Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1909-02-13
OLDEN DAY SURGEONS
They Were Exempt From Jury
Duty In Capital Cases.
IN A CLASS WITH BUTCHERS

Thouoht to Be Too eloodthirsty to
Calmly Pass on the Taking of Hu-
man Life - Executioners Performed
Operations and Acted as Doctors.
When Great Britain's statute book
was still in the Draconian state from
which it was redeemed by Sir Samuel
Romilly and the penalty of death was
inflicted for the most trivial OlfenScS.
surgeons were exempted from serving
on juries in capital cases.
1t must not be supposed, however,
that this was because their profession
was believed to make them too humane
for such work as was then imposed ON
jurymcn. We are sorry to say it was
for the opposite reason. They were eX-
empted on the same ground as butch
ers, whose occupation, it was thought
tended to make them too blOOdthirSty
This ought not perhaps surprise us,
since two or three centuries ago eX-
ecutioners not infrequcntly 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 time ago DR.. *. Caroe
of Copenhagen published number Of
documents bearing on the subject The
most ancient of these bears date July
"a, 1870. and is Il license issued by
Frederick H. to Anders Frcimut, eX-
ecutioner of Copenhagen. granting him
the right to set bones and treat old
wounds. He was expressly forbidden
to NEEDLE with recent wounds. In
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 chill
dren in the infirmary.
In 1898 Christian " summoned the
executioner of Gluckstndt. in Holstcin,
to examine the diseased foot of the
crown prince. In letter addressed to
Ole Worm. leading Danish physi-
clan of the day, Henry Roster, physi-
clan in ordinary to the king, complains
bitterly Of the slight thus put upon
him He says that for two whole
lllOIlllS tllt IitilS lllitb, WIZ - 40 III "
treat the case as an ass is to play the
Tyre" had the case In hand and the
doctor was not asked for advice, and,
although the case went Stcndily from
bad to worse. the eXccutioner received
fee OF 200 rigSdalers and Il large
silver goblct-"rewards, says the doc
tor plaintively. (which the greatest
Il cd
had he succeeded In curing the prince
according to the rules of art"
Again. in 1851. Christian V gave a
fee of 200 rigSdalcrS to the Copen-
hagen hangman for curing the leg Of
page. In 1893 AndrcAS I.icbknccht
the Copenhagen eXeCutioncr. was In
such repute or his treatment Of dis
ease that he wrote a book on the
subject "in the name of the holy and
ever blessed Trinity" In 1882 Bergen
an executioner in Norway, was au-
thorized by royal decree to practice
surgery.
Even up to the early years Of the
nineteenth century this extraordinary
association of surgery with the last
IpndllS Oh lIt' Ill " continue III lh
Peterson. who was appointed public
eXecutioner at Trondhjem in 1896
served as surgeon to an infantry regi
ment in the war with Sweden and re-
tired in 1911 with the rank of surgeon
major. Frederick |. Of Prussia chose
his favoritc hangman. CoblcnZ, to be
his physician in ordinary.
1t might be suspected that this pc
culinr combination Of functions had
its origin in satirical view Of the art
of healing, but In the records we have
quoted we can trace nothing of the
kind Perhaps the executloncr drove
a 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
reScnts the lowest degree to which the
surgeon has ever fallen in public eS
TEEN and social position. Compared
with the hangman. gladiator and
even an undertaken may be considered
reSpectable.-Br British Medical Journal