons say. by
the first intention. He was so dflident o
lecturer, that he is said to have Away:
taken thirty drops Of laulanum before he
commenced his discourse. In character
Hunter was arrogant and contemptuous
trampling down all opposition. Wher
told Of hostile criticism being published
he said "Yes, we have all of us YER
min that live upon us" Hunter died il
1898, suddenly at a meeting in St
Georges Hospital, where some opposition
had irritated him. A fear Of hydropho
bia from a cut he had received in dissect
ing hydrophobic patient, had latterly
preyed much upon his mind His chic
discoveries were in relation to cancer ant
popltoal aneurism; but he carried tn
study OF anatomy farther ,han his prede
cessors, and established the existence O
new properties in the gastric juice. Hun
ter was fond of keeping wild animals
from which he sometimes ran great risks
In Abernethy, we come again to on
of those rough, eccentric physicians, c
whose kindness innumereble good storie
: are told. Like DR.. johnson he had
warm heart under rough exterior
Though he could be absolutely brutal t
fine ladies and affected misses, he is sal
to have been an amiable man, beloved {
his family and friends. But to tiresom
!, patients and maladeS imaginaires he ws
at times the impersonation Of rudeness
"Sir, that's enough 60 home and rea
, my book" 10 lady who complaine
of low spirits. he would say Don
! come to me go and buy skipping-rope,
Sometimes, however, he met his mattel
i, Curran, one day, came to consult him, an
! was rather diffuse in describing his SYM
toms.
Sir" said Abernethy, "you had be
: ter tell me your whole life" Upo
which Curran sat down, and seriously b.
gan II was born in the year-in th
county Of, Ireland :" and Aberneth
burst into laugh, aud entered properl
into his case. A lady determined to
= brief, aud so humor the tyrant, one da
. " entered his consutiDg.room, and thrust
ing out an injured hand, merely said
: "My thumb, SIR" You. madam" b
!, exclaimed in admiration, ''are the onl
= = sensible woman | ever had for patient
= = A gentleman, equally determined, b,
= = ing roughly interrupted, suddenly locke
Z the door, put the key in his pocket, an
: insisted on being heard. Aberneth
=, smiled, and eomplimented the patient G
:, his resolution. TO gentleman, wi
- gave him twenty pounds to re-attend h
" nj Ia Ln enih IA rn un,, ihn cool .,.l