Jean Jacques tells us, that when his wife died every farmer in the
neighbourhood offered to console him by one of their daughters; but that
a few weeks afterwards his cow having shared the same fate, no one ever
thought of replacing his loss by the offer of another; thereby proving
the different value people set upon their cows and children--this seems
absurd enough, but is it a bit more so, than what is every day taking
place in professional life? How many parsons are there who would not
lend you five pounds, would willingly lend you their pulpit, and the
commonest courtesy from a hospital surgeon is, to present his visitor
with a knife and entreat him to carve a patient. He has never seen
the individual before, he doesn't know whether he be short-sighted, or
nervous, or ignorant, or rash, all he thinks of, is doing the honours of
the institution; and although like a hostess, who sees the best dish at
her table mangled by an unskilful carver, he suffers in secret, yet is
she far too well-bred to evince her displeasure, but blandly smiles at
her friend, and says “No matter, pray go on.” This, doubtless, is highly
conducive to science; and as medicine is declared to be a science of
experiment, great results occasionally arise from the practice. Now
that I am talking of doctors--what a strange set they are, and what
a singular position do they hold in society; admitted to the fullest
confidence of the world, yet by a strange perversion, while they are the
depositaries of secrets that hold together the whole fabric of
society, their influence is neither fully recognised, nor their power
acknowledged. The doctor is now what the monk once was, with this
additional advantage, that from the nature of his studies and the
research of his art, he reads more deeply in the human heart, and
penetrates into its most inmost recesses. For him, life has little
romance; the grosser agency of the body re-acting ever on the operations
of the mind, destroy many a poetic daydream and many a high-wrought
illusion. To him alone does a man speak “_son dernier mot:_” while to
the lawyer the leanings of self-respect will make him always impart a
favourable view of his case. To the physician he will be candid, and
even more than candid--yes, these are the men who, watching the secret
workings of human passion, can trace the progress of mankind in virtue,
and in vice; while ministering to the body they are exploring the mind,
and yet, scarcely is the hour of danger passed, scarcely the shadow of
fear dissipated, when they fall back to their humble position in life,
bearing with them but little gratitude, and, strange to say, no fear!
The world expects them to be learned, well-bred, kind, considerate,
and attentive, patient to their querulousness, and enduring under
their caprice; and, after all this, the humbug of homoeopathy, the
preposterous absurdity of the water cure, or the more reprehensible
mischief of Mesmerism, will find more favour in their sight than the
highest order of ability accompanied by, great natural advantages.
Every man--and still more, every woman--imagine themselves to be
doctors. The taste for physic, like that for politics, is born with
us, and nothing seems easier than to repair the injuries of the
constitution, whether of the state or the individual. Who has not seen,
over and over again, physicians of the first eminence put aside, that
the nostrum of some ignorant pretender, or the suggestion of some
twaddling old woman, should be, as it is termed, tried? No one is too
stupid, no one too old, no one too ignorant, too obstinate, or too
silly, not to be superior to Brodie and Chambers, Crampton and Marsh;
and where science, with anxious eye and cautious hand, would scarcely
venture to interfere, heroic ignorance would dash boldly forward and cut
the Gordian difficulty by snapping the thread of life. How comes it that
these old ladies, ol either sex, never meddle with the law? Is the game
beneath them, where the stake is only property, and not life? or is
there less difficulty in the knowledge of an art whose principles rest
on so many branches of science, than in a study founded on the basis
of precedent? Would to heaven the “Ladies Bountiful” would take to
the quarter-sessions and the assizes, in lieu of the infirmaries and
dispensaries, and make Blackstone their aid-de-camp--_vice_ Buchan
retired.
[Illustration: 107]