The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1908-12-30
OLDEN DAY SURGEONS
They Were Exempt From jury
Duty In Capital Cases.
IN A CLASS WITH BUTCHERS
Thouqht TO Be Too Rloodthirsty to
Calmly Pass on the Taking OF Flu-
man Executioners Performed
OnerSions and Acted as Doctors.

Ooer&ions and Acted as Doctors.
When Great Britain's statute boos
was still in the Draconian state from
which it was redeemed by Sir Samuel
Rop,illy and the penalty Of death wa:
inflicted for toe most trivial ottenses
surgeons were exempted from serving
on iuries in capital cases.
1t must rot be supposed, however
that this was because their profession
was believed to make them too humane
for such work us was then imposed on
iurymen. We are sorry to say it was
for the opposite reason They were eS'
empted on the same ground as DutcA'
ers. whose occupation, il was thought
tended to make them too bloodthlrsty.
This ought not perhaps surprise u.s.
since TWO or three centuries ago eX'
ecutioners not infreQuenty performed
surgical operations. This seems to
have been particularly the case in Den
mark. At any rate, we have more
knowledge on this point in regard to
that country than any other.
In Janus some tine ago DR.. IS. Caroe
of Copenhagen published a number Of
documents bearing on the subject Ihe
most ancient Of these bears date July
q, 1879. and is license issued By
Frederick II. to Anders Freimut, eA-
ecutioner Of Copenhagen. granting hin
the right to set bones and treat olo
wounds. He was expressly forbidden
TO meddle with recent wounds. Id
1909 it is recorded in the municipal
archives Of Copenhagen that Gaspar
the hangman. had received four rigs
dalers for the cure Of two SICK Ghli'
dren in the iHfrmary.
In 1888 Christian ". summoned the
executioner Of Gluckstadt. in Holsteln
TO examine the diseased foot of the
crown prince: In letter addressed tc
Ole Worm. leading Danish physi
clan of the day. Henry Roster. physl
clan in ordinary to the king. complains
bitterly of the slight thus put upon
him. He says that for two whole
months the hang!nan. "who is as TT tc
treat the case as an ass is to play the
lyre," had the case in hand. and the
doctor was not asked for advice, and
although the case went steadily IRON
bad to worse. the eEecutioner received
a fee Of 200 rigsdalers and a large
silver eoblet-"rewards," says the doc
tor pIaintively, which the greatest
among US would not have received
had he succeeded in curing the prince
according to the rules Of art
Again. in 1851. Christian '. gave a
fee Of 200 rigsdalers to the Copen'
hagen hangnan for curing the leg OF
a page. In 1895 Andreas Liebknecht
the Copenhagen executioner. was IL
such repute or his treatment OF dis
ease that be wrote O. book on the
subject .sin the name Of the holy and
ever blessed Trinity" In 1892 Bergen
an executioner in Norway. was au'
thorized by royal decree to practice
surgery.
Even up to the early years Of the
nineteenth cen tury this extraordinary
association Of surgery with the last
penalty Of the law continued. Erii
Peterson, who was appointed public
executioner at Trondhjem in 1876
served as surgeon to an infantry regl
ment in the war with Sweden and re
tired in 1871 with the rank of surgeon
major. Frederick l. of Prussia chose
his favorite hangnar. Coblenz. to be
his physician in ordinary.
1t might be suspected that this pc
culiar combination Of functions had
its origin in satirical view Of the ar1
Of healing. but in the records we have
quoted we can trace nothing OF tho
kind. Perhaps the eNecutioner drove
trade in human fat and other things
supposed to possess marvellous heal
ing properties he may thus have
come to be credited with skill in heal
ing, though the association surely rep
resents the lowest degree to which the
surgeon has ever fallen in public es
teen and social position. Compared
with the hangman, q gladiator anc
even an undertaken may be considered
spectable.-British Medical Journal.