Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-07-16
Anecdotes OF Doctors.

excellent man, the Quaker physician, Lett
som. When only forty years of age DR..
LettsOm Is said 10 have made twelve thou
sand pounds per annum. The charity and
generosity Of this amiable man knew no
bounds. FOR highwayman who stopped
him and took his purse he obtained COM
mission in the army. His rich patients he
neglected for the poor. He was one of the
earliest supporters of the Margate-S bath
ing lnfrmary. lie promoted vaccination,
and helped forward the Royal Humane So
ciety Lettson is described as tall man,
with dark yellow face The well known
erigram upon him ran
When any sick to me apply
physics, hleeds. ana sweats 'em;
Il after that they choose to die,
What's that to me II LettsOm.
\ greater man, aud quite AZ social and
amiabe was Edward Jenner, the discOyerer of
vaccination chance remark of a Glou-
ceSiershire dairymaid was the origin OF this
great and useful discovery. lie was the son
Of Gloucestershire clergyman and on the
expiration Of his apprenticeship to a surgeon
near Bristol, st1died under the celebrat-
cd John Hunter. In 1870, Parliament voted
Jenner twenty thousand pounds, as it ap-
peared clearly from report Of the College
Physicians that, out Of l64 ,3ll cases of vac
cination. there had been only three deaths.
Jenner seems TO have been a meek. gentle,
and modest man, astonished at his own
fame. The character Of the man is well
shown IN letter he wrote TO Cline. -ho as
sured him, if be- came TO London, he would
earn ten thousand pounds year.
"Shal !, he says, "who, even in the
morning Of my days, sought the lonely and
>equestered paths of life in the valley, and
not the mountain--shall | , now my evening
is fast approaching, hold myself up as an
object for fortune and for fame? Admit
ting it as a certainty that | obtain both.
what stock should add to my little fund Of
happiness And as for fame, what is it,
gIlded butt, forever pierced with the ar
rows of malignancy.'
John Hunter YVES remarkable instance
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 assistant, TO be in time
surgeou-general of the army. and, without
doubt, the first surgeon of Europe. On his
great collection, now in the College Of Sur
se1nS, Lincoln Inn Fields. Hunter Is said to
% have spent ninety thousand pounds. Ii
was purchased BIZ government for fifteen
thousand Hunters skillfulneSs NAV be
gathered from the fact, that he once re-
moved tumOr a large as a man 5 head, and
healed the wound, a. surgeons say, by the
first intention. He was 50 difident a lee
tlrer, that he is said to have always taken
thirty drops Of laudanum before he COM
menced hI- discourse ln character Hunter
was arrogant and contemptuOus, trampling
down all opposition. When told of hos
tile criticism being published. he said
Yes, we have all of Us vermin that live up
40 Is Hunter died in 1893, suddenly, at
meeting in st. Georges Hospital, where
some opposition had irritated him. fear
OF hydruph0bia from cut he had received
IN diSsecting q hydrophoblc patient, had lat
terly preyei much upon his mind His chief
discoveries were in relation to cancer and
popllteal aneuri>m but he carried the study
OF anatomy farther than his preecessor, and
established the existence Of new properties
IN the gastric juice. Hunter was fond Of
keeping wild animals, from which he some
times ran great risks.
In Abernethy. We come again to one of
those rough, eccentric physicians of whose
kindness innumerable good stories are told
Like Or. johnson he had a warm heart un-
der rough exterior. Though he could be
absolutely brutal to fine ladies and affected
misses, he i said TO have been an amiabe
man, beloved of his family and friends. But
t. tire~ume patients and malades ,luagInaircs,
he was at times the personation of rudeneSs
"Sir, that's enough 20 home and read my
book To "a LADY who complained of low
spirits, he would say Don't come 10 me;
- and buy skipping-rope.' Sometimes,
however. be met his match. Cu-ran, one
day, came to consult him, and was rather
dliiuse IN describing his symptoms.
Sir said Abernethy, "yOu had better tell
me your whole life. " pom which Curran sat
down, and seriously began II was born
in the year -,n the County of --, Ire
land :" and Abernethy burst into laugh,
and entered properly into his case. A lady
determined to be brief, and TO humor the
tyrant, one day entered his consulting room,
and thrusting out an injured hand, merely
said. My thumb, sir" "You, madam,
he exclaimed in admiration, "are the only
sensible woman ever had for patient ="
4 gentleman, equally determined, being
roughly interrupted, Suddenly locked the
door put the key in his pocket, and insisted
on being heard Abernethy smiled, and
complimented the patient on his resolution.
To gentleman, who gave him twenty
pounds 20 re-attend his wife. he said Are
YOU the fool who gave me twenty pounds
the other day? go home, and tell your wife
To dine earlier. and eat less and do you
keep your money in your pocket, for no
doctors advice Is worth twenty pounds.
10 "A lady, he said severely Go home and
tell your husband he will not have wife
this day six months.
Abernethy was no respector Of persons.
Poor or rich, his patients had to submissive
ly take their turns, or they might 20 else
where. An angry nobleman once broke in
to his room, and stated his rank and titles
in full, and asked Abernethy if he knew
who he was. To this Abernethy replied
And |, sir, am John Abernethy, Surgeon
Lecturer of ST. Bartholomew Hospital, &c.
and if YOU wish to consult me. am now
ready to hear what you have TO say, in re
turn sir" The Duke Of Wellington, angry
at having TO wait his turn, abruptly enter
ed his room. Abernethy asked him how be
had entered. BY the door, sir. " "Then,
said the doctor, Il recommend YOU to make
your exit the same way" lie Is also said
10 have refused to attend George ". till his
lecture at the hospital was over. The point
on which Abernethy most insisted was the
stomach, and through that important organ
he declared all diseases could be cured. The
celebrated biscuits which he used to eat. and
recommended, were not 80 called from him,
but from the baker who first invented them.
That there was kindness IN Abernethy, who
can deny, who remembers the story of how
he returned all his fees to poor widow who
had consulted him, and added fifty pounds,
to enable her to give her sick child daily
ride? He had horror Of operations, and
reioicei when the evil could be ayerted
without such rough and terrible remedies.
We must not forget to enroll among our
doctors the poet-doctor, Akenside, who, at
the age of twenty-three, wrote the pleas
ures OF the Imagination, a poem which
Pope admired and eulogized. Akenside is
described by one of his best biographers a.
bundle OF contradictions. by turns he
was placid, irritable-simple, affected -
gracious, haughty-mean, benevolent-kind
and brutal" lie Is described as thin, pale,
and lame lie was rough to women, and
sometimes paced the hospital preceded by
porters with brooms, to drive back the
crowd The poets classical tastes were rdi-
culed by Smollett in "Peregrine Pickle -
nor can we wonder at Smollett's ridicule
when We read the stories of Akenside's sour
ness and arrogance. Ifhe buliied his poor
est patients, as we are told he did, We can
only rejoice at the modification he must
have felt when one of the Governors Of st
Thomas's plainly told him Know thou
art servant of this charity
Among eccentric physicians We cannot Sc
lect a better instance than Garrick enemy,
the facetious DIR. Monsey. A poor doctor
at Bury St. Edmunds, he obtained patron
by saving Lord Godolphin. who was on his
way to Newmarket, from an apoplectic
attack. In London, he became the friend
Of Sir Robert Walpole.
.How is it, said Sir Robert, that no
one will beat me at billiards, or contradict