The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-12-01
GENIUS AND DOCTORS.
Eusene Field Upholds the Medicine Man
and Really Makes Out a Strong Case.
From the Chicago Record

NSiiuS III every age mas cneerlully
paid the tribute of its reverence and it's
gratitude to doctors, and we cannot
wonder at it when we come to consider
that the dealings of the doctor with hui
manity are of the most intimate char
acter and cover the entire period from
birth to death. For centuries the doc
tor has been riddled with pleasantries
and sarcasms; IT, he had not been good
and great he would not have been made
a target for brilliant savageries; If he
had not been good and great, he would
have been swept away long ago by the
HOOD OF sharp, but not always sincere,
criticism. Priests and physicians have
from time immemorial come in for a
large share of what we might call sport
i've hostility; the world has laughed
over these jocularities, yet at the first
appearance of spiritual or physical dis
quietude the world has sent posthaste
for the priest or doctor. This curious
perYersity is thoroughly understood by
the doctors divinitatis and the doctors
medicinae themselves, and it was none
other than DR.. Francis Rabelais who
embalmed and illustrated it in the im-
mortal couplet:
"The devil was SICK the devil d monk
would be;
The devil got well-the devil a monk was
he"
We have always thought that in this
couplet We're most cleverly illustrated
the three essentials to the perfect epi-
gram as described by Martial:
Three things must epigrams, like bees,
have all;
sting, some honey, and body small Z"
Good Naturcd Teasing.
1t is related that Montaigne used to
require of his friends that if ever he fell
sick they should not send for doctor
until he got better 1t was probably
about the time of Molere that the story
about throwing-away-t he-medicine-and
getting-well originated for when the
Grand Louis asked Moliere what he did
for his doctor. the dramatist answered
Sire, when / am i'll 1 send for him
He comes; we have chat and enjoy
ourselves. He prescribes; l don't take
it and l am cured"
1t was probably not until after the
evolution OF the country editor that the
world was apprised, in the very best of
faith, that occasionally some people
died without medical assistance" And
doubtless there are few of us who have
not heard of the man who having OBJ
tanned prescription for insomnia, ad-
ministered it to his teething baby and
enjoyed an unbroken nights rest These
and similar sarcasms upon the medical
profession we enjoy, not because of their
truth, for We know well enough that
they have very little truth in them, but
because, perhaps, there is q teasing
quality in them, and as Victor Hugo
has said, teasing is the malice Of good
men.
1t has been our fortune-our good for
tune-to have an acquaintance with
many doctors and we agree with the
opinion expressed by the leviathan of
English letters when he declared: 81
believe every man has found in physi-
clans great liberality and dignity of SEN
timent very prompt effusion of bene.
ticence and willingness to exert lu-
crative art where there is no hope of
the lucre." What we particularly adj
mire the doctor for is what he often
achieves outside of his profession; the
| avocations of the physician are notably
| productive of noble results. Many OF
| the most successful journalists in this
country have been doctors, and so have
been, or are, many of our most charm.
| ing writer's upon general and specia
subjects. In Chicago at the present
time there is practising physician
| who has made pottery study and q
| practice, and he has done more, prob
ably, than any other man toward per
| fecting the glaize Of native pottery. DR.
| oliver Wendell Holmes has done more
! than simply to adorn and dignity hi.
| profession he has adorned and digni
| fed American literature. The first mar
| tyr to the cause of our national liberty
was doctor; the fall of Warren famed
| to a blaze the fire of American patriot
| ism. A DR.. Osborn of Massachusetts!
wrote years ago a whaling song tina
bids fair to outlive the giant mamma
| and its adventuresome pursuit whicl
that song celebrated. How largely il
not science indebted to Morton, DeKay
| and Barton, and who that has read hi
poems and his tales has not acknow
lodged the literary genius of Vie
Mitchell? Akenside was a DOCTOR S,
was Cowley, so was Goldsmith; befor
the days when these literary physician
hourished Sir Walter was proud of hi
fame as the compounder of a cordial
and Sir Kenelm Digby was known afa
for his recipe for a sympathetic powde
which wrought wonders. We remem
ber to have read somewhere that Mura
was doctor, but we have never beel
able to confirm this story of his earle
life. Arbuthnot was certainly one o
the greatest in his profession and hi
literary abilities and his wit were ex
ceptionally charming. Alexander Pop
acknowledged the debt he owed to thi
physician in ministering to his suffer
ings:
"Friend of my life which did you nc
prolong
The world had wanted many an idle song.
The Doctor in Literature,
Again the literary claims of the pre-
fession are to be recognized in tn
poems of James Rodman Drake, and i
the ever popular novels of Charles LIE
ver 1t was q doctor, Lestocq, who aid
ed Catherine materially in her struggl
for the throne; another doctor, Ham
mond, was master to the great Racine
Peter the Great cultivatd an intimac
with Boerhaave; Hans Sloan provide
the neucles of the British Museum
} Madden's "Infirmities of Genius an
McNish's philosophy of Drunkenness
are two books that should be in ever
library. Two other famous books al
Dr.. Mddleton's Life of Cicero" an
DR.. Thomas Brownies "Religio' Medic.i
Quoth the learned Park: 81 hold phys
clans to be the most enlightened pre-
fessional persons in the whole circle {
human arts and Sciences,
, But there! we did not intend to say s
much upon this subject: The doctor r,
, quires no defense, and If he did he coul
| defend himself. We have been led lnt
this idle desultOry chat about him L