The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-12-03

Although many centuries have gone by since the two Christian brothers, Damlan and Cosmas, practiced as phy- sicians in Cilicia, and refused to take recompense for their mlnlstrations, thus earning the magnificent sobrlquet of "Anargyri," the eminent physician is stin supposed to leave his reward to be measured by the gratitude and jus tice of those whom he has befriended,
 For not having done this, Alfred Louis Velpeau, the greatest French surgeon of his time, had a severe les son read to him by the mother of pa tient, a. young girl whose life he had saved in a critical case of croup. The mother, brimmlng over with gratitude, went to see the famous surgeon, an abrupt and somewhat disagreeable per sonage at the best of times, and repu- ted to be afflicted with inordinate greed. q have come to thank you for what you have done for us and to offer you this as token of our obligation, she said, placing beautifully embroi- dered purse on Velpeau's table. Vel peau scarcely took the trouble to look at it. q accept, madame" he re- marked in his ungracious way;"but, of course, this is without prejudice to my honorarium, which comes to three thousand francs" Thereupon, the lady took up her present. q am afraid l made a mistake then" she laughed; there are five notes of thousand francs each in there. This makes us right then, monsieur" And, pocketing two out of the five slips of blue paper, she bowed, q have the honor to wish you good morning."
 | Sir Astley Cooper was wiser in his generation. The largest fee he ever re- ceived was rendered to him in some what less delicate but more original manner. He had been attending in his | capacity of surgeon a West Indian millionaire, named Hyatt, with Drs. 1 Lettsom and Nelson as physicians. The treatment was most successful, and in his joy Hyatt bestowed three hundred guineas on each of the doc- tors. "But you," exclaimed the grate- full patient, addressing Sir Astley, you shall have something better" With this he flung his night-cap at the emil nent operator Sir" replied the lat ter, "I'll pocket the affront" And he | slipped the ''affront" into his pocket. It contained a draft for one thousand ], guineas.
 I have an idea that similar instances 1 of generosity are by no means unfre- quent nowadays with very wealthy as distinguished from royal and princely patients; but the merely affiuent do not l feel bound to exhibit such lavishness, even if they can afford it. considering that the physicians themselves have practically nipped such tendencies in the bud by raising their fees to double of what they were twenty or thirty years ago. All due allowance being made for the greater purchasing power of money in 1860, no one will seriously contend that a guinea went twice as far then as it does at present. Yet two guineas is at this hour the ordinary consulting fee of the physician in re- nown. Tn Henry WILLS time it was l ten shillings for the ordinary common CT, and the case of the Earl of Cumber- 1 land, who presented a physician of Cambridge with double that sum, was considered worthy of special record i During the reign of Elizabeth the fee does not appear to have increased ma- terially and was looked upon by most people as simply sufficient; for Stow probably after journey to the Neither lands, where he may have made the &C., quaintance of that wonderful Mistress Dinghen, the inventor of the starch for ruff1es, complained that while in that country half crown was deemed the proper remuneration for a single visit from skilled physician, the medical practitioners of London scorned tc touch any metal but gold.
 This is, moreover, undoubted proof
 that the ten-shilling fee remained ir force until at least the beginning of tht
 eighteenth century. Three pamphlets
 published between the years 1897 anc 1708 are explicit on the subject I an
 alluding to Physick lies-a- bleeding
 the Apothecary turned Doctor" tht
 "Levamen Infirmi,' and the "Dispensa.
 rians are the Patriots of Britain" Int
 second-named publication is absolutely
 plain in it's statements. To a graduate
 in medicine" 1t says, "his due is abou
 ten shillings, though he commonly ex
 poets or demands twenty. Those tha
 are only licensed physicians, their dus
 is no more than six shillings and eigh
 pence, though they commonly demand
 ten shillings "--London Saturday Re
 view.