Transcriber’s Note
Italic text displayed as: _text_
EMINENT DOCTORS.
Ballantyne Press
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
EMINENT DOCTORS:
Their Lives and their Work.
BY
G. T. BETTANY, M.A. (CAMB.), B.Sc. (LOND.), F.L.S.
AUTHOR OF “FIRST LESSONS IN PRACTICAL BOTANY,”
“ELEMENTARY PHYSIOLOGY,” ETC.
AND LECTURER ON BOTANY IN GUY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL.
“There is to me an inexpressible charm in the lives of the good,
brave, learned men, whose only objects have been, and are, to
alleviate pain and to save life.”
—G. A. SALA.
_IN TWO VOLUMES._
VOL. I.
[Illustration: Bookmaker’s Mark]
LONDON:
JOHN HOGG, PATERNOSTER ROW.
[_All rights reserved._]
PREFACE.
Medical Biography has not taken its due place in the thoughts of our
countrymen, nor has it received deserved attention from literary
men. Anecdotes of big fees, brilliant operations, brusque actions,
or suave politeness, have too exclusively contributed to form the
popular idea of eminent physicians and surgeons. Aikin’s incomplete
“Biographical Memoirs of Medicine,” Macmichael’s “Lives of British
Physicians,” and Pettigrew’s “Medical Portrait Gallery,” have been
the chief collective records of British medical men; and the latter,
owing to its expensive form, was inaccessible to most persons.
Munk’s “Roll of the College of Physicians” is a mine of information
about members of that College, and a similar record of members of
the College of Surgeons would be invaluable. In 1865 Dr. Herbert
Barker commenced, and after his lamented death Dr. Tindal Robertson
continued, a series of memoirs of living medical men, accompanied by
photographs. The _Midland Medical Miscellany_ commenced to publish
a somewhat similar series of memoirs, with portraits, in 1882. The
medical press has been distinguished for the ability and general
fidelity of its biographical notices of deceased members of the
profession.
There is no book, however, in current literature which supplies
medical men or the general public with biographical accounts of the
most notable men who in this kingdom have contributed to make the
medicine and surgery of to-day what they are. It is the aim of the
present book to occupy this vacant place. It is hoped that this has
been done in a form neither too technical for the general reader, nor
unsuitable for the busy practitioner, who has very little time to
read elaborate biographies, but would fain store his mind with the
principal facts and lessons of the lives of his great predecessors
and teachers.
The difficulty of selection has been great. It was felt that sure
ground would be occupied by taking the foundation of the London
College of Physicians as a starting-point, and giving a place only
to those celebrated men in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
whose title to fame none would deny. Paucity of biographical
materials has prevented the introduction of some names; others have
been excluded because they were rather notorious for their fees,
their _bonmots_, or their fantastic behaviour, than for their solid
contributions to medicine.
In regard to men of the present century, the task of selection
has been still more difficult. For the most part distinguished
physiologists, zoologists, &c., do not find a place in these pages,
unless they have also won distinction in medical practice. It cannot
be expected that the list of living names will satisfy everybody.
Others as worthy might have been included. If in refraining from
commenting on the career of his present colleagues at Guy’s Hospital,
the author may appear to have done injustice to their great merits,
he is convinced that he has thereby best steered clear of the dangers
of partiality. The utmost care has been taken to avoid giving details
which should be private during a man’s life, and to state only those
facts about living men which have already for the most part been
made generally accessible.
The task of reading hundreds of biographical memoirs, medical
treatises, scattered pamphlets and papers, has been exceedingly
heavy. All those named in the following pages have been consulted;
and where details are not given of controversies or incidents which
some may be surprised to see passed over, this has been the result
of careful deliberation. The author desires specially to acknowledge
his great obligations to the _Lancet_ and other medical journals. He
trusts he has contributed to the object which they, like himself,
have at heart, of elevating the medical profession in the public
estimation.
DULWICH, _September 1885_.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
PAGE
PREFACE v
CHAP.
I. LINACRE, CAIUS, AND THE FOUNDATION OF BRITISH
MEDICINE 1
II. WILLIAM HARVEY AND THE CIRCULATION OF THE
BLOOD 25
III. THOMAS SYDENHAM, THE BRITISH HIPPOCRATES 52
IV. THE MONROS, CULLEN, THE GREGORYS, JOHN BELL,
AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE EDINBURGH SCHOOL
OF MEDICINE 71
V. WILLIAM AND JOHN HUNTER AND THE APPLICATIONS
OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY TO SURGERY 119
VI. EDWARD JENNER AND VACCINATION 169
VII. SIR ASTLEY COOPER AND ABERNETHY: THE KNIFE
_versus_ REGIMEN 202
VIII. SIR CHARLES BELL AND THE FUNCTIONS OF THE
NERVOUS SYSTEM 242
IX. MARSHALL HALL AND THE DISCOVERY OF REFLEX
ACTION 264
X. SIR BENJAMIN BRODIE AND SIR WILLIAM LAWRENCE,
TWO GREAT PRACTICAL SURGEONS 286
EMINENT DOCTORS.
CHAPTER I.
_LINACRE, CAIUS, AND THE FOUNDATION OF BRITISH MEDICINE._
The name of THOMAS LINACRE must stand at the head of any account of
the history of British medicine, for before his accession to the
office of tutor and physician to Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry
VII., in 1501, no physician of such ability as to have left works
of permanent value had arisen in this country. To him belongs the
honour of having founded the Royal College of Physicians of London,
the earliest of the British medical corporations; and by that one act
he may be said to have constituted medicine a distinct profession.
The slightness of the emphasis which can be laid upon the medical
profession up to Linacre’s time may be recognised from the fact that
he was both tutor and medical attendant to a prince, and that he
subsequently became a not undistinguished ecclesiastic.
Canterbury gave birth to this founder of British medicine about
1460. He derived his descent, however, from a Derbyshire family
of Saxon blood flourishing before the Conquest at Linacre, near
Chesterfield. His school-days were passed under the superintendence
of William Selling, at the monastic school of Christchurch in
Canterbury. Selling was an enlightened man for his time, and had
travelled in Italy, where he studied Greek with one of the most
eager students of the time, Politian, and had brought home with him
numerous valuable manuscripts. A fellow of All Souls’ himself, he
doubtless had some influence in securing the election of his pupil to
a fellowship there at an early age, in 1484. At Oxford Linacre was a
pupil of Cornelio Vitelli, an Italian, one of the earliest teachers
who brought Greek learning into this country.
Before long Linacre himself took charge of pupils, the most famous of
whom afterwards became Sir Thomas More. Linacre accompanied Selling
to Italy when Henry VII. appointed the latter on a mission to the
Roman pontiff. In Italy he received the benefit of introductions
to, and instructions from, Politian and others, and formed an
acquaintance with Aldus Manutius, the celebrated printer, at Venice.
At Florence he was introduced to Lorenzo de Medici, who specially
approved of his companionship with his sons both in their studies
and their amusements. After taking the degree of Doctor of Medicine
in the University of Padua with great applause, owing to the skill
with which he defended the positions of his thesis, he returned to
England. He apparently betook himself at once to Oxford, where he was
incorporated M.D. It is presumed that he was still most concerned
in academical pursuits; and he was the first Englishman to publish
a correct rendering of a Greek author after the revival of letters,
namely, the “Sphere” of Proclus, printed by Aldus at Venice in 1499.
Whether he was also incorporated at Cambridge, as Dr. Caius relates,
cannot now be proved, but it is rendered probable by the fact of his
subsequent foundation of a lectureship in medicine at that university.
At this period of his life Linacre had the good fortune to be the
instructor, especially in Greek, of no less a person than Erasmus.
The latter was evidently a most appreciative admirer of our erudite
doctor, as well as of the facilities for classical study afforded
in England. “In Colet,” says he, writing to Robert Fisher, “I hear
Plato himself. Who does not admire the perfect compass of science
in Grocyn? Is aught more acute, more exalted, or more refined than
the judgment of Linacre? Has nature framed anything either milder,
sweeter, or happier than the disposition of More? It is wonderful
how universally copious is here the harvest of ancient learning,
wherefore you should hasten your return.”
With the beginning of the sixteenth century, however, a new era in
Linacre’s life dawns. Whether or not he was introduced to court in
1501 in connection with the visit of Prince Arthur to Oxford, it is
certain that about the period when the prince was contracted in
marriage to Catherine of Arragon, his health and further education
were intrusted to Dr. Linacre; and it is believed, though without
sure grounds, that he also became one of the king’s domestic
physicians.
The death of the young prince, however, relieving Linacre of his
tutorial duties, appears to have had the effect of throwing him with
ardent zeal into the practice of the medical profession. Erasmus had
availed himself of his skill, as is testified by a letter of his from
Paris in 1506, giving an account of his complaints, and lamenting the
want of his accustomed advice and prescriptions. His friends even
found that he was too devoted to his studies and practice, and begged
him to relax so far as to write to them occasionally. Probably the
economical disposition of Henry VII. prevented Linacre from reaping
too great a reward from his connection with the court, and he would
hail with hopeful feelings the accession of Henry VIII. with his more
liberal tendencies. His position was soon assured by his appointment
as one of the king’s physicians, apparently the principal one; and
his estimation at court was higher than his office alone would have
occasioned, in consequence of his learning and social qualities. His
other patients included Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop Warham, and Fox,
Bishop of Winchester.
About the commencement of Henry VIII.’s reign Linacre took up the
study of theology, which he had previously neglected in his zeal for
the revival of letters; and, in accordance with the practice of the
age, on becoming convinced of the importance of Christian doctrines,
he sought ordination. In October 1509 the Primate gave him the
rectory of Merstham, in Kent, which he held only a month, receiving
in December a prebendal stall in the cathedral of Wells, and in 1510
the cure of Hawkhurst, in Kent, which he held till 1524. Still higher
preferment, however, awaited him, for he became canon and prebend
of Westminster in 1517. Numerous other appointments followed, which
we will not particularise. It does not appear certain that Linacre
gained any conspicuous distinction in theology, but his preferments
were rather acknowledgments of his general learning and merit, being
the most convenient form in which such recognition could at that time
be given.
Linacre’s intercourse with Erasmus continued, but was somewhat
embarrassed by reason of the latter’s constant demand for pecuniary
aid. We gain a glimpse of the prudence which Linacre had attained,
from a letter of Erasmus in 1521, complaining of the unfavourable
reception of his applications for money, mentioning that though
his health was infirm, and though he possessed only six angels, he
had been advised to curtail his expenses and bear his poverty with
fortitude, rather than apply further to the Primate and Lord Mountjoy.
We have now to recur to Linacre’s medical pursuits, which were not
interrupted to any serious extent by his clerical preferments. Early
in Henry VIII.’s reign, he read before the University of Oxford a
“Shagglyng” lecture, of which nothing but the name is preserved.
His renewed connection with Oxford occasioned it to be bruited
abroad that he had a special design of making benefactions to the
university, and the authorities bethought themselves that they had
somewhat neglected their distinguished alumnus. Consequently they
presented him with an address, in which they seem to have been
actuated by that kind of gratitude which consists in a lively sense
of favours to come. Part of it runs thus (translated from Latin),
showing how much dignity a learned university then possessed:—
“To Thomas Linacre, the most skilful physician of the king.”
“We are not a little troubled, excellent sir (to mention nothing
besides), and most learned of physicians, since till now we
have never greeted your pre-eminence by letter (let us confess
the truth), how we may readily devise the means by which we may
handsomely remove from ourselves the stain of ingratitude which we
have incurred, were we otherwise than assured that you are rather
displeased at the greater goodwill, nay the more ardent affection,
which your courtesy has entertained towards our university,
than at any negligence, not to say sluggishness of our own. How
excellent the mind, how liberal the devotion of him, who, whilst
he is the most eminent, is indisputably the most eloquent of his
contemporaries, towards the university of Oxford, is a secret
to none. How well you think of us, and how generously you have
resolved to provide for our interests, we have fully learned from
the report of our colleagues, who have discoursed with you.... But
that we have yet made no returns for your extraordinary bounty
towards us (to repay, alas! accords not with our poverty), which
we can only do with our whole hearts ... we give you truly our
fullest thanks, resting our chief hope in you, whose reputation
stands so high with the king’s majesty, that we may with good
reason commemorate you amongst the most active leaders and foremost
patrons of our academical host.”
The form which very many attempts to promote the progress of medicine
in that age took was that of translations of and commentaries on the
works of Galen, which in the original Greek were inaccessible to
nearly every one.
After spending much time on executing his share of a scheme for
translating Aristotle’s entire works into Latin, in conjunction
with Grocyn and Thomas Latimer, and which unfortunately never was
published, Dr. Linacre betook himself to the congenial task of
translating into Latin Galen’s works, the first portion of which,
on the Preservation of Health, was published at Paris in 1517, and
dedicated to Henry VIII. The feelings which moved him to this act
arose, as he declares to the king, from finding himself wanting in
the means of vying with those who, allured by the renown and glory
of his name, daily contended in the number and variety of their
gifts. For this reason he knew nothing more becoming his duty or his
calling, than the dedication of some memorial of his studies, that
he might satisfactorily account for the leisure which, by the royal
indulgence, he sometimes stole from his appointed attendance, and at
the same time show that he not only spent the hours of office, but
even of recreation from its duties, in accomplishing, to the best of
his ability, what he thought would be acceptable to him. A copy of
this work on vellum, and magnificently embellished, was presented to
Wolsey, with an adulatory letter. These are still preserved in the
British Museum.
This translation was followed by several others from Galen, including
the Method of Healing, 1519, dedicated to the king; the treatise on
Temperaments, 1521, dedicated to Leo X.; on the Natural Functions,
1523, dedicated to Warham; on the Pulse, 1523, dedicated to Wolsey.
Other treatises left complete at Linacre’s death were printed by
Pynson in 1524. Of the treatises on grammar and language, compiled by
Linacre, we need not here attempt to give an account.
Most important of all Linacre’s achievements towards the advancement
of medicine was undoubtedly his securing the foundation of the
Royal College of Physicians. “The practice of medicine,” says his
biographer, Dr. J. N. Johnson, “when this scheme was carried into
effect, was scarcely elevated above that of the mechanical arts;
nor were the majority of its practitioners better educated than
mechanics. No society as yet existed, independent of the monastic and
ecclesiastical, which could at all be considered learned.”
Linacre was at the sole expense of founding the college, for the
crown merely granted the letters patent. These were issued in 1518,
incorporating all physicians in London as one faculty and college,
with power to elect a president, to use a common seal, and to hold
lands not exceeding the annual value of £12. They were to hold
assemblies and govern their faculty in London and within seven miles,
all persons being interdicted from practice who did not hold their
license. Four censors were to be chosen yearly, for the correction
and government of physic and its professors, the examination of
medicines, and the punishment of offenders; and physicians were to be
exempt from attendance at assizes, inquests, and juries. The power
of correction by fine or imprisonment occasioned some embarrassment
at a subsequent period, for when some offenders were committed
by the college, the gaolers would not receive them into prison,
considering the college must charge itself with the custody of its
own culprits. To obviate this difficulty a statute (I Mary, sess.
2, c. 9) was passed, requiring gaolers to receive persons committed
by the college, and also enjoining all justices, mayors, &c., in
London to assist the President of the college in searching for faulty
apothecary wares.
Various defects having been found in the original letters patent,
they were confirmed by a statute, 14 Henry VIII. (1523), which
provided among other things that no person except graduates of Oxford
or Cambridge should be permitted to practise physic throughout
England, unless examined and approved by the President of the College
of Physicians of London, and at least three other selected members.
Previous to Linacre’s time, the bishops or their vicars-general
were the persons who could grant licences to practise medicine (in
addition to the universities), and this power was long after this
retained by them, although they called in physicians to assist them
in determining to whom licences should be granted.
As was but natural, Linacre was the first President of the college
which owed its existence to himself, and he held that office till his
death. His residence, the Stone House, in Knight-Rider Street, Paul’s
Wharf, convenient for access to the Court, then kept up at Bridewell,
was also the meeting-place of the college. The front portion of the
house, a parlour below, and a council room and library above, were
given to the college during his lifetime, and remained the property
of the college until 1860.
In considering the import of Linacre’s endeavours to promote the
study of medicine at Oxford and Cambridge, it must be remembered that
the idea of establishing lectureships or professorships for public
instruction was quite a novel one in England, and that Fox, Bishop
of Winchester, appears to have been the first, in 1517, to endow
lectures in Greek and Latin. And Linacre unquestionably has the merit
of first applying such an idea to the improvement of instruction in
medicine. His foundations did not take full effect till 1524. Again,
we have a letter from the University of Oxford “to the renowned
Dr. Linacre,” couched in the most exaggerated style of panegyric,
thanking him for his proposition to endow “splendid lectures” in
medicine, lauding his “sober gravity and erudite judgment,” “his
greatness,” “the transcendency of his gifts.” The letters patent
founding the lectures were dated on the 12th of October, 1524, only
eight days before his death. Two of the lectureships were to be
founded at Oxford and one at Cambridge, and to be named Linacre’s
Lectures. Thirty pounds a year, a considerable sum then, was to be
devoted to this purpose by his trustees, out of the proceeds of two
manors at Newington, near Sittingbourne. But although the trustees,
Sir Thomas More, Tonstal, Stokesley, Tonstal’s successor, and John
Shelley, were men who might have been expected to pay attention to
Linacre’s desires, yet, probably owing to the busy occupations in
which they were engaged, they failed to carry them into full effect;
and it was not till the third year of Edward VI. that Tonstal, the
surviving trustee, assigned two of the lecturers to Merton College,
Oxford, and one to St. John’s College, Cambridge. Their office was
to expound publicly certain parts of Hippocrates or Galen. That his
lectures failed to become what Linacre would have wished, was due to
the common defect of that age in not foreseeing the revolutions in
learning that were to come, and not providing any elasticity in their
foundations. Thus these lectureships, which might have powerfully
aided the development of medicine, remained of little use till modern
times, when they have been placed on an improved footing.
“It has been questioned,” writes his biographer, “whether he was
a better Latinist or Grecian, a better grammarian or physician, a
better scholar or man. That Linacre was of a great natural sagacity,
and of a discerning judgment in his own profession, we have the
concurrent testimony of the most knowing of his contemporaries.
In many cases which were considered desperate, his practice was
successful. In the case of his friend Lilye, he foretold his certain
death if he submitted to the opinion of some rash persons who advised
him and prevailed with him to have a malignant strumous tumour in his
hip cut off, and his prognostic was justified by the event.
“In private life he had an utter detestation of everything that was
dishonourable; he was a faithful friend, and was valued and beloved
by all ranks in life. He showed a remarkable kindness to young
students in his profession; and those whom he found distinguished for
ingenuity, modesty, learning, good manners, or a desire to excel, he
assisted with his advice, his interest, and his purse.”
Linacre had suffered for years from stone in the bladder, which had
limited his usefulness and the perfection of several of his designs;
and he died of ulceration of the bladder, on the 20th October, 1524,
having made his will four months previously. He was buried in St.
Paul’s Cathedral, in a spot chosen by himself, and expressly named
in his will. No memorial was erected over his grave until 1557, when
Dr. Caius, one of his successors, reared a monument with a suitable
inscription, ending with a favourite expression which he afterwards
placed on his own tomb, “Vivit post funera virtus.”
The will of Dr. Linacre includes annuities to his two sisters, a
bequest to his brother, and other legacies. To his nieces Alice and
Margaret he bequeathed each a bed, Margaret to have the better; and
to William Dancaster, a priest who witnessed the will, a feather-bed
and two Irish blankets were left. The simplicity of these details
shows that a man of high distinction in many ways at that time
counted as important possessions articles now universal.[1]
* * * * *
JOHN KAYE or KEY, better known by the Latinised form CAIUS, which
retains nevertheless the pronunciation derived from the English
original, Keys, was born at Norwich on the 6th of October, 1510,
being thus fourteen years old at Linacre’s death. He entered
Gonville Hall, Cambridge, on the 12th September, 1529, and here he
early distinguished himself by translating from Greek into Latin two
treatises—one by Chrysostom—and by making an abridgment of Erasmus’s
“De Verâ Theologiâ.” He took the degree of B.A. in 1532-3, and was
appointed principal of Physwick Hostel on the 12th November, 1533,
being elected to a fellowship of Gonville Hall on December 6th
following. Proceeding M.A. in 1535, he is recorded as subscribing,
with the master and fellows of Gonville Hall, the submission to Henry
VIII.’s injunctions.
In 1539 he went to Italy, and studied medicine at Padua under
Montanus, lodging in the same house with Vesalius, who became the
most distinguished anatomist of his time. In 1541 the degree of
Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon him at Padua, where in the
next year we find him delivering public lectures on the Greek text
of Aristotle, in conjunction with Realdus Columbus, the stipend for
which was provided by some Venetian nobles. The next year, 1543, he
largely occupied in visiting all the most celebrated libraries of
Italy, collating manuscripts, principally with a view to publishing
correct editions of Galen and Celsus.
Returning to England after further travels in France and Germany,
he was incorporated M.D. at Cambridge, and practised apparently at
Cambridge, Norwich, and Shrewsbury, with such success that he was
appointed physician to Edward VI., an appointment he continued to
hold under Queens Mary and Elizabeth. On the 22d December, 1547,
he was admitted a Fellow of the College of Physicians, and in 1550
became an Elect, in 1552 Censor. In the latter year appeared his
English treatise on the Sweating Sickness, which had broken out at
Shrewsbury in 1551. This was afterwards enlarged and published in
Latin.
“The Boke or Counseill against the Sweatyng Sicknesse,” was dedicated
by Dr. Caius to William, Earl of Pembroke. The dedication begins
thus: “In the fearful time of the sweat, many resorted unto me for
counsel, among whom some being my friends and acquaintance, desired
me to write unto them some little counsel how to govern themselves
therein.... At whose request at that time, I wrote divers counsels
so shortly as I could for the present necessity, which they both
used and did give abroad to many others, and further appointed in
myself to fulfil the other part of their honest request for the time
to come. The which the better to execute and bring to pass, I spared
not to go to all those that sent for me, both poor and rich, day and
night. And that not only to do them that ease that I could, and to
instruct them for their recovery; but to note also thoroughly the
cases and circumstances of the disease in divers persons, and to
understand the nature and causes of the same fully, for so much as
might be.”
A certain conceit is evident throughout the brief treatise, as when
he describes his early translations from Latin into English, and
partially apologises for writing in English, then gives an account
of the life and writings of his friend, William Framingham, a
fellow-townsman of his who died young. The description of the disease
which he gives indicates a very acute rheumatic affection, inasmuch
as perspirations of disagreeable odour, acute pains in the limbs,
delirium, quick and irritable pulse, &c., were prominent among them.
It is notable how little medical science was progressing beyond
Galenic principles. Dr. Caius says, “This disease is not a sweat
only, but a fever in the spirits by putrefaction venomous, with a
fight, travail, and labour of nature against the infection received
in the spirits, whereupon by chance followeth a sweat, or issueth an
humour, compelled by nature, as also chanceth in other sicknesses
which consist in humours.” Still, a glimpse of truth is shown in
the view expressed that “our bodies can not suffer anything or hurt
by corrupt and infective causes, except there be in them a certain
matter prepared, apt and like to receive it, else if one were sick,
all should be sick.”
Dr. Caius showed himself notably before his age also in his censures
of excess in eating and drinking, his commendation of the bath, and
of muscular exercise. His advice to his readers to have recourse
to a good physician, and to be at least as good to their bodies
as to their hose or their shoes, is followed by a picture of the
army of quacks who in default of science preyed upon the masses.
“Simple-women, carpenters, pewterers, braziers, soapball-sellers,
apothecaries, avaunters themselves to come from Pole,
Constantinople, Italy, Almaine, Spain, France, Greece, Turkey, India,
Egypt or Jury; from the service of emperors, kings, and queens,
promising help of all diseases, yea incurable, with one or two
drinks, by drinks of great and high prices, as though they were made
of the sun, moon, or stars, by blessings and blowings, hypocritical
prayings, and foolish smokings of shirts, smocks, and kerchiefs, with
such others, their phantasies and mockeries, meaning nothing else but
to abuse your light belief, and scorn you behind your backs, with
their medicines (so filthy, that I am ashamed to name them), for your
single wit and simple belief, in trusting them most, which you know
not at all, and understand least; like to them which think far fowls
have fair feathers, although they be never so evil favoured and foul;
as though there could not be so cunning an Englishman, as a foolish
running stranger, or so perfect health by honest learning, as by
deceitful ignorance.” From all which the reader may judge whether
somewhat similar remarks might not be applicable to the last century,
and even to a great part of the present, in its credulity of the
efficacy of quack medicines and the powers of audacious empirics.
In 1555 Dr. Caius was elected President of the College of Physicians,
an office which he continued to hold until 1561. He applied himself
with devoted energy to promoting the interests of the college,
commencing to record its annals, till then unpreserved, procuring
the copying and binding in grand style of the college statutes,
designing the insignia, the cushion of crimson velvet edged with
gold on which the statutes were laid, the silver staff ornamented
with the college arms borne by the President, to remind him,
according to Caius, by its material (silver), to govern with patience
and courtesy, and by its symbols (the serpents), with judgment
and wisdom. His zeal further exhibited itself in protecting the
privileges of the college, as when he appeared successfully, in
Elizabeth’s reign, against the barber surgeons, who were claiming the
right to prescribe medicines for internal administration in cases
where their operative assistance was called in.
One of the most striking innovations which Dr. Caius introduced into
this country was unquestionably the practice of dissection of the
human body. He had actually taught practical anatomy in the Barber
Surgeons’ Hall, not long after his return from Italy; and he further
provided for the development of that science by procuring from Queen
Elizabeth, about 1564, a grant to the College of Physicians to take
annually the bodies of two criminals after execution, for dissection,
and the fellows were required, under penalty of a fine for refusing,
to give demonstrations and lectures on anatomy in turn. He left a
fund for defraying the expenses attending these dissections.
Dr. Caius had never wavered in his attachment to learning, and
to his alma mater, Cambridge. Notwithstanding his numerous public
interests, the court, the college, and private practice, he developed
fully and had the pleasure of carrying into execution a design for
improving and enlarging Gonville Hall, which under his auspices
became a college, with the addition of his name to its title. He
added to its resources very considerably, founded three fellowships
and twenty scholarships, and enlarged it by building an entirely
new court, known as Caius Court. Together with this enlargement he
pleased his taste by erecting three new gates, two on its external
boundaries, and one within it. The first, severely simple, was
inscribed “Humilitatis;” the second, more lofty, and surmounted
by several rooms, was on one side inscribed “Virtutis,” on the
other “Jo. Caius posuit Sapientiæ.” The last, smaller, but highly
decorated, leading to the Senate House and the Schools, bore the
word “Honoris;” and thus the worthy doctor signified that by way of
humility we attain to virtue and honour.
By the authority of letters patent granted by Philip and Mary, 4th
September, 1557, Dr. Caius was authorised to frame new statutes
for Gonville and Caius College. It was not till 1558 that he
was incorporated M.D. at Cambridge, and the next January he
was reluctantly induced to accept the dignity of master of the
college, which then fell vacant. He made this a further occasion of
benefaction by refusing the stipend and emoluments of the office,
which he held till one month before his death. For one year he
resigned the presidency of the College of Physicians, that he might
more uninterruptedly superintend the erection of his new court at
Cambridge; but he returned to the presidency for 1562-3, and again in
1571.
A man of Dr. Caius’s incessant activity and zeal for his own opinions
could not hope to remain without enemies. In 1565 three fellows of
his college, whom he had expelled, charged him with atheism and
opposition to professors of the Gospel. His maintenance of his
post at court under sovereigns of opposite religious professions,
notwithstanding his attachment to Romanism, was made a subject of
accusation of unsteadiness in his religious principles. Fuller
remarks that “his being a reputed papist was no great crime to such
who consider the time when he was born, and foreign places wherein
he was bred. However, this I dare say in his just defence: he never
mentioneth Protestants but with due respect, and sometimes doth
occasionally condemn the superstitious credulity of popish miracles.”
Nevertheless, he retained in his college certain books and vestments
formerly used in the Roman Catholic service, and Bishop Sandys
having written to the vice-chancellor, Dr. Byng, complaining of
this, they were collected and burnt in 1572 (Dec. 13), much to Dr.
Caius’s vexation, who considered Dr. Byng’s action most arbitrary,
and inveighed strongly against the conduct of certain fellows of his
college in the matter.
Previous to this time, in 1570, Dr. Caius had published an account
of British dogs, which is the earliest scientific description of the
kind of dogs then occurring in this country. It had been the result
of a request by the celebrated naturalist, Gesner, whose death in
1565 prevented its earlier publication. Numerous other accounts of
British natural history had been furnished by Dr. Caius to Gesner,
and were inserted in his works. To give an idea of our doctor’s
ability in descriptive natural history, we subjoin his account “Of
the dog called a Bloodhound.”
“The greater sort which serve to hunt, having lips of a large size,
and ears of no small length, do not only chase the beast while it
liveth, but being dead also by any manner of casualty, make recourse
to the place where it lieth, having in this point an assured and
infallible guide, namely the scent and savour of the blood sprinkled
here and there upon the ground. For whether the beast being wounded,
doth notwithstanding enjoy life, and escapeth the hands of the
huntsman, or whether the said beast being slain is conveyed cleanly
out of the park (so that there be some signification of blood shed),
these dogs with no less facility and easiness than avidity and
greediness, can disclose and bewray the same by smelling, applying
to their pursuit agility and nimbleness without tediousness. And
albeit peradventure it may chance that a piece of flesh be subtilly
stolen and cunningly conveyed away with such provisos and precaveats
as thereby all appearance of blood is either prevented, excluded,
or concealed, yet these kind of dogs by a certain direction of an
inward assured notice and privy mark, pursue the deed-doers, through
long lanes, crooked reaches, and weary ways, without wandering awry
out of the limits of the land whereon those desperate purloiners
prepared their speedy passage. Yea, the nature of these dogs is such,
and so effectual is their foresight, that they can bewray, separate,
and pick them out from among an infinite multitude and an innumerable
company—creep they never so far into the thickest throng, they will
find him out notwithstanding he lie hidden in wild woods, in close
and overgrown groves, and lurk in hollow holes apt to harbour such
ungracious guests. Moreover, although they should pass over the
water, thinking thereby to avoid the pursuit of the hounds, yet will
not these dogs give over their attempt, but presuming to swim through
the stream, persevere in their pursuit, and when they be arrived and
gotten the furthen bank, they hunt up and down, to and fro run they,
from place to place shift they, until they have attained to that plot
of ground where they passed over.”
This treatise was so highly esteemed by Pennant that he inserted it
in his British Zoology; and it was reprinted in a very neat form in
1880.[2]
We need not particularise the very numerous editions and translations
from Galen, Celsus, Hippocrates, which Dr. Caius published or left
in manuscript. His own original medical works were the Method of
Healing, based however upon Galen and Montanus, and the account of
the sweating sickness, concerning which Hecker remarks, “Although,
judged according to a modern standard, it is far from satisfactory,
yet it contains an abundance of valuable matter, and proves its
author to be a good observer.”[3]
Dr. Caius is credited with having predicted the very day of his
death. He had his own grave prepared in Caius College Chapel, on the
2d, 3d, and 4th of July, 1573, and died at his London house on the
29th of the same month, aged sixty-three. His body being removed
to Cambridge as he had directed, the master and fellows of his
college and the principal members of the university in procession
met it at Trumpington. The inscription on his tomb in Caius Chapel
is characteristic of the man, in whose eyes his own works and
achievements, undoubtedly considerable, loomed large. “Vivit post
funera virtus,” as he had recorded on Linacre’s monument. “Fui
Caius,” he adds, as a pithy if egotistic comment.
* * * * *
Among other notable men of the sixteenth century must be mentioned
WILLIAM GILBERT, M.D., a native of Colchester, who was born in 1540,
and became senior fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, in 1569.
Having settled in London in 1573, his distinction was such that he
became physician to Queen Elizabeth. But he was one of the first
of the illustrious series of English physicians who employed their
leisure in philosophical research. By his book, “On the Magnet, on
Magnetic Bodies, and the Great Magnet the Earth,” published in 1600,
he had the good fortune to become the stimulator of Galileo himself
to the study of magnetism, and that master described him as “great to
a degree which might be envied.” Queen Elizabeth added to her titles
to regard by conferring a pension on Gilbert, which aided him in
prosecuting his experiments. Gilbert was in fact a great originator
in science, having discovered the earth’s magnetism, and that to this
is due both the direction of the magnetic needle north and south,
and the variation and dipping of the needle. Thus he stands as the
discoverer of the facts on which the science of magnetism was based.
He is said to have been no less exact in chemistry, but unfortunately
nothing of his is extant on that subject. Fuller says of him in the
“Worthies”—“Mahomet’s tomb at Mecca is said strangely to hang up,
attracted by some invisible loadstone; but the memory of this doctor
will never fall to the ground, which his incomparable book, ‘_De
Magnete_,’ will support to eternity.” Gilbert died in 1603, shortly
after being appointed physician to James I.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Life of Thomas Linacre. By J. Noble Johnson, M.D. London, 1835.
[2] “Of Englishe Dogges:” 170 Strand, W.C.
[3] “Epidemics of the Middle Ages.” Sydenham Soc. Publ. London 1844.