The mother of Dr. Baillie was the sister of John Hunter, the celebrated
anatomist and physiologist. From the university of Glasgow, he went, in
1780, to Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated, and settled early
in London, under the immediate superintendence of his other maternal
uncle, Dr. William Hunter. Following the example of his distinguished
relations, he became himself a teacher of anatomy in 1785; and he
continued to lecture for nearly twenty years. In delivering his
lectures, he expressed himself with great clearness, and conveyed his
information to his pupils in the most simple and intelligible language.
For this talent he was greatly indebted to the assiduous instruction
of his uncle, who spared no pains in cultivating in his young pupil a
habit of ready and exact explanation; and was accustomed to teach him
in this manner: “Matthew, do you know any thing of to-day’s lecture?”
demanded Dr. Hunter of his nephew. “Yes, sir, I hope I do.” “Well,
then, demonstrate to me.” “I will go and fetch the preparation, sir.”
“Oh! no, Matthew, if you know the subject really, you will know it
whether the preparation be absent or present.” Dr. Hunter then stood
with his back to the fire, and his nephew demonstrated. Thus was the
young student encouraged by approbation and assistance, or immediately
convicted of loose and inaccurate information.
His work on morbid anatomy, published in 1793, was dedicated by him
to his friend Dr. David Pitcairn, as a testimony of high esteem for
his character, and of gratitude for many kind offices. The splendid
engravings which were afterwards published as illustrations of this
work, were alike creditable to his own taste and liberality, and to the
state of the arts in this country.
When I passed from the hands of Pitcairn into the possession of Dr.
Baillie, I ceased to be considered any longer as a necessary appendage
of the profession, and consequently the opportunities I enjoyed of
seeing the world, or even of knowing much about the state of physic,
were very greatly abridged, and but of rare occurrence.
Once only was I introduced into a large party. It was on a Sunday
evening, when I was taken to one of the scientific meetings, held
at the house of Sir Joseph Banks in Soho Square. How different from
the gay conversaziones in Ormond Street, in the spacious library of
Dr. Mead, filled with splendid books, and ornamented with antiques
of the most costly description! On entering the house of Sir Joseph,
I was ushered up a sort of back staircase, and introduced into two
gloomy apartments, in the farther corner of the first of which sat the
President of the Royal Society, wearing the red riband of the Order of
the Bath, in a gouty chair. Here I was passed from one to the other,
and considered rather as a curious relic, than regarded, as I was wont
to be, as the support and ornament of the faculty. My only consolation
arose, as I was handed about, from the observation, which it was
impossible not to make, that among the philosophers present there was a
great proportion of medical men, who examined me, as may be supposed,
with more than ordinary interest. Among others, I did not escape the
keen and scrutinizing eye of a physician who then held the office of
Secretary to the Royal Society, who early relinquished the practice of
his profession for other pursuits, but whose name is identified with
the history of modern chemistry, and will live as long as science shall
be cultivated.
From what has been stated of the condition to which I was now reduced,
it will be inferred, that it was chiefly from the position which I
occupied in the corner of the room in which Dr. Baillie received his
patients at home, that I became at all acquainted with what was going
on in medicine.
My present was the very reverse, in almost every particular, of my
early master, Dr. Radcliffe. In person, Dr. Baillie was considerably
below the middle size, with a countenance rather plain than
prepossessing, a Scotch dialect, and blunt manners. Than his first
address nothing could be less imposing; and yet, before he had been in
company with you for five minutes, he would have convinced you that
he was one of the most sensible, clear-headed physicians you had ever
listened to.
From his habit of public lecturing, he had acquired two great
advantages; First, a minute and accurate knowledge of the structure
of the human body; and, Second, the most perfect distinctness and
excellent arrangement, in what may be called the art of _statement_.
For this latter quality he was very remarkable; and even when he was
compelled to relinquish lecturing (by which he had acquired it), in
consequence of the growing extent of his practice, it continued to be
of daily advantage to him. In examining a patient, for the purpose of
learning the symptoms of the complaint, the questions he put were so
few as to give an impression of haste and carelessness; in conversing
on the case with the physician whom he met in consultation, he was
very short and clear; and it was not until the relations or friends
of the patient were admitted, and he proceeded to communicate to them
the result of the consultation, that he appeared to full advantage. He
then gave a short practical lecture, not merely on the symptoms of the
patient, but on the disease generally, in which all that was known on
the subject was brought to bear on the individual case, and in doing
this, his utterance was so deliberate, that it was easy to follow him.
His explanations were so concise, that they always excited attention,
and never tired; and the simplicity of the language in which they were
conveyed, where all technical terms were studiously avoided, rendered
them perfectly intelligible.
It was a maxim with him, that the most successful treatment of patients
depended upon the exertion of sagacity or good common sense, guided
by a competent professional knowledge, and not by following strictly
the rules of practice laid down in books, even by men of the greatest
talents and experience. “It is very seldom,” was he used to say, “that
diseases are found pure and unmixed, as they are commonly described by
authors; and there is almost an endless variety of constitutions. The
treatment must be adapted to this mixture and variety, in order to be
as successful as circumstances will permit; and this allows of a very
wide field for the exercise of good common sense on the part of the
physician.”
In his view of the case of a patient, he selected the leading features
of the subject, and neglecting all minor details, he systematically
abstained from touching upon any thing ingenious, subtle, or
far-fetched. Hence, in the treatment of disease, he was not fertile in
expedients, but aimed at the fulfilment of a few leading indications,
by the employment of the simplest means; if these failed, he was often
at a loss what to do next, and had not the talent, for which some are
distinguished, of varying his prescription every day, so as to retain
the confidence and keep alive the expectation of the patient. But this
peculiarity of mind, which was perhaps a defect in the _practice_ of
his profession, was a great advantage to him in his discourse, and
rendered him unrivalled as a lecturer. After writing a prescription,
he read it over with great care and consideration, for fear of having
committed a mistake.
During his latter years, when he had retired from all but consultation
practice, and had ample time to attend to each individual case, he was
very deliberate, tolerant, and willing to listen to whatever was said
to him by the patient; but when in the hurry of great business, when
his day’s work, as he was used to say, amounted to seventeen hours,
he was sometimes rather irritable, and betrayed a want of temper in
hearing the tiresome details of an unimportant story. After listening,
with torture, to a prosing account from a lady, who ailed so little
that she was going to the opera that evening, he had happily escaped
from the room, when he was urgently requested to step up stairs again;
it was to ask him whether, on her return from the opera, she might eat
some oysters: “Yes, Ma’am,” said Baillie, “shells and all.”
As I was not present on this occasion, this story, though often
related, may possibly not be true; and, indeed, I cannot suppose that
so experienced a practitioner would have treated with so much levity
the important mystery of cookery. To judge of the true skill and
merit of a Physician requires a competent knowledge of the science of
medicine itself; but to gain the good opinion of the patient or his
friends, there is, perhaps, no method so ready as to show expertness in
the regulation of the diet of the sick. Discretion and judgment will
of course be required; the rules should not be unnecessarily severe or
rigid, otherwise they will not be followed; but the prudent Physician
will prescribe such laws as though not the best, are yet the best that
will be obeyed. In many cases, however, it is not enough to say “you
must avoid meat, fermented liquors, or pastry.” All this is infinitely
too vague, too general, and unsatisfactory; you must be precise and
peremptory about trifles. In a long illness the mind of the patient
is enfeebled, the invention of his attendants has been exhausted, and
they all like to be saved the trouble and effort of thought; the Doctor
therefore must think for them, and direct the diet of the sick as he
would his draught. Besides indicating an anxious solicitude for the
comfort of the invalid, it shows a nice discrimination of the virtues
and qualities of the ordinary articles of food, not possessed by less
sagacious persons.
It is in the judicious management of this branch of our art that French
Physicians particularly excel. _Par exemple_:
“_Le déjeûner consistera en thé froid, ou eau froide sucrée, ou non
sucrée avec du lait, et du pain à volonté. Le diner permet une ou deux
portions de viande fraiche, tendre, du pain rassis et des légumes
farineux._
“_Le vin sera mis avec l’eau pour boisson, et on en boira un seul verre
pur (de Xeres) sur la fin du dîner._
“_Les pâtisseries, la graisse, les légumes venteux, les fruits, sont
defendus._
“_Une soupe au bouillon ou de l’eau avec du lait, ou du thé et du pain
serviront de souper._”
A letter of directions like these, though followed by the prescription
of nothing more energetic than _une légère infusion de feuilles
d’oranger, et deux demi lavemens_, will go farther to impress upon the
mind of his patient a high opinion of the skill of the Doctor, than
the simple and efficient practice of the most judicious and honest
Physician of the English school.
If this be true in ordinary cases of sickness, it is more especially
so with the hypochondriac, or with those whose appetites are jaded by
a long course of indulgence. To them an expert Physician will say, “I
advise you to take some calves’-feet jelly made with hock; or could
you not fancy the claw of a boiled lobster, with a little butter and
Cayenne pepper?”
But I have few adventures to relate; my state of retirement kept me
in an almost total ignorance of what was passing in the great world.
It may therefore be a fit opportunity for me to pause a little, and
review, for a moment, the progress of medicine for the last hundred and
fifty years.
[Illustration: This bust of Sydenham is in the Censor’s Room.]
Sydenham died the very year I became connected with the profession;
him, therefore, I never saw, but with his name and merits I soon
became abundantly familiar. He has been usually styled the English
Hippocrates, and with reason, for there is a great resemblance between
their characters. Although they were both theorists, and, on many
occasions, apparently founded their practice upon their theories, yet
they were still more attentive to the observation of facts, and seldom
permitted their speculative views to interfere with their treatment
of their patients. In opposition to the Physicians of his time,
Sydenham directed his first attention to the careful observation of
the phenomena of disease, and chiefly employed hypothesis as the mere
vehicle by which he conveyed his ideas. His merit has been justly
appreciated by posterity, both in his own country and among foreigners;
and his works continue to this day to be a standard authority, and are
as much esteemed after the lapse of a century and a half, as they were
immediately after their publication. But his skill in physic was not
his highest excellence, his whole character was amiable, his chief view
being the benefit of mankind, and the chief motive of his actions the
will of God. He was benevolent, candid, and communicative, sincere and
religious; qualities which it were happy if they would copy from him,
who emulate his knowledge and imitate his methods.
Sydenham died at his house in Pall Mall, on the 29th December, 1689,
and was buried in the aisle near the south door of the church of
St. James, in Westminster. But the epitaph that indicated the spot
being nearly obliterated, the College of Physicians resolved at their
general quarterly meeting, (comitia majora ordinaria) held December 22,
1809, to erect a mural monument as near as possible to the place of
interment, within that church, to the memory of this illustrious man,
with the following inscription:
Prope hunc Locum sepultus est
THOMAS SYDENHAM,
Medicus in omne Ævum nobilis.
Natus erat A. D. 1624,
Vixit Annos 65.
Deletis veteris Sepulchri Vestigiis,
Ne Rei Memoria interiret,
Hoc Marmor poni jussit Collegium
Regale Medicorum Londinense, A. D. 1810.
Optime Merito!
Amongst the direct practical improvements for which Society is indebted
to Sydenham, is the employment of the cooling treatment in small-pox.
“I see no reason,” said he, “why the patient should be kept stifled
in bed, but rather that he may rise and sit up a few hours every
day, provided the injuries arising from the extremes of heat and
cold be prevented, both with respect to the place wherein he lies,
and his manner of clothing.” But the prejudices and authority of his
contemporaries opposed the immediate introduction of this natural
method; though so convinced was its judicious and discerning author
of its propriety, that he foretold, with confidence, its ultimate
universal employment--_obtinebit demum me vitâ functo_.
The prediction has been completely fulfilled; for what Sydenham
recommended, the popularity and more extensive practice of Radcliffe
soon introduced into general use, and the treatment has been
amply sanctioned by experience. For, strange as it may appear,
notwithstanding the estimation in which the works of this great
ornament of physic have been always held, he made no powerful
impression himself upon the general state of medicine, nor diverted
in any material degree the current of public opinion from its former
channel. The mathematical physicians, who succeeded him, invented new
theories, more captivating than any which had hitherto appeared, and
the full effect of the example of Sydenham was for some time lost in
the seductive influence of visionary speculation.
What Mead effected in the improvement of medicine, by contributing so
materially as he did to promote the practice of inoculation, has been
already mentioned.
The mechanical systems which, for some years afterwards, prevailed,
were powerfully assailed by the metaphysical theory of Stahl,
revolution succeeded to revolution, old systems yielded to new
doctrines, till the inductive philosophy gradually extended itself
to the study of the animal economy. From among the various authors
of these rival systems, it is impossible not to select the name
of Boerhaave, superior perhaps in learning and information, and
possessing more judgment than any of them. He has been compared to
Galen, being endowed with the same extensive range of knowledge on
all topics directly or indirectly connected with medicine, the same
dexterity in availing himself of the information of his predecessors
or contemporaries, and the same felicity in moulding these separate
materials into one consistent and harmonious whole. By his great
assiduity, his acquaintance with chemistry and botany, in short with
every department connected with medicine, he raised the University of
Leyden, his native town, to the rank of the first medical school in
Europe. The next name, at which in this hasty and imperfect sketch,
one would pause, would probably be that of Haller, whose correct
description of the laws of the muscular and nervous systems gave a new
impulse to the progress of pathology.
Cullen, who occupied the medical chair in the University of Edinburgh
for a long series of years, was a man of a shrewd and penetrating
genius, and for some time his doctrines, which were proposed with an
air of candour, and even with a spirit of philosophical scepticism,
received almost the universal assent of his contemporaries. In thus
approaching modern times, we cannot fail to be struck with the great
change that has taken place in the general character of the systems
of physic, which has been effected by the gradual substitution of
observation and experiment for learning and scholastic disputation. No
one will deny that the result of this change has been the improvement
of the practice of our art; hence the rate of mortality has decreased
nearly one-third, within the last forty years, referable to the more
temperate habits which prevail almost uniformly through all orders
of society, to the entire disappearance or mitigated severity of many
fatal diseases, and, above all, to the substitution of _Vaccination_
for the small-pox.
It was in the year 1798 that Jenner published his “Inquiry into the
Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ,” and announced to the world
the important fact, that the cow-pox protects the human constitution
from the infection of small-pox.
By this discovery the beauty of the human race has been greatly
improved, and the vestiges of the small-pox have been almost driven
away; for to see in our churches, our theatres, or in any other large
assemblage of people, a young person bearing the marks of that disease
is now of very rare occurrence. And if this be true in England, where
every free-born Englishman values himself chiefly on the unquestioned
liberty of doing what is foolish and wrong, without the dread of the
least control, it is still more so in other countries of Europe. With
us, crowds of the poor go unvaccinated, permitted not only to imbibe
the small-pox themselves, but to be at large, scattering the poison on
those whom they chance to meet. Whereas abroad, in most of the other
parts of Europe, vaccination has been ordered by government; no one who
has not undergone either cow-pox or small-pox being allowed either to
be confirmed, put to school, apprenticed, or married.
Before the introduction of inoculation, small-pox killed one out of
four of those whom it attacked; _that_ method changed it into a disease
by which one only out of several hundreds perished. Vaccination, by
the excitement of a very trifling disorder, imparted a charmed life,
over which the small-pox generally seemed to have no influence; for
its protecting power must be qualified. It is foolish to deny that
the pretensions of this great discovery were, in the enthusiasm
of the moment, somewhat overrated; but, after more than twenty
years’ experience, this consoling truth seems finally to be firmly
established, that the number of those who take the small-pox after
vaccination, and pass through a safe and harmless disease, is not
greater than the number of those who used to die under inoculation,
namely, one in three hundred.
But I must return from this short digression, to speak of the benefits
conferred by Dr. Baillie on his profession, and particularly of his
donation to the College, of which he was so distinguished an ornament.
In 1819 he presented to that body his entire collection of anatomical
preparations, by far the greater number of which had been made by
his own hands, and from which he had chiefly selected the splendid
engravings that illustrated his work on Anatomy.
He lived only four years after this donation, when his health gradually
gave way, and though a hope was entertained, that the failure of
his strength might be ascribed to the fatigue of business, and that
retirement would afford him relief, he sensibly and rapidly sunk, and
died before he had completed his sixty-third year.
His bust is placed in the College of Physicians, and the President, on
the 22d December, 1823, having announced the bequests contained in his
will, consisting, amongst others, of his library, read the following
observations on the medical character of his departed friend and
colleague.
[Illustration: In the Censor’s Room.]
“The same principles which guided Dr. Baillie in his private and
domestic life, governed his public and professional behaviour. He was
kind, generous, and sincere. His purse and his personal services were
always at the command of those who could prefer a proper claim to them;
and every branch of the profession met with equal attention. Nay, such
was his condescension, that he often incurred great inconvenience to
himself, by his punctual observance of appointments with the humblest
practitioners.
“In consultation, he was candid and liberal in the highest degree; and
so industriously gave credit to the previous treatment of the patient
(if he could approve of it), that the physician who called him in,
never failed to find himself in the same possession of the good opinion
of the family as he was before the circumstances of the case had made a
consultation necessary.
“His manner of explaining the disease, and the remedies recommended,
was peculiar to himself, and singularly happy. It was a short
compressed lecture, in which the objects in view, and the means by
which they were to be obtained, were developed with great clearness of
conception, and in such simple unadorned language as was intelligible
to his patient, and satisfactory to his colleague.
“Before his time, it was not usual for a physician to do much more than
prescribe remedies for the malady, and to encourage the patient by such
arguments of consolation as might present themselves to humane and
cultivated minds. But as the assumed gravity and outward signs of the
profession were now considered obsolete customs, and were, by general
consent, laid aside by the physicians, and as a more curious anxiety
began to be observed on the part of the patient to learn every thing
connected with his complaint, arising naturally from the improved state
of general knowledge, a different conduct became necessary in the sick
room. The innovation required by the spirit of modern times never could
have been adopted by any one more fitted by nature and inclination to
carry it into effect than by Dr. Baillie.
“The attention which he had paid to morbid anatomy (that alteration of
structure, which parts have undergone by disease), enabled him to make
a nice discrimination in symptoms, and to distinguish between disorders
which resemble each other. It gave him a confidence also in propounding
his opinions, which our conjectural art does not readily admit; and the
reputation, which he enjoyed universally for openness and sincerity,
made his _dicta_ be received with a ready and unresisting faith.
“He appeared to lay a great stress upon the information which he
might derive from the external examination of his patient, and to be
much influenced in the formation of his opinion of the nature of the
complaint by this practice. He had originally adopted this habit from
the peculiar turn of his early studies; and assuredly such a method,
not indiscriminately but judiciously employed, as he employed it, is
a valuable auxiliary to the other ordinary means used by a physician
of obtaining the knowledge of a disease submitted to him. But it is
equally true that, notwithstanding its air of mechanical precision,
such examination is not to be depended upon beyond a certain point.
Great disordered action may prevail in a part without having yet
produced such disorganization as may be sensibly felt: and to doubt
of the existence of a disease because it is not discoverable by the
touch, is not only unphilosophical, but must surely, in many instances,
lead to unfounded and erroneous conclusions. One of the inevitable
consequences of such a system is frequent disappointment in foretelling
the issue of the malady, that most important of all points to the
reputation of a physician; and though such a mode of investigation
might prove eminently successful in the skilful hands of Dr. Baillie,
it must be allowed to be an example of dangerous tendency to those
who have not had his means of acquiring knowledge, nor enjoyed the
advantages of his great experience, nor have learned, by the previous
steps of education and good discipline, to reason and judge correctly.
The quickness with which a physician of keen perception and great
practice makes up his mind on the nature of a disease, and the plan
of treatment to be employed, differs as widely as possible from the
inconsiderate haste which marks the decisions of the rash and the
uninformed.
“Dr. Baillie acquired business early by the credit of his book on
Morbid Anatomy. From the date of its first publication in 1793, its
materials must have been furnished principally by a careful inspection
of the diseased preparations collected in the museum of his uncle,
Dr. Hunter. But it opened a new and most productive field of curious
knowledge and interesting research in physic; and when he came to add,
in the subsequent editions which were required, an account of the
symptoms which accompany the progressive alteration made in the natural
structure of parts by some diseases during the life of the patient,
from his own observation and experience, he rendered his work highly
valuable, and universally popular. Impressed as he was with the great
importance and value of such morbid preparations in assisting the
physician to discriminate obscure internal diseases, his generosity
prompted him, after the example of the immortal Harvey, to give, in his
lifetime, his own collection to the College of Physicians. He has thus
laid the foundation of a treasury of knowledge, for which posterity
will owe him a debt of gratitude to the latest period.
“He published from time to time several medical papers in the
Transactions of the College, and in other periodical works; all written
in a plain and simple style, and useful as containing the observations
of a physician of such extensive experience.
“But justice cannot be done to Dr. Baillie’s medical character, unless
that important feature in it which appeared in every part of his
conduct and demeanour, his religious principle, be distinctly stated
and recognised. His ample converse with one of the most wonderful works
of the Creator--the formation of man, inspired in him an admiration of
the Supreme Being which nothing could exceed. He had, indeed, ‘looked
through Nature up to Nature’s God;’ and the promises of the gospel, on
the conditions explained by our Redeemer, were his humble but confident
hope in life, and his consolation in death.
“If one precept appeared to be more practically approved by him than
another, it was that which directs us to do unto others as we would
have them do unto us; and this was felt and acknowledged daily by all
his professional brethren in their intercourse with him.
“On the whole, we may say of him, what Tacitus does of Agricola--_Bonum
virum facile crederes; magnum libenter_.”
[Illustration: Portico of the College of Physicians, Pall-Mall East.]
The sentiments of the College itself towards Dr. Baillie may be
collected from the following tribute to his memory, which was ordered
to be inserted in their Annals on the 30th September, 1823.
“That our posterity may know the extent of its obligation to
the benefactor whose death we all deplore, be it recorded, that
Dr. Baillie gave the whole of his most valuable collection
of anatomical preparations to the College, and six hundred
pounds for the preservation of the same; and this, too, after
the example of the illustrious Harvey, in his lifetime. His
contemporaries need not an enumeration of his many virtues to
account for their respectful attachment to him whilst he lived,
or to justify the profound grief which they feel at his death.
But to the rising generation of physicians, it may be useful to
hold up for an example his remarkable simplicity of heart, his
strict and clear integrity, his generosity, and that religious
principle by which his conduct seemed always to be governed,
as well calculated to secure to them the respect and good-will
of their colleagues and the profession at large, and the high
estimation and confidence of the public.”
But I have done. It has already been explained how I came to occupy my
present position; and having once passed under the splendid portico of
the New College, I am afraid there is no chance of my ever emerging
from the dark recess I occupy in its library.
The publication of the First Edition of my history has at least
procured for me one of the advantages I ventured to anticipate: for
having become to a certain degree an object of curiosity, my seclusion
has occasionally been broken in upon by a temporary exhibition to
a visitor. Upon the whole, however, my leisure has been so little
interrupted, that I have had abundant time to recollect more fully the
various scenes, which I have witnessed; and it is to be hoped, that
these additional memoirs will be given to the world by the Registrar of
the College with the same scrupulous regard to truth that formed the
sole merit of my first imperfect narrative.
THE END
FOOTNOTES
[1] Roll call of the Royal College of Physicians, article on Macmichael.
[2] £2000 towards the building of the New College of Physicians.
[3] All this has now disappeared; the ground being enclosed about forty
years ago, and converted into pasture land.
[4] Earl of Portland.
[5] Earl of Rockford.
[6] The story, to which allusion seems here to be made, is thus related
in the life of Radcliffe:
“It will not be much out of the way, to insert a diverting passage
between Sir Godfrey Kneller, the King’s chief painter, and the
doctor, since it happened near this time; and though not altogether
so advantageous to the doctor’s memory as the generality of his
sarcastical replies, yet will be of use to bring in a very happy
turn of wit from him that speaks in rejoindre to it. The doctor’s
dwelling-house, as has been said before, was in Bow-street, Covent
Garden, whereunto belonged a very convenient garden, that was
contiguous to another, on the back of it, appertaining to Sir Godfrey,
which was extremely curious and inviting, from the many exotic plants,
and the variety of flowers and greens, which it abounded with. Now, as
one wall divided both inclosures, and the doctor had some reason, from
his intimacy with the knight, to think he would not give a denial to
any reasonable request, so he took the freedom when he was one day in
company with the latter, after extolling his fine parterres and choice
collection of herbs, flowers, &c. to desire the liberty of having a
door made, for a free intercourse with both gardens, but in such a
manner as should not be inconvenient to either family.
“Sir Godfrey, who was and is a gentleman of extraordinary courtesy and
humanity, very readily gave his consent; but the doctor’s servants,
instead of being strict observers of the terms of agreement, made such
a havock amongst his hortulanary curiosities, that Sir Godfrey was out
of all patience, and found himself obliged, in a very becoming manner,
to advertise their master of it, with his desires to him, to admonish
them for the forbearance of such insolencies; yet notwithstanding this
complaint, the grievance continued unredressed; so that the person
aggrieved found himself under the necessity of letting him that ought
to make things easy know, by one of his servants, that he should
be obliged to brick up the door, in case of his complaints proving
ineffectual. To this the doctor, who was very often in a cholerick
temper, and from the success of his practice imagined every one under
an obligation of bearing with him, returned answer, ‘That Sir Godfrey
might do even what he pleased with the door, so that he did not paint
it:’ alluding to his employment, in which none was a more exquisite
master. Hereupon a footman, after some hesitation in the delivery of
his message, and several commands from his master, to give it him word
for word, told him as above. ‘Did my very good friend, Dr. Radcliffe,
say so?’ cried Sir Godfrey: ‘go you back to him, and, after presenting
my service to him, tell him that I can take anything from him but
physic.’”--(THE EDITOR.)
[7] Verhaal der Laatste Ziekte en het overlijden, van Willem de Derde,
&c. &c., in Leide, 1702.
[8] Lettre de M. Ronjat, Premier Chirurgien de feu Sa Majesté
Britannique Guillaume III.; écrite de Londres à un Medecin de ses Amis
en Hollande.
[9] The Tabula or Mensa Isiaca is one of the most considerable
monuments of antiquity. It was discovered at Rome, in the year 1525.
There are represented upon it various figures in bas relief, mixed with
some hieroglyphics, which are supposed to relate to the feasts of Isis.
Many speculations have been advanced on the history and date of this
curious relic of ancient times.
[10] By his will he left his Yorkshire estate to the Master and
Fellows of University College for ever, in trust for the foundation
of two travelling fellowships, the overplus to be paid to them, for
the purpose of buying perpetual advowsons for the members of the said
College.
£5,000 for the enlargement of the building of University College, where
he himself had been educated.
£40,000 for the building of a library at Oxford.
£500 yearly for ever, towards mending the diet of St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital.
After the payment of these bequests, and some legacies to various
individuals mentioned in the will, he gave to his executors, in trust,
all his estates in Buckinghamshire, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, and
Surrey, to be applied to such charitable purposes as they in their
discretion should think best; but no part thereof to their own use or
benefit.
The Radcliffe Library, which is perhaps the most beautiful building in
Oxford, was finished in 1749, when it was opened in a public ceremony:
it has been appropriated, by a late resolution of the Trustees, to the
reception of books in medicine and natural history. But that classical
city has to boast of two other edifices which bear the name of the
same munificent benefactor, and in their building the Trustees have
been equally attentive to the interests of science and humanity. The
Observatory and Public Infirmary were both erected out of the funds of
Dr. Radcliffe, by the Trustees of his will. The first of these edifices
consists of a dwelling-house for the Observer, and is amply supplied
with astronomical instruments: it is one of the buildings first asked
for by foreigners who visit the University, and is remarkable for
its beautiful staircase. The Radcliffe Infirmary was opened for the
reception of patients, 1770.
From time to time, according to their means and as opportunities
present themselves, the faithful and enlightened guardians of these
funds have ever been found ready (in the exercise of the discretionary
power with which they are entrusted) to contribute to every charitable
and useful purpose.
[11] Bustorum aliquot Reliquiæ. There is a copy of this curious MS. now
in the College Library: it was purchased at the sale of Lord Verney’s
books, and presented to the College of Physicians by Dr. Munro, June
25, 1783.
[12] Afterwards inhabited by Sir John Rushout.
[13] At this time he weighed more than thirty stone, though he
afterwards, by changing his habits, and living on milk and vegetables,
reduced himself to less than half that weight.
[14] During his stay in Jamaica, a vast treasure which had been sunk
in a Spanish galleon, about forty-five years before, somewhere near
Hispaniola, or the Bahama Islands, was brought into the Downs. It
had been weighed up by some gentlemen, who were at the charge of
divers, &c. to the enriching them beyond all expectation. The Duke
of Albemarle, as Governor of Jamaica, received for his share, about
£90,000. A medal was struck on the occasion.
[15] This anticipation was actually realized not two years ago; for the
mere agitation of the Plague question in the House of Commons excited
the greatest alarm among the maritime nations of Europe, and for
several months vessels sailing from England were put into quarantine at
the different ports in the Mediterranean.
[16] I have heard that all these particulars are carefully recorded on
the monument of this dropsical lady, in Bunhill Fields.
[17] This subject had long occupied the thoughts of Dr. Mead, although
his treatise styled “Medica Sacra, sive de Morbis insignioribus qui in
Bibliis memorantur, Commentarius,” did not appear till 1749.
[18] This appointment was held by Dr. Gideon Harvey, from the year 1719
till 1754.
[19] Arbuthnot was a dilettante in the art of music, and occasionally
composed sacred pieces. One anthem by him, “As pants the hart,” is in
the collection of the Chapel Royal.
[20] At Mead’s sale this statue, three feet and a half high, was bought
by Dr. Anthony Askew, for £50. On the same occasion, a magnificent
statue of Antinous, of white marble and of the size of nature,
was purchased by the Marquess of Rockingham, for £241. 10_s._ The
celebrated bronze head of Homer was sold for £136. 10_s._ to Lord
Exeter.
[21] De Medicorum apud Veteres Romanos Degentium Conditione. Cantab.
1726.
[22] A little dialogue between Soarenes and Chirurgi.--The name of
Caius was spelt in many ways--Gauius, Gavius, Kaius. Anglicè--Kaye,
Keye, Cay.
[23] The term Reader (Prælector) seems to have gone into disuse, except
perhaps at Oxford, where the “Reader in Anatomy” teaches that Science,
in Christ Church, in a small but elegant Theatre, which gives the
ill-omened name of _Skeleton Corner_ to a thickly peopled, but very
inconvenient angle of that distinguished College.
[24] In 1665, Richard Lower made this experiment at Oxford; by means
of long tubes, the blood of the vertebral artery of one dog was made
to pass into the jugular vein of another, and it appeared proved,
that there was no reason to fear any mischief, and that the character
or nature of one animal was not likely to be changed by injecting
into its veins the blood of another. An experiment similar to this,
which preceded it a few years, and which, like it, was founded on
the doctrine of the circulation of the blood, viz. the injecting of
various fluids impregnated with remedies into the veins of animals, was
originally suggested by Sir Christopher Wren, the celebrated architect.
He was one of the early Fellows of the Royal Society, and being a
man of the most universal accomplishments, was fond of the study of
medicine, and occasionally employed his talents in the service of
anatomical science; in proof of which, it may be mentioned that he gave
the original drawings for the plates which illustrate Willis’ Anatomy
of the Brain.
[25] The general reader may require to be told, that these are terms
applied to particular parts of the liver, the heart, and the brain:
though the anatomist may be surprised, that in the enumeration are not
included many other names derived from the discoverers of particular
minute structures: more especially that no notice was taken of the
claim which Willis has to the honour of having first proposed the
classification of the cerebral nerves, now most usually adopted, and
given denominations to several of them, which they will most probably
always retain.
[26] What is this to the modern quackery of craniology, in which every
faculty and feeling has a distinct organ, in which it is generated,
which however it deprives of the merit, small as it is, of originality?
[27] It is amusing to contrast this first rude natural infusion, with
the present neat and condensed form of exhibiting the bark: for now a
grain or two of the sulphate of quinine is the ordinary dose of the
remedy.
[28] The black wash now so generally used by Surgeons is a prescription
of Sir Theodore Mayerne’s, by the use of which he performed a great
cure upon Sir Kenelm Digby. His formula is this:--
℞. Aquæ calcis ℥vj.
Mellis rosati ℨii.
Mercurii dulcis ℨi. M.
[29] Called Editio Optima.
[30] Some envious antiquary has lately insinuated that the coins from
which Mead drew this inference were struck in honour of magistrates and
not of medical men.
[31] Will no one erect a monument to Garth? He and his wife are buried
under the communion-table in the chancel of Harrow church, with nothing
but the following rude inscription to mark the spot:--
“In this Vault Lies ye Body of ye Lady Garth, Late Wife of Sir Samuel
Garth, Kt. Who Dyed ye 14th of May, In ye year 1717.
Sir Samuel Garth, Obijt jan^e: the 18th, 1718.”
[32] This elegant villa had been recently purchased by the poet, with
part of the money he had received for his translation of the Iliad; an
enormous sum in those days, between five and six thousand pounds: but
what was that in comparison with the hundred and twenty thousand pounds
which the great popular author of the present time has received for the
various works with which he has delighted and instructed the world?
[33] Now more than 300 years.
[34] In the British Museum there are two copies of Linacre’s
translation of the fourteen books of Galen’s Methodus Medendi. They are
in the finest possible condition, and are the presentation copies of
Henry the Eighth and Cardinal Wolsey. The title of the King’s copy is
illuminated with the royal arms; that of Wolsey’s is decorated with the
Cardinal’s hat. On the binding of his Majesty’s are the royal arms and
motto impressed; the dedication to the Cardinal is in manuscript: they
are both on spotless vellum.
[35] Dr. Alexander Read gave, by will, £100 to ornament the Anatomical
Theatre.
[36] Dr. Prujean.
[37] In March, 1823, the late Earl of Winchilsea presented to the
College some anatomical preparations which belonged to his ancestor
Dr. Harvey; for the niece of Harvey was married to the Lord Chancellor
Nottingham, of whom the late Earl was the direct descendant, and
possessed his property. At Burleigh on the Hill, where these curious
preparations had been carefully kept, is a fine picture of the
illustrious physician. Lord Winchilsea, in presenting them to the
College of Physicians, expressed a hope that these specimens of the
scientific researches of Harvey might be deemed worthy of their
acceptance, and thought that they could nowhere be so well placed as in
the hands of that learned body, of which he had been so distinguished
a member. The preparations themselves consist of six tables or boards,
upon which are spread the different nerves and blood-vessels, carefully
dissected out of the body: in one of them the semi-lunar valves of the
aorta are distinctly to be seen. When Harvey delivered his Lumleian
Lectures, he may frequently have exhibited these preparations, and
by their help explained some points of his new doctrine of the
circulation of the blood. They were most probably made by Harvey
himself; and he might have learned the art in Italy, for he studied
at Padua in 1602. A few years afterwards, on his return to England,
he was appointed anatomical and surgical lecturer to the College of
Physicians, and in 1616, read a course of lectures there, of which
the original manuscripts are preserved in the British Museum. In the
College of Surgeons are some preparations similar to these of Harvey,
which originally belonged to the Museum of the Royal Society, kept at
Gresham College. They were the generous gift of John Evelyn, Esquire,
who bought them at Padua, where he saw them, with great industry and
exactness (according to the best method then used) taken out of the
body of a man, and very curiously spread upon four large tables. They
were the work of Fabritius Bartoletus, then Veslingius’s assistant
there, and afterwards physician to the King of Poland. Vide Catalogue
or Description of the natural and artificial Rarities belonging to the
Royal Society, etc. By Nehemiah Grew, 1681.
Since the time of Harvey, the method of preserving different parts of
the body has undergone many changes, and much improvement; and the
history of the art would be a subject of curious investigation.
In the Philosophical Transactions for May 7, 1666, Mr. Boyle mentions a
method he had invented of preserving or embalming the embryo of a chick
in a glass filled with spirit of wine, to which he sometimes added a
little sal armoniack, as he observed it never coagulated the spirit of
wine.
Ruysch, the professor at Amsterdam, if not the discoverer of the
use of injections, for the display of vascular and other structure,
contributed, together with the suggestions of De Graaf and Swammerdam,
by his own ingenuity and industry, to introduce that important practice
among anatomists. His museum became ultimately the most magnificent
that any private individual had ever, at that time, accumulated, and
was the resort of visitors of every description. Generals, ambassadors,
princes, and even kings, were happy in the opportunity of visiting
it. It was purchased in 1717, by the Czar Peter the Great, for thirty
thousand florins, and sent to Petersburg.
Dr. Frank Nicholls, who married a daughter of Mead’s, was the inventor
of corroded anatomical preparations. He was at one time professor of
anatomy at Oxford, and author of a treatise _De Animâ Medicâ_.
[38] Selden, styled by Grotius, the “glory of the English nation,” died
about this time, and is thus noticed by Hamey in his _Bustorum aliquot
Reliquiæ_.
“Johannes Seldenus J. C. Qui res a memoriâ remotissimas revocare
mortalibus in memoriam semper studuit; Ipsus omnium oblivisci morte
coactus est.”--1 Dec. 1654.
This may serve as a specimen of the epigrammatic style of this curious
work, which is generally characterized by great good nature, though
occasionally the author indulges in a vein of sarcasm; as, for example,
when speaking of one of his contemporaries, he describes him as--
“Syphar hominis; nec facie minus quam arte Hippocraticus.”
[39] One hundred and twelve folio books were saved from the flames.
About ten years before this calamity, the College of Physicians had
been enriched by the will of Sir Theodore Mayerne, who left his Library
to them. This prosperous physician, who enjoyed the singular honour of
having been physician to four kings, viz. Henry IV. of France, James I.
Charles I. and Charles II. of England, died very rich. It is said he
left behind him £10,000 more than Radcliffe. He was a man of singular
address, and distinguished for his knowledge of chemistry and natural
philosophy. The famous enamel painter Petitot, when in England, was
introduced by Mayerne to Charles I. and was indebted also to him for
many valuable hints as to the principal colours to be used for enamel,
and the best means of vitrifying them.
[40] This eminent surgeon and anatomist was chosen Fellow of the Royal
Society at the early age of twenty-three years; and soon justified
their choice by a variety of curious and useful communications. He was
chief surgeon of St. Thomas’s Hospital; was also consulting surgeon
of St. George’s Hospital and the Westminster Infirmary, and had the
honour of being appointed principal surgeon to Queen Caroline, by whom
he was highly esteemed. He was much distinguished for his skill as
a lithotomist, and added also greatly to his reputation by couching
a lad of nearly fourteen years of age, who was either born blind,
or had lost his sight so early as to have no recollection of ever
having seen. The observations made by the patient, after obtaining
the blessing of sight, are singularly curious, and have been much
reasoned upon by several writers on vision. Surgery is much indebted
to Cheselden for the simplicity which he introduced into it. In his
own practice he was guided by consummate skill, was perfectly master
of his hand, fruitful in resources, prepared for all events, operating
with remarkable dexterity and coolness. He was, in the strict sense of
the term, a great surgeon; and, being a man of singular candour and
humanity, and fond of the polite arts, was honoured by the friendship
and acquaintance of men of genius and taste.
[41] His Micyllus de Re Metricâ was one which he prized highly.
[42] Translated by Sir William Jones.
Παλλαδος ην ποτε δενδρον, επ ’Ειλισσοιο ῥεεθροις
Καρπφ αγαλλομενον καιλιπαρῃ ψεκαδι.
Τεμνε μ’α’ρ ὁ γλυπτης και αποξεσε, νυνδε θεανους
Δαιδαλεη λαρναξ Ινδικα φυλλα φερω.
Χαιρ’, ω Κεκροπος αια’ τι μοι μελει; ουκ επιθυμω
Σωκρατιχης τ’οχθης, γλαυκοφιλου τε θεας.
By Jacob Bryant, Esq.
Hospes ego in terras nuper delata Britannas,
Arbor eram Ægiferæ maxima cura Deæ.
Exul ab Ilisso Thamesina ad littora sistor,
Hei mihi! dulce solum, patria terra, vale!
Non tamen in fines cupio remeare priores;
Omnia, quæ amisi, reddidit una domus.
Hîc Musæ atque artes, hîc dignus Socrate sermo,
Et, pro Pallade, me Pallade nata fovet.
[43] Evelyn relates that he dined with Dr. Whistler in the house which
stands on the right hand as you cross the court, in 1683, and met on
that occasion Sir Thomas Millington, the President. He represents them
both as learned men, and speaks of Dr. Whistler, who was then Censor,
as the most facetious man in nature, and says, that he was himself then
consulted about the building of this Library.
[44] Marmor incisum epitaphium, in suo apud nos Musæo.--Hamey’s MS.
[45] Sloane Street and Hans Place are names still retained: the estate
now belongs to Lord Cadogan. Charles, Baron Oakley, brother of the
first Earl Cadogan, married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir
Hans Sloane.
[46] It is by Rysbrach, and cost £280.
[47] It is related of this gentleman that he corresponded with seventy
different persons, and yet that he was very punctual; for he never read
a letter without having pen, ink, and paper ready to write the answer,
by which means he prevented his letters from accumulating, and himself
from being fatigued, by having many answers to write at the same time.
[48] The fate of Poland is well known. The destiny of the family
bearing the name of Poniatowsky has been equally disastrous. At the
battle of Leipsic, wounded, and while covering the retreat of the
French army, in attempting to leap the narrow stream which flows past
that city, Prince Joseph Poniatowsky fell, and was drowned. A simple
monument is erected to him in a garden, on the bank of the river where
he perished, with this inscription upon it:
Hic
In Undis Elystri
JOSEPHUS PONIATOWSKY
Princeps
Summus Exercitûs Polonorum Præfectus,
Imperii Gallici Mareschallus, Tribus Vulneribus
Letiferis acceptis, Ultimus ex Acie discedens
Dum receptum magni Gallorum Exercitus tuetur,
Vitâ Gloriæ et Patriæ sacratâ functus est
Die 19 Octobris, An. 1813,
Anno Ætatis Impleto 52.
Popularis Populari, Duci Miles,
Hoc Monumentum, Lachyrmis suis irrigatum,
Posuit
ALEXANDER ROZNIECKI.
[49] The benefit conferred upon his countrymen by this discovery was
thus spoken of in an Harveian oration, delivered 1809:--Quòd si unum
civem qui servasset, coronâ quondam civili esset donandus; quid ille
meruit, qui totam provinciam in salutem vindicavit?
INDEX.
A
Amen Corner, The College of Physicians in, 117
Anatomy, 87
Anne, Queen, 27-48;
her illness, 48;
and death, 35;
Radcliffe blamed by the public, 36
Antimony, its use and disuse in medicine, 99
Arcanum Goddardianum, 203
Aristophanes, Hamey’s notes and criticisms on, 101
Ascites, tapping in, 70
Aselli, 92
Askew, Dr., 149;
a great traveller, 150;
a great book collector, 151;
makes bibliomania fashionable, 155
B
Baillie, Dr. Matthew, 225;
his appearance and manner, 229;
treatise on morbid anatomy, 226;
his practice, 230
Baker, Sir George, his profound attainments, 115;
his Latin pleasantries, 217, 218
Banks, Sir Joseph, P.R.S., 227
Baronet, the first medical, 54
Bibliotheca Askeviana, 157
Bidloo, Dr., 8-22
Boerhaave, 240
British Museum, 193
Burnet, Bishop, his last illness, 52;
attended by Sir Hans Sloane, Cheyne, and Mead, 52
C
Caius, Dr., 86
Caldwall, Dr., and Lord Lumley found lectures at the College of
Physicians, 89
Cane, The Gold-Headed, its origin, 4, 184;
its description, xix;
in seclusion, 253
Charles I, Halford’s connection with, xiii
Charles II, at the Royal Society, 203;
an experimenter, 204;
bled by Sir Edmund King, 189
Cheyne, Dr., his enormous weight, 54;
attends his relation, Bishop Burnet, in his last illness, 55
Cheselden, the surgeon, 134 (note)
Cinchona bark, 97
College of Physicians, opening of the, 2;
sites of, in Knight Rider Street, 114;
in Amen Corner, 117;
in Warwick Lane, 131;
under presidency of Sir Henry Halford, xvi
Consultations, medical, 56
Cullen, Dr., 177
Cumberland, the Duke of, takes the electric shock at the point of
the sword with which he fought the battle of Culloden, 145
D
Diet, importance of, 233
Dorchester, the Marquis of, a Fellow of the College of Physicians, 103
E
Edwards, George, the naturalist, his book on birds, 186;
his visits to Sir Hans Sloane at Chelsea, 190
Ent, Sir George, his interview with Harvey, 111;
obtains the MS., “Exercitationes de Generatione Animalium,” 112;
is Knighted by Charles II. in the College of Physicians, 125
Esculapius, the mourning, 30
Eugene, the Prince, 30
F
Fees, medical, 38
Fire of London, 127
Fox, Dr., his death-bed and farewell to Hamey, 106
Freind, Dr., committed to the Tower, 72;
visited there by Mead, 73;
liberated through Mead’s intervention, 75;
at Mead’s house, 78
G
Garth, Sir Samuel, 104
George, Prince of Denmark, 27
Glisson, Dr., 90
Goddard, Dr., 201
Greaves, Sir Edward, the first medical baronet, 54
H
Halford, Sir Henry, his life and career, xii-xiv
Haller, 241
Hamey, Dr. Baldwin, 101;
liberality to the College of Physicians, inscription to, 124
Harvey, William, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, 92;
Sir George Ent’s interview with him, 111;
“Generation of Animals,” 112;
his “Museum” at the College in Amen Corner, 118;
his preparations of vessels and nerves on tablets of wood, 121;
record of his death, 124;
bust, by Scheemaker, 109;
inscription, 187
Heberden, Dr., the elder, 160, 165;
his literary tastes and associates, 167;
his liberality, 168;
his address and high principles, 171
Hulse, Sir Edward, 162
Hunter, Dr. William, viii, 225
I
Inoculation of small-pox, 65
Isiaca, the Tabula or Mensa, 34
J
Jenner, announces vaccination discovery, 242
K
Kensington Palace in 1689, 6
King, Sir Edmund, 189
Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 15 (_note_)
Knight Rider Street, College of Physicians in, 114
L
Library of College of Physicians, 185
Linacre, the first President of the College, 81;
his portrait, 7
Lower, Dr., on transfusion of blood, 93
Luke, St., the Evangelist, a physician, his Greek more classical than
that of the other evangelists, 74
Lumley, Lord, and Dr. Caldwall, found lectures at the College of
Physicians, 89
Lymphatics, their discovery, 92
M
Macmichael, William, life of, xi, xii;
appointed Physician to the King, xiv;
works of, xv;
death of, xvi
Mary, Queen of William III., 9
Materia Medica, additions to, 96
Mayow, Dr., his theory of respiration, 92
Mead, Dr., an accomplished and liberal scholar, vii, 32;
on plague and quarantine, 62;
inoculation of small-pox, 65;
tapping in dropsy, 70;
his politics, 71;
his library and collections, 79;
his liberality to scholars, 143;
great hospitality, 145;
his professional income, 146;
“Monita et Praecepta Medica,” 147;
bust of, by Roubiliac, 152
Middleton, Dr. Conyers, 81
Mithridatium, 160
Munk, Dr., on Sir Henry Halford, xiv;
on physicians’ canes, xix
Museum of Harvey, opening of, 120
N
Newton, Sir Isaac, last illness of, 134
Nias, Dr., v
Nicholls, Dr. Frank, 123 (_note_)
P
Page, Dame Mary, extraordinary case of, 70
Pecquet, discovery of the thoracic duct, 92
Philosophical Transactions, 201
Pitcairn, Dr. Archibald, founder of mechanical sect of medicine, 174
” Dr. David, 174-218;
illness and death of, 222
” Dr. William, 174;
the leading physician in the city, 195
Plague, the contagiousness of, 62, 127
Polish dinner, a, 206
Poniatowsky, Prince, 204
Pringle, Sir John, President of the Royal Society, 140;
his addresses on delivery of the Copley medal, 142
Q
Quarantine, Dr. Mead on, 63
Quinin, discovery of, 97
R
Radcliffe, Dr., his medical skill, 17;
his coarseness and plainness, 8, 18;
his prognosis, 19;
in love, 30;
his matrimonial intentions marred, 14;
blamed for death of Queen Anne, 36;
his history, 37;
his fees and income, 39;
his bequests, 40 (_note_), vi;
his death, 50
Radcliffe Infirmary, v
Ronjat, Mons., le premier chirurgien du Roi, 23, 24
Roubiliac, his bust of Mead, and extortionate demand, 153
Royal Society, its early history, 140, 199;
the qualifications for President of, 139;
Philosophical Transactions, 201
S
Selden, John, 123
Shaw, Dr. Peter, 183
Sloane, Sir Hans, 54, _et seq._;
in the West Indies, 59;
President of the College of Physicians and the Royal Society, 62, 140;
in his retirement at Chelsea, 191;
his botanical gardens at Chelsea, 192;
the British Museum, 193
Small-pox, 242;
inoculation of, 65;
Dr. Mead’s advocacy of, 67
Stahl, metaphysical theory of, 240
Sydenham, 235;
his merits, 237;
on quinin, 98
T
Talbor, Sir Richard, on quinin in fever, 98, 99
Tabula, Isiaca, 34
V
Vaccination, discovery by Jenner, 242
Vanbutchel, Mrs., the mummy of, 218
Vaughan, Henry, _see_ Sir Henry Halford, xii, _et seq._
W
Warren, Dr. Richard, 175;
his Harveian oration, 184;
his character and eminent qualifications as a physician, 196
Warwick Lane, the College of Physicians in, 131, 185
Watson, Sir Thomas, on Dr. Macmichael, xvi
” Sir William, his experiments in electricity, 145
William III., 8, 12, 21;
character of, 24
Willis, Dr. Thomas, his merits as an anatomist, 95
Wilmot, Sir Edward, 182