LESSON FROM AN OLD SURGEON.
Five or six miles from the place of my nativity a family resided whom I
shall call by the name of Port. Among the ancestry of this family, time
out of mind, there had been more, or fewer of what are usually called
natural bone setters. They were known far and near; and no effort short
of miraculous would have been sufficient to shake the confidence which
ignorance and credulity had reposed in them.
One or two of these natural bone setters were now in the middle stage of
life, and in the full zenith of their glory. The name of the most
prominent was Joseph. He was a man of some acquired as well as inherited
knowledge; but he was indolent, coarse, vulgar, and at times profane.
Had it not been for his family rank and his own skill as a surgeon, of
which he really had a tolerable share, he would have been no more than
at best a common man, and occasionally would have passed for little more
than a common blackguard.
I was in a shop one day conversing with Capt. R., when Dr. Port came in.
"Capt. R., how are you?" was the first compliment. "Very well," said the
captain, "except a lame foot." "I see you have one foot wrapped up,"
said Dr. Port; "what is the matter with it?"--"I cut it with an axe, the
other day," said he, "very badly."--"On the upper part of the foot?"
said the doctor. "Yes, directly on the instep," said Capt. R. "Is it
doing well?"--"Not very well," he replied; "and I came into town to-day
partly to see and converse with you about it."--"Well, then, undo it and
let me have a look at it."
Wrapper after wrapper was now taken from the lame foot, till Dr. Port
began to scowl. "You keep it too warm," said he. "A wound of this sort
should be kept cool, if you don't wish to have it inflame. A slight
wrapping is all that is needful." They came at length to the wound. "It
does not look very badly," said Dr. Port; "but you must keep it cool.
And then," added he with an oath, the very thought of which to this day
almost makes me shudder, "You must keep your nasty, abominable ointments
away from it. Remember one thing, Capt. R., whenever you have a new
flesh wound, all you can possibly do with any hope of advantage is to
bring the divided edges of the parts together and keep them there, and
nature will take care of the rest."
"Would you, then, do nothing at all but bind it up and keep it still?"
said Capt. R. "Nothing at all," said he, "unless it should inflame; and
then a little water applied to it is as good as any thing."--"But is
there nothing of a healing nature I can use?" said the captain. "I have
told you already," said he, with another strange oath, "that you don't
want any thing healing on the outside, if you had a cart-load of
medicaments. All wounds, when they heal at all, heal from the bottom;
and of course all your external applications are useless, except so far
as is necessary to protect the parts from fresh injury and keep them
from the air."
The crowd around looked as if they were amazed; but it was Dr. Port who
said it, and therefore it must be swallowed. I was somewhat surprised
with the rest. And I have not a doubt that what he said was to most of
them an invaluable lecture. For myself, as a student of _man_, it was
just what I needed. It set me to thinking. It was a lesson which I could
never forget if I were to live a thousand years.
It was a lesson, moreover, which I have repeated almost a thousand
times, in circumstances not dissimilar. Indeed, I believe this very
occurrence did much to turn my attention to the medical profession. I
saw at once it was a rational thing; a matter of plain common sense; a
thing of principle; and not on the one hand a bundle of mysteries, nor
on the other a mere humbug.
Dr. Port long ago paid the debt of nature; but not till he had made his
mark on the age he lived in. If, indeed, he died as the fool dieth,--and
thus it was said he _did_ die,--he was at least a means of teaching
others to live right. He did great good by his frequent wise precepts,
as well as not a little harm by his sometimes immoral example. For
myself, I honor him because he was my teacher on a point of great
practical importance, and because he was to thousands of over-credulous
people a light and a benefactor.
Although I had not at this time any very serious thoughts of becoming a
physician and surgeon, yet I certainly inclined in that direction. My
great poverty was the chief difficulty that lay in my way; but this
difficulty at that time seemed insurmountable. Besides, I was wedded to
my father's farm, and I did not see how the banns could very well be
sundered.