COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE 
 
 HEALTH SCIENCES STANDARD 
 
 HX641 07280 
 R488.M221915 The 
 
 RECAP 
 
wtfoeCftpoUfotogork 
 
 QfriUwj* nf pjjjHtriattH anil ^urgwma 
 
 
 L v_-/ JTV : br&.& 
 
 CANE 
 
 JBLISHER 
 Y-NINE 
 STREET 
 Y 
 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons 
 
 roXinehts„„of J fisher*. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 Open Knowledge Commons 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/goldheadedcaneOOmacm 
 
THE 
 
 GOLD-HEADED CANE. 
 
THE 
 GOLD-HEADED CANE 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM MACMICHAEL'M'D' 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 SIR WILLIAM OSLER, B. A., M. D., F. R. S. 
 
 AND A PREFACE BY 
 
 FRANCIS R. PACKARD, M.D. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 PAUL'B'HOEBER 
 1915 
 
. Copyright, 1915 
 By PAUL B. HOEBER 
 
 Published April, 1916 
 
 Printed in the U. S. A. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is very fitting that a new edition of the 
 Gold Headed Cane should appear just at this 
 time, as a memorial of the life and labours of 
 its first owner, Dr. John Radcliffe. Here in 
 Oxford, where his name is writ large in stone, 
 we had hoped to have ceremonies appropriate 
 to the 200th anniversary of his death, but at 
 present the University has other things to think 
 of. The Radcliffe Trustees have, however, ar- 
 ranged with Dr. Nias and the Clarendon Press 
 to issue a brief life and an account of- the Trav- 
 elling Fellows, with whom his name is associ- 
 ated. When and where he got the celebrated 
 cane is unknown. To the story of his life so 
 well told here by Dr. Macmichael nothing need 
 be added. There is probably no name in our 
 profession with which are associated so many 
 benefactions. The Radcliffe Infirmary, orig- 
 inally erected by his Trustees out of their 
 funds, has become one of the most important 
 
vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the county hospitals in England; but the 
 Trustees no longer have any financial interest 
 in its support. The Radcliffe Observatory 
 was built by them and they pay the upkeep 
 and the salary of the Radcliffe Observer. The 
 Radcliffe Camera or Library, one of the most 
 beautiful buildings in Oxford, was designed 
 for the scientific part of the Bodleian Library. 
 After the laboratories were centred about the 
 museum it was found more convenient to have 
 the scientific books close at hand, and one of 
 the old Guilds, the Draper's Company of Lon- 
 don, put up a beautiful new building in which 
 the Radcliffe Library is now housed, all the 
 expenses of which are paid by the Trustees. 
 Also under Dr. Radcliffe's will £600 a year 
 is paid to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The 
 property is largely in land not far from Stony 
 Stratford. In addition, he left his Yorkshire 
 estate to the Master and Fellows of University 
 College, to provide for the maintenance of the 
 Travelling Fellows: one is elected each year 
 and holds the appointment, worth <£200, for 
 
INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 three years, one of the conditions being that he 
 spends half of the time in studying abroad. 
 These splendid benefactions keep alive the 
 name of Dr. RadclifFe in Oxford and in profes- 
 sional circles. 
 
 In many ways the account of Mead is the 
 best in the volume. Of him Johnson is re- 
 ported to have said that he lived more in the 
 sunshine of life than any man he knew. Dr. 
 Macmichael in this little volume has done more 
 for Mead's memory than his published works. 
 It is a pity that he did not hand over his won- 
 derful collections to the College of Physicians. 
 Now the bibliophile turns the pages of the 
 printed catalogue of his books, which took 
 twenty-seven days to sell, and mourns that the 
 treasures of his lifetime should have been dis- 
 persed. 
 
 About the next possessor of the Cane, An-^ 
 thony Askew, the memory lingers in connec- 
 tion with the famous Bibliotheca Askeviana, 
 the priceless treasures of which were dispersed 
 in 1775 in a twenty days' sale. Only one of 
 
viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the great libraries collected by physicians in the 
 18th century remains. William Hunter had 
 the good sense to leave his books, coins, manu- 
 scripts and specimens to his native place, and 
 the Hunterian Library and Museum are 
 among the most precious possessions of Glas- 
 gow University. 
 
 Pitcairn is remembered to-day solely from 
 his association with the Cane. In the rambling 
 section under his name, Macmichael does not 
 tell us much about him, and leaves us a little in 
 doubt when he died, and whether or not his 
 nephew, David, was one of the possessors of 
 the Cane. As a practitioner he appears to 
 have picked up the secret of Sydenham's suc- 
 cess, the free use of opium, as in the book he 
 speaks of his currus triumphalis opii. 
 
 Baillie, in many ways the most distinguished 
 possessor of the Cane, had caught the inspira- 
 tion from his uncles John and William 
 Hunter, and to him more than to any other 
 man is due that close combination of pathology 
 with clinical medicine, still the distinguishing 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 feature of the English school, and of which 
 such splendid use was made by Bright, Addi- 
 son, and Hodgkin. 
 
 Few books of its kind have been more suc- 
 cessful, and that a new edition should appear 
 from the press of Mr. Hoeber is an indication 
 of the zeal with which the study of the history 
 of medicine has been taken up by the profes- 
 sion of the United States. 
 
 Oxford, 
 February 26th, 1915. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 William Macmichael, the author of the 
 Gold-Headed Cane, was born at Bridgenorth, 
 in Shropshire, in 1784, and after receiving his 
 education at the grammar school of that town, 
 entered as a student at Christ Church, Oxford, 
 where, after receiving his degree of Master of 
 Arts in 1807, he graduated as a Doctor of 
 Medicine in 1816. In 1811, he was elected to 
 the Radcliffe Travelling Fellowship which 
 owed its foundation to the generosity of Dr. 
 Radcliffe, about whom he writes so delight- 
 fully in his chef d'ceuvre. These fellowships 
 were founded with the purpose of giving their 
 holders the opportunity of travel in foreign 
 lands, and Dr. Macmichael passed several 
 years journeying in Russia, Turkey, Greece 
 and Palestine. That he was an observing and 
 interested traveller is manifested in a little 
 work which he published in London in 1819, 
 entitled " A Journey from Moscow to Con- 
 stantinople, in the Years 1817 and 1818." 
 He was, for a short time, physician to Lord 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 Londonderry while the latter was ambassador 
 to Vienna. He settled in London in the prac- 
 tice of medicine in 1818, and was elected a fel- 
 low of the College of Physicians of London in 
 the same year. At the outset of his career as 
 a practicing physician, he had the good fortune 
 to secure the friendship of Sir Henry Half ord, 
 to whom the College was indebted for the gift 
 of the Gold-Headed Cane, which had de- 
 scended to Sir Henry from the distinguished 
 line of bearers about whom Macmichael cen- 
 tered its autobiography. Sir Henry Half ord's 
 influence in professional and social circles in 
 London was immense. His name was really 
 Henry Vaughan. His father was a physician 
 in Leicester, who devoted his entire income to 
 the education of his seven sons, all of whom 
 proved themselves worthy of the parental self- 
 denial by the eminent positions which they sub- 
 sequently obtained in the professions which 
 they respectively adopted. Sir Henry, after 
 graduating from Oxford, secured an advan- 
 tageous social position for himself by his mar- 
 riage to the daughter of Lord St. John of 
 Bletsoe. He inherited a large property on 
 the death of Lady Denbigh, the widow of his 
 
PREFACE. xiii 
 
 mother's cousin, Sir Charles Halford, Bart., 
 and by an act of Parliament, in 1809, changed 
 his name from Vaughan to Halford. In the 
 subsequent year he was made a baronet. He 
 attended in a professional capacity George 
 III, George IV and Queen Victoria, and after 
 the death of Matthew Baillie, he had the larg- 
 est and most fashionable practice in London. 
 Halford was the president of the College of 
 Physicians of London from 1820 until his 
 death in 1844, and it was during his presidency 
 that the College was removed from Warwick 
 Lane to Pall Mall East. Those who envied 
 his position attributed his success to his courtly 
 manners, and he was nicknamed " the eel- 
 backed baronet." The story is told that he 
 galloped from the death bed of George IV out 
 to Bushy Park in order that he might have 
 the honor of being the first to inform William 
 IV of the glad event. He was present at the 
 opening of the coffin of Charles I, in 1813, and 
 published an account of the proceedings on 
 that occasion. J. F. Clarke, in his autobiog- 
 raphy, accuses Halford, amongst other things, 
 of retaining possession of part of the King's 
 fourth cervical vertebra through which the 
 
xiv PREFACE. 
 
 axe passed, and displaying it at his dinner 
 table as an interesting curio. 
 
 Halford, in the words of Dr. Munk, " at the 
 height of his success, and when his duties at 
 Court were the most onerous, found it neces- 
 sary to have in reserve some physician on 
 whom he could implicitly rely, to act as his 
 representative and substitute when such was 
 needed. His choice fell on Dr. Macmichael, 
 who, through Sir Henry's influence, was ap- 
 pointed in rapid succession Physician Extraor- 
 dinary to the King in 1829, Librarian to the 
 King in 1830, in place of a very eminent 
 physician, Dr. Gooch, recently deceased; and 
 finally, in 1831, Physician in Ordinary to the 
 King?' 
 
 Halford had been obliged to resign his po- 
 sition as physician to the Middlesex Hospital, 
 owing to the pressure of other duties, as early 
 as 1800; but it was probably due to his influ- 
 ence that twenty-two years later Macmichael 
 was appointed to the same position. Mac- 
 michael was very active in the affairs of the 
 College of Physicians, served among its offi- 
 cers on several occasions, and read a number 
 of communications before it. He wrote vari- 
 
PREFACE. xv 
 
 ous articles on contagion and infection, none 
 of them possessing any great value. In spite 
 of powerful backing and the important posi- 
 tions he held, Dr. Macmichael lacked the am- 
 bition or did not possess the aptitude to acquire 
 a large practice. 
 
 In 1830 Macmichael published " Lives of 
 British Physicians," of which another edition 
 was published by Thomas Tegg in 1846. 
 Macmichael himself contributed to it the lives 
 of Linacre, Caius, Harvey, Sir Thomas 
 Browne, Sydenham and Radcliffe. The biog- 
 raphies of twelve other English medical wor- 
 thies were contributed by Dr. Bisset Hawkins, 
 Dr. Parry, Dr. Southey, Dr. Munk, and Mr. 
 Clarke. The book is a small volume contain- 
 ing portraits of some of the more famous 
 subjects. It was dedicated to Sir Henry 
 Halford. Although not so happy in its con- 
 ception and execution as the Gold-Headed 
 Cane, this little work is a most valuable con- 
 tribution to English medical literature. The 
 lives are well written, accurate, and contain 
 information much of which is derived from 
 sources inaccessible to the general reader. 
 
 In 1837, at the age of fifty-three, Dr. Mac- 
 
xvi PREFACE. 
 
 michael suffered a stroke of paralysis which 
 obliged him to retire from professional life and 
 he died two years later at his residence in 
 Maida Vale. Sir Thomas Watson, the fa- 
 mous London Physician, was one of Dr. Mac- 
 michael's friends who knew him many years. 
 In 1878 Sir Thomas Watson wrote of him as 
 follows, to Munk: 1 "Dr. Macmichael was 
 fond of society, and qualified alike to enjoy and 
 embellish it. Having travelled long and seen 
 many cities and the manners of many men, he 
 possessed a large stock of general information, 
 was fertile in various and amusing anecdotes, 
 and was wont to mix, with certain natural ease 
 and grace, in lively and interesting discourse, 
 without making his own share in it unduly 
 prominent. His cheerfulness and equanimity 
 of temper, and kindness of heart, endeared him 
 to a large circle of devoted friends, of whom 
 a very few only, at the time of this writing, 
 survive to commemorate his engaging qualities 
 and to regret his loss." 
 
 Under Sir Henry Halford's presidency the 
 College of Physicians underwent a great 
 
 1 Roll call of the Royal College of Physicians, article 
 on Macmichael. 
 
PREFACE. xvii 
 
 awakening. It acquired, largely through his 
 individual efforts, a splendid new home and 
 he also originated the evening meetings which 
 were henceforth held in the Hall. These were 
 held once a month during the first six months 
 of the year, at nine o'clock in the evening. 
 Tea and coffee were provided. The meetings 
 were attended not only by physicians, but by 
 many persons of prominence in the various 
 walks of life. The papers presented at them 
 were, therefore, as a general rule, adapted to 
 a mixed audience. They were not read by 
 their authors, but by the Registrar of the Col- 
 lege, except in the instance of the President, 
 who was permitted to read such communica- 
 tions as he might wish to make himself. A 
 great part of Sir Henry Halford's success in 
 these innovations was due to the active part 
 taken by Macmichael in seconding his efforts 
 in this as in every other way by which he could 
 show his gratitude and aid his friend and bene- 
 factor. In nothing could he have succeeded 
 better in awakening renewed interest in the 
 venerable College than by directing attention 
 to its past history and to the achievements of 
 the illustrious men who had been connected 
 
xviii PREFACE. 
 
 with it. It was probably this desire which led 
 Macmichael to utilize his erudite knowledge 
 of the subject in the compilation of the fasci- 
 nating book to which he gave the name of 
 " The Gold-Headed Cane." 
 
 The new College was opened on the 25th of 
 June, 1825. According to its veracious auto- 
 biography, on the previous day the Cane was 
 deposited in a corner closet of the new build- 
 ing, " with the observation that I was no 
 longer to be carried about." The Gold- 
 Headed Cane now occupies a glass case in the 
 Library of the College, where it may have the 
 consolation of feeling that it is gazed on by 
 many visitors who have read its history and 
 been stimulated by it to wish a close view of 
 the author. 
 
 The Cane was carried successively by Rad- 
 clifTe, Mead, Askew, Pit cairn and Baillie, and 
 bears their various arms engraved upon its 
 head. It was presented to Sir Henry Hal- 
 ford by Dr. Baillie's widow and he in turn 
 placed it in the College. 
 
 Dr. Macmichael's happy inspiration to write 
 its autobiography was carried into erf ect at the 
 time when the enthusiasm of the Fellows at 
 
PREFACE. xix 
 
 the acquisition of their splendid new hall was 
 at its height. The first edition was published 
 in 1827, and a second edition in the succeeding 
 year. A third edition, edited by Dr. William 
 Munk, was published in 1884, forty-five years 
 after Macmichael's death. 
 
 The cane in ancient days was regarded as an 
 essential part of the equipment of every physi- 
 cian. Dr. Munk, in the third edition of the 
 Gold-Headed Cane, adverts to this fact and 
 also explains the origin of the custom. The 
 cane usually carried by physicians had for its 
 head a knob of gold, silver or ivory, which was 
 hollow, and perforated so that it served to con- 
 tain aromatic preparations which could be in- 
 haled as a preventive of contagion. The 
 favorite preparation for this purpose was the 
 " vinegar of the four thieves," or Marseilles 
 Vinegar, an aromatic vinegar which, according 
 to the confession of four thieves (who had, 
 during a plague at Marseilles plundered the 
 dead bodies) had prevented them from con- 
 tracting* the disease while pursuing their ne- 
 farious occupation. 
 
 The Gold-Headed Cane was adorned by a 
 cross bar for a top instead of a knob, a fact 
 
xx PREFACE. 
 
 which Munk explains by the statement that 
 Radcliffe, its first owner, was a rule unto him- 
 self, and very possibly preferred a handle of 
 that kind for his cane as a distinction from that 
 used by the majority of physicians. 
 
 With its passage from the possession of Dr. 
 Pitcairn into that of Dr. Baillie, the Cane pa- 
 thetically states: "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 of but rare occur- 
 rence." 
 
 With the account of Baillie and the state of 
 physic in his time the Cane ceased its autobiog- 
 raphy and regarded its honorable career as 
 closed. Dr. Munk, in the third edition, pub- 
 lished in 1884, wrote a continuation of the nar- 
 rative in very good imitation of Macmichael's 
 style, which brought the story down to the year 
 1871. 
 
 The publication of a new edition of a medi- 
 cal and literary classic such as the Gold- 
 Headed Cane requires no apologia. The 
 three previous editions are now all of them 
 
PREFACE. xxi 
 
 so difficult to obtain, the book so eagerly- 
 sought for, and its perusal productive of so 
 much profit and pleasure, that the demand is 
 obvious. 
 
 The medical profession in Great Britain and 
 America owe the present undertaking entirely 
 to the unselfish zeal of the Publisher, whose 
 love and admiration for the merits of the Cane 
 prompted him to undertake a venture from 
 which in a commercial point of view no profit 
 can be expected. 
 
 The present edition follows the text and 
 illustrations contained in the second edition, 
 which was chosen for reprinting because it 
 was revised, added to and published by the 
 author himself. The first edition contained 
 179 pages. To the second edition Dr. Mac- 
 michael added 88 pages of text, which con- 
 tain much of the very best of his work. The 
 third edition contained no illustrations, and al- 
 though the continuation of the narrative is 
 most interesting, it is not Macmichael's and 
 therefore not the Cane's. 
 
 It is to be hoped that with the recent great 
 stimulation of interest in medical history which 
 the profession in this country has shown this 
 
xxii PREFACE. 
 
 little volume will achieve the same popularity 
 as its predecessors and add more lustre to the 
 glory of the Cane. 
 
 Francis R. Packard. 
 
 Philadelphia, 
 March, 1915. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WRITINGS OF 
 WILLIAM MACMICHAEL. 
 
 " A Journey from Moscow to Constantinople in the year 
 1817-18." 4to, London, 1819. 
 
 "A New View of the Infection of Scarlet Fever; illus- 
 trated by Remarks on Other Contagious Disorders," 
 8vo, vi, 100 pp. London, T. and G. Underwood, 
 1822. 
 
 " A Brief Sketch of the Progress of Opinion upon the 
 Subject of Contagion, with Some Remarks on Quar- 
 antine." 8vo, London, 1825. 
 
 " The Gold-Headed Cane," 179 pp., 8vo, London, J. 
 Murray, 1827. 
 
 " The Gold-Headed Cane," 267 pp., 8vo, London, J. 
 Murray, 1828. 
 
 " Is the Cholera Spasmodica of India a Contagious Dis- 
 ease ? " The question considered in a letter to Sir 
 Henry Halford, Bart., M.D. 34 pp., 8vo, London, J. 
 Murray, 1831. A French translation of this pam- 
 phlet was published in Paris in 1831. 
 
 " Some Remarks on Dropsy; with a Narrative of the 
 Last Illness of H. R. H. the Duke of York " ; read at 
 
xxiv BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the Royal College of Physicians, May 25, 1835. 18 pp., 
 8vo, London, J. Murray, 1835. 
 
 "The Gold-Headed Cane," edited by William Munk, 
 XVI, 266 pp., 8vo, London, Longmans, 1884. 
 
 In this edition the editor continues the narrative of 
 the Gold-Headed Cane down to the year 1876, in imi- 
 tation of Macmichael's style. It lacks the quaint il- 
 lustrations which ornamented the first two editions 
 and added so much to their charm. 
 
THE 
 
 GOLD-HEADED CANE. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXVIIT. 
 
TO 
 
 THE HONOURABLE LADY HALFORD, 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS DEDICATED 
 WITH 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF THE GREATEST RESPECT AND ESTEEM^ 
 
 BY 
 HEE LADYSHIP'S 
 
 MOST FAITHFUL SERVANT, 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
NOTICE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 A short time before the opening of the New 
 College of Physicians, Mrs. Baillie presented 
 to that learned body a Gold-Headed Cane, 
 which had been successively carried by Drs. 
 Radcliffe, Mead, Askew, Pitcairn, and her 
 own lamented husband. 
 
 The arms of these celebrated Physicians are 
 engraved on the head of the Cane, and they 
 form the Vignettes of the five Chapters into 
 which this little Volume is divided. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 CHAP. I. RADCLIFFE 1 
 
 CHAP. II. MEAD . . . . . . .51 
 
 CHAP. III. ASKEW 149 
 
 CHAP. IV. PITCAIRN 174 
 
 CHAP. Y. BAILLIE 225 
 
RADCLIFFE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 When I was deposited in a corner closet 
 of the Library, on the 24th of June, 1825, the 
 day before the opening of the New College 
 of Physicians, with the observation that I was 
 no longer to be carried about, but to be kept 
 amongst the reliques of that learned body, it 
 was impossible to avoid secretly lamenting the 
 obscurity which was henceforth to be my lot. 
 Formerly the entree of palaces had been open 
 to me; I had been freely admitted into the 
 
2 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 houses of the great and the rich; but now I 
 was doomed to darkness, and condemned to 
 occupy the corner of a library — spacious and 
 splendid, it must be allowed, but where I was 
 surrounded by nothing but the musty manu- 
 scripts of defunct doctors. The gloom, how- 
 ever, of my present abode was enlivened on 
 the following day by my overhearing the ele- 
 gant oration of the President of the College; 
 and an occasional glance I had of scarlet 
 dresses recalled the decorum and propriety of 
 the days of yore, when, on all solemn occasions 
 of public meeting, the Fellows appeared hab- 
 ited in the doctors' robes of their respective 
 universities. I had passed through so many 
 erudite hands, and had been present at so many 
 grave consultations, that the language of the 
 oration was familiar to me, and I could easily 
 collect, from certain allusions in the speech, 
 that princes of the blood, the legislators of the 
 land, the nobles and learned of England, 
 formed a considerable portion of the audience. 
 The topics upon which the accomplished orator 
 touched were various and interesting; but I 
 listened with increased attention when I heard 
 him speak of the donation of the Radcliffe 
 
RADCLIFFE. 3 
 
 Trustees *, and every fibre thrilled within me 
 at the consciousness of the heartfelt delight 
 with which my first kind and generous master 
 would have grasped me, could he have fore- 
 seen the liberal spirit of the future guardians 
 of his princely fortune. 
 
 The low murmur of applause which accom- 
 panied the commemoration of the integrity 
 and honest simplicity of character of the last 
 physician, whose hand I had graced, checked 
 as it was by the reflection, that he was now, 
 alas! no more, marked alike the eloquence of 
 the orator, and the good taste and feeling of 
 his audience. But the speech was too soon 
 finished, and the guests slowly retired from 
 the Library. I was once more left to silence 
 and solitude; never, perhaps, to see the light 
 of day, unless when my closet was occasionally 
 unlocked, that I might be shown as a curiosity 
 to some idle and casual visitor. I had, how- 
 ever, been closely connected with medicine for 
 a century and a half; and might consequently, 
 without vanity, look upon myself as the de- 
 positary of many important secrets, in which 
 
 * £2000 towards the building of the New College of 
 Physicians. 
 
4 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 the dignity of the profession was nearly con- 
 cerned. I resolved, therefore, to employ my 
 leisure in recording the most striking scenes 
 I had witnessed. The Doctors had indeed re- 
 sumed their robes; but it was too much to 
 expect that they would again carry the cane, 
 and adopt the use of the full-bottomed wig; 
 though I have not the least doubt that the 
 honour of physic, and perhaps the welfare of 
 mankind, would be greatly promoted by so 
 praiseworthy a practice. 
 
 These Memoirs are the fruit of my retire- 
 ment; and should the reader feel any disposi- 
 tion to authenticate my narrative by reference 
 to the records of the different periods it em- 
 braces, I feel no fear for the result of his in- 
 vestigation: since if the written documents be 
 correct, they must agree with my story. 
 
 Of my early state and separate condition 
 I have no recollection whatever; and it may 
 reasonably enough be supposed, that it was 
 not till after the acquisition of my head that 
 I became conscious of existence, and capable 
 of observation. But I shall never forget the 
 first consultation at which I was present; 
 where every thing being strange to me, I was 
 
RADCLIFFE. 5 
 
 attentive to the most minute circumstances, 
 which then came recommended to my notice 
 as well by the importance and dignity of the 
 patient, as by the novelty of the scene. As 
 in these conferences there is usually much mat- 
 ter of routine, I became afterwards more care- 
 less; and as none of the responsibility of the 
 advice given rested with me, I allowed my 
 thoughts to wander. 
 
 It was in the autumn of 1689. My master, 
 Dr. Radcliffe, had just then returned from a 
 distant journey in the country, and was much 
 fatigued, when an urgent message reached 
 him at his house in Bow-street, Covent Gar- 
 den. Snatching me up, he hurried into his 
 carriage, and set off with all speed- for Ken- 
 sington House. This irregular edifice, which 
 had recently been purchased by the crown of 
 the second Earl of Nottingham, had under- 
 gone several alterations, and received some 
 additions hastily put together for the imme- 
 diate accommodation of the court. The edi- 
 fice itself was not extensive, having rather the 
 appearance of the neat villa of a nobleman 
 than that of a royal mansion; and the gar- 
 dens were upon a small scale, but kept in the 
 
6 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 neatest possible order. From the town of 
 Kensington, the approach was by a double 
 row of large elm trees, leading to the north 
 entrance of the house, through an unenclosed 
 field, which was at that time disfigured by a 
 gravel-pit. Here, however, afterwards, the 
 skill of the famous gardeners of the day, 
 London and Wise, was employed; and the 
 cut yew and variegated holly hedges were 
 taught to imitate the lines, angles, bastions, 
 scarps, and counterscarps, of a regular forti- 
 fication. This curious upper garden, known 
 by the name of the Siege of Troy, was long 
 the admiration of every lover of that kind of 
 trim horticultural embellishment *. 
 
 We were ushered through a suite of several 
 rooms, plainly but handsomely furnished, by 
 Simon de Brienne; and it seemed to me that 
 the Doctor assumed a more lofty air, and 
 walked with a firmer step, and I was con- 
 scious of a gentle pressure of his hand, as he 
 stopped and gazed for a moment on the like- 
 ness of the Founder of the College of Physi- 
 
 * All this has now disappeared ; the ground being en- 
 closed about forty years ago, and converted into pasture 
 land. 
 
RADCLIFFE. 7 
 
 cians, Dr. Linacre, painted by Holbein, which 
 was hanging in one of the rooms, amongst 
 the royal portraits of the Henrys, and several 
 other of the Kings and Queens of England 
 and Scotland. 
 
 On entering the sick chamber, which was 
 a small cabinet in the south-east angle of the 
 building, called the Writing Closet, a person 
 of a grave and solemn aspect, apparently about 
 forty years of age, of a thin and weak body, 
 brown hair, and of middle stature, was seen 
 sitting in an arm-chair, and breathing with 
 great difficulty. The naturally serious char- 
 acter of the King (for it was His Majesty 
 William the Third) was rendered more melan- 
 choly by the distressing symptoms of an 
 asthma, the consequence of the dregs of the 
 small-pox, that had fallen on his lungs. In 
 the absence of the fit, and at other times, his 
 sparkling eyes, large and elevated forehead, 
 and aquiline nose, gave a dignity to his coun- 
 tenance, which, though usually grave and 
 phlegmatic, was said in the day of battle to 
 be susceptible of the most animated expres- 
 sion. " Doctor," said the King, " Bentinck * 
 
 * Earl of Portland. 
 
8 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 and Zulestein * have been urgent with me 
 that I should again send for you; and though 
 I have great confidence in my two body-physi- 
 cians here, yet I have heard so much of your 
 great skill, that I desire you will confer with 
 Bidloo and Laurence, whether some other plan 
 might not be adopted. They have plied me so 
 much with aperitives to open my stomach, that 
 I am greatly reduced ; my condition is, I think, 
 hazardous, unless you try other measures." 
 
 The King seldom spoke so long at a time, 
 his conversation being usually remarkably dry 
 and repulsive; and here His Majesty's speech 
 was interrupted by a deep cough, and he sunk 
 back in his chair exhausted. " May it please 
 Your Majesty," said Dr. RadclifTe, " I must be, 
 plain with you, Sir : your case is one of danger, 
 no doubt, but if you will adhere to my pre- 
 scriptions, I will engage to do you good. The 
 rheum is dripping on your lungs, and will be 
 of fatal consequence to you, unless it be other- 
 wise diverted." — Upon this Dr. Bidloo, who, 
 though expert in the knowledge of some 
 branches of physic, was not always happy or 
 quick in his conjectures, was about to reply. 
 
 * Earl of Rockford. 
 
RADCLIFFE. 9 
 
 There was something like an insinuation of 
 mala praxis in the last observation; and 
 being somewhat of an irascible temper, the 
 Dutchman, anxious perhaps to return to his 
 duties of professor of anatomy and surgery at 
 Leyden, was indifferent about giving offence 
 to his royal master. But the King, in a calm 
 and sullen manner, imposed silence, and inti- 
 mated to the physicians to withdraw and con- 
 sult upon the treatment of his malady. The 
 consultation was short, and the result was, 
 that some medicines should be tried that 
 might have the effect of promoting the flow 
 of saliva. This treatment fully succeeded, for 
 the King was so completely restored, that a 
 few months afterwards he fought the battle 
 of the Boyne. 
 
 Before we left the palace, my master waited 
 upon Her Majesty the Queen; and as it was 
 well known, that Mary grew weary of any 
 body who would not talk a great deal (while 
 her sister the Princess Anne of Denmark was 
 so silent that she rarely spoke more than was 
 necessary to answer a question) , our audience 
 was not soon over. It was said by the ene- 
 mies of the Queen, that whatever good quali- 
 
10 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 ties she had to make her popular, it was 
 but too evident, by many instances, that she 
 wanted bowels; but on the present occasion 
 the accusation was quite untrue, for on the 
 subject of the King's indisposition, nothing 
 could exceed her anxiety, and it was impossible 
 for the physician to answer Her Majesty's in- 
 numerable inquiries. What was the nature 
 of his complaint? the probable issue? how long 
 a time would be required to complete his re- 
 covery, so that, in the present critical state 
 of affairs, His Majesty might be enabled to 
 return to the management of public business, 
 and take the field against his enemies? In 
 fact, the Queen asked questions which I soon 
 found, by a very little experience, that the con- 
 jectural nature of the art of medicine would 
 not always allow to be answered with preci- 
 sion. The person of the Queen was majestic, 
 and calculated to inspire respect ; and her con- 
 versation (when not under the influence of 
 such feelings as now agitated her) indicated 
 a fine and cultivated understanding, for she 
 had read much in history and divinity. Her 
 Majesty's studies were, however, even now 
 beginning to be interrupted by a course of 
 
RADCLIFFE. 11 
 
 humours that was forming in her eyes, and 
 which compelled her to employ her time in 
 another manner. But she was ever active; 
 and so industrious, that she wrought many 
 hours a day herself, with her ladies and maids 
 of honour working about her, while one read 
 to them all. 
 
 Our interview with the Queen took place 
 in a small apartment, afterwards known by 
 the name of the Patch-work Closet, the sides 
 of which were hung with tapesty, the work 
 of her own hands; as were also the coverings 
 of the chairs with which the room was fur- 
 nished. As I shall not have occasion again to 
 speak of the Queen, it may here be mentioned 
 that, five years afterwards, this incomparable 
 Princess fell a victim to the small-pox; and 
 though my master was blamed by his enemies, 
 as having caused her death, either by his 
 negligence or unskilfulness, yet he himself 
 always maintained that he was called too late, 
 and that no remedies that could then be tried 
 had the least chance of doing her good. On 
 this delicate point, any evidence which I could 
 advance would be received with suspicion; 
 and it remains only to observe, that on this 
 
12 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 melancholy occasion King William exhibited 
 feelings which no one had previously given 
 him credit for. A great politician and soldier, 
 who had been immersed in dangers and calami- 
 ties from his infancy, he was possessed of 
 boundless ambition, which he concealed under 
 a cold exterior, never allowing his speech to 
 betray the wishes of his heart. But during 
 the last sickness of the Queen, His Majesty 
 was in an agony that amazed every one about 
 his person, fainting often, and breaking out 
 into most violent lamentations. When he 
 heard of her death, he was much affected, 
 burst into tears, and for some weeks after was 
 not capable of minding business or of seeing 
 company. 
 
 Whilst the nation was grieving for the loss 
 of the Queen, an event took place in our 
 domestic establishment, which considerably 
 ruffled my master's temper, and interrupted, 
 for a short space, the usual gaiety of his life. 
 Though it could not be said that our house 
 was ever a melancholy one (in truth, we were 
 little at home, the Doctor living much in so- 
 ciety, whither I accompanied him to taverns 
 and clubs, where the choicest spirits were wont 
 
RADCLIFFE. 13 
 
 to assemble), yet still the home of a bachelor 
 is occasionally but a dull and stupid residence. 
 The friends of Radcliffe were therefore always 
 urging him to look out for a wife, and he at 
 length listened to their advice. One who was 
 so general a favourite in society, and, besides, 
 who was known to be so well to pass in the 
 world (for at that time he was worth, at the 
 least, £30,000, and daily adding to his wealth) , 
 had no great difficulty in meeting with an ob- 
 ject upon whom to place his affections. A 
 young lady, the daughter of a wealthy citizen, 
 whose name I forbear to mention, in considera- 
 tion of the awkward disclosure which ulti- 
 mately took place, soon attracted his attention. 
 She was an only child, not more than twenty- 
 four years of age, and with a tolerable share 
 of personal charms: the parents readily as- 
 sented to the proposal, and the terms of the 
 marriage were soon agreed upon ; the lady was 
 to have £15,000 down, and the residue of the 
 citizen's estate at his decease. The visits of 
 my master into the city were numerous, but he 
 took me with him once or twice only. To tell 
 the truth, I felt myself, on these occasions, 
 quite misplaced ; not that I was at all unaccus- 
 
14 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 tomed to female society — quite the reverse; 
 but then the conversations, with which I was 
 familiar, were altogether so different. Here 
 were none of the ordinary questions about 
 health, the last night's repose, the situation of 
 pain, the long detail of complaints, the va- 
 pours, the low muttering with the waiting- 
 woman aside; and at last, when the hurry and 
 agitation occasioned by the doctor's arrival had 
 subsided, the sagacious feeling of the pulse. 
 To all this I was daily habituated; but, in the 
 new scene to which I was now introduced, I 
 was conscious of making an awkward appear- 
 ance, and was glad to be left at home. Mat- 
 ters, however, seemed to proceed prosperously, 
 and every thing promised a consummation of 
 my master's happiness ; when, one evening, he 
 returned late to his home, obviously much dis- 
 composed. He was no sooner alone in his 
 chamber, than he gave vent to his chagrin. 
 "Good God!" said he, as he paced up and 
 down the room, "what a discovery! Well! 
 hanging and marrying certainly go by des- 
 tiny; and if I had been guilty of the last, I 
 should scarcely have escaped the first. What 
 would my acquaintance have said? And my 
 
RADCLIFFE. 15 
 
 neighbour, Sir Godfrey, how would he have 
 triumphed! He was sarcastic enough the 
 other day about that confounded garden- 
 door * — here there would have been no bounds 
 
 * 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 divert- 
 ing 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 re- 
 plies, 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 ex- 
 tremely 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 reason- 
 able 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 inter- 
 course 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 extraor- 
 
16 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 to his mirth; I should have been the laughing- 
 stock of all who know me. 
 
 " Mrs. Mary is a very deserving gentle- 
 
 dinary courtesy and humanity, very readily gave his con- 
 sent ; but the doctor's servants, instead of being strict ob- 
 servers 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 employ- 
 ment, in which none was a more exquisite master. Here- 
 upon 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 God- 
 frey : ' 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.) 
 
RADCLIFFE. 17 
 
 woman, no doubt; but her father must par- 
 don me, if I think her by no means fit to be 
 my wife, since she is or ought to be another 
 man's already! " These and other similar ex- 
 pressions escaped him, as he continued to walk 
 to and fro, apparently in the highest degree 
 of excitement. At length he sat down to his 
 table and wrote a letter to Mr. S — d, declin- 
 ing the honour of becoming his son-in-law, and 
 stating his reasons in full for so sudden a 
 change of resolution. The effects of this dis- 
 appointment were visible for some time, but 
 he ultimately recovered his spirits, returned to 
 his former aversion to matrimony, and resumed 
 his usual habits of conviviality and indepen- 
 dence. 
 
 His practice increased, and there were few 
 families of any note that had not some time 
 or other recourse to his skill and advice. I 
 began now to consider how his superiority over 
 his rivals was to be explained, whence arose 
 the great confidence reposed in him by his 
 patients; to what, in fine, his eminent suc- 
 cess was to be attributed. It was clear, his 
 erudition had nothing to do with it; but 
 though there was something rude in the man- 
 
18 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 ner in which he frequently disparaged the 
 practice of others, yet it could not be denied 
 that his general good sense and practical 
 knowledge of the world distinguished him from 
 all his competitors. He was remarkable for 
 his apt and witty replies, and always ready in 
 suggesting expedients ; though, to be sure, some 
 of them were homely enough, and occasion- 
 ally sufficiently ludicrous, and such as I never 
 witnessed with the grave and more polished 
 doctors into whose hands I afterwards passed. 
 He was once sent for into the country, to visit 
 a gentleman ill of a quinsey. Finding that 
 no external nor internal application would be 
 of service, he desired the lady of the house to 
 order a hasty-pudding to be made: when it 
 was done, his own servants were to bring it up, 
 and while the pudding was preparing, he gave 
 them his private instructions. In a short time 
 it was set on the table, in full view of the 
 patient. " Come, Jack and Dick," said Rad- 
 cliffe, "eat as quickly as possible; you have 
 had no breakfast this morning." Both began 
 with their spoons, but on Jack's dipping once 
 only for Dick's twice, a quarrel arose. Spoon- 
 fuls of hot pudding were discharged on both 
 
RADCLIFFE. 19 
 
 sides, and at last, handfuls were pelted at each 
 other. The patient was seized with a hearty 
 fit of laughter, the quinsey burst and dis- 
 charged its contents, and my master soon 
 completed the cure. 
 
 So much for his humour; but it was the 
 confident tone in which he frequently pre- 
 dicted the issue of diseases, a quality which 
 he possessed in an eminent degree, and often 
 exercised with great success, that chiefly gave 
 a decided advantage to Radcliffe over his 
 rivals in practice. I will relate one of these 
 occasions, which was very striking. Being 
 sent for once, to attend the Duke of Beaufort 
 at Badminton, who was very ill, the Doctor, 
 instead of complying with the request, told 
 the gentleman who brought the message, 
 " There was no manner of necessity for his 
 presence, since the Duke his master died such 
 an hour the day before: " which the messenger 
 on his return found to be true. 
 
 By the judicious exercise of this foresight 
 a physician acquires the greatest reputation, 
 and when his prognosis is the result of mature 
 experience, he is entitled to be bold. Besides, 
 the fears, the doubts, and anxiety of the 
 
20 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 friends of the sick ought to be taken into ac- 
 count: they have a right to the consolation 
 of certainty; and the doctor ought not to be 
 over-scrupulous of his reputation, nor entrench 
 himself too much in the security of an am- 
 biguous reply. His duties demand discretion 
 and humanity: in circumstances of danger, he 
 is called upon to give to the friends of the 
 patient timely notice of its approach; to the 
 sick, he should be the minister of hope and 
 comfort, that by such cordials he may raise 
 the drooping spirit and smooth the bed of 
 death. That " the Doctor should go out at 
 one door when the Clergyman enters in at 
 the other," is a quaint conceit, more expres- 
 sive of impiety than humour; for even when 
 the life of the patient is absolutely despaired 
 of, the presence of a man of a compassionate 
 and feeling heart will prove highly grateful 
 and useful to the dying sufferer, as well as 
 to his nearest relations. 
 
 The health of King William continued toler- 
 ably good till after his return from abroad in 
 1697, on the ratification of the celebrated treaty 
 of Ryswick, when my master was again sent 
 for to visit his royal patient. After rather 
 
RADCLIFFE. 21 
 
 jocosely illustrating His Majesty's situation 
 "by an allusion to one of 2E sop's fables, which 
 the King (previously to our arrival) was read- 
 ing, in Sir Roger L'Estrange's translation, I 
 was rather startled at the blunt manner in 
 which Radcliffe told his patient that he must 
 not be buoyed up with hopes that his malady 
 would soon be driven away. " Your juices are 
 all vitiated, your whole mass of blood cor- 
 rupted, and the nutriment for the most part 
 turned to water: but," added the Doctor, " if 
 Your Majesty will forbear making long visits 
 to the Earl of Bradford, (where, to tell the 
 truth, the King was wont to drink very hard, ) 
 I'll engage to make you live three or four years 
 longer; but beyond that time no physic can 
 protract Your Majesty's existence." I trem- 
 bled at the bold and familiar tone assumed by 
 my master, as well as at the positive prognosis 
 which he ventured to give; but his prediction 
 was verified by the sequel. King William died 
 in 1702. The year before this event, Dr. Bid- 
 loo had accompanied His Majesty to Holland, 
 where his treatment of his royal patient at 
 that time, and for some months before his 
 death, was a subject of animadversion with 
 
22 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 the other doctors attached to the court. In 
 addition to many other infirmities under which 
 the King laboured, he was troubled with boils 
 that formed in different parts of his body; and 
 for these Bidloo directed that his feet and legs 
 should be rubbed night and morning, with 
 flannel covered with powder of crabs'-eyes, 
 flour, and cummin-seed. As to diet, the Doc- 
 tor was exceedingly indulgent, allowing His 
 Majesty to drink cider, ale — in short, all sorts 
 of strong beer ; and to take crude aliments be- 
 fore going to bed. It was in vain that Doctors 
 Hutton, Millington, Blakemore, and Laurence 
 remonstrated. On the King's return to 
 Hampton Court, the dropsical swelling of the 
 inferior extremities extended upwards, for 
 which Bidloo prescribed a vapour-bath, and in- 
 closed the legs of the patient in a wooden box 
 constructed for that purpose. In a constitu- 
 tion so weak, which this treatment was reported 
 to have still more debilitated, an accident was 
 likely to prove fatal. On the 27th of Febru- 
 ary, 1702-3, while hunting, the King fell from 
 his horse, and broke his right clavicle near the 
 acromion. This occurred in the neighbourhood 
 of Hampton Court; but the French surgeon 
 
RADCLIFFE. 23 
 
 Ron j at was at hand, and soon reduced the 
 fracture. But when he wanted to bleed His 
 Majesty, a new obstacle arose, for it was neces- 
 sary not only to have the sanction of some one 
 of the court physicians, but also the authority 
 of the privy council, for the performance of 
 that operation. 
 
 Notwithstanding the necessity and advan- 
 tage of rest, the King persisted in his wish to 
 return to Kensington, where he arrived be- 
 tween nine and ten o'clock in the evening : here 
 a discussion arose between Bidloo and the 
 Surgeon as to whether there had really been 
 any fracture or not. Ron j at stoutly main- 
 tained the affirmative; the Dutch Doctor as 
 stoutly denied it. This point was, -however, 
 at length settled, when a new difference of 
 opinion occurred as to the mode of applying 
 the bandages. Bidloo wished himself to apply 
 them, but the Surgeon said no, " You are here 
 either in the character of a physician or in that 
 of a surgeon: if the former, you have nothing 
 to do with bandages, if the latter, c'est moi qui 
 suis le premier chirurgien du Roi." 
 
 After the death of the King, a paper war 
 took place, and the various arguments and 
 
24 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 statements advanced by each party were fre- 
 quently mentioned in societies where I was 
 present ; for luckily my master had no share 
 in these disputes. On the one hand Bidloo 
 put forth a pamphlet *, published at Leyden, 
 written in Low Dutch, in order, as his ene- 
 mies said, that few might read it in this 
 country; the year after, M. Ron j at entered 
 the field in a French reply t, published in 
 London by Henry Ribotteau, Bookseller in 
 the Strand, over-against Bedford's Buildings. 
 Of the public and private character of King 
 William, a prince so celebrated in the history 
 of that period, it would be presumption in 
 me to speak. No one can deny that by his 
 talents as a negotiator in the cabinet, he saved 
 his own country from ruin, restored the liber- 
 ties of England, and preserved the indepen- 
 dence of Europe. His great object in accept- 
 ing the crown of this country was to engage 
 her more deeply in the concerns of the Con- 
 
 * Verhaal der Laatste Ziekte en het overlij den, van 
 Willem de Derde, &c. &c, in Leide, 1702. 
 
 f Lettre de M. Ronjat, Premier Chirurgien de feu Sa 
 Majeste Britannique Guillaume III.; ecrite de Londres a 
 un Medecin de ses Amis en Hollande. 
 
RADCLIFFE. 25 
 
 tinent, and thus enable him to gratify his am- 
 bition, the scope of which had always been 
 to humble the French. When he found, 
 however, the year after his arrival in Eng- 
 land, that the spirit of party ran so high 
 here as to thwart all his measures, he re- 
 solved to quit the country altogether, go over 
 to Holland, and leave the government in the 
 Queen's hands. And yet it is singular that 
 William was naturally of so cold and reserved 
 a disposition, that Her Majesty knew nothing 
 of this important determination, in which she 
 was so nearly concerned, till she heard it from 
 Bishop Burnet. It was said also, that the 
 King, though he occasionally put on some 
 appearance of application, was averse from 
 business of all sort, and that it was to avoid 
 company and occupation, that he betook him- 
 self to a perpetual course of hunting. Of his 
 own personal safety he was very regardless, 
 and perhaps his belief of predestination made 
 him more adventurous than was necessary. 
 The most striking feature of his character 
 was, however, as has been mentioned before, 
 the gravity of his deportment; and Burnet 
 used to relate, that on the most critical occa- 
 
26 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 sion of his life, on his landing at Torbay, in 
 1688, the King shook him heartily by the hand, 
 asked him if he would not now believe in pre- 
 destination; was, for a short time only, cheer- 
 fuller than ordinary, but soon returned to his 
 usual gravity. I do not vouch for the truth 
 of this story, nor for the scrupulous accuracy 
 of the Bishop in all which he relates, though 
 I have heard that he is the best and indeed 
 the only authority to be met with on many of 
 the subjects he treats of. The repulsive quali- 
 ties of the King were the cause, no doubt, of 
 the coolness that subsisted between the dif- 
 ferent members of the royal family. I recol- 
 lect there was much talk at the time, of the 
 affront put upon the Prince of Denmark, who, 
 on his accompanying the King to Ireland, was 
 not allowed to go in the coach with him, though 
 it was well known that the Prince had put him- 
 self to great expense on the occasion of that 
 expedition. 
 
 The Princess, afterwards Our Gracious 
 Majesty Queen Anne, was treated even with 
 still less courtesy; for, while she was dining 
 one day with the King and Queen, His 
 Majesty ate up all the green pease, then newly 
 
RADCLIFFE. 27 
 
 come in, without even once offering that rarity 
 to his royal consort or guest. 
 
 Of Prince George of Denmark I have little 
 to say, for his physician was Dr. Arbuthnot. 
 His Highness was an invalid, labouring, like 
 the King, under an asthma; and during his 
 illness, which was protracted, his Queen was 
 very attentive to him. He died six years 
 after King William. He had the Danish 
 countenance, blonde, was of few words — spake 
 French but ill, seemed somewhat heavy, but 
 had the character of a good mathematician. 
 He made no figure in politics, and did not 
 understand much of the post of High Admiral, 
 which he filled, though he possessed many good 
 qualities ; was brave, mild, and gentle. - 
 
 But I must descend from these high mat- 
 ters, and speak again of my master, and, I am 
 sorry to say, of another disappointment which 
 occurred in our house. Two years after the 
 death of Prince George, when Radcliffe was 
 in his sixtieth year, I was somewhat sur- 
 prised, one morning after breakfast, to ob- 
 serve him attired with more than ordinary 
 exactness. His full-bottomed wig was dressed 
 with peculiar care; he had put on his best suit 
 
28 
 
 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 of lilac-coloured velvet with yellow basket but- 
 tons, and his air upon the whole was very 
 commanding. He reminded me strongly of 
 his appearance some ten or fifteen years be- 
 fore. He had an elevated forehead, hazel 
 eyes, cheeks telling of the good cheer of for- 
 
 This sketch is from an original picture by his friend 
 Sir Godfrey Kneller, which is placed in the Library of 
 the College of Physicians, in one of the closets of which 
 I am now immured. 
 
RADCLIFFE. 29 
 
 mer days, if any thing a little too ruddy; a 
 double chin, a well-formed nose, and a mouth 
 round which generally played an agreeable 
 smile. When he sat in his easy chair, with 
 his right hand expanded, and placed upon his 
 breast, as if meditating a speech, and clearing 
 his voice for the purpose of giving it utter- 
 ance; his left wearing his glove, and resting 
 on his side immediately above the hilt of his 
 sword, which was a very usual attitude with 
 him, he certainly had a most comely and well- 
 favoured appearance. 
 
 I love to dwell upon these particulars of 
 my old worthy master; for to him I owe my 
 first introduction into the world, and whatever 
 celebrity my memoirs may hereafter- obtain. 
 When fully equipped, he stepped into a gay 
 gilt chariot, drawn by fresh prancing horses, 
 the coachman wearing a new cockade, and our 
 lacqueys looking with all the insolence of 
 plenty in their countenances. We paraded 
 the streets, passed through Covent Garden, 
 and the most frequented parts of the town; 
 but it grieved me to observe, that our glitter- 
 ing equipage served only to provoke the 
 smiles and ridicule of the malicious. To 
 
30 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 speak out, it was now notorious that the 
 Doctor was in love, and that all this parade 
 was for the purpose of captivating the young 
 lady of whom he was enamoured. Suffice it 
 to say, he was lampooned, proved unfortunate 
 in his suit, and was styled by the wicked wits 
 of the day " the mourning Esculapius," " the 
 languishing hopeless lover of the divine Hebe, 
 the emblem of youth and beauty." 
 
 But more sober reflection and the busy 
 duties of his profession soon withdrew his 
 thoughts from these amorous toys, and he 
 continued actively employed for a few years 
 longer, though it was but too evident that his 
 health and spirits were daily declining. 
 
 About this time that celebrated warrior, 
 Prince Eugene, so distinguished for his cam- 
 paigns in Hungary and Italy, where he had 
 gained such splendid victories over the Turk 
 and the King of France, arrived in England. 
 The object of his visit was to try if it were 
 possible to engage our court to go on with 
 the war, which met with great obstruction. 
 But the juncture was unfavourable to his 
 project; for on the very day before his arrival, 
 his great friend and companion in arms, the 
 
RADCLIFFE. 31 
 
 Duke of Marlborough, was turned out of all 
 his places. The days of intimacy between the 
 Queen and the Duchess were at an end; and 
 the endearing appellations of the " poor, un- 
 fortunate, faithful Morley," and Mrs. Free- 
 man, no longer marked the extraordinary 
 terms of friendly intercourse which had sub- 
 sisted between Her Majesty and a subject. 
 The Prince was, however, caressed by the 
 courtiers for his own worth; and though his 
 negotiations went slowly on, he was enter- 
 tained by most of the nobility, and magnifi- 
 cently feasted by the city. My master invited 
 His Highness to dinner; and a large party of 
 the nobility, and several topping merchants, 
 particularly some of those who had. formerly 
 contributed to the Silesian loan, were en- 
 gaged to meet him. The enmity of the 
 Prince to every thing French was known, 
 and it had been rendered still more notorious 
 by his admirable reply to an insolent threat 
 of the minister of the Grand Monarque, which 
 was at this time in the mouth of every one. 
 Louvois had intimated to the Prince, that he 
 must not think of returning to France; to 
 which the warrior replied, "Eugene entrera 
 
32 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 un jour en France, en depit de Louvois et de 
 Louis." To do honour to such a guest was 
 the ambition of Radcliffe; and in giving or- 
 ders for dinner, " Let there be no ragouts," 
 said he; "no kickshaws of France; but let 
 us treat the Prince as a soldier. He shall 
 have a specimen of true English hospitality. 
 I will have my table covered with barons of 
 beef, jiggets of mutton, and legs of pork." 
 At the appointed hour the guests assembled, 
 and the Prince charmed every one by his un- 
 assuming modesty, his easy address and be- 
 haviour. His aspect was erect and composed, 
 his eye lively and thoughtful, yet rather vig- 
 ilant than sparkling: but his manner was pecu- 
 liarly graceful, and he descended to an easy 
 equality with those who conversed with him. 
 The shape of his person and composure of 
 his limbs was remarkably erect and beautiful; 
 still, with all his condescension, and though 
 he was affable to every one, it was evident 
 that he rather suffered the presence of much 
 company, instead of taking delight in public 
 gaze and popular applause. The entertain- 
 ment of my master went off very well; all 
 seemed to be pleased, though some of the 
 
RADCLIFFE. 33 
 
 courtiers indulged in a little pleasantry at the 
 ample cheer with which the table groaned. 
 The princely stranger expressed himself much 
 satisfied, and was loud in his praise of some 
 capital seven years old beer, which we hap- 
 pened at that time to have in tap. 
 
 I forgot to mention, that, a few years be- 
 fore the period of which I am now speaking, 
 I saw, for the first time, Dr. Mead, who was 
 then beginning to be known as a man rising 
 in his profession, and into whose hands I was 
 afterwards destined to fall. He lived then in 
 Austyn friers; and we found him one morn- 
 ing in his library, reading Hippocrates; when 
 the following dialogue took place between the 
 two physicians : 
 
 Radcliffe (taking up the volume of the 
 venerable Father of Physic). "What! my 
 young friend, do you read Hippocrates in the 
 original language? Well, take my word for 
 it, when I am dead you will occupy the throne 
 of physic in this great town." 
 
 Mead. " No, Sir; when you are gone, your 
 empire, like Alexander's, will be divided 
 amongst many successors." 
 
 I felt that this courteous reply pleased 
 
34 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 my master mightily; and although Mead was 
 even then known to be a man of great talent, 
 had already written his treatise on Poisons, 
 published several other works of merit, and 
 was therefore in every respect deserving of the 
 countenance and patronage of the eminent 
 doctor of the day, yet I have myself no doubt 
 that this well-timed compliment to Radcliffe's 
 eminence served to cement the intimate friend- 
 ship of these two physicians. 
 
 The library of Mead was even at this time 
 considerable. Many rooms of his small house 
 were filled with books; and the two doctors 
 indulged in a long chat. The conversation 
 embraced many topics. Mead was very lively 
 and entertaining; related several anecdotes 
 of things which he had seen abroad; and de- 
 scribed with great animation his joy on find- 
 ing the Tabula Isiaca * in a lumber room at 
 Florence. Upon this subject my master asked 
 
 * The Tabula or Mensa Isiaca is one of the most con- 
 siderable 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 hiero- 
 glyphics, which are supposed to relate to the feasts of 
 Isis. Many speculations have been advanced on the his- 
 tory and date of this curious relic of ancient times. 
 
RADCLIFFE. 35 
 
 many questions, and appeared much struck 
 with the advantage of foreign travel to a 
 physician. On taking his leave, he again ex- 
 pressed his admiration of the literary attain- 
 ments of Mead, and said in a tone of great 
 earnestness and sincerity — " Some day or 
 other, the Alma Mater where I was bred shall 
 receive from me substantial proofs of the true 
 concern I feel for the welfare of the cause of 
 learning: for as I have grown older, every 
 year of my life has convinced me more and 
 more of the value of the education of the 
 scholar and the gentleman, to the thorough- 
 bred physician. But," added he, " perhaps 
 your friend here (pointing me to a folio edi- 
 tion of Celsus which stood on one of the shelves 
 of the library) expresses my meaning better 
 than I can myself, where he says, that this 
 discipline of the mind, ' quamvis non faciat. 
 medicum, aptiorem tamen medicince reddit.'" 
 Radcliffe, as if unwilling to trust himself with 
 any farther quotation, embraced Dr. Mead, 
 and hastened to his carriage. 
 
 On the 1st of August, 1714, died Queen 
 Anne; an event memorable in the life of Rad- 
 cliffe. The domestic physicians of Her Maj- 
 
36 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 esty, assisted by Dr. Mead, had applied various 
 remedies without success. It was reported 
 that the privy council, as well as the Queen, 
 had given orders that my master should be 
 present at the consultation, and that he ex- 
 cused himself under pretence of indisposition. 
 The truth is, he was not in town at that time, 
 but down at his country-house at Cashalton 
 in Surrey, ill himself of the gout, which had 
 seized his head and stomach. Yet notwith- 
 standing this, the enemies of Radcliffe imputed 
 the death of the Queen to his absence, and he 
 was accordingly threatened with assassination. 
 This unpopularity, undeserved as it was, made 
 him keep his house, where, on the 4th of 
 August, three days after the death of Her 
 Majesty, Dr. Mead and his brother the lawyer 
 came down to dine with him at two o'clock. 
 In spite of the ill state of his health, the con- 
 versation of two such good friends afforded 
 him much pleasure and satisfaction. After 
 dinner, his wonted good humour returned, 
 and, taking me in his hand, he presented me, 
 with the following discourse, to Dr. Mead: — 
 
 " Though my life is, I dare say, pretty well 
 known to you, yet I will mention some of the 
 
RADCLIFFE. 37 
 
 leading circumstances of it, from which per- 
 haps you may be able to derive some instruc- 
 tion. Since I began the study of medicine, 
 I have devoted myself chiefly to a careful 
 examination of the njost valuable modern 
 treatises. In this particular I differ, I know, 
 from you, who are a profound scholar; but 
 my books have always been few, though I 
 hope well chosen. When I was at the uni- 
 versity, a few vials, a skeleton, and an herbal, 
 chiefly formed my library. By following the 
 dictates of common sense, while I practised at 
 Oxford after taking my bachelor of medicine's 
 degree, instead of stoving up my patients who 
 were ill of the small-pox, as was done by the 
 Galenists of those days, I gave them air and 
 cooling emulsions, and thus rescued more than 
 a hundred from the grave. I have always 
 endeavoured to discountenance the attempts 
 of quacks and intermeddlers in physic, and by 
 the help of Providence I have succeeded most 
 wonderfully. My good Dr. Mead, you must 
 consider this conversation as quite confiden- 
 tial, and if I mention any thing that has the 
 air of boasting, you will reflect that I unbosom 
 myself to a friend, and what I am about to 
 
38 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 say is for your encouragement. In 1686, I 
 was made principal physician to Her Royal 
 Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark, and 
 soon after His late Majesty King William's 
 arrival in England, he was graciously pleased 
 to make me an offer of being sworn one of 
 his physicians in ordinary, with a salary of 
 two hundred pounds per annum more than 
 any other. At the same time he generously 
 ordered me five hundred guineas out of the 
 privy purse for the cures of M. Bentinck and 
 M. Zulestein. Though I begged to be per- 
 mitted to refuse the post, yet the King was so 
 frequently ill of rheum and asthma, that, for 
 the first eleven years of his reign, I gained, one 
 year with another, more than six hundred 
 guineas per annum by my attendance upon 
 His Majesty. My practice rapidly increased, 
 and I was even credibly informed that Dr. 
 Gibbons, who lived in my neighbourhood, got 
 more than one thousand pounds a year by pa- 
 tients whom I really had not time to see, and 
 who had therefore recourse to him. As my 
 wealth increased, you will naturally ask me 
 why I never married: it does not become me 
 to speak of my good or ill fortune in that 
 
RADCLIFFE. 39 
 
 line, especially now when I ought to call my 
 thoughts from all such vanities, and when the 
 decays of nature tell me that I have only a 
 short time to live. That time is, I am afraid, 
 barely sufficient to repent me of the idle hours 
 which I have spent in riotous living ; for I now 
 feel, in the pain which afflicts my nerves, that 
 I am a martyr to excess, and am afraid that 
 I have been an abettor and encourager of in- 
 temperance in others. Though by an indis- 
 creet speech I lost the good graces of the Prin- 
 cess Anne, yet His Majesty King William still 
 continued to have confidence in my skill. As 
 a proof of it, I may mention that in 1695 I 
 was sent for to Namur, to cure Lord Albe- 
 marle. After a week's residence in the camp 
 abroad, His Majesty generously gave me an 
 order on the Treasury for £1200; and his 
 Lordship presented me with four hundred 
 guineas, and this diamond ring, which I have' 
 always worn since. As to honours, I have 
 always refused them: a baronetcy was offered 
 me, but of what use would a title have been 
 to me, who have no descendants to inherit it? 
 I have always lived in a state of celibacy, and 
 have uniformly replied to those who formerly 
 
40 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 urged me to marry some young gentlewoman 
 to get heirs by, that truly I had an old one 
 to take care of, who I intended should be my 
 executrix, as Oxford * will learn after my 
 
 * 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 buy- 
 ing perpetual advowsons for the members of the said 
 College. 
 
 .£5,000 for the enlargement of the building of Uni- 
 versity 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 Buckingham- 
 shire, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, and Surrey, to be 
 applied to such charitable purposes as they in their dis- 
 cretion 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 appro- 
 priated, by a late resolution of the Trustees, to the recep- 
 tion 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 
 
RADCLIFFE. 41 
 
 death. For, thanks to Providence, I have 
 been very successful, from the very beginning 
 of my professional life; and I had not been 
 settled a year in London, when I got twenty 
 guineas a day by my practice: and even Dan- 
 dridge, the apothecary whom I patronised, 
 died, as I am informed, worth more than 
 £50,000. The liberality of my patients en- 
 abled me to live and act in a generous manner. 
 My fees were good: of which you may form 
 some notion when I mention, that to go from 
 Bloomsbury Square to Bow, I received five 
 
 their building the Trustees have been equally attentive 
 to the interests of science and humanity. The Observa- 
 tory 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 astronom- 
 ical instruments: it is one of the buildings first asked 
 for by foreigners who visit the University, and is re- 
 markable for its beautiful staircase. The Radcliffe In- 
 firmary was opened for the reception of patients, 1770. 
 
 From time to time, according to their means and as 
 opportunities present themselves, the faithful and en- 
 lightened 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. 
 
42 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 guineas. I do not tell this to you, my good 
 friend, out of ostentation, but that it may 
 serve as an encouragement to you to hear how 
 the practice of physic has been remunerated." 
 
 Here Radcliffe paused, and appeared ex- 
 hausted by speaking so long at a time. 
 
 Dr. Mead — " I feel infinitely obliged to you 
 for your kind and confidential communication. 
 No one in the least acquainted with the liber- 
 ality of your conduct can for a moment accuse 
 you of an ostentatious display of your wealth. 
 The subject upon which you last touched, 
 is one that has often excited my curiosity. 
 I should like of all things to know, what Lin- 
 acre got by his profession; how much Caius, 
 Harvey, Sydenham, and other worthies of 
 medicine received yearly for their professional 
 labour. The honorarium or fee of a doctor, 
 one would suppose, must always have been in 
 proportion to the rarity of professional skill, 
 though we must take into account the greater 
 value of money in former times. There may 
 be notices of this kind to be met with in dif- 
 ferent books, but the only instances that oc- 
 cur at present to my memory are mentioned 
 by that great benefactor of our College, Bald- 
 
RADCLIFFE. 43 
 
 win Harney. In the valuable and entertain- 
 ing account left by him of his contemporaries, 
 he mentions, that about the year 1644, Dr. 
 Rob. Wright, who died at the early age of 
 twenty-eight years, was very successful in 
 practice. The Latin expression (for his MS.* 
 is written most elegantly in that language), 
 is, I believe, as follows : ' Wrightus viocdum 
 trimulus doctor, mille admodum coronatos, 
 annuo spacio lucraretur/ Now, the coro- 
 natus, usually called a broad-piece, was about 
 twenty-two shillings in value, and the receipt 
 of a thousand of these by so young a physi- 
 cian, who had only been settled three years in 
 the metropolis, is an instance of very singular 
 good fortune indeed. 
 
 " The next, is an account of a fee received 
 by Harney himself, and is thus related in the 
 MS. life of that excellent man: — 
 
 " It was in the time of the civil wars when 
 it pleased God to visit him with a severe fit 
 of sickness, or peripneumonia, which confined 
 
 * Bustorum aliquot Reliquiae. 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. 
 
44 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 him a great while to his chamber, and to the 
 more than ordinary care of his tender spouse. 
 During this affliction, he was disabled from 
 practice; but the very first time he dined in 
 his parlour afterwards, a certain great man 
 in high station came to consult him on an in- 
 disposition — (ratione vagi sui amoris) — and 
 he was one of the godly ones too of those 
 times. After the doctor had received him in 
 his study, and modestly attended to his long 
 religious preface, with which he introduced 
 his ignominious circumstances, and Dr. Harney 
 had assured him of his fidelity, and gave him 
 hopes of success in his affair, the generous 
 soldier (for such he was) drew out of his 
 pocket a bag of gold, and offered it all at a 
 lump to his physician. Dr. Harney, surprised 
 at so extraordinary a fee, modestly declined 
 the acceptance of it; upon which the great 
 man, dipping his hand into the bag himself, 
 grasped up as much of his coin as his fist 
 could hold, and generously put it into the 
 doctor's coat pocket, and so took his leave. 
 Dr. Harney returned into his parlour to din- 
 ner, which had waited for him all that time, 
 and smiling (whilst his lady was discomposed 
 
RADCLIFFE. 45 
 
 at his absenting so long), emptied his pocket 
 into her lap. This soon altered the features 
 of her countenance, who telling the money 
 over, found it to be thirty-six broad pieces of 
 gold: at which she being greatly surprised, 
 confessed to the doctor that this was surely 
 the most providential fee he ever received; 
 and declared to him that, during the height 
 of his severe illness, she had paid away (un- 
 known to him) on a state levy towards a public 
 supply, the like sum in number and value of 
 pieces of gold; lest under the lowness of his 
 spirits, it should have proved a matter of 
 vexation, unequal to his strength at that time 
 to bear; which being thus so remarkably re- 
 imbursed to him by Providence, it was the 
 properest juncture she could lay hold on to 
 let him into the truth of it. It may be said," 
 continued Mead, " that this was an extraor- 
 dinary case, and the fee a most exorbitant 
 one, which the patient paid as the price of 
 secrecy: but the precaution was unnecessary 
 (as it ought always to be in a profession 
 whose very essence is honour and confidence) ; 
 for the name of the generous soldier is never 
 once mentioned in the life of Hamey, though 
 
46 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 I have good reason to believe he was no other 
 than Ireton, the son-in-law of Cromwell." 
 
 Radcliffe. " These are curious partic- 
 ulars, and I thank you for them. To speak 
 once more of my own good fortune, I found 
 that, even seven years ago, to say nothing of 
 what I have acquired since, upon inquiry into 
 the bulk of my estate, both land and money, 
 I was worth more than £80,000, which I then 
 resolved to devote, all or most of it, to the serv- 
 ice of the public. I hope, however, not- 
 withstanding what I shall leave behind me, 
 no one can accuse im of having been sordid 
 in my lifetime, or in case of the private dis- 
 tress of my friends, not to have instantly 
 relieved them. I have never been such a 
 niggard as to have preferred mountains of 
 gold to the conversation and charms of society. 
 Perhaps there was selfishness in this: for I 
 never recollect to have spent a more delight- 
 ful evening than that in the old room at the 
 Mitre Tavern in Fleet Street, when my good 
 friend Billy Nutley, who was indeed the better 
 half of me, had been prevailed upon to accept 
 of a small temporary assistance, and joined 
 our party, the Earl of Denbigh, Lords Col- 
 
RADCLIFFE. 47 
 
 peper and Stawel, and Mr. Blackmore. But 
 enough of this affair of money. To one so 
 well skilled as yourself, I have not much to 
 say on the subject of practice; but recollect, 
 I beg of you, the treatment of small-pox. 
 Combat the prejudices of mankind on that 
 point. By insisting upon this, I lately saved 
 the life of the young Duke of Beaufort. You 
 have done much, by showing the advantage of 
 employing aperient medicines in the decline 
 of that distemper; and I much regret that 
 the letter you wrote to Dr. Freind upon that 
 matter, and which you permitted me to in- 
 form him he might publish, has not yet seen 
 the light. Go on as you have begun; and I 
 confidently hope that something more may 
 still be introduced into general practice by a 
 physician of your good sense and liberal views, 
 to mitigate the violence of that most formid- 
 able disease. 
 
 " But I am now drawing to a close. Last 
 year, upon my being returned member of 
 parliament for the town of Buckingham, I re- 
 tired from practice, and I have recommended 
 you to all my patients. Your own merit and 
 acquirements will insure you success; but 
 
48 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 perhaps your career may be facilitated by 
 what I have done for you. Recollect that 
 the fame of a physician is subject to the 
 caprices of fortune. I know the nature of 
 attending crowned heads very well. But 
 continue as you have commenced. Nothing 
 could be better than the method you took for 
 the preservation of her late gracious Majesty's 
 health; though the people about her (the 
 plagues of Egypt fall upon them!) put it out 
 of the power of physic to be of use to her. 
 But I was sorry to hear the other day, that 
 your enemies have spread a report that, dur- 
 ing the last days of the Queen's illness, you 
 had pronounced that her Majesty could not 
 live two minutes, and that you seemed uneasy 
 it did not so happen. Tell me, I beg, the 
 real state of the case." 
 
 " You very well know," said Dr. Mead, 
 "that her Majesty had been long corpulent; 
 and that, in her latter years, the habit of her 
 body became gross and unwieldy. For the 
 most part she had a good stomach, and ate 
 heartily. But by reason of her immoderate 
 fatness, and her weakness, occasioned by the 
 gout, she became so inactive that she used but 
 
RADCLIFFE. 49 
 
 little exercise. In the beginning of her Ma- 
 jesty's illness, there was a difference of opinion 
 among the doctors as to the propriety of 
 giving the Jesuits' bark; but I will not enter 
 into all the disputes which took place on that 
 occasion. It is enough to state, that after the 
 appearance of the imposthume on the left 
 leg, and the coming on of the doziness which 
 seized her on Thursday the 28th July, there 
 was no doubt about the propriety of cupping 
 her; and blisters were ordered, but not ap- 
 plied, for what reason I know not. The next 
 morning her Majesty was seized with an apo- 
 plectic fit, attended with convulsions. After 
 two hours and a half she recovered her senses, 
 but lost them again next day, and- died the 
 following morning." 
 
 Radcliffe. " Well, I will inquire no 
 further. I see your own modesty will not 
 allow you to find fault with the injudicious 
 practice and fatal security of your colleagues. 
 I cannot but applaud your good feeling and 
 liberality of sentiment; and wish you most 
 heartily success in your future professional 
 life. Accept this cane. It has accompanied 
 me now for many years in my visits to the 
 
50 RADCLIFFE. 
 
 sick, and been present at many a consultation. 
 Receive it as a token of my friendship, and 
 prosper. f Te nunc habet ista secundum. 3 " 
 
 Here a twinge of the gout interrupted the 
 speech of my old master; and Dr. Mead 
 shortly after left for London, taking me with 
 him. 
 
 Dr. Radcliffe died on the first of November, 
 1714, three months after the Queen; and it 
 was said that the dread he had of the populace, 
 and the want of company in the country vil- 
 lage where he had retired, and which he did 
 not dare to leave, shortened his life. 
 
MEAD. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 From the possession of a physician who 
 was kind, generous, and social in the highest 
 degree, but who was certainly more remark- 
 able for strong good sense and natural sa- 
 gacity than for literary attainments, I passed 
 into the hands of an accomplished scholar. 
 Dr. Mead was allowed even by his antagonists, 
 themselves men of great erudition, to be artis 
 medicce decus, vitce revera ndbilis, and one 
 who excelled all our chief nobility in the en- 
 
52 MEAD. 
 
 couragement he afforded to the fine arts, polite 
 learning, and the knowledge of antiquity. 
 But though I had changed masters, it was no 
 small satisfaction to me to return to the old 
 House, for Mead not only succeeded Radcliffe 
 in the greater part of his business, but re- 
 moved to the residence which he had formerly 
 occupied in Bloomsbury-square *. My pres- 
 ent master, on commencing his profession, had 
 first settled at Stepney, had then resided in 
 Crutched, and afterwards in Austin Friers, 
 for the purpose of being near St. Thomas' 
 Hospital; but now the distance of his new 
 abode obliged him to resign the situation of 
 physician to that charitable establishment. 
 
 About six months after the death of Rad- 
 cliffe, I was present at a consultation between 
 Sir Hans Sloane, Dr. Cheyne, and Mead. It 
 was held on the case of Bishop Burnet, the 
 prelate so celebrated for the " History of his 
 own Time," and for the active part he had 
 taken in the great transactions of that event- 
 ful period. 
 
 He had been taken ill of a violent cold, 
 which soon turned to a pleurisy; and this in- 
 
 * Afterwards inhabited by Sir John Rushout. 
 
MEAD. 53 
 
 creasing, and baffling all remedies, his worthy- 
 friend and relation Dr. Cheyne called in the 
 assistance of the two other doctors. Up to 
 this time Burnet had enjoyed uninterrupted 
 good health, which he attributed, not without 
 reason, to his temperate habits. " I will give 
 you," said the venerable patient to Dr. Mead 
 (for the Bishop was now 72 years old), "a 
 short outline of my course of life. In summer 
 I have been in the habit of rising at five in 
 the morning, in the winter at six; and I have 
 always officiated myself at prayer, though my 
 chaplains may have been present. I then 
 took my tea in company with my children, 
 and read the Scriptures with them. I have 
 generally spent six or eight hours- a day in 
 my study. The rest of the day has been 
 passed by me in taking exercise, making 
 friendly visits or cheerful meals. But now, to 
 use an expression of my late gracious master 
 King William, whom I knew well for sixteen 
 years, I feel ' que je tire vers ma fin. J JJ 
 
 The Doctors listened to the melancholy pre- 
 sage of the Bishop, and having put the neces- 
 sary questions to him, withdrew into the ad- 
 joining apartment, for the purpose of consulta- 
 
54 MEAD. 
 
 tion. I was now in company with two physi- 
 cians of great eminence, though of very dif- 
 ferent characters. On the one side of me stood 
 Sir Hans Sloane, who had shortly before been 
 created a baronet by His Majesty George the 
 First, being the first physician upon whom 
 an hereditary title of honour had ever been 
 conferred; in his person tall and well made, 
 sprightly in conversation, easy, polite and en- 
 gaging in his manners, by birth an Irish- 
 man. On the other was Dr. Cheyne, a Scotch- 
 man, with an immense broad back, taking 
 snuff incessantly out of a ponderous gold 
 box, and thus ever and anon displaying to 
 view his fat knuckles: a perfect Falstaff, for 
 he was not only a good portly man and a cor- 
 pulent *, but was almost as witty as the knight 
 himself, and his humour being heightened by 
 his northern brogue, he was exceeding mirth- 
 ful. Indeed he was the most excellent ban- 
 terer of his time, a faculty he was often called 
 upon to exercise, to repel the lampoons which 
 
 * 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. 
 
MEAD. 55 
 
 were made by others upon his extraordinary- 
 personal appearance. Nothing could be more 
 striking than the contrast of the two cele- 
 brated men before me. 
 
 Sir Hans began by observing, that the age 
 of the Bishop might throw a doubt over the 
 propriety of more bleeding, but he had so 
 often seen the advantage of repeated vene- 
 section, that he had the greatest faith in that 
 mode of treatment. " In one case partic- 
 ularly which I saw abroad " — but here let me 
 interrupt the Baronet for a moment, to make 
 an observation, which in the many consulta- 
 tions at which I have been present, has more 
 than once occurred to me. These delibera- 
 tions are generally proposed either because 
 the attending physician is at a loss what 
 further to suggest, or that he wishes naturally 
 enough to divide the responsibility of the 
 management of a dangerous disease. They 
 are held for the most part upon ailments of 
 a chronic nature, that is upon such disorders 
 as afford time and opportunity to form the 
 judgment, and decide upon a method of prac- 
 tice; for it is lucky that in urgent diseases, 
 or those which are called acute, the remedies 
 
56 MEAD. 
 
 are simple, and that where delay would be 
 dangerous, the means of relief are obvious. 
 In consultations, there is of course much scope 
 for diversity of opinion, but in the whole range 
 of the plausible reasoning which the conjec- 
 tural science of medicine admits of, there is 
 nothing so imposing as a case; it bears down 
 all before it. One of the consulting Doctors, 
 after hearing the history of the previous treat- 
 ment, advances that he has seen a case similar 
 to the one, now under consideration, in which 
 he did so and so with manifest advantage ; the 
 argument is irresistible — 
 
 But this by way of parenthesis. " In 
 one case particularly (said Sir Hans Sloane) 
 which I saw abroad, I saved a man's life, who 
 complained extremely of a great pain in his 
 shoulder, or rather inside of his pleura an- 
 swering to that part, which increased on 
 breathing high, sighing or coughing, for the 
 patient was troubled with a short cough. 
 The man was on board a ship bound for 
 England, and it was taken by all for sea sick- 
 ness, but I told them, they were all deceived, 
 and forthwith ordered him to be bled in the 
 arm to about ten ounces, and gave him an 
 
MEAD. 57 
 
 emulsion, and a pectoral decoction of barley, 
 liquorish and raisins. I immediately found 
 him much better, and ordered him to con- 
 tinue this, and to take of crab's eyes and sal 
 prunellse, of each half a drachm, and to swal- 
 low morning and evening the half on't, drink- 
 ing afterwards a pectoral draught, and in case 
 of relapse I ordered him to be bled again; 
 which was necessary to be done, for the ship 
 chirurgeon, contrary to my desire, gave him 
 a vomit: the patient, poor fellow! knowing 
 nothing of it, till it was down. His pains 
 thus returned, and I bled him twice on two 
 several days, and with an emulsion he was 
 cured. I have found also (added Sir Hans), 
 in similar cases great advantage in applying 
 a hot bag of parched salt to the side; but 
 bleeding is the main remedy. I have bled a 
 patient five times in her foot and arm in 
 twelve hours." Whilst the baronet was 
 speaking, the countenance of Dr. Cheyne un- 
 derwent various changes, and when mention 
 was made of the emulsion, which if I am not 
 mistaken, was a compound of linseed oil, 
 sugar-candy, and decoction of barley, it as- 
 sumed a very decided expression of disgust, 
 
58 MEAD. 
 
 for he was a bon vivant of the first order. To 
 the further employment of venesection, he was 
 rather averse, and insisted much upon the 
 advanced age of the Bishop. " An old man's 
 body (observed Dr. Cheyne), is like a plant 
 dried by the sun, its fibres are stiff, and juices 
 decayed, and not as in youth able to prepare 
 new nutriment, to repair the loss of solids and 
 fluids. For this decay of the humours, the 
 cure of the cacochymia is necessary; and to 
 renovate the solids, we find no help like warm 
 bathing and unctions, and you yourself (said 
 he archly to Sir Hans) must have remarked, 
 in your own native country, that the Irish live 
 long, who anoint themselves with salt butter." 
 What the remedies were which were ulti- 
 mately ordered for the aged Prelate, I do not 
 now recollect, but his own prediction was soon 
 after fulfilled, and he died on the 17th of 
 March 1715. 
 
 Of Sir Hans Sloane, I shall have occasion 
 to speak again more than once, and I can do 
 it with confidence, for I had many oppor- 
 tunities of studying his peculiarities, and be- 
 ing in his company, particularly at the con- 
 versaziones which were held at his house in 
 
MEAD. 59 
 
 Great Russell-street, by Bloomsbury. It was' 
 observed of him, that he was on these occa- 
 sions rather a precise gentleman, and used to 
 go out of temper, when his guests spilled the 
 coffee over his carpets. But he was very 
 lively in discourse, nor did he lack topics, and 
 having been much abroad, loved to talk of his 
 travels. When only in his twenty-eighth year, 
 he had accompanied the Duke of Albemarle *, 
 on his appointment to the government of the 
 Island of Jamaica, in the quality of physician 
 to his Excellency, being chiefly induced by 
 his attachment to natural history, to under- 
 take a voyage, which was not thought at that 
 time of day to be altogether free from danger. 
 As he was the first man of learning whom 
 the love of science alone had led from England 
 to that distant part of the globe, and was be- 
 
 * 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 expecta- 
 tion. The Duke of Albemarle, as Governor of Jamaica, 
 received for his share, about £90,000. A medal was 
 struck on the occasion. 
 
60 MEAD. 
 
 sides of an age when both activity of body, 
 and ardour of mind concur to vanquish diffi- 
 culties, his travels were eminently success- 
 ful. To say nothing of the other curiosities 
 with which he enriched his native country, 
 he brought home from Jamaica, and the other 
 islands at which he touched, no fewer than 
 800 different species of plants, a number 
 much greater than had ever been imported 
 into England before by any individual. His 
 stay in Jamaica did not exceed fifteen months, 
 for the Governor died, and the Doctor re- 
 turned home, and settled in London. About 
 seven years before the scene at the Bishop's, he 
 had published the first volume of his Voyage 
 to the Islands of Madera, Barbadoes, Nieves, 
 St. Christophers, and Jamaica, with the nat- 
 ural history of the herbs, and trees, four-footed 
 beasts, fishes, birds, insects, reptiles, &c, illus- 
 trated with the figures of the things described, 
 which had not heretofore been engraved. 3tt 
 
 large copperplates, ag &ig as tfje life* 
 
 This was his first contribution to the gen- 
 eral stock of knowledge, and when questioned 
 on the subject of his voyage, he was used 
 to say, that independently of the gratifica- 
 
MEAD. 61 
 
 tion of a laudable curiosity, he deemed it a 
 sort of duty in a medical man to visit dis- 
 tant countries, for that the ancient and best 
 physicians were wont to travel to the places 
 whence their drugs were brought, to inform 
 themselves concerning them. Speaking of 
 the part of the globe which he had visited, 
 he never ceased to deplore the irreparable loss 
 of fame which this country had suffered, in 
 not being the first to partake in the glory of 
 its discovery. When Bartholomew Colum- 
 bus, said Sir Hans, was sent to England by 
 his brother Christopher, in 1488, to persuade 
 Henry the Seventh to fit him out for this ex- 
 pedition, a sea chart of the parts of the world 
 then known was produced, and a proposal 
 made to the King, but after much delay and 
 many untoward circumstances, both the map 
 and the proposal were disregarded, and the 
 money that had at first been set apart for the 
 purpose, and thought sufficient for the dis- 
 covery of the New World, was ultimately ex- 1 
 pended in the purchase of a suit of fine tapes- 
 try hangings, brought from Antwerp, and 
 afterwards used for the decoration of Hamp- 
 ton Court. 
 
62 MEAD. 
 
 The scene I have endeavoured to describe 
 at the Bishop's may serve as a specimen of a 
 consultation of that day, and has given me an 
 opportunity of introducing to the reader a 
 very distinguished person, for such certainly 
 must Sir Hans Sloane be allowed to have been. 
 About four years after the time I now speak, 
 he was elected President of the College of 
 Physicians; on the death of Sir Isaac Newton, 
 was chosen to fill the chair of the Royal So- 
 ciety; and after his own decease gave origin 
 to the British Museum. 
 
 It is not, however, my intention to follow 
 Mead into all the details of his private prac- 
 tice, but I will point out some of the material 
 improvements introduced by him in his art, 
 and the progress which the science of physic 
 made in his hands. — Mr. Secretary Craggs 
 applied to him, in 1719, to find out the most 
 effectual method to prevent the spreading of 
 the plague, which had proved so fatal that 
 year at Marseilles. My master accordingly 
 published a discourse on that subject, which 
 was so well received as to go through no less 
 than seven editions in a twelvemonth. The 
 kingdom was at this time governed by Lords 
 
MEAD. 63 
 
 Justices, during the absence of His Majesty 
 George the First, who was then in Hanover. 
 An act of parliament was passed, in conse- 
 quence of the advice given by Mead; but the 
 Opposition of the day, chiefly with the view 
 to thwart the Ministry, caused two of its 
 wisest clauses to be given up the following 
 year. These related to the removing of sick 
 persons from their habitations, and the making 
 of lines of demarcation about infected places. 
 Against the adoption of these prudent pre- 
 cautions an outcry was raised, that persons in 
 office intrusted with such powers might be 
 tempted to abuse them, and exercise their 
 authority in a manner grievous to the subjects 
 of the kingdom. Dr. Mead, on the other 
 hand, contended, that Salus populi suprema 
 lex est; and said that, if the plague should 
 unhappily be brought again into England, he 
 was sure the people themselves would cry out 
 for help, notwithstanding wrong notions of 
 liberty may sometimes overpossess their minds, 
 and make them, under the best of govern- 
 ments, impatient of restraint. A clamour 
 like this will probably be always renewed 
 whenever this subject comes to be discussed 
 
64 MEAD. 
 
 by the public; the bold and the ignorant will 
 excite it for the purposes of gainful notoriety, 
 and the selfish trader from a short-sighted 
 view of his own immediate interest. " But 
 suppose for a moment," said Mead in conver- 
 sation with a friend, " that the laws of quaran- 
 tine were useless, and that the fears enter- 
 tained of the contagious nature of the plague 
 were without foundation, how can the com- 
 merce of this country be benefited by the 
 abolition of these regulations here, unless the 
 rest of civilized Europe adopt the same meas- 
 ure, and agree, at a sort of general congress, 
 to remove all restraints from their trade with 
 the Levant? But," continued he, in an 
 earnest manner, which had all the air of 
 prophecy, " depend upon it, whenever the 
 doctrine of non-contagion is revived in Eng- 
 land (and it will be, even a hundred years 
 hence), it will always excite alarm among the 
 nations who are more prudent than ourselves, 
 and less eager to entertain every kind of wild 
 and visionary speculation. Incalculable mis- 
 chief will be done by the broaching of this 
 pernicious doctrine * : the speculators who 
 
 * This anticipation was actually realized not two years 
 
MEAD. 65 
 
 adopt such opinions should at least keep them 
 to themselves, or if they will continue their 
 experiments, let them make them in corpore 
 vili, and not upon subjects which involve the 
 general welfare of the community." 
 
 Two or three years after this, my master's 
 attention was called to another matter of equal, 
 or perhaps greater importance than the one 
 just mentioned; and I had the satisfaction of 
 witnessing another prodigious step made to- 
 wards the improvement of physic. This was 
 no less than the mitigation of that loathsome 
 disease the small-pox, a malady more formid- 
 able, and infinitely more fatal than the plague 
 itself. Lady Mary Wortley Montague hav- 
 ing returned to England in 1722, was deter- 
 mined to introduce the practice of inoculating 
 for the small-pox, which she had witnessed in 
 the East, and having before had the opera- 
 tion performed successfully upon her son at 
 Constantinople, desired her family surgeon to 
 
 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. 
 
66 MEAD. 
 
 engraft her daughter also with that disease. 
 The process was witnessed by three physicians 
 and the family apothecary; but though the 
 success was complete, the profession still re- 
 mained in suspense, and caution prevented 
 the repetition of the experiment. But Caro- 
 line Princess of Wales, having nearly lost the 
 life of one of her daughters, the Princess Anne, 
 by small-pox, was desirous of having her 
 children inoculated; and obtained from His 
 Majesty George the First, that six condemned 
 felons should be pardoned for the good of the 
 public, on condition of their submitting to be 
 inoculated. Five of the felons contracted the 
 disease favourably; the sixth, who concealed 
 having previously had the small-pox, was not 
 infected — but all escaped hanging. At the 
 suggestion of my master, the Chinese method 
 was practised upon a seventh criminal, who 
 was a young girl of eighteen years of age. 
 He accordingly introduced into her nostrils a 
 tent, wetted with matter taken out of ripe 
 pustules, which nearly approaches to the prac- 
 tice of the Chinese, who take the skins of 
 some of the dried pustules which have fallen 
 from the body, and put them into a porcelain 
 
MEAD. 67 
 
 bottle, stopping the mouth of it very closely 
 with wax. When they have a mind to infect 
 any one, they make up three or four of these 
 skins (inserting between them one grain of 
 musk) into a tent with cotton, which they put 
 up the nostrils. In the case of the girl whom 
 my master treated as above related, she, like 
 those who were inoculated by incisions made 
 in the skin, fell sick and perfectly recovered. 
 
 The attention of the medical world was 
 naturally much engrossed by this new method, 
 and every one was discussing the nature of 
 the small-pox, of which the contagious quality 
 was one of the most remarkable properties. 
 " How strange! " said Mead, " that this prop- 
 erty, apparently so obvious, should, not have 
 been noticed by every writer on the subject, 
 from the very first appearance of this danger- 
 ous malady among us. Yet Sydenham, dis- 
 cerning, as he has been called, does not take 
 the slightest notice of it, and perhaps even at 
 this very day, had it not been for the intro- 
 duction of this novel method of communi- 
 cating it, its infectious quality might not have 
 been universally admitted. One would sup- 
 pose that the merest tyro in an apothecary's 
 
68 MEAD. 
 
 shop could not have seen half a dozen cases 
 of the small-pox without being convinced that 
 one person caught it from another. An addi- 
 tional striking example of what has often been 
 observed before, that the most plain and ob- 
 vious truths lie undiscovered till accident 
 bring them to light. — More than twenty years 
 after this, Dr. Mead published a treatise on the 
 small-pox and measles, which contained many 
 valuable observations on both these diseases, 
 and also strong recommendations of the prac- 
 tice of inoculation. To this treatise, which is 
 written in a pure Latin style, he subjoined a 
 translation of Rhazes' commentary on the 
 small-pox into the same language, a copy of 
 which he had obtained from Leyden, through 
 the assistance of his friend and fellow-student 
 Boerhaave, with whom my master maintained 
 a constant correspondence. 
 
 The ingenuity of mankind is exercised upon 
 no subjects with so much pertinacity and 
 acuteness as upon those connected with medi- 
 cine, and it has often been disputed whether 
 inoculation has lessened the number of deaths 
 by small-pox. — One thing however is certain, 
 that it has contributed to the comfort and se- 
 
MEAD. 69 
 
 curity of all prudent individuals and fam- 
 ilies; for though it cannot admit of a doubt 
 that many formerly passed through a long life 
 without the disease, yet such a situation must 
 have proved a constant source of uneasiness 
 to themselves and friends, of restraint from 
 many desirable pursuits, and at times of abso- 
 lute seclusion from the world. 
 
 The next improvement which Dr. Mead 
 introduced into the practice of medicine was 
 entirely of his own invention, and serves to 
 show that his mind was not only capable of 
 the extended views of philosophy, but was 
 alive to the most minute circumstances that 
 could contribute towards the perfection of his 
 art. For the skill of a physician, though it 
 assume a more exalted character when dis- 
 played in the pursuit of general science, is 
 equally conspicuous, and perhaps more imme- 
 diately useful, when exerted in the discovery 
 and employment of ingenious contrivances for 
 the relief of suffering humanity. 
 
 My master had often considered what could 
 be the reason that, in cases of persons labour- 
 ing under dropsy, when the water is suddenly 
 drawn off, the patient swoons and frequently 
 
70 MEAD. 
 
 dies on the spot. A simple expedient oc- 
 curred to him, which was this: during the 
 operation of tapping, to make external pres- 
 sure by the hands, and afterwards to apply a 
 bandage to the belly. I was present when 
 this method was first tried in the hospital, 
 and afterwards frequently saw it used, more 
 especially in the case of Dame Mary Page, 
 wife of Sir Gregory Page, Bart., who was 
 afflicted with this disease, and died March 
 4th, 1728, in the fifty-sixth year of her age. 
 In sixty-seven months she was tapped sixty- 
 six times and had two hundred and forty 
 gallons of water taken away, without ever 
 once fearing the operation *. This was cer- 
 tainly a most valuable discovery, and shows 
 the advantage derivable from the exercise of 
 good sense and sound judgment; for Mead 
 naturally reflected, that the removal of the 
 pressure of the accumulated water caused the 
 fibres suddenly to lose the extension which 
 they had previously acquired; and it as na- 
 turally occurred to him, that the tendency to 
 
 * I have heard that all these particulars are carefully 
 recorded on the monument of this dropsical lady, in Bun- 
 hill Fields. 
 
MEAD. 71 
 
 faint could only be obviated by substituting 
 an external support to the parts. 
 
 But it is now time, after having related the 
 benefits he conferred upon mankind by en- 
 larging the boundaries of medical science, to 
 revert to some details of a more domestic cha- 
 racter. It has been mentioned before, when 
 speaking of the first experiment of inoculation 
 made in this country, that zeal for his profes- 
 sion had on one occasion brought my master 
 acquainted with the veriest outcasts of society, 
 and in contact with convicted felons : it remains 
 for me to relate how the calls of friendship and 
 generous sympathy led him again within the 
 walls of a prison. 
 
 In politics Mead was a hearty Whig, but 
 he reckoned amongst his friends many whose 
 sentiments differed widely from his own. 
 Garth, Arbuthnot, and Freind were among his 
 chief associates : with the latter particularly he 
 had always been on terms of the most friendly 
 intercourse. Recently the intimacy of these 
 two distinguished physicians had been much in- 
 creased by a controversy in which they were 
 embarked in support of their own enlightened 
 views on the subject of the cooling treatment of 
 
72 MEAD. 
 
 the small-pox, against the attacks of the igno- 
 rant and malevolent. 
 
 About this time Dr. Freind had been elected 
 member of parliament for Launceston in Corn- 
 wall, and acting in his station as a senator with 
 that warmth and freedom which was natural 
 to him, he distinguished himself by some able 
 speeches against measures which he disap- 
 proved. He was supposed to have had a hand 
 in Atterbury's plot, as it was then called, for 
 the restoration of the Stuart family ; and hav- 
 ing been also one of the speakers in favour of 
 the Bishop, this drew upon him so much re- 
 sentment that (the Habeas Corpus Act being 
 at that time suspended) he was, on March 15, 
 1722-3, committed to the Tower. Here he lay 
 a prisoner for some months, and my master did 
 all he could to procure his liberation: during 
 his confinement his practice fell chiefly into the 
 hands of Mead. As soon as permission could 
 be obtained, which was not till he had been 
 some time in prison, we paid a visit to Freind, 
 and entered that building whose low and som- 
 bre walls and bastions have frowned on many 
 an innocent and many a guilty head. 
 
 When his room door opened, we found him 
 
MEAD. 73 
 
 in the act of finishing a Latin letter to my mas- 
 ter, " On certain kinds of the Smallpox ; " and, 
 as he perceived our approach, he came forward 
 with an expression of great delight in his coun- 
 tenance. " I was writing a letter to you, with 
 the permission of the governor of the Tower; 
 and you are indebted," he added in a low whis- 
 per, " to my companion (looking at the 
 warder, who was in the same chamber with his 
 prisoner) for its brevity: for I don't find that 
 his presence assists me much in composition." 
 — During our interview, Freind told Mead 
 that he passed his time not unpleasantly, for 
 that he had begun to write the History of 
 Physic, from the time of Galen to the com- 
 mencement of the sixteenth century; -but that 
 at present he felt the necessity of consulting 
 more books than the circumstances in which he 
 was now placed would give him an opportunity 
 of perusing — " Though I ought not to repine," 
 said he, " while I have this book (pointing to a 
 Greek Testament, which was lying on the 
 table), the daily and diligent perusal of which 
 solaces my confinement. I have lately been 
 reading the Gospel of St. Luke, and I need 
 not point out to a scholar like yourself, and 
 
74 MEAD. 
 
 one who has paid so much attention to what I 
 may call the medical history of the Bible *, how 
 much nearer the language of St. Luke, who 
 was by profession a physician, comes to the 
 ancient standard of classical Greek than that 
 of the other Evangelists. To be sure it has a 
 mixture of the Syriac phrase, which may be 
 easily allowed in one who was born a Syrian; 
 yet the reading the Greek authors, while he 
 studied medicine, made his language without 
 dispute more exact. His style is sometimes 
 even very flowing and florid — as when, in the 
 Acts of the Apostles, he describes the voyage 
 of St. Paul; and when he has occasion to 
 speak of distempers or the cure of them, you 
 must have observed that he makes use of 
 words more proper for the subject than the 
 others do. It is besides remarkable that St. 
 Luke is more particular in reciting all the 
 miracles of our Saviour in relation to healing 
 than the other Evangelists are; and that he 
 gives us one history which is omitted by the 
 
 * This subject had long occupied the thoughts of Dr. 
 Mead, although his treatise styled " Medica Sacra, sive 
 de Morbis insignioribus qui in Bibliis memorantur, Com- 
 mentarius/' did not appear till 1749. 
 
MEAD. 75 
 
 rest, viz. that of raising the widow's son at 
 Nain." 
 
 My master left the prisoner, with an assur- 
 ance that he would use all the influence he 
 possessed to procure his liberty: " For," said 
 he, smiling, " however much your cultivated 
 mind is enabled to amuse itself by reading and 
 writing, I presume you will have no sort of ob- 
 jection to resign your newly-acquired office 
 of Medicus Regius ad Turrim */ J 
 
 Very shortly afterwards, the opportunity of 
 effecting this did actually occur; for when Sir 
 Robert Walpole, the minister of the day, sent 
 to consult Mead on account of an indisposition, 
 he availed himself of the occasion to plead the 
 cause of the captive. He urged, that though 
 the warmth and freedom of Freind might have 
 betrayed him into some intemperate observa- 
 tions, yet no one could doubt his patriotic feel- 
 ings and loyalty; that his public services had 
 been great, for he had attended the Earl of 
 Peterborough in his Spanish expedition as an 
 army physician; and had also accompanied in 
 the same capacity the Duke of Ormond into 
 
 * This appointment was held by Dr. Gideon Harvey, 
 from the year 1719 till 1754. 
 
76 
 
 MEAD. 
 
 Flanders ; that he deserved well of science, for 
 he had done much to call the attention of the 
 world to the new and sound principles of the 
 Newtonian philosophy ; and was besides a man 
 of excellent parts, a thorough scholar, and one 
 whom all acknowledged to be very able in his 
 
 * From a spirited medallion of Dr. Freind, carved in 
 box-wood. There is a portrait of him in the hall of 
 Christ Church, Oxford, upon which is inscribed the fol- 
 lowing stanza from the pen of Anthony Alsop: 
 Cui suas artes, sua dona laetus 
 Et Lyram, et Venae salientis ictum 
 Scire concessit, celerem et medendi 
 Delius usum. 
 
MEAD. 
 
 77 
 
 * 
 
 profession: and, finally, the Doctor refused to 
 prescribe for the Minister unless the prisoner 
 was set at liberty. He was almost immedi- 
 ately relieved from prison, and admitted to 
 bail; his sureties being Dr. Mead, Dr. Hulse, 
 Dr. Levet, and Dr. Hale. 
 
 The evening after this event, there was a 
 numerous assembly at our house in Great 
 Ormond Street, attracted by the hope of meet- 
 
 * Mead's house, at the corner of Powis Place, now 
 No. 49. There is a good garden behind the house, at 
 the bottom of which was a museum. After Mead's death 
 it was occupied by Sir Harry Grey, Lord Grey's uncle. 
 
78 MEAD. 
 
 ing Freind, and congratulating him on his lib- 
 eration from the Tower. He came, and every 
 one was delighted to see him once more at 
 large. Besides the number of acquaintances 
 and friends who were there, when it is observed 
 that no foreigner of any learning, taste, or 
 even curiosity, ever arrived in England with- 
 out being introduced to my master ( as it would 
 have been a reproach to have returned with- 
 out seeing a scholar and physician who was in 
 correspondence with all the literati of Europe) , 
 it may easily be imagined that on so remark- 
 able an occasion our conversazione was a 
 crowded one. When the party broke up, and 
 Freind and Arbuthnot were about to take their 
 leave together, as they lived in the same part 
 of the town — the former in Albemarle Street, 
 and the latter in Cork Street, Burlington Gar- 
 dens — Dr. Mead begged Freind to step with 
 him for a moment into his own private study, 
 which was a small room adjoining the library. 
 There he presented him with the sum of five 
 thousand guineas, which he had received from 
 Freind's patients, whom he had visited during 
 his imprisonment. On returning to the great 
 room he wished them both good night, and 
 
MEAD. 79 
 
 jocosely said to Arbuthnot (who happened to 
 hold the office of Censor of the College that 
 year), "Now I commit our common friend 
 here to your magisterial care and guidance; 
 see that he does not again get into trouble; 
 and on the least appearance of irregularity, re- 
 port him to the President, Sir Hans Sloane. 
 I look to you, Arbuthnot, to preserve har- 
 mony * amongst us." 
 
 These meetings, of which Dr. Mead was 
 very fond, took place at stated periods, and 
 the visitors assembled in the library, a spa- 
 cious room about sixty feet long, of the rich- 
 ness of which an idea may be formed by re- 
 ferring to the catalogue of the sale of its con- 
 tents, which took place after his death. The 
 books, amounting to about ten thousand vol- 
 umes, were sold in twenty-eight days. The 
 sale of the prints and drawings occupied four- 
 teen evenings, and the coins and medals were 
 disposed of in eight days. But at the time of 
 which I speak, all these literary treasures were 
 
 * 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. 
 
80 MEAD. 
 
 collected under one roof; and the assemblage 
 of marble statues of Greek philosophers, Ro- 
 man emperors, bronzes, gems, intaglios, Etrus- 
 can vases, and other rare specimens of antiq- 
 uity, was most choice and valuable. Ranged 
 along one side of the room stood the busts of 
 the great English poets — Shakespeare, Milton, 
 and Pope: they were of the size of life, of 
 white marble, and by the hand of Scheemakers. 
 The corner in which I was usually placed was 
 between a statue of Hygeia * and a cabinet of 
 iron which once belonged to Queen Elizabeth. 
 This cabinet was full of valuable coins, among 
 which was a medal of the Protector which 
 Mead frequently exhibited as a curiosity to 
 his visitors : it had Oliver's head in profile, with 
 this legend, " The Lord of Hosts, the word at 
 Dunbar, Sept. 1650; " on the reverse, the par- 
 liament sitting. 
 
 Placed in this favourite spot, I often over- 
 
 * 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. 10s. The 
 celebrated bronze head of Homer was sold for £136. 10*. 
 to Lord Exeter. 
 
MEAD. 81 
 
 heard very interesting discourse. On one oc- 
 casion particularly, I recollect that the conver- 
 sation turned on the condition and rank of 
 physicians in society. The persons who took 
 a leading part in the conversation were, if I 
 remember rightly, my master, Dr. Freind, Dr. 
 Arbuthnot, and Mr. Ward, the professor of 
 rhetoric in Gresham College. The topic was 
 suggested by some accidental allusion to the 
 attack which had been lately made by Dr. Con- 
 yers Middleton on the dignity of medicine, in 
 a dissertation * written by him concerning the 
 state of physic in old Rome. The indignation 
 of the physicians of that day was naturally 
 roused, and they were all up in arms against 
 the author. 
 
 Dr. Mead began by asking, " What class of 
 men have deserved better of the public than 
 physicians ? How much, for instance, does not 
 this country owe to Linacre, the founder of our 
 College? He was perhaps the most learned 
 man of his time, and on his travels was received 
 by Lorenzo de Medicis with the most marked 
 distinction. That munificent patron of litera- 
 
 * De Medicorum apud Veteres Romanos Degentium 
 Conditions Cantab. 1726. 
 
82 MEAD. 
 
 ture granted him the privilege of attending the 
 same preceptors with his own sons, and Lin- 
 acre improved the opportunities he enjoyed 
 with great diligence and success. At Flor- 
 ence, under Demetrius Chalcondylas, who had 
 fled from Constantinople when it was taken by 
 the Turks, he acquired a perfect knowledge of 
 the Greek language. 
 
 " He studied eloquence at Bologna under 
 Politian, one of the most elegant Latinists in 
 Europe; and while he was at Rome he de- 
 voted himself to medicine and the study of 
 natural philosophy, under Hermolaus Bar- 
 baras. Linacre was the first Englishman who 
 read Aristotle and Galen in the original Greek. 
 On his return to England, having taken the 
 degree of M.D. at Oxford, he gave lectures in 
 physic, and taught the Greek language in that 
 university. His reputation soon became so 
 high, that King Henry VII. called him to 
 court, and intrusted him with the care of the 
 health and education of his son Prince Arthur. 
 To show the extent of his acquirements, I may 
 mention, that he instructed Princess Catherine 
 in the Italian language, and that he published 
 a work on mathematics, which he dedicated to 
 
MEAD. 
 
 83 
 
 his pupil Prince Arthur. A treatise on gram- 
 mar, which has universally been acknowledged 
 to be a work of great erudition, is from the pen 
 of Linacre: Melancthon, indeed, pronounces 
 it to be inferior to none of its kind then ex- 
 tant. In his own style he reminds one of the 
 elegance of Terence, and in his medical 
 
 * From a Portrait of Linacre by Holbein, in Kensing- 
 ton Palace, a copy of which hangs over the fireplace in 
 the Censor's Room of the College of Physicians. 
 
84 MEAD. 
 
 treatises very nearly approaches the clear and 
 perspicuous language of Celsus. 
 
 " Linacre was successively Physician to 
 Henry the Seventh, Henry the Eighth, Ed- 
 ward the Sixth, and to the Princess Mary. 
 He established lectures on physic in both Uni- 
 versities ; and he was the founder of our Royal 
 College of Physicians, of which he was the first 
 President, holding that office during the last 
 seven years of his life. He was indeed," said 
 Mead, " a most accomplished scholar: the 
 Latin style of Linacre is so pure and elegant 
 as to rank him amongst the finest writers of 
 his age ; his friend Erasmus saying of him that 
 he was ' vir non exacti tantum, sed severi 
 judicii/ — Though the medical writings of Lin- 
 acre are only translations, yet we cannot but 
 form a favourable opinion of his professional 
 skill, not only from the general estimation of 
 his contemporaries, but from the sagacity of his 
 prognosis in the case of his friend Lily the cele- 
 brated grammarian, as well as from the ra- 
 tional simplicity of the method by which he 
 relieved Erasmus in a painful fit of the 
 gravel." 
 
 There was a pause here, and Mr. Professor 
 
MEAD. 85 
 
 Ward asked my master if it was true that Lin- 
 acre had, in the latter part of his life, changed 
 his profession, and entered into the priesthood. 
 
 Mead. " Yes, it was undoubtedly true, 
 but he still to his dying day had his thoughts 
 upon physic, for it was towards the close of 
 his life that he projected the College of Phy- 
 sicians, of which he remained President till 
 his death. It was also true that, on first ap- 
 plying himself to the study of divinity, he 
 was a most sincere searcher of the Scriptures, 
 studying the Bible with great avidity; and 
 that on reading the 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters 
 of St. Matthew, he threw the book away, and 
 swore that this was either not the Gospel, or 
 we were not Christians." 
 
 Freind. " Your account of Linacre is 
 quite correct, and you have certainly not 
 passed upon him a greater eulogium than he 
 deserves. If any other example were required 
 to prove to the world how much some of the 
 members of our body have done to further the 
 cause of learning, there is one very ready to 
 be cited in the physician to whom we owe the 
 
86 MEAD. 
 
 compilation of the first annals of our College. 
 Though an Englishman, we find Dr. Caius 
 reading lectures on Aristotle in the university 
 of Padua; and afterwards using the influence 
 he possessed at court, where he was Physician 
 to Queen Mary, in behalf of literature: for it 
 was at his instance that a licence was obtained 
 from the Queen to advance Gonvil-hall at 
 Cambridge, and incorporate it under the name 
 of Gonvil and Caius College. This College 
 he endowed afterwards with considerable 
 estates for the maintenance of an additional 
 number of fellows and scholars. He was Fel- 
 low, Censor, and President of the London Col- 
 lege ; and even in advanced life never absented 
 himself from our meetings without a dispensa- 
 tion. He was buried in the Chapel of the Col- 
 lege he had founded at Cambridge; and the 
 simple inscription upon his monument, while 
 it records the date of his death, adds a senti- 
 ment which should reconcile us to the frail 
 and doubtful tenure of our present existence, 
 by the certainty and permanence of well- 
 merited posthumous fame: — 
 
 ' Fui Caius. Vivit post funera virtus. Obiit 1573, 
 Mi. 63.' " 
 
MEAD. 87 
 
 Mead. " The zeal displayed by Caius in 
 the cause of literature deserves every com- 
 mendation, but it is perhaps more to our pur- 
 pose to dwell upon the claim he has upon our 
 grateful remembrance as the founder of the 
 Science of Anatomy in England. According 
 to the fashion of his day, he had gone abroad 
 in pursuit of knowledge; at Padua had lived 
 during eight months in the same house with 
 Vesalius, and devoted himself with the same 
 ardour to the studies of his celebrated com- 
 panion: and let it never be forgotten that 
 Caius, on his return from Italy, imbued with 
 the spirit of inquiry and enlightened by the 
 lamp of science lately kindled in that country, 
 taught Anatomy to the Surgeons in their own 
 Hall. Here, beyond the precincts of the Col- 
 lege of Physicians, reflecting great honour 
 upon that body, adding to his own reputation 
 and conferring no small advantage on the 
 Surgeons, he laid that solid foundation for the 
 study of Anatomy, to which may easily be 
 traced the glory and after discoveries of Har- 
 vey. Caius began to lecture to the Surgeons 
 soon after their incorporation (1540), and 
 continued to do so, for twenty years, even 
 
88 MEAD. 
 
 after he had been elected President of our Col- 
 lege and appointed Physician to the Court. 
 The privilege which about this time had been 
 granted to the Surgeons of obtaining annually 
 four bodies of executed felons for the purpose 
 of dissection, was doubtless the cause why the 
 Hall of the Surgeons was selected for the 
 lectures of Caius: for when in 1564 a similar 
 permission was allowed to the Physicians by 
 Queen Elizabeth, anatomical preelections were 
 held at their own College. Dissections now 
 began to be made frequently here, and the 
 year before the death of Caius, an order is 
 registered in our Annals that three bodies 
 should be procured at the expense of the Col- 
 lege, two sectionis eocperiundi causa, and the 
 third to be made ' a public anatomy of.' But 
 it is not only by reference to our Annals that 
 it appears to have been the merit of Caius to 
 have given the first impulse to these studies, 
 for the fact is mentioned by contemporary 
 writers. — William Bulleine, M. D., in a very 
 curious book *, published in 1579, enumerates 
 
 * A little dialogue between Soarenes and Chirurgi. — 
 The name of Caius was spelt in many ways — Gauius, 
 GaviuS; Kaius. Anglice — Kaye, Keye, Cay. 
 
MEAD. 89 
 
 among the cunning men, profitable to the com- 
 monwealth, the learned Doctor, M. John 
 Kaius, as the first who taught by learned lec- 
 tures and the secrete anothomies, the worthy 
 fraternity of Chirurgeons, of the most ancient 
 and famous city of London." 
 
 Dr. Freind. " I have not lately, as you 
 all know, had an opportunity of consulting 
 any books, but I recollect, some time ago, hav- 
 ing obtained permission to examine the early 
 volumes of our Annals, and being much struck 
 with the importance attached to the study of 
 anatomy by our ancestors, and the labour and 
 assiduity with which they appear to have cul- 
 tivated that science. If my memory does not 
 fail me, it was in 1581, about eight years after 
 the death of Caius, that a Lecture on Anatomy 
 was regularly founded and endowed at the 
 College. It was in that year that the Lord 
 Lumley and Dr. Caldwall, signified their 
 benefactions for that purpose, and the College 
 to show itself worthy of the liberality of those 
 generous patrons, though possessing very 
 scanty funds, immediately voted all the money 
 in their treasurer's hands to enlarge their 
 
90 MEAD. 
 
 building, render it more suitable to their meet- 
 ings, and more convenient for the delivery of 
 these public lectures. Their poor stock, it 
 would seem, amounted only to <£100, but it 
 must always be kept in mind that the funds 
 of our body have never been replenished out 
 of the coffers of the state, but have been fur- 
 nished solely by the occasional donations of 
 private individuals, or the legacies and con- 
 tributions of its own members. In the time 
 of the Protectorate their treasury was at its 
 lowest ebb, and yet it is a subject of pride 
 that even then the ardour of its members for 
 anatomical research was unabated, for it was 
 during this period that Glisson, whom your 
 friend Boerhaave calls the ' most accurate of 
 anatomists,' published his Lectures on the 
 Structure of the Liver, dedicating his work to 
 the University of Cambridge, ornatissimoque 
 Medicorum Londinensium Collegio, thus 
 avoiding, you observe, all allusion to the regal 
 character of our foundation. But what won- 
 der, when the sour and crabbed Republicans 
 of those days were so cautious on this head, 
 that in reciting the Lord's Prayer, they would 
 not say — ' Thy kingdom come,' but always 
 
MEAD. 91 
 
 ' Thy commonwealth come.' — To return how- 
 ever to the Lumleian Lectures, two years 
 after their endowment, the College built a 
 spacious Anatomical Theatre in Knight Rider 
 Street, and here Harvey must have given his 
 first public demonstrations of the circulation 
 of the blood, for he was elected Reader * in 
 Anatomy in 1615. The mention of Caius, 
 Harvey, and Glisson, suggests the names of 
 the other great anatomists of that age; and 
 it cannot fail to strike us as a matter of won- 
 der and admiration, that all the important dis- 
 coveries in Physiology were made in a very 
 short space of time. In the fifty years which 
 elapsed from 1620 to 1670, greater strides 
 were made in enlarging our knowledge of the 
 functions of the living animal body, than had 
 ever been made before, or will probably ever 
 be made again. For reflect only, that in this 
 interval the brilliant discoveries of the circula- 
 tion of the blood, of the nature of respiration, 
 
 * The term Reader (Praelector) 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. 
 
92 MEAD. 
 
 of the curious system of vessels called lacteals, 
 as well as of that to which the general name 
 of absorbents has been given, took place. In 
 fact the means by which we live and breathe, 
 by which our bodies are nourished, grow, 
 change, and finally decay, were for the first 
 time pointed out and explained. 
 
 " In 1622, Aselli discovered the Lacteals. 
 
 " In 1628, Harvey published his Doctrine 
 of the Circulation of the Blood. 
 
 " In 1647, The Thoracic Duct and Recep- 
 taculum Chyli were pointed out by Pecquet. 
 
 "In 1651, The Lymphatics were demon- 
 strated by Rudbeck. And 
 
 " In 1668, Mayow taught that the oxygen 
 of the air, which had lately been discovered, 
 mixed with the blood in the lungs: in short, 
 published a Theory, in which you will find the 
 germ of all subsequent opinions on the na- 
 ture of Respiration. 
 
 "It is curious however to reflect that, not- 
 withstanding the gigantic steps which Physio- 
 logy was making at this time here, and in some 
 parts of Europe, it remained stationary in 
 others; in Germany, for instance, it seems to 
 have been about this period pretty much in the 
 
MEAD. 93 
 
 same state in which it had been left by Galen, 
 when the structure of apes was described as the 
 anatomy of man. So late even as the middle 
 of the seventeenth century, about the very 
 time when Lower was making, at Oxford, the 
 daring and original experiment of transfu- 
 sion *, or causing the arterial blood of one ani- 
 mal to pass into the jugular vein of another 
 (which, by the by, was approved of by the 
 
 * In 1665, Richard Lower made this experiment at 
 Oxford; by means of long tubes, the blood of the verte- 
 bral 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 
 inj ecting into its veins the blood of another. An experi- 
 ment similar to this, which preceded it a few years, and 
 which, like it, was founded on the doctrine of the circula- 
 tion of the blood, viz. the injecting of various fluids im- 
 pregnated with remedies into the veins of animals, was 
 originally suggested by Sir Christopher Wren, the cele- 
 brated 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 men- 
 tioned that he gave the original drawings for the plates 
 which illustrate Willis' Anatomy of the Brain. 
 
94 MEAD. 
 
 Royal Society, before whom it was made, as 
 an expedient likely to be useful after severe 
 haemorrhages), a grave dispute arose in Ger- 
 many, as to the position of the heart itself. 
 The contest was terminated, at length, by the 
 Professors of Heidelberg, where the question 
 was agitated, having recourse to the delicate 
 experiment of killing a pig in the presence of 
 the Margrave of Baden-Durlach, and clearly 
 proving to his Highness, who then laboured 
 under palpitation of the heart, that it really 
 was situated on the left side of the thorax. 
 The result of this important discovery was 
 fatal to the fortunes of his Highness' physi- 
 cian; who, though he stoutly maintained by a 
 refinement of courtly flattery, that the heart 
 of his master could not have a position similar 
 to that of a pig, was dismissed in disgrace. 
 But it is unnecessary to dwell longer upon the 
 superiority of our English anatomists, or to 
 recapitulate the additions made to this branch 
 of knowledge by the former Fellows of our 
 College, for the Capsule * of Glisson, the Tu- 
 
 * 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 sur- 
 
MEAD. 95 
 
 bercle of Lower, and the Circle of Willis, are 
 terms incorporated with the science itself, and, 
 like the capes, islands, and bays, which bear 
 the names of our early navigators, will serve 
 to perpetuate the fame of these original dis- 
 coverers. Of Willis, the last of these worthies 
 whom I mentioned, let me observe, before I 
 finish, that, though his Anatomy of the Brain 
 is deservedly praised for the accuracy of re- 
 search with which it abounds, yet it contains 
 some notions rather fanciful, since he lodges 
 sensation in the corpus striatum, memory and 
 imagination in the medullary part of the 
 brain *." 
 
 The conversation now became more gen- 
 prised, 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 denomina- 
 tions to several of them, which they will most probably 
 always retain. 
 
 * 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? 
 
96 MEAD. 
 
 eral: those who had listened to the display of 
 learning and accurate research which Dr. 
 Freind and my master had made, expressed 
 their admiration at the prodigious acquisitions 
 made by the science of medicine, during the 
 first half of the seventeenth century, and each 
 suggested some additional fact relating to that 
 subject. Among others there was one whose 
 name I cannot now recall, but who appeared 
 to have devoted himself more particularly to 
 the study of the Materia Medica, who ob- 
 served, that this sudden and great increase of 
 our knowledge of the animal economy, and 
 consequently of our acquaintance with the 
 true causes of disease, was perhaps not more 
 remarkable than the important additions 
 which were made about this time to our list of 
 remedies. It was within the same memorable 
 period, he said, that some of our most efficient 
 drugs were either first made known to the 
 world, or first introduced into general use. 
 It will be sufficient to mention bark, ipecacu- 
 anha, mercury, and antimony; to which four 
 remedies, if we add opium, it may be ques- 
 tioned whether we should not possess a toler- 
 ably complete Materia Medica. The history 
 
MEAD. 97 
 
 and fate of medicines is a subject of great 
 curiosity, depending upon the most fortuitous 
 circumstances; for instance, according to the 
 earliest account of the discovery of bark, its 
 use was accidentally learned in the following 
 manner: — Some cinchona trees being thrown 
 into a pool of water in Peru, lay there till the 
 water became so bitter that every body re- 
 fused to drink it. However, one of the neigh- 
 bouring inhabitants being seized with a vio- 
 lent paroxysm of fever, and finding no other 
 water to quench his thirst, was forced to drink 
 of this, by which he was perfectly cured. He 
 afterwards related the circumstance to others, 
 and prevailed upon some of his friends, who 
 were ill of fever, to make use of the same 
 remedy, with whom it proved equally success- 
 ful *. But it was not only the casual experi- 
 ence of an uncivilized people which discovered 
 this valuable remedy, but the first prejudices 
 against its use, which were very strong, were 
 counteracted by the influence of a religious 
 
 * It is amusing to contrast this first rude natural in- 
 fusion, with the present neat and condensed form of ex- 
 hibiting the bark: for now a grain or two of the sulphate 
 of quinine is the ordinary dose of the remedy. 
 
98 MEAD. 
 
 sect (the Jesuits), totally unconnected with 
 the practice of medicine; and physicians were 
 ultimately taught how to use it with effect by 
 a man who was vilified both at home and 
 abroad as an ignorant empiric. Sydenham, 
 when speaking of bark, is very contradictory, 
 and seems to have been afraid to employ it 
 efficiently; and it was not till Louis the Four- 
 teenth bought the secret of the method of giv- 
 ing it, that the real virtues of this inestimable 
 drug were jproperly felt and universally ac- 
 knowledged. While Talbor, the person of 
 whom the French King had made this pur- 
 chase, was performing at Paris, about fifty 
 years ago, the cure of Monseigneur, Madame 
 de Sevigne, in one of her letters, describes, in 
 the most amusing manner, the anxiety of 
 every one at court, and the rage of M. 
 D'Aquin, first physician to Louis : — " C'est 
 dommage, que Moliere soit mort, il feroit une 
 scene merveilleuse de D'Aquin, qui est enrage 
 de n 'avoir pas le bon remede, et de tous les 
 autres medecins, qui sont accables par les ex- 
 periences, par le succes, et par les propheties 
 comme divines, de ce petit homme. Le Roi 
 
MEAD. 99 
 
 lui fait composer son remede devant lui" 
 &c. &c. Sir R. Talbor (for he was knighted) 
 died the year after this triumphant exhibition 
 of his skill, and Louis the Fourteenth then 
 ordered the secret to be published for the bene- 
 fit of the world. The same Monarch also first 
 introduced ipecacuanha into general practice, 
 having induced Helvetius to employ it largely 
 for the cure of dysentery in the Hotel Dieu, 
 about the year 1679. But antimony has had 
 the most inconstant fortune, for though it was 
 known and employed as a remedy as early as 
 the twelfth century, yet Valentine the Monk 
 gave it so indiscreetly, and made experiments 
 with such ill success upon the unhappy 
 brethren of his Convent, that the metal is said 
 to have speedily returned to the mines whence 
 it had recently emerged. Three hundred 
 years afterwards it began to be talked of 
 again; but in 1566, by a decree of the faculty 
 of Paris, confirmed by an arret of Parliament, 
 it was condemned as a poison, and was not al- 
 lowed to be openly prescribed as a remedy till 
 1650; indeed it is chiefly to Sir Theodore 
 Mayerne that we are indebted for the vari- 
 
100 MEAD. 
 
 ous preparations of antimony, as well as of 
 those of mercury *. 
 
 Dr. Mead. " It was fortunate that our 
 knowledge of the means of combating disease 
 kept pace with our more correct views of Phy- 
 siology, and of course more distinct notions of 
 morbid changes of structure. But to return 
 to the subject of anatomy: when I was ap- 
 pointed by the Company of Surgeons to read 
 Anatomical Lectures in their Hall, which I 
 did for six or seven years, I always insisted 
 strongly upon the obligations their branch of 
 the profession was under to the early Fellows 
 of the College of Physicians, and I hope, as in- 
 formation becomes more diffused, and scien- 
 tific attainments more universal, the Surgeons 
 themselves will not be so ungrateful as to for- 
 get or disown it. 
 
 " It would be easy to go on enumerating 
 
 * 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: — 
 
 1^ . Aquae calcis % vj . 
 Mellis rosati 3ii. 
 Mercurii dulcis 5i. M. 
 
MEAD. 101 
 
 the medical men whose names are allied with 
 the history of science and classical literature 
 in England, but your own memories will fill 
 up the catalogue. Our archives contain sev- 
 eral MSS. which, if published, would benefit 
 the republic of letters: I have often regretted 
 that Harney's notes and criticisms upon the 
 works of Aristophanes have never yet been 
 given to the world." 
 
 Freind. " It was intended that they 
 should have been so. My friend the Bishop 
 of Rochester recommended that they should 
 be sent to Kuster, that learned critic to whom 
 we owe the late excellent edition * of the 
 Greek poet which was done in Holland; but 
 the work was unfortunately too far advanced 
 in the press before the offer was made, so 
 that Harney's MS. still remains in the College 
 Library." 
 
 Mead. " I have been much amused with 
 the character drawn of Harney by his bio- 
 grapher : it is full of quaintness and antithesis ; 
 and, if I recollect perfectly, is to the following 
 
 * Called Editio Optima. 
 
102 
 
 MEAD. 
 
 effect. ' He was a consummate scholar with- 
 out pedantry, a complete philosopher with- 
 out any taint of infidelity; learned without 
 vanity, grave without moroseness, solemn 
 without preciseness, pleasant without levity, 
 regular without formality, nice without ef- 
 feminacy, generous without prodigality, and 
 religious without hypocrisy.' — These are a 
 few of the learned physicians who have been 
 the pillars and ornaments of the pr6fession; 
 
 * From a portrait of Hamey in the dining-room of the 
 College. 
 
MEAD. 103 
 
 which, so far from having been considered 
 formerly a degrading one, has not only been 
 patronized by royal and noble benefactors, but 
 we boast of some of the latter quality amongst 
 our own body. The Marquess of Dorchester 
 not only left us his library, enriched with the 
 best books, but was enrolled amongst our Fel- 
 lows, assisted at our meetings, and exerted 
 himself in every possible way to promote the 
 study of medicine." — [My master here grew 
 warm, and turning round to Mr. Professor 
 Ward, more particularly addressed himself 
 to him:.] — "Why amongst the Athenians 
 there was a law that no slave nor woman 
 should dare to study medicine. Have not the 
 greatest philosophers of antiquity devoted 
 themselves to it? have not Pythagoras, 
 Democritus, and Aristotle, written expressly 
 upon botany, anatomy, and physic? It is 
 well known that the inhabitants of Smyrna 
 associated upon the coins * of that city the 
 names of their celebrated physicians with the 
 effigies of their gods. I am aware that 
 
 * 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. 
 
104 MEAD. 
 
 amongst the Romans our art was not held in 
 such high esteem; but it is well known that in 
 the time of Julius Cassar, when physicians 
 came from Greece (the country whence the 
 Romans derived all their polite learning and 
 knowledge of the fine arts), they were com- 
 plimented with the freedom of the Eternal 
 City, a privilege of which that proud people 
 was extremely jealous." 
 
 Aebuthnot. " What you have said will 
 show the dignity of our art, and who will 
 doubt of its liberality who reflects for a mo- 
 ment on the generous and spirited conduct of 
 our poor friend Garth, whose death we all 
 deplore? To whom but a Physician was the 
 corpse of Dryden indebted for a suitable in- 
 terment? We all recollect how he caused it 
 to be brought and placed in our College, pro- 
 posed and encouraged a subscription for the 
 expense of the funeral, pronounced an oration 
 over the remains of the great Poet, and after- 
 wards attended the solemnity from Warwick 
 Lane to Westminster Abbey, where it was 
 conveyed on the 13th May, 1700, attended by 
 more than a hundred coaches. 
 
MEAD. 
 
 105 
 
 " But Garth was indeed the best-natured of 
 men: besides being a polite scholar-, ever at- 
 tentive to the honour of the faculty, and never 
 stooping to prostitute the dignity of the pro- 
 fession through mean or sordid views of self- 
 interest f." 
 
 * From a portrait of Garth by Sir Godfrey Kneller, in 
 the Censor's Room of the College. 
 
 f 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 
 
106 MEAD. 
 
 Mead. " The loss of such a man we shall 
 all long lament: besides there is something in 
 the death of a colleague peculiarly melancholy. 
 His mind has been formed by the same studies, 
 the same motives must have actuated his con- 
 duct, he must have been influenced by the same 
 hopes and fears, and run pretty nearly the 
 same career in life with ourselves; and at his 
 death we are forcibly struck with the futility 
 of all our plans, the emptiness and littleness 
 of all our schemes of ambition. I know not 
 when I have been more affected than in read- 
 ing, a few days ago, the story of the death of 
 Dr. Fox as told by Harney, in his Bustorum 
 aliquot Reliquice. He was a younger son of 
 Fox the martyrologist, and had been a warm 
 friend and active patron of Harney, the great 
 benefactor, and, as I may call him, second 
 founder of our College. In that curious MS. 
 which contains the characters of his contem- 
 porary physicians, statesmen, and other cele- 
 brated persons of his day, Harney speaks in 
 
 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." 
 
MEAD. 107 
 
 the most pathetic terms of the death-bed 
 scene of his friend, and I will endeavour to 
 recollect the precise Latin expressions in 
 which Fox takes leave of him. Mi amice, 
 vale; crastinus dies liberabit tuum ah his 
 angustiis. Et vale diocisse iterum, porrec- 
 tdque quam suspicabar frigidiore mauu } eoc- 
 pressisse mihi lacrymas, meamque illam im- 
 belliam, averso leviter capite, redarguisse et 
 susurrasse. Hoccine est philosophari? et 
 fructum promere tot colloquiorum? Harney 
 adds, Victus ego dolore et pudore, me domum 
 confero arbitratus in ista d^yavla levius 
 fore audire ccetera quam videre. But let us 
 change this melancholy subject. Tell us," ad- 
 dressing Arbuthnot, " are we to expect an- 
 other volume of the Memoirs of Martinus 
 Scriblerus; or are Pope, Swift, and yourself 
 tired of the project? I hope there is not an 
 end of a scheme which was so calculated, by 
 ridiculing the abuse of human learning, to 
 benefit the cause of polite letters." 
 
 The answer of that brilliant wit and 
 scholar was unfavourable ; and it evidently ap- 
 peared, from the dejected tone in which he 
 
108 MEAD. 
 
 spoke, that the change in the fortunes of the 
 illustrious triumvirate which had been occa- 
 sioned by the death of Queen Anne, had de- 
 pressed his spirits, and terminated the plan. 
 
 Most of the party had now assembled round 
 Dr. Mead, to listen to this hasty recital of 
 the merits of the distinguished physicians of 
 former days. Of the names and persons of 
 many of those present that evening, I have 
 now no recollection: but, even at this distance 
 of time, the figure of one who leaned on the 
 arm of Arbuthnot is distinctly present to my 
 imagination. He was protuberant before and 
 behind, and used humorously to compare him- 
 self to a spider; and was so feeble that he 
 could not, as I have heard, dress or undress 
 himself, and was always wrapped up in fur 
 and flannel, besides wearing a bodice of stiff 
 canvas. In this description every one will 
 recognise the form of Pope. He took no part 
 in the conversation; but his fine, sharp, and 
 piercing eye, directed as it was alternately to 
 the different speakers, indicated that he felt 
 no common concern in the subject. But he 
 did not stay long; pleading as an apology for 
 his departure an attack of his old enemy the 
 
MEAD. 109 
 
 headach, and the intention of returning to 
 Twickenham * that evening. As he passed 
 by the spot in which I was placed, I heard 
 him say to a friend who accompanied him, 
 and who, like himself, had just taken leave of 
 Dr. Mead: " I highly esteem and love that 
 worthy man. His unaffected humanity and 
 benevolence have stifled much of that envy 
 which his eminence in his profession would 
 otherwise have drawn out; and, indeed, I 
 ought to speak well of his profession, for there 
 is no end of my kind treatment from the 
 faculty. They are in general the most ami- 
 able companions and the best friends, as well 
 as the most learned men I know." 
 
 The party now moved to a little distance 
 to inspect a bust of Harvey, which my master 
 had lately caused to be executed by an excel- 
 
 * 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? 
 
110 
 
 MEAD. 
 
 * 
 
 lent hand, from an original picture in his pos- 
 session. " This bust," said Mead, " I intend 
 to present to the College, to replace in some 
 measure the statue of Harvey which was 
 
 and stood 
 and which 
 
 was no doubt lost in the great fire. I have 
 long thought it a reproach that we should not 
 at least possess a bust of him who, to use the 
 
 erected to him during his lifetime, 
 in the hall of our former building, 
 
 Now placed in the Theatre of the College. 
 
MEAD. Ill 
 
 strong and figurative language of the Latin 
 inscription, gave motion to the blood, and 
 origin to animals, and must ever be hailed by 
 us Stator Perpetuus." 
 
 Freind. " The skill of the sculptor has 
 been succesfully employed here. The mild 
 features of the old man are well expressed, 
 and exhibit with fidelity his candid and gentle 
 nature. I see him now, in my mind's eye, 
 after the surrender of Oxford to the Parlia- 
 ment, and the loss of his wardenship of Mer- 
 ton College, in his retirement at Richmond. 
 The visit paid him there by his intimate friend 
 Dr. George Ent, is related in so lively and 
 pleasing a manner, that one is almost present 
 at the interview. It was in the year 1651, 
 when Harvey was in his seventy-first year. 
 ' I found him,' says Ent, ' in his seclusion, 
 not far from town, with a sprightly and cheer- 
 ful countenance, investigating, like Demo- 
 critus, the nature of things. Asking if all 
 was well with him, ' How can that be?' replied 
 Harvey, ' when the state is so agitated with 
 storms, and I myself am yet in the open sea? 
 And, indeed,' added he, ' were not my mind 
 
112 MEAD. 
 
 solaced by my studies, and the recollection of 
 the observations I have formerly made, there 
 is nothing which should make me desirous of 
 a longer continuance. But thus employed, 
 this obscure life, and vacation from public 
 cares, which disquiets other minds, is the 
 medicine of mine.' Who does not admire," 
 continued Freind, " the modest altercation 
 that arose between the great discoverer of the 
 circulation of the blood, and Dr. Ent, about 
 the publication of those most valuable papers 
 containing his Exer citations on the Genera- 
 tion of Animals? One may imagine him re- 
 plying to the importunity of his friend, that 
 though, at his advanced age, it was of little 
 consequence what the world thought of his 
 writings, yet he could never forget, after the 
 publication, at Frankfort, in 1628, of his doc- 
 trine of the circulation of the blood, that such 
 was the general prejudice against him as an 
 innovator, that his practice as a physician con- 
 siderably declined. To be sure, he might look 
 upon himself as recompensed in some degree 
 for the ingratitude of the public by the regard 
 and favour of his royal master Charles I. 
 whose attachment to the arts and sciences 
 
MEAD. 113 
 
 formed a conspicuous part of his character. 
 For the King, with some of the noblest per- 
 sons about the Court, condescended to be spec- 
 tators and witnesses of his experiments; and, 
 indeed, His Majesty took so much interest in 
 his anatomical researches, that, with respect to 
 these very inquiries about the nature of gen- 
 eration, he had received much assistance from 
 the opportunities afforded him of dissecting 
 a vast number of animals, which were killed 
 in the King's favourite diversion of stag-hunt- 
 ing. 
 
 " Dr. Ent at last succeeded in obtaining the 
 papers; and concludes the account of their in- 
 terview by saying, ' I went from him like an- 
 other Jason in possession of the golden fleece; 
 and when I came home, and perused the pieces 
 singly, I was amazed that so vast a treasure 
 should have been so long hidden.' " 
 
 Mr. Professor Ward. " You mention 
 the destruction of a former building; pray, 
 where did the College meet prior to the erec- 
 tion of the present edifice in Warwick Lane? 
 Was it not somewhere in the neighbourhood 
 of St. Paul's?" 
 
114 MEAD. 
 
 Dr. Mead. " I am glad you have asked 
 me that question, for the vicissitudes in the 
 fortunes of our body will gradually be forgot- 
 ten, and it would be very desirable before they 
 are entirely blotted out from our memory, or 
 misrepresented by traditional inaccuracy, that 
 some more public record should be given of 
 them, than that which is contained in our 
 archives. Though as a narrative of events, 
 which has now been continued uninterruptedly 
 for about two centuries *, it would be difficult 
 to find another of fidelity and interest equal 
 to that furnished by the Annals of the Col- 
 lege. 
 
 " Its very first meetings immediately after 
 its establishment were held in the 
 house of Linacre, called the stone 
 house, Knight-Rider Street, which still be- 
 longs to the College. 
 
 " The front of that building was appropri- 
 ated to a Library, of the condition or extent 
 of which it may be difficult to form any tol- 
 erable guess after the lapse of so many 
 years. It would of course contain copies of 
 
 * Now more than 300 years. 
 
MEAD 
 
 115 
 
 The stone house, No. 5, Knight-Rider Street. The 
 armorial ensigns of the College are placed between the 
 two centre windows of the first floor. Their proper 
 blazon is as follows : — 
 
 Sable, a hand proper, vested argent, issuant out of 
 clouds in chief of the second, rayonee, Or, feeling the 
 pulse of an arm in fesse, proper, issuant from the sinister 
 side of the shield, vested argent; in base a pomegranate 
 between five demi-fleurs-de-lis bordering the edge of the 
 escutcheon, Or. 
 
 These arms were obtained in 1546. Johanne Barker, 
 Gartero Armorum Rege. 
 
116 MEAD. 
 
 Linacre's * own works, and there are 
 records of an early date of donations 
 and bequests made to it of books, globes, 
 mathematical instruments, and minerals. 
 
 " Rather more than forty years had elapsed 
 
 from the death of Linacre, before permission 
 
 having been obtained from Queen Elizabeth, 
 
 dissections began to be performed 
 
 1564. 
 
 within the walls of the College, and, 
 if I am not mistaken, Dr. Lopus was the first 
 Physician appointed to give a public demon- 
 stration. 
 
 " As soon as the Lumleian Lectures were 
 founded, a spacious Anatomical Thea- 
 
 1 583 
 
 tre was built, adjoining the house of 
 Linacre, and here Harvey gave his 
 first Course of Lectures. 
 
 * In the British Museum there are two copies of Lin- 
 acre'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 Wol- 
 sey's is decorated with the Cardinal's hat. On the bind- 
 ing of his Majesty's are the royal arms and motto im- 
 pressed; the dedication to the Cardinal is in manuscript: 
 they are both on spotless vellum. 
 
MEAD. 117 
 
 " But about the time of the accession of 
 Charles the First, notwithstanding the con- 
 dition of its treasury, the College removed 
 to another spot, and were enabled by the con- 
 tributions of its own Members, assisted by the 
 liberality of two distinguished individuals, to 
 take a house of the Dean and Chapter of 
 St. Paul's, at the bottom of Amen Corner. 
 The lease of these premises was afterwards, 
 from time to time renewed, a botanical gar- 
 den adjoining was planted, and an Anato- 
 mical Theatre built, which last was rendered 
 not only commodious, but even orna- 
 
 1641. 
 
 mental, by the bequest of one of our 
 Fellows *. 
 
 " The part of the house not actually re- 
 quired for the College meetings, was let to 
 one of its members, upon certain conditions, 
 one of which was that he should maintain the 
 garden handsomely; and, small as it was, the 
 rent paid by this occupant was the only per- 
 manent revenue at that time accruing to the 
 College; for the fees of admission were of 
 course uncertain. 
 
 * Dr. Alexander Read gave, by will, £100 to orna- 
 ment the Anatomical Theatre. 
 
118 MEAD. 
 
 " In the calamities and troubles of the civil 
 wars, it was impossible for the College 
 not to be involved, and when the 
 Parliament, by an ordinance of the two 
 Houses, imposed the heaviest and most un- 
 usual taxes, seizing, wherever they had power, 
 upon the revenues of the King's party, they 
 were reduced to the greatest distress. On the 
 City of London alone, besides an imposition 
 of the five and twentieth part of every man's 
 substance, a weekly assessment was levied of 
 <£l 0,000, of which the portion allotted to the 
 College was £5 per week. In consequence of 
 these exactions they became much em- 
 barrassed, were for a time unable to pay the 
 rent due to St. Paul's, and to add to their 
 distress, when it seemed to be the intention of 
 many leaders in Parliament to admit of no 
 established religion, their premises were con- 
 demned, as part of the property of the church, 
 to be sold by public auction. To prevent 
 their falling into the hands of any illiberal 
 proprietor, Dr. Harney became the purchaser 
 of the house and garden, which two 
 
 1649. . 
 
 years afterwards he gave in perpetuity 
 
MEAD. 119 
 
 to his colleagues. This he did most oppor- 
 tunely, since the design then entertained by 
 the great Harvey of building a Museum in 
 the College Garden might otherwise have been 
 frustrated. This generous project was an- 
 nounced at one of the meetings, in the follow- 
 ing modest manner: — 
 
 " ' If (said the President*) I can procure 
 one that will build us a library and a reposi- 
 tory for simples and rarities, such an one as 
 shall be suitable and honourable to the Col- 
 lege, will you assent to have it done or no, 
 and give me leave, and such others as I shall 
 desire, to be the designers and overlookers of 
 the work, both for conveniency and orna- 
 ment ?' 
 
 " The College, as might be expected, as- 
 sented most willingly to so liberal a proposal, 
 and voted a statue, bearing the following in- 
 scription on its pedestal, to be placed in their 
 Hall, in honour of Harvey, who was the per- 
 son alluded to in the speech of the Presi- 
 dent : — 
 
 * Dr. Prujean. 
 
120 MEAD. 
 
 GuLIELMO HARVEIO 
 VlRO MoNUMENTIS SUIS IMMORTALI 
 
 Hoc insuper Collegium Medicorum Londinense 
 
 Posuit 
 
 Qui enim Sanguinis Motum 
 
 ut ET 
 
 Animalibus ortum DEDIT MERUIT ESSE 
 Stator Perpetuus 
 
 The building was now begun, and finished 
 the following year, and when the 
 Fellows had all met on the 2d of 
 February, the doors of the Museum being 
 thrown open, the munificent old man, for he 
 w,as now nearly eighty years old, in the most 
 benevolent manner, and wishing all prosperity 
 to the Republic of Medicine, presented at once 
 the Mansion and all its valuable contents to 
 the College *. He then laid down the office 
 
 * In March, 1823, the late Earl of Winchilsea pre- 
 sented 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 Winchil- 
 
MEAD. 121 
 
 of Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, 
 which he had hitherto held; when Glisson was 
 
 sea, in presenting them to the College of Physicians, ex- 
 pressed a hope that these specimens of the scientific re- 
 searches 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 Lec- 
 tures, he may frequently have exhibited these prepara- 
 tions, 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 orig- 
 inally 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 
 
122 MEAD. 
 
 appointed to succeed him. The garden, of an 
 irregular form, extended as far as the Old 
 
 large tables. They were the work of Fabritius Bar- 
 toletus, then Veslingius's assistant there, and afterwards 
 physician to the King of Poland. Vide Catalogue or 
 Description of the natural and artificial Rarities belong- 
 ing 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 subj ect of curious investigation. 
 
 In the Philosophical Transactions for May 7, 1666, 
 Mr. Boyle mentions a method he had invented of pre- 
 serving 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 dis- 
 coverer of the use of injections, for the display of vas- 
 cular 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 ulti- 
 mately 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 
 
MEAD. 123 
 
 Bailey to the west, and towards the south 
 reached to the Church of St. Martin, Ludgate, 
 and the Museum of Harvey must have stood 
 very near to the spot upon which Stationers 
 Hall has since been built. It consisted of an 
 elegantly furnished convocation room, and a 
 library filled with choice books and surgical 
 instruments. Every patron of learning has- 
 tened to enrich this edifice ; the Marquis 
 
 1655. 
 
 of Dorchester gave <£100, for the pur- 
 chase of books; the famous Selden * left by 
 
 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 Anima Medicd. 
 
 * Selden, styled by Grotius, the " glory of the English 
 nation," died about this time, and is thus noticed by 
 Harney in his Bustorum aliquot Reliquiae. 
 
 " Johannes Seldenus J. C. Qui res a memoria remo- 
 tissimas 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 character- 
 ized by great good nature, though occasionally the author 
 
124 MEAD. 
 
 will some curious oriental MSS. relating to 
 physic, and Elias Ashmole, with other bene- 
 factors, presented us with various scarce and 
 valuable volumes. In the Museum of Harvey 
 were deposited the curiosities of the College, 
 and here also were affixed honorary tablets to 
 the memory of those who had deserved well of 
 the community. The generous Harney was 
 not forgotten, and his kind intervention 
 in support of the declining fortunes of 
 the College was thus recorded in marble. 
 
 6 de xatpos oH-ug, 
 
 Balduino Hammo Med. Doctori, Balduini (in Mos- 
 corum aula Juvenili aetate Archiatri) filio, Socio suo, ac 
 ante annos aliquot opportunuo imprimis Benefactori, 
 hoc Marmor (illius animo oblata statua acceptius) 
 Dedicat. 
 
 Societas An. mdclviii. 
 
 " The Museum of Harvey, besides medical 
 books, contained Treatises on Geometry, 
 Geography, Astronomy, Music, Optics, Nat- 
 indulges in a vein of sarcasm; as, for example, when 
 speaking of one of his contemporaries, he describes him 
 as — 
 
 " Syphar hominis ; nee facie minus quam arte Hip- 
 pocraticus." 
 
MEAD. 125 
 
 ural History, and Travels, and was under the 
 following regulations: — It was to be open on 
 Fridays, from two till five o'clock in the sum- 
 mer, but only till four in the winter season; 
 also during all meetings of the College and 
 whenever else the Custos being at leisure 
 should choose to be present; but no books 
 were allowed to be taken out. The old li- 
 brary room was henceforth appropriated to 
 the Lectures, and the first public meeting of 
 the College (in novo Triclinio) was 
 held in March. Here also, as in a sort 
 of state apartment, it was the custom to re- 
 ceive distinguished and illustrious visitors: for 
 it was not uncommon in those days for the 
 highest personages in the kingdom to attend 
 our Lectures. When Charles the Second con- 
 descended to be present at the anatomical 
 preelections of Dr. Ent, at the conclusion of 
 the Lecture, the royal party retiring from the 
 Theatre, was received in the Museum of 
 Harvey, and on this occasion His Majesty 
 was graciously pleased to confer the 
 honour of knighthood upon the lec- 
 turer. 
 
 " This event took place the year before the 
 
126 MEAD. 
 
 fire of London, which, while it destroyed al- 
 most the whole of the City, consumed our Col- 
 lege, and the greatest part of our Library *." 
 The mention of this memorable event oc- 
 casioned a pause in the conversation, and one 
 of our guests, not of the profession, but who, 
 like all persons of an inquisitive turn of mind, 
 was fond of medical subjects, begged to ask 
 Dr. Mead a question connected with that great 
 catastrophe. This is a kind of curiosity that 
 has often struck me as something very amus- 
 ing; to be sure there can be no considerations 
 
 * One hundred and twelve folio books were saved fromi 
 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 be- 
 hind 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. 
 
MEAD. 127 
 
 more interesting to all mankind than those 
 which relate to the various conditions of health 
 and disease; but it is astonishing to see the 
 avidity with which people of cultivated under- 
 standings listen to the details of professional 
 lore (provided they be not couched in terms 
 too technical), and how much more easily they 
 are satisfied with explanations, and convinced 
 by specious arguments, than the v ere adepti 
 themselves. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said this gentleman 
 to my master, " for interrupting your history 
 of the College, but the mention of the great 
 fire of London unavoidably suggests somehow 
 or other the idea of the plague, from the visi- 
 tations of which we have been free ever since 
 the occurrence of that dreadful conflagration. 
 How do you connect, Doctor, the fire of Lon- 
 don with the disappearance of the plague; in 
 short, what effect has the one had upon the 
 other? The subject of the plague occupied 
 your pen some three years ago, and I should 
 like to hear your opinion upon this matter." 
 
 Dr. Mead. " The fire began, as you 
 know, upon the 2nd of September, and con- 
 
128 MEAD. 
 
 sumed about one-fifth of the town of London, 
 burning an extent of about two miles 
 
 1666. . . , . _. 
 
 m length, and one in breadth. But 
 it was the wealthiest and the best part of the 
 town that was destroyed; and it is even said, 
 that had it not been for the opposition of some 
 tenacious and avaricious men, aldermen par- 
 ticularly, who would not permit their houses 
 to be blown up, in order to make a wide gap, 
 the conflagration might have been stopped al- 
 most at its first breaking out. But this was 
 thought too great a sacrifice, and the devour- 
 ing element continued its ravages uncon- 
 trolled. A strong east wind drove the flames 
 impetuously forward; the sky was like the top 
 of a burning oven, and the light of the fire 
 was seen for forty miles round about for many 
 nights. The stones of St. Paul's are repre- 
 sented as flying like granados, and the very 
 pavements of the streets glowing with fiery 
 redness; it was not till noon on the third day, 
 nor till the fire had threatened to cross over 
 towaids the residence of the Court itself at 
 Whitehall, that it was stopped, coming no 
 farther westward than the Temple, nor to- 
 wards the north than the entrance of Smith- 
 
MEAD. 129 
 
 field. Thus, you see, it spared the Borough, 
 Wapping, Smithfield, and some other of the 
 quarters and suburbs of the city, inhabited by 
 the poorest classes, and consequently the 
 abode of filth and wretchedness. The notion 
 therefore advanced by some that the improve- 
 ments in the rebuilding of the metropolis have 
 been the cause of the disappearance of the 
 plague is evidently unfounded. Besides, I 
 may mention to you, that Bristol, the only 
 town in England, except London, which had 
 formerly much foreign trade, though it has 
 been purified by no fire, has nevertheless re- 
 mained equally free from that disease. On 
 the other hand, dysentery and intermittents, 
 two diseases which we all look upon 'as aris- 
 ing from filth and moisture, increased after 
 the fire. Take my word for it, it is quaran- 
 tine alone, and not any increased cleanliness 
 on the part of the inhabitants, that has kept 
 out the plague." — Dr. Mead then returned to 
 his history of the College, and mentioned that 
 after the fire, on application being made to the 
 Judges who were appointed to settle the dif- 
 ferences which unavoidably arose out of that 
 great national calamity, a new lease was ob- 
 
130 
 
 MEAD. 
 
 tained from the Dean and Chapter of 
 St. Paul's — the College undertaking 
 to rebuild the premises. This scheme how- 
 ever was never carried into effect; the lease 
 was resigned, and on the ground where once 
 stood our College, three fair houses were 
 erected, which are now the seats of the Resi- 
 
 * Old College. "Warwick Lane. 
 
MEAD. 131 
 
 dentiaries of St. Paul's. In this interval the 
 meetings of the Fellows were generally held 
 at the house of the President; when shortly- 
 after a piece of ground having been purchased 
 in Warwick Lane, our present College was 
 begun to be built, in four years was completed, 
 and was opened, as it would appear, 
 
 r 1674. 
 
 without any particular ceremony, on 
 the 25th of February, under the presidency 
 of Sir George Ent, the physician, of whose 
 visit to the immortal Harvey, Dr. Freind gave 
 us a short time ago so interesting an account. 
 " In concluding this sketch of the various 
 fortunes of our body, I beg only to remind 
 you, that according to the custom of the early 
 ages in England, Physicians united the cleri- 
 cal character with the medical, and being thus 
 learned in Physic and Divinity, were not un- 
 frequently called in to administer the com- 
 forts of both professions. But if, in more 
 modern times, the alliance of the two facul- 
 ties has ceased to exist in the persons of their 
 professors, it is still amusing to observe the 
 continuance of the affinity of locality, if I may 
 so term it, for you cannot cross from the house 
 of Linacre, to the spot where our present Col- 
 
132 MEAD. 
 
 lege stands, and thence to the site of our sec- 
 ond building, without being struck with the 
 sanctity of the ground. On your right you 
 leave the magnificent structure of St. Paul's, 
 and traversing Creed Lane, Ave Maria Lane, 
 Paternoster Row, you finally reach Amen 
 Corner. All these places are within a stone's 
 throw of one another; whether the spirit of 
 innovation, and the change of fashion, may at 
 any future period overcome the genius loci, re- 
 mains to be proved. I have often heard it 
 observed, that though it is convenient to some 
 of us, who live towards the east, yet upon the 
 whole, it is a pity the College was built so near 
 Newgate Prison, and in so obscure a hole; a 
 fault in placing most of our public buildings 
 and churches in the City, which is to be attri- 
 buted to the avarice of some few men, and to 
 His Majesty Charles the Second not over- 
 ruling it when it was in his power, after the 
 dreadful conflagration." 
 
 The library of Dr. Mead never witnesseed 
 a more brilliant assembly than this; at least 
 the conversation which I have endeavoured 
 to relate made a great impression upon me. 
 
MEAD. 
 
 133 
 
 I do not mean, as was said before, to dwell 
 upon the details of the private practice of 
 Dr. Mead; for, to tell the truth, I have long 
 been (to use one of our new-fangled French 
 words) rather blase on the topic of medical 
 cases. How, indeed, can it be otherwise with 
 me, who have seen five generations of physi- 
 cians; and must, therefore, have infinitely 
 more experience than any doctor who ever 
 existed? One hundred and thirty years have 
 elapsed since I first became connected with 
 physic; for I am almost coeval with the Col- 
 
 * Interior of Mead's Library; from an engraving in 
 the British Museum. 
 
134 MEAD. 
 
 lege in Warwick Lane, having made my first 
 appearance fifteen years only after the com- 
 pletion of that building; and can only be said 
 to have completely retired from the bustle of 
 practice within the last two or three years. 
 With the usual appearance of the symptoms 
 of diseases, the ordinary remedies prescribed, 
 and the common topics of consolation and ad- 
 vice, I soon became, even from the very com- 
 mencement of my career, very familiar; it was 
 therefore only by some very extraordinary 
 case indeed, or by attending some very re- 
 markable patient, that I felt much interested. 
 Of the latter description was the illness of 
 that great and good man Sir Isaac Newton. 
 In 1726, early in the month of March, Mr. 
 Conduitt called upon my master, and carried 
 him, together with Mr. Cheselden *, to Ken- 
 
 * 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 prin- 
 cipal surgeon to Queen Caroline, by whom he was highly 
 esteemed. He was much distinguished for his skill as a 
 
MEAD. 135 
 
 sington, where Sir Isaac had shortly before 
 taken a house for the benefit of his health. 
 
 It was my lot often to be in company with 
 the eminent surgeon whose name I have now 
 mentioned; for the public seemed universally 
 to have adopted the sentiment of the popular 
 poet of the day: 
 
 " I'll try what Mead and Cheselden advise." 
 
 Pope. 
 
 Consequently, in most complicated cases of 
 importance, requiring the united skill and at- 
 
 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 re- 
 sources, prepared for all events, operating with remark- 
 able 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. 
 
136 MEAD. 
 
 tendance of a physician and surgeon, these 
 two celebrated practitioners were called in to 
 consultation. 
 
 On our first interview, it was pronounced 
 that the illness of Sir Isaac arose from stone 
 in the bladder, and no hopes were given of his 
 recovery; and yet, to look upon the great 
 philosopher, though now in his eighty-fifth 
 year, he had the bloom and colour of a young 
 man, had never worn spectacles, nor lost more 
 than one tooth during his whole life. Besides 
 being blessed with a very happy and vigorous 
 constitution, he had been very temperate in 
 his diet, though we did not learn that he had 
 ever observed any regimen. He was of mid- 
 dle stature, and at this time plump in his per- 
 son; had a very lively and piercing eye, a 
 comely and gracious aspect, and a fine head 
 of hair, as white as silver, without any bald- 
 ness, and when his peruke was off, he had truly 
 a most venerable appearance. On inquiry we 
 found, that for some years before his present 
 illness, he had suffered so much from the same 
 disorder, that he had put down his chariot, and 
 had gone out always in a chair; had left off 
 dining abroad, or with much company at home. 
 
MEAD. 137 
 
 He ate little flesh; lived chiefly upon broth, 
 vegetables, and fruit, of which latter he always 
 partook very heartily. Notwithstanding his 
 present infirmities had been gradually in- 
 creasing upon him, nothing could induce him 
 to absent himself entirely from town, and he 
 had continued to go occasionally to the Mint, 
 although his nephew had for the last year 
 transacted the business there for him. It ap- 
 peared that on the last day of the preceding 
 month he had gone to town, in order to be 
 present at a meeting of the Royal Society: on 
 the next day Mr. Conduitt told us that he 
 had seen him, and thought he had not observed 
 him in better health for many years; that Sir 
 Isaac was sensible of it himself, for that he 
 had told him, smiling, that he had slept the 
 Sunday before, from eleven at night to eight 
 in the morning, without waking; but that the 
 great fatigue he had endured in going to the 
 Society, in making and receiving visits, had 
 brought on his old complaint violently upon 
 him. He had returned to Kensington on the 
 Saturday following. This was the statement 
 we received ; and we found him suffering great 
 pain. But though the drops of sweat ran 
 
138 MEAD. 
 
 down from his face with anguish, he never 
 complained, or cried out, or showed the least 
 signs of peevishness or impatience. On the 
 contrary, during the short intervals between 
 these violent fits of torture, he smiled, and 
 talked with my master with his usual cheer- 
 fulness. On Wednesday, the fifteenth of 
 March, he seemed a little better; and some 
 faint hopes were entertained of his recovery. 
 On Saturday, the eighteenth, he read the 
 newspapers, and held a pretty long discourse 
 with Dr. Mead, and had all his senses perfect ; 
 but at six o'clock on that evening he became 
 insensible, and remained so during the whole 
 of Sunday; and died on Monday, the 
 twentieth, between one and two o'clock in the 
 morning. 
 
 To find a successor worthy of filling the 
 chair of science, which Sir Isaac Newton had 
 occupied for twenty-four years, was impos- 
 sible; nor is it at any time an easy matter to 
 select one able to perform all the duties of 
 that distinguished station, and to fulfil the ex- 
 pectations and satisfy the claims of the pub- 
 lic. Even to draw the beau ideal of such a 
 one would be difficult. Perhaps he should be 
 
MEAD. 139 
 
 a man of literary and scientific attainments, 
 and who, though not a labourer in the field of 
 science himself, is so well acquainted with the 
 history and progress of natural knowledge, as 
 to be capable of judging of the value and im- 
 portance of the contributions of others. Pos- 
 sessed of discrimination and tact in the selec- 
 tion of a council, which would be candid 
 enough to aid him in the difficult task of ap- 
 preciating the merit of others, he should him- 
 self be a man of fortune and character suffi- 
 cient to be above the temptation of making his 
 high office subservient to the purposes of pri- 
 vate advancement, or the gratification of self- 
 ish ambition. To these solid advantages, he 
 should certainly add such an acquaintance with 
 at least one foreign language, as to be able in 
 a becoming manner to do the honours of sci- 
 ence to the distinguished strangers who, in 
 their visits to this country, are likely to be 
 recommended to his care. To find an indi- 
 vidual uniting in his own person all these quali- 
 ties is difficult, perhaps impossible; but it may 
 be said, without fear of contradiction, that 
 the study of medicine is likely to have be- 
 stowed a greater number of these attainments, 
 
140 MEAD. 
 
 than the discipline to which the mind is sub- 
 ject in the pursuit of any other profession. 
 Among the very founders of the Royal So- 
 ciety, we find the names of many distinguished 
 Physicians, as Ent, Glisson, Merret, Willis, 
 Croone, Needham, Whistler; but the honour 
 was reserved for Sir Hans Sloane to be the 
 first Medical President. He had been chosen 
 its Secretary, in 1693, when he revived the 
 publication of the Transactions, which had 
 been for some years suspended: the first act 
 of his Presidency was to make a present of 
 100 guineas to the Society, and of a bust of 
 their founder, Charles II. He continued in 
 that office fourteen years, and did not resign 
 the chair till the age of eighty: how fit he was 
 to preside over the interests of science must 
 appear from what has already been said of 
 him: and if I might be allowed to anticipate 
 some fifty years, and allude to another Phy- 
 sician who was raised to the same dignity, 
 there will be no reason to blush for the repu- 
 tation of physic. 
 
 Sir John Pringle was elected President of 
 the Royal Society in 1772; in which office he 
 continued only six years ; but if the volumes of 
 
MEAD. 
 
 141 
 
 Statue of Sir Hans Sloane, by Rysbrach, in the 
 Apothecaries' Garden, Chelsea. 
 
142 MEAD. 
 
 Transactions, published during that time, be 
 examined, they will be found to contain many- 
 memorable papers: among others, Dr. Maske- 
 lyne's experiments at Schehallien, with Dr. 
 Hutton's deductions from them — The experi- 
 ments of Sir G. Shuckburgh Evelyn and of 
 General Roy to establish correct formulas for 
 measuring heights by the barometer — The re- 
 port of the Committee to determine the 
 proper method of graduating thermometers — 
 Experiments to ascertain the freezing point 
 of mercury. Pringle was the first President 
 who made a set speech on the delivery of the 
 Copley Medals, and his discourses, which were 
 made on rather celebrated occasions, embrace 
 many topics of interest, and show his acquaint- 
 ance with the history of philosophy. They 
 were six in number, the four first of which 
 were, 
 
 To Priestley, for his Paper on different 
 kinds of Air. 
 
 To Walsh, for his Experiments on Elec- 
 tricity. 
 
 To Maskelyne, for his Observations on 
 Gravitation. 
 
 To Captain Cook, for his Paper on the 
 
MEAD. 143 
 
 Prevention of Scurvy amongst his Crew, dur- 
 ing his voyage round the world. 
 
 But I beg pardon for this digression, and 
 must return to my master. On the accession 
 of George the Second, Dr. Mead was made 
 one of the royal physicians, and was for many 
 years engaged in the constant hurry of an ex- 
 tensive and successful practice. By his sin- 
 gular humanity and goodness of heart he con- 
 quered even envy itself; and it was acknowl- 
 edged by all who knew him, that few princes 
 have shown themselves equally generous and 
 liberal in promoting science, and encouraging 
 learned men. He threw open his gallery in 
 the morning for the benefit of students in 
 painting and sculpture; and was in the habit 
 of even lending the best of his pictures to 
 artists to copy. If any literary work was 
 going on, he contributed all in his power to 
 its perfection. For instance, he accommo- 
 dated the learned Dr. Zachary Grey with the 
 loan of his original picture of Butler, the au- 
 thor of Hudibras, (by Mr. Soest, a famous 
 Dutch painter), for the use of the engraver. 
 He constantly kept in his pay a number of 
 artists and scholars, and scarcely a curious un- 
 
144 MEAD. 
 
 dertaking appeared during the period of his 
 success, that did not find a patron in Mead. 
 
 Knowing that Mr. Carte (who was accused 
 of high treason, and for whose apprehension 
 a thousand pounds had been offered) had fled 
 to Paris, resided there under the borrowed 
 name of Phillips, and was employed in col- 
 lecting materials for an English translation 
 of Thuanus, my master perceived that his plan 
 might be enlarged; and satisfying Mr. Carte 
 for the pains he had already taken (pretio 
 haud eociguo, as our librarian Mr. Hocker 
 used to say), he employed Mr. Buckley to 
 complete the work. In the first French edi- 
 tion, passages offensive to the nobility of that 
 nation had been omitted; but these were now 
 restored, and a splendid and complete edition 
 printed at Mead's expense. 
 
 He was also one of the first subscribers to 
 the Foundling Hospital; that noble institu- 
 tion, which will for ever endear the name of 
 Captain Coram to this country. Guy, the 
 wealthy citizen, was also persuaded by my 
 master to lay out his immense fortune in build- 
 ing that hospital in the Borough which bears 
 his name. 
 
MEAD. 145 
 
 With respect to science, no discovery was 
 made in which he did not take a lively interest. 
 In the year 1746, the experiments tending to 
 illustrate the nature and properties of elec- 
 tricity were made by Mr. afterwards Sir Wil- 
 liam Watson; and he was present on a re- 
 markable occasion, to witness the effects of 
 the Leyden phial, then newly invented. It 
 was in the house of the ingenious philosopher 
 whose name has just been mentioned, in Al- 
 dersgate Street; and here, amongst a large 
 concourse of people, I saw the Duke of Cum- 
 berland, recently returned from Scotland, 
 take the shock with the point of the sword 
 with which he had fought the battle of Cul- 
 loden. 
 
 Two or three years after this I witnessed 
 the famous experiments made on the Thames 
 and at Shooter's-hill, in the presence of the 
 President and several of the Fellows of the 
 Royal Society; in one of which the electrical 
 circuit was made to extend four miles, and 
 the result of the experiment was, that the 
 velocity of electricity seemed to be instan- 
 taneous. 
 
 The hospitality of Mead was unbounded; 
 
146 MEAD. 
 
 and consequently his housekeeping expenses 
 were very great: for, not content with the re- 
 ception of his own friends and acquaintances, 
 he kept also a very handsome second table, to 
 which persons of inferior quality were invited. 
 The consequence of this was, that notwith- 
 standing the considerable gains derived from 
 his profession (for several years he made be- 
 tween £5000 and £6000, and during one year 
 he received £7000), he did not die so rich as 
 might have been expected. The total amount 
 left at his death, including the receipts of the 
 sale of his library, pictures, statues, &c. 
 (which were between £15,000 and £16,000) 
 was about £50,000: but this sum was ma- 
 terially diminished by the payment of his 
 debts. 
 
 With respect to his manner of living, when 
 not engaged at home, he generally spent his 
 evenings at Batson's Coffee-House; and in 
 the forenoons, apothecaries used to come to 
 him, at Tom's, near Covent Garden, with 
 written or verbal reports of cases, for which 
 he prescribed without seeing the patient, and 
 took half -guinea fees. 
 
 The last work he published, which was in 
 
MEAD. 147 
 
 1751, was entitled Medical Precepts and Cau- 
 tions; in which, with great candour and sim- 
 plicity, he enumerated all the discoveries that 
 long practice and experience had opened to 
 him concerning diseases and their cures; and 
 concluded with many salutary directions for 
 preserving the body and mind perfect and 
 entire to a good old age. This he attained 
 himself; and preserved till within three years 
 of his death his intellectual powers in a state 
 of perfection. Then he became very corpu- 
 lent, and his faculties were visibly impaired. 
 But his kindness of heart never deserted him. 
 I shall never forget a piece of insolence on 
 the part of one of his servants, who doubtless 
 presumed on his master's known good nature 
 and forgiving disposition. Dr. Watson was 
 sitting with Mead in his library, when the 
 latter wishing to read something, looked about 
 for his spectacles, for his eyesight had become 
 very bad; and not readily finding them, asked 
 his servant for them: upon which the man gave 
 them to him with great rudeness, saying at 
 the time, " You are always losing your things." 
 How I longed to have knocked the fellow 
 down for his brutality! 
 
148 MEAD. 
 
 Dr. Mead died on the 16th of February, 
 1754, in his eighty-first year, and was buried 
 in the Temple Church. 
 
 After his death, it was said of him, that of 
 all physicians who had ever flourished, he 
 gained the most, spent the most, and enjoyed 
 the highest fame during his lifetime, not only 
 in his own but in foreign countries. 
 
ASKEW. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Dr. Askew had been in his youth a great 
 traveller; at least he was so considered in 
 those days, for he had been absent from Eng- 
 land three years, and had, during that time, 
 visited Hungary, and resided at Athens and 
 Constantinople. To the latter place he had 
 accompanied Sir James Porter, then ambassa- 
 dor to the Porte. In consequence of these 
 peregrinations, he was regarded on his return 
 to his native country as no ordinary person, 
 
150 ASKEW. 
 
 but one who had enjoyed most unusual ad- 
 vantages, and very rare opportunities of ac- 
 quiring knowledge. This will perhaps hardly 
 be credited at the present moment, when it is 
 scarcely possible to turn the comer of a street 
 without meeting an Englishman recently ar- 
 rived, either from the borders of the Dead 
 Sea, the cataracts of the Nile, or the ruins of 
 Palmyra. Interviews with the Beys and 
 Pashas of the empire of Mahomet have now-a- 
 days succeeded to the usual presentations at 
 the courts of the Continent; and the camel, 
 the firman, and the Tartar, have been sub- 
 stituted for the ordinary facilities of the poste, 
 the passports, and couriers of the beaten roads 
 of civilized Europe. Nor is this spirit of en- 
 terprise confined to the gentlemen of Eng- 
 land, but pervades alike the softer sex. One 
 lady of rank and great talent has taken up 
 her permanent abode at the convent of Mar 
 Elias, on Mount Lebanon; another has ac- 
 companied her husband and family of young 
 children, nurse-maids and all, across the dreary 
 desert, from Cairo to Jerusalem; while a third, 
 of still more adventurous spirit, has climbed, 
 by the help of a ladder of ropes, to the sum- 
 
ASKEW. 151 
 
 mit of Pompey's pillar. A few years only 
 have elapsed since an English lady of fashion 
 was confined at Athens, gave to her infant son 
 the name of Atticus, and, when sufficiently re- 
 covered, resumed with her husband her jour- 
 ney through the enchanting scenery of Greece ; 
 the child occupying one side of a pair of pan- 
 niers, while a favourite dog reposed on the 
 other. But these prodigies were reserved for 
 modern days. 
 
 One of the immediate results of the travels 
 of Dr. Askew was the excellent opportunity 
 it afforded him of gratifying the favourite pur- 
 suit for which he was early distinguished, of 
 collecting books, manuscripts, and inscrip- 
 tions. At Paris, on his way home from his 
 eastern expedition, he laid the foundation of 
 his library, which became afterwards so cele- 
 brated: for, in the love of books, he resem- 
 bled Dr. Mead, for whom he entertained a 
 sort of filial veneration, and to whom he had, 
 when a very young man, and while studying 
 physic at the university of Leyden, dedicated 
 his specimen of an edition of JEschylus. At 
 the sale of my late master's library, he had 
 been one of the most distinguished of the 
 
152 
 
 ASKEW. 
 
 emptores literarii, and, even during his life- 
 time, had purchased all his Greek manu- 
 scripts, for which he paid the sum of five hun- 
 dred pounds. 
 
 Not content with possessing himself as much 
 as possible of his books, statues, and other 
 curiosities, he did all he could to preserve the 
 lineaments, and perpetuate the memory of 
 
 * Now in the Censor's Room of the College. 
 
ASKEW. 153 
 
 the person of his deceased friend. For this 
 purpose he procured Roubiliac to make a bust 
 of him, which he presented to the College of 
 Physicians. 
 
 No one could be better acquainted with the 
 real features of Dr. Mead than myself; and 
 I pronounce this bust of him to be so like, 
 that, whenever it is before me, it suggests the 
 strongest idea of the original; and, indeed, 
 when the marble came home, Dr. Askew was 
 so highly pleased with its execution, that 
 though he had previously agreed with the 
 sculptor for £50, he offered him £100 as the 
 reward of his successful talent; when, to his 
 astonishment, the sordid Frenchman exclaimed 
 it was not enough, and actually sent in a bill 
 for £108. 2s.\ The demand, even to the odd 
 shillings, was paid, and Dr. Askew enclosed 
 the receipt to Hogarth, to produce at the next 
 meeting of artists. 
 
 My present master never practised any 
 where but in London: but his father, Dr. 
 Adam Askew, was a celebrated physician at 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he enjoyed a 
 great provincial reputation, and lived to a 
 good old age. With reference to him, a con- 
 
154 ASKEW. 
 
 versation which occurred at a literary party in 
 the metropolis excited a laugh at the time, and 
 was to the following effect: Some one of the 
 company having remarked that my master, 
 Dr. Askew, looked very ill — but indeed, from 
 his advanced age (whereas he was not then 
 fifty) he could not be expected to last a long 
 time — "Possibly not," replied a gentleman 
 with a smile, " but I dined with his father 
 about a fortnight since at Newcastle, and he 
 appeared to be in perfect health." 
 
 From the Library of Dr. Mead, in Ormond 
 Street, I had removed but a short distance, 
 and could scarcely be said to be sensible of 
 any change in the scholastic air of my present 
 abode. 
 
 Our house in Queen Square was crammed 
 full of books. We could dispense with no 
 more. Our passages were full; even our very 
 garrets overflowed; and the wags of the day 
 used to say, that the half of the square itself 
 would have done so, before the book appetite 
 of Dr. Askew would have been satiated. 
 
 We saw a great deal of company, attracted 
 as well by the abundant luxuries with which 
 my master's table was furnished, as by the 
 
ASKEW. 155 
 
 classical conversations and learned accounts 
 of curiosities which he had brought with him 
 from his very interesting travels in Greece. — 
 Among the literary people who were most fre- 
 quently there, I may mention Archbishop 
 Markham, Sir William Jones, Dr. Farmer, 
 Demosthenes Taylor, and Dr. Parr. By these 
 distinguished persons Dr. Askew was consid- 
 ered as a scholar of refined taste, sound knowl- 
 edge, and indefatigable research into every 
 thing connected with Grecian and Roman 
 learning. Indeed, from his youth upwards, 
 he had been distinguished for his love of let- 
 ters, and had received the early part of his 
 education under Richard Dawes the critic. 
 His father, on presenting him to the school- 
 master, marked those parts of his back which 
 Dawes, who was celebrated for his unsparing 
 use of the birch, might scourge at his pleasure, 
 excepting only his head from this discipline; 
 and my master was wont to relate with some 
 humour, the terror with which he surveyed for 
 the first time this redoubted pedagogue. As 
 a collector of books Dr. Askew was the first 
 who brought bibliomania into fashion; and no 
 one exhibited his various treasures better than 
 
156 ASKEW. 
 
 himself. The eager delight with which he 
 produced his rare editions, his large-paper 
 copies, his glistering gems and covetable 
 tomes, would have raised him high in the esti- 
 mation of the Roxburgh Club. Some, in- 
 deed, were of such great rarity, that he would 
 not suffer them to be touched, but would show 
 them to his visitors through the glass cases of 
 the cabinets of his Library, or, standing on a 
 ladder, would himself read aloud different por- 
 tions of these inestimable volumes *. As 
 specimens of his wealth in this line, I may 
 enumerate — 
 
 His Platonis Opera, apud Aldum, 2 vol. fol. 
 1513, Edit Prin. on spotless vellum; the ink 
 of which was of the finest lustre, and the whole 
 typographical arrangement a master-piece of 
 printing. 
 
 His Boccacio, la Teseide, Ferar. 1475, 
 Prima Edizione, which was then considered an 
 unique copy, and was sold after his death for 
 £85. What it would have fetched under the 
 sceptre of Mr. Evans cannot even be con- 
 jectured! 
 
 * His Micyllus de Re Metrica was one which he prized 
 highly. 
 
ASKEW. 157 
 
 His Ciceronis Opera omnia, Oliveti, 9 vol. 
 quarto, 1740; charta maxima. 
 
 These were amongst many others which I 
 cannot now specify, but which were then re- 
 garded as rare, magnificent, giants, imperial, 
 atlas, elephant, princes of editions!! 
 
 As no one had enjoyed greater opportuni- 
 ties, possessed more sufficient means to gratify 
 his taste, or had an acuter descrimination, the 
 Bibliotheca Askeviana was well known to all, 
 both at home and abroad, who were in the 
 least eminent for bibliographical research. 
 And as he had expressed a wish that his books 
 might be unreservedly submitted to sale after 
 his decease, the public became ultimately bene- 
 fited by his pursuits, and many a collection 
 was afterwards enriched by an Exemplar 
 Askevianum. The sale (apud S. Baker et 
 G. Leigh, in vico dicto York Street, Covent 
 Garden, Februar. 1775) occupied twenty 
 days. 
 
 But the library of my present master was 
 not, as I have said before, the only attraction 
 which our house afforded: to many of his 
 guests, the recital of his adventures during 
 his travels abroad was a constant source of 
 
158 
 
 ASKEW. 
 
 * This model is about 12 inches high, is of unbaked 
 potters' clay, and is now in the possession of Sir Lucas 
 Pepys, Bart., whose lady is the daughter of Dr. Askew. 
 
ASKEW. 159 
 
 amusement; and we saw most foreigners who 
 came to London. Dr. Askew had been in the 
 East, and so vague and magnificent was the 
 opinion formed at that time of an oriental 
 traveller, that I verily believe he was supposed 
 to have been able to speak all the languages of 
 that quarter of the globe. It was from some 
 such notion as this that they brought to him a 
 Chinese, by name Chequa, who (however im- 
 perfect their oral communication might be) 
 seemed so grateful for the attention and kind- 
 ness he had received, that he requested before 
 his departure from England to be permitted to 
 make a model of the Doctor in his robes; 
 which being readily granted, we sat to the 
 stranger: and this is the specimen of his in- 
 genuity, rendered with Chinese fidelity. 
 
 From what has been said of the pursuits of 
 Dr. Askew, it may be inferred that much of 
 his time was employed in his library, and dedi- 
 cated to the conversation of literary men; but 
 he was not entirely inattentive to professional 
 engagements, and I took of course no small in- 
 terest in watching the progress of medicine, 
 and becoming acquainted with the rising and 
 eminent physicians of the day. Amongst 
 
160 ASKEW. 
 
 others, there was one who had settled in Lon- 
 don two years before Dr. Askew, and who 
 rapidly got into great business, which he fol- 
 lowed with unremitting attention above thirty 
 years, for he lived many years after the death 
 of the former. Previous to his coming to 
 town, Dr. Heberden had been established at 
 Cambridge, where he gave Lectures on the 
 Materia Medica for about ten years: among 
 his pupils were students who afterwards 
 greatly distinguished themselves, as Sir 
 George Baker, Dr. Gisborne, and Dr. Glynn; 
 the latter of whom was a character long known 
 and valued in Cambridge, both for his virtues 
 and his eccentricities. Of his method of lec- 
 turing, a specimen is preserved in his Essay 
 on Mithridatium and Theriaca, published in 
 1745, three years before he quitted the 
 university. Treating of this famous medi- 
 cine, which had recently been expunged from 
 our public dispensatory, Dr. Heberden proves, 
 that the only poisons known to the ancients 
 were hemlock, monk's-hood, and those of 
 venomous beasts; and that to these few they 
 knew of no antidotes. That the farrago called 
 after the celebrated King of Pontus, which, 
 
ASKEW. 161 
 
 in the time of Celsus, consisted of thirty-eight 
 simples, had changed its composition every 
 hundred years, and that therefore what had 
 been for so many ages called Mithridatium, 
 was quite different from the true medicine 
 found in the cabinet of that Prince. This, he 
 states, was a very trivial one, composed of 
 twenty leaves of rue, one grain of salt, two 
 nuts, and two dried figs; and he infers that, 
 even supposing Mithridates had ever used the 
 compound (which is doubtful), his not being 
 able to despatch himself was less owing to the 
 strength of his antidote than to the weakness 
 of his poison. The first accounts of subtle 
 poisons that might be concealed under the 
 stone of a seal or ring, as well as the, stories of 
 poisons by vapours arising from perfumed 
 gloves and letters, he pronounces to be evi- 
 dently the idle inventions of ignorance and 
 superstition. 
 
 The learning and good sense which char- 
 acterize the whole of this little Essay, will 
 enable the reader to form a judgment of the 
 manner in which he conveyed instruction to his 
 class, and of the loss which the university must 
 have suffered by his removal; but he would 
 
162 ASKEW. 
 
 probably have settled in London earlier than 
 he actually did, had the encouragement held 
 out to him, to come to the metropolis, not 
 been most unfairly kept from his knowledge. 
 The circumstances attending this want of good 
 faith will be best explained by the following 
 letter from Sir Edward Hulse to Dr. Heber- 
 den, then residing at Cambridge, and Dr. 
 H.'s reply: — 
 
 " Baldwyn, July 14, 1748. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " I shall be very glad to embrace any op- 
 portunity of showing you how sincerely I 
 wish your welfare; and I assure you, when 
 
 I desired to dispose you to come to 
 
 London, I did unfeignedly mean to serve you, 
 knowing you to be capable of answering any 
 recommendation your friends could give you. 
 then sent me word, you had no in- 
 clination to leave the University. What shall 
 I say to you now? Even what I said to 
 
 , who at the persuasion of his friends 
 
 was afterwards inclined to come himself, and 
 try his fortune here, viz. That when I left 
 London I had, as far as I could, recommended 
 
ASKEW. 163 
 
 Dr. Shaw to my business: so it stands now, 
 except that Dr. Shaw has too much business, 
 more than he can possibly do, upon which ac- 
 count I have endeavoured to assist Dr. Taylor, 
 who came from Newark. He is greatly sup- 
 ported by some noble families, and has already 
 wonderfully succeeded. I have set before 
 you the difficulties that I lie under, of recom- 
 mending any body at present. I don't in- 
 tend to flatter you, when I say, I make no 
 doubt you will be able to support yourself by 
 your own merit ; and as far as shall be consist- 
 ent with honour, jointly with my power, which 
 is now very little, you may depend upon the 
 friendship of, 
 
 "Sir, 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 " humble servant, 
 "E. Htjlse. 
 
 " P.S. — Since the writing of this, I am cer- 
 tainly informed that Dr. Shaw is gone over 
 to Hanover with the Duchess of Newcastle. 
 I believe you never will have a fairer oppor- 
 tunity of settling in this town than the pres- 
 ent." 
 
164 ASKEW. 
 
 Dr. Heberden's answer. 
 
 " August 30, 1748. 
 " I take the opportunity of returning my 
 thanks by Mr. H., for your most obliging let- 
 ter. No one can be ignorant that your assist- 
 ance and recommendation must be of the 
 highest advantage to any person who was be- 
 ginning the practice of physic in London; and 
 I am persuaded they would at any time have 
 determined me to fix there, though I had 
 otherwise no such intention. But I never was 
 rightly informed that I had such a valuable 
 opportunity in my power. By what accident 
 or mistake it happened, I do not know, but the 
 person you mention never acquainted me with 
 it at all, nor indeed any one else with authority 
 from you. I had only heard accidentally, that 
 you had expressed yourself with great civility, 
 on a supposition of my removing to London. 
 There was no reason, when I first heard such 
 reports, to imagine that they amounted to any 
 thing more than your good wishes. As soon 
 as I could believe there was the least proba- 
 bility of your intending to assist me with your 
 interest, I immediately took the liberty of 
 
ASKEW. 165 
 
 writing to you. I must reckon it among my 
 greatest misfortunes, that this application 
 came too late: though I shall always think 
 myself under the same obligations to you, as 
 if I had enjoyed the benefit of your kind in- 
 tentions. My best acknowledgments are due 
 for the assurances of your disposition to assist 
 me still, where your other engagements have 
 not put it out of your power ; and it is with the 
 highest satisfaction that I find myself pos- 
 sessed of a place in your friendship. I pro- 
 pose seeing London some time in October, in 
 order to consult with some friends about the 
 advisableness of my settling there, when I 
 hope to have the pleasure of paying my re- 
 spects to you." 
 
 He settled in London the following Christ- 
 mas. The name of the person alluded to in 
 Sir Edward Hulse's letter does not appear, 
 for it was effectually erased from the origi- 
 nal letter, though it shows something indica- 
 tive of a superior mind to be told, that Dr. 
 Heberden afterwards lived on terms of friend- 
 ship with the author of so base a transaction. 
 Not long after he came to reside in town, he 
 
166 ASKEW. 
 
 met Dr. Mead in consultation at the Duke of 
 Leeds', and observed his faculties to be so im- 
 paired, that he then determined within him- 
 self, that if he ever lived to the same age of 
 seventy-eight, he would give up practice. 
 And this resolution he strictly adhered to, say- 
 ing that people's friends were not forward to 
 tell them of their decay, and that he would 
 rather retire from business several years too 
 soon, than follow it one hour too long. 
 
 " Plutarch," said he, " has told us that the 
 life of a vestal virgin was divided into three 
 portions; in the first of which she learned the 
 duties of her profession, in the second she 
 practised them, and in the third she taught 
 them to others." This, he maintained, was 
 no bad model for the life of a physician; and 
 when he had passed through the two first of 
 these periods, he addressed himself diligently 
 to the work of teaching others. The motto 
 prefixed to his commentaries was expressive of 
 this his favourite maxim — 
 
 npmv xai xdfivsiv obxiri Suvafievos, touto to BiftAiov 
 eypcupa. 
 
 But while in the enjoyment of health, he lived 
 
ASKEW. 167 
 
 much with scholars and men of science, among 
 whom may be reckoned Gray, Bryant, Wray, 
 Cavendish, Hurd, Kennicott, Lowth, Jenyns, 
 Tyrwhitt, Jortin, and most of the distin- 
 guished men of his time. Of the amusements 
 of this literary coterie, take this as an example. 
 Mr. Stuart, best known by the name of 
 Athenian Stuart, having presented Dr. Heb- 
 erden with a tea-chest made of olive wood 
 from Athens, Mr. Tyrwhitt, who soon after 
 dined with him, inspired by so classical a sub- 
 ject, sent him the next day the following copy 
 of verses. 
 
 In Attic fields, by famed Ilissus' flood, 
 
 The sacred tree of Pallas once I stood. 
 
 Now torn from thence, with graceful emblems drest, 
 
 For Mira's tea I form a polish'd chest. 
 
 Athens, farewell! no longer I repine 
 
 For my Socratic shade and patroness divine. 
 
 Sir William Jones * afterwards rendered 
 
 * Translated by Sir William Jones. 
 IIa?,Xa8og tjv nors devhpov en 'EtXcffeoto fiesdpotq 
 Kapizyt ayaXXofievov xatXnzaprj (pexadi, 
 Ts/JLve pap^ 6 yXuTzrr)? xat ano^eae, vuvde 8savou<s 
 AaudaXer) Xapval; IvBtxa <puXXa <pepio w 
 Xaip\ u) Kexponos aia' t: p.ot p-eXsc • oux eTZidu[i(o 
 2toxpaTtx7j? to%6t]s, yXauxo<piXoo re 0eecy. 
 
168 ASKEW. 
 
 the same into Greek, and Jacob Bryant, Esq. 
 author of the Ancient Mythology, into Latin. 
 The chest speaks its own native language the 
 best, but should it imitate my example, and, 
 inspired by the flattering notice of such distin- 
 guished men, begin to talk again, and procure, 
 as an amanuensis, the elegant scholar in whose 
 possession it now is, let it speak whatever 
 tongue it may, I am afraid my memoirs would 
 soon be consigned to neglect. 
 
 Dr. Heberden was always exceedingly lib- 
 eral and charitable, therefore as soon as he 
 found he could support himself in London, he 
 voluntarily relinquished a fellowship which he 
 held in St. John's College for the benefit of 
 some poorer scholar to whom it might be of 
 use. He was forward in encouraging all ob- 
 jects of science and literature, and promoting 
 
 By Jacob Bryant, Esq. 
 Hospes ego in terras nuper delata Britannas, 
 Arbor eram iEgiferae maxima cura Deae. 
 Exul ab Ilisso Thamesina ad littora sistor, 
 Hei mihi ! dulce solum, patria terra, vale ! 
 Non tamen in fines cupio remeare priores; 
 Omnia, quae amisi, reddidit una domus. 
 Hie Musae atque artes, hie dignus Socrate sermo, 
 Et, pro Pallade, me Pallade nata fovet. 
 
ASKEW. 
 
 169 
 
 all useful institutions. There was scarcely a 
 public charity to which he did not subscribe, or 
 any work of merit to which he did not give his 
 support. He recommended to the College of 
 Physicians the first design of their Medical 
 Transactions; was the author of several pa- 
 pers in them, also of some in the Philosophical 
 
 * Dr. Heberden, from a portrait of him in the Dining 
 Room of the College. 
 
170 ASKEW. 
 
 Transactions of the Royal Society, as well as 
 of Commentaries on the History and Cure of 
 Diseases. 
 
 He was much esteemed by his Majesty 
 King George the Third; and upon the 
 Queen's first coming to England, in 1761, had 
 been named as Physician to her Majesty, an 
 honour which he thought fit to decline. The 
 real reason of which was, that he was appre- 
 hensive it might interfere with those connex- 
 ions of life that he had now formed. In 1796 
 he met with an accident which disabled him for 
 the last few years of his life; till then he had 
 always been in the habit of walking, if he 
 could, some part of every day. It deserves to 
 be mentioned, that when he was fast approach- 
 ing to the age of ninety, he observed, that 
 though his occupations and pleasures were 
 certainly changed from what they had used 
 to be, yet he knew not if he had ever passed a 
 year more comfortably than the last. 
 
 He lived to his ninety-first year (for I am 
 anticipating, by many years, my own history), 
 and there can hardly be a more striking me- 
 morial of the perfect condition of his mind to 
 the very last, than that within forty-eight 
 
ASKEW. 171 
 
 hours of his decease he repeated a sentence 
 from an ancient Roman author, signifying, 
 that " Death is kinder to none than those to 
 whom it comes uninvoked." 
 
 His address was pleasing and unaffected, 
 his observations cautious and profound, and 
 he had a happy manner of getting able men to 
 exhibit their several talents, which he directed 
 and moderated with singular attention and 
 good humour. 
 
 But, though rendered eminent by his skill 
 as a physician, he conferred a more valuable 
 and permanent lustre on his profession by the 
 worth and excellence of his private character. 
 From his early youth Dr. William Heberden 
 had entertained a deep sense of religion, a con- 
 summate love of virtue, an ardent thirst after 
 knowledge, and an earnest desire to promote 
 the welfare and happiness of all mankind. By 
 these qualities, accompanied with great 
 sweetness of manners, he acquired the love 
 and esteem of all good men, in a degree which 
 perhaps very few have experienced; and after 
 passing an active life with the uniform testi- 
 mony of a good conscience, he became a 
 distinguished example of its influence, in 
 
172 ASKEW. 
 
 the cheerfulness and serenity of his latest age. 
 In proof of these assertions I will men- 
 tion an anecdote of him which, though now 
 perhaps almost forgotten, somehow or other 
 transpired at the time, and was duly appre- 
 ciated by his contemporaries. After the death 
 of Dr. Conyers Middleton, (whom I have had 
 occasion to speak of before, as the author of 
 the attack on the dignity of physic, which 
 was so warmly and triumphantly repelled by 
 Dr. Mead), his widow called upon Dr. He- 
 berden with a MS. treatise of her late hus- 
 band, about the publication of which she was 
 desirous of consulting him. The religion of 
 Dr. Middleton had always been justly sus- 
 pected, and it was quite certain that his phi- 
 losophy had never taught him candour. Dr. 
 Heberden having perused the MS., which was 
 on the inefficacy of prayer, told the lady that 
 though the work might be deemed worthy of 
 the learning of her departed husband, its ten- 
 dency was by no means creditable to his prin- 
 ciples, and would be injurious to his memory; 
 but as the matter pressed, he would ascertain 
 what a publisher might be disposed to give 
 
ASKEW. 173 
 
 for the copyright. This he accordingly did; 
 and having found that £150 might be pro- 
 cured, he himself paid the widow £200, and 
 consigned the MS. to the flames. 
 
PITCAIRN. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 When the Radcliffe Library was opened 
 at Oxford, which was done April 13th, 1749, 
 with great solemnity, the degree of Doctor 
 of Medicine was conferred by diploma upon 
 Dr. William Pitcairn; and the College of 
 Physicians hastened to adopt him, in the fol- 
 lowing year, into their corporate body. He 
 was descended from the family of Dr. Archi- 
 bald Pitcairn, celebrated as the founder of 
 the mechanical sect of medicine, who, having 
 followed the fortunes of the exiled James, was, 
 for a short time, Professor of the Practice of 
 
PITCAIRN. 175 
 
 Physic at the University of Leyden. Boer- 
 haave and Mead had been fellow pupils of this 
 distinguished man, and Dr. Wm. Pitcairn, 
 into whose hands I now was delivered, had 
 studied under Boerhaave; afterwards he had 
 travelled with the Duke of Hamilton (to 
 whose family he was related), though not in 
 a medical capacity. His brother, a Major in 
 the army, had been killed at the battle of 
 Bunker's Hill, and as there was not in the 
 world a more excellent or benevolent character 
 than my present master, he adopted his or- 
 phan children, and always acted towards them 
 with the affection and solicitude of a parent. 
 He was a man of very agreeable manners, and 
 his society was much sought after.— Among 
 the many occasions on which I attended him 
 to the houses of his professional brethren, I 
 remember once particularly, when in company 
 with his nephew, then a very young man 
 (afterwards Dr. David Pitcairn), we called 
 upon Dr. Richard Warren. We were re- 
 ceived with the greatest kindness and alacrity, 
 the Doctor showing my master that respectful 
 attention which, without checking the familiar 
 tone of friendly intercourse, is due and agree- 
 
176 
 
 PITCAIRN. 
 
 able to superiors in age. During the lively 
 and entertaining conversation which ensued, 
 Dr. Pitcairn, in introducing his nephew, ex- 
 pressed himself in these words: — "Dr. War- 
 ren, my nephew, whom I present to you, 
 received his early education at Glasgow, 
 
 * William Pitcairn, M. D. F. R. S. From a portrait, 
 anno 1777, by Sir J. Reynolds. 
 
PITCAIRN. 177 
 
 but afterwards I took him home, and kept him 
 here in London, under my own eye for a short 
 time, endeavouring to give him some of my 
 peculiar views of practice. He is now just 
 returned from Edinburgh, where he has 
 been under the tuition of my countryman, Dr. 
 Cullen, whose clinical clerk he has been for a 
 twelvemonth. Surely you will think him a 
 youth of promise in his profession when I in- 
 form you, that in the case of the son of that 
 great master of physic, which the father 
 thought desperate, he took a hint from what 
 he had learned in London, and advised a 
 larger dose of laudanum than is usually made 
 use of, which restored the child of his precep- 
 tor and friend. My currus triumphalis opii, 
 as some of my brethren have been pleased to 
 call my practice, has thus travelled north- 
 wards to my own country, and I rejoice that 
 it has reached the door of so amiable a man 
 and excellent practitioner as Dr. Cullen." So 
 strong a recommendation was not without 
 its effect^ and the expressions of friendship 
 with which Dr. Warren received the young 
 student of physic were afterwards amply ful- 
 filled by the real assistance and countenance 
 
178 PITCAIRN. 
 
 which he gave him in the commencement of 
 his professional career. On our return from 
 Sackville Street, where Dr. Warren lived, to 
 our own residence, in Warwick Court, War- 
 wick Lane, when I had been carefully re- 
 placed in the carriage — " David," said my 
 master to his nephew, " the Physician whose 
 house we have left is a remarkable man, and 
 well worthy your observation. He has risen 
 rapidly to the top of his profession, and his 
 abilities justify his success. You must have 
 remarked the liveliness, distinctness, and ac- 
 curacy of his mind, and the felicity of expres- 
 sion with which he explains himself, exhibit- 
 ing at once a clearness of comprehension and 
 a depth of knowledge that are very rarely to 
 be met with. He has certainly had some con- 
 siderable advantages in the beginning of his 
 professional life, was early admitted into the 
 best society, and is the intimate friend of the 
 minister, Lord North, who is confessedly the 
 most agreeable man of our day. You see how 
 kindly he has received you; and as I hope, nay, 
 fully expect, that you will become intimately 
 acquainted with him, I think you will like to 
 know all about him. His father was the Rev. 
 
PITCAIRN. 
 
 179 
 
 Dr. Richard Warren, Archdeacon of Suffolk 
 and Rector of Cavendish, in the same county; 
 a divine of considerable eminence, and one of 
 those who entered into the controversy upon 
 the Sacrament against Bishop Hoadley. He 
 was also editor of the Greek Commentary of 
 Hierocles upon the golden verses of Pytha- 
 goras. My friend, the Doctor, was the third 
 
 * Dr. Richard Warren, from a portrait of him in the 
 Dining Room of the College. 
 
180 PITCAIRN. 
 
 son, and was born at Cavendish, in December, 
 1731: he received the rudiments of his educa- 
 tion at the public school at Bury St. Edmunds, 
 in Suffolk; from whence in the year 1748, 
 immediately upon his father's death, he re- 
 moved to Jesus College, Cambridge. At this 
 time he had little but his industry and natural 
 talents to support him, aided by the reputation 
 of being the son of a clergyman of ability. 
 How far this served him, however, in the be- 
 ginning of life may be doubted, for the low 
 church party prevailed at that time in the 
 University with such violence, as not to dis- 
 pose the persons then in authority to look with 
 an eye of kindness upon the son of an an- 
 tagonist of Hoadley. In due time he took 
 the degree of A. B., and his name appears 
 fourth in the list of wranglers of that year. 
 I am not much acquainted with the forms of 
 these English Universities, as I have never 
 resided at either of them; but I have been 
 given to understand, that if fair justice had 
 been done my friend, he ought to have 
 been placed even higher; it is certain, how- 
 ever, that he obtained the prize granted 
 to the middle Bachelors of Arts for Latin 
 
PITCAIRN. 181 
 
 prose composition, and the following year 
 got the prize for the senior Bachelors. Be- 
 ing already elected Fellow of his College, 
 the choice of a profession presented itself to 
 his mind. To pursue the steps of his father, 
 who had been like himself a Fellow of Jesus 
 College, was perhaps the most obvious; but 
 he had two elder brothers already in the 
 church, which indeed might be considered his 
 family profession, as his ancestors had fol- 
 lowed it from the time of Queen Elizabeth. 
 His own inclination, as I have often heard 
 him say, would have led him to the law, but 
 the res angusta domi was an invincible ob- 
 stacle, and accident at length threw him upon 
 the study of physic. 
 
 " Whether fortunately for himself, great as 
 has been his early success, and promising as 
 his future prospects undoubtedly are, may be 
 questioned; for abilities like his would have 
 led him to the head of any other profession. 
 At this critical moment the son of Dr. Peter 
 Shaw was entered at Jesus College, and 
 placed under his tuition. The name of this 
 Physician must be known to you from his 
 works, by his editions of Bacon and Boyle, 
 
182 PITCAIRN. 
 
 and from the fact of his having been one of 
 the Physicians of George the Second, and the 
 usual medical attendant upon that Monarch 
 in his journeys to Hanover. The casual ac- 
 quaintance which my friend thus formed de- 
 termined his lot in life; for Dr. Shaw, who 
 was a very amiable and high spirited man, 
 and possessed of various knowledge, was na- 
 turally pleased with similar qualities in a 
 young man; took an interest in his welfare, 
 and in recommending him to pursue the study 
 of medicine, predicted that he would rank with 
 the first Physicians of his country. This con- 
 nexion was some years afterwards strength- 
 ened by a marriage with Dr. Shaw's daugh- 
 ter ; and much of the early difficulty of medical 
 life was consequently overcome by an imme- 
 diate introduction to the prominent Physicians 
 of that day, and to some of the upper circles 
 in life, in which Dr. Shaw moved. Sir Ed- 
 ward Wilmot, at that time a Physician to the 
 Court, and much employed among the nobil- 
 ity, was the attendant on the Princess Amelia, 
 the daughter of George the Second. Being 
 advanced in fife and looking to retirement, he 
 was led to propose Dr. Warren as an assist- 
 
PITCAIRN. 183 
 
 ant to attend to the more minute and arduous 
 duties required by a royal patient, who was 
 besides subject to sudden seizures that created 
 alarm. At the commencement of his practice, 
 Dr. Warren, during three summers, went 
 to Tonbridge Wells, and on two of these 
 occasions Her Royal Highness visited that 
 watering-place under his care. On the re- 
 tirement of Sir Edward Wilmot, he continued 
 Physician to the Princess, and one of the re- 
 wards bestowed upon him was the appoint- 
 ment of Physician to the King, which was pro- 
 cured for him by her influence, on the resigna- 
 tion of his father-in-law, Dr. Shaw, who had 
 been continued in that office on the accession 
 of George the Third. He was for a short 
 time one of the Physicians to the Middlesex 
 Hospital, then in its infancy; and afterwards, 
 for several years, belonged to St. George's 
 Hospital. 
 
 " His progress has been more rapid than 
 that of any other physician of our time, and 
 when you meet him in practice, which I hope 
 you may often do hereafter, you will discover 
 in him a marked superiority over other men." 
 
 My master here paused for an instant, and 
 
184 PITCAIRJNT. 
 
 taking me up from the position in which I 
 had been lying, raised me to the level of his 
 eyes, and looking attentively at my head, ex- 
 claimed, " This cane, which my worthy friend, 
 Dr. Askew, left to me about two years ago, 
 once belonged to Radcliffe, and might well 
 have descended to Dr. Warren, for no one 
 more resembles that penetrating physician, 
 and most extraordinary man, in the accuracy 
 of his prognosis, and the almost intuitive sa- 
 gacity with which he sees at a glance the true 
 nature of a complaint. But I recommend you 
 to read his Harveian Oration, which I heard 
 him deliver seven years ago, where, notwith- 
 standing the difficulty of introducing any 
 thing like novelty into the annual commemora- 
 tion of the Benefactors of the College, you 
 will find that he has contrived to treat the sub- 
 ject with the sprightliness, the force and 
 brevity, the precision of thought, and smart- 
 ness of expression, that are peculiarly his own. 
 The characters are drawn without effort, the 
 narration flows easily and naturally, contain- 
 ing touches of tenderness and pathos when he 
 alludes to the death of his early friends, Wol- 
 laston and Hadley, and rising even to elo- 
 
PITCAIRN. 185 
 
 quence when he comes to speak of his relative, 
 Dr. Shaw. But here," continued he, as we 
 entered the narrowest part of Warwick Lane, 
 " is the College of Physicians, where I heard 
 the speech delivered; we will alight, and send 
 the carriage home. As I am now the Presi- 
 dent, I will show you the interior of the build- 
 ing, point out and explain to you some of its 
 contents." We stopped at some large iron 
 gates, and passed under the curiously con- 
 structed dome, built in an oval form over the 
 entrance, the plan of which was furnished by 
 Sir Christopher Wren. On the opposite side 
 of the court, he pointed out, over the door, in 
 a niche, the statue of Charles II., voted in 
 1680, with the following inscription, expres- 
 sive of the various fortunes of that monarch. 
 
 Utriusque Fortunae Exemplar 
 
 Ingens Adversis Rebus Deum 
 
 Probavit Prosperis Seipsum 
 
 Collegii Hujusce Stator. 
 
 On entering the Hall, we turned to the right, 
 and saw the Library, consisting of two rooms 
 communicating with each other, with galleries 
 running round them. " The College," said 
 
186 PITCAIRN. 
 
 my master, " was built and used for public 
 meetings, in the year 1674, but this Library 
 was not finished till eight or ten years after *. 
 Unfortunately we have lost our able Librarian, 
 George Edwards, who died two years ago, at 
 the age of eighty. But here," said Dr. Pit- 
 cairn, " is his work on Birds, which he began 
 about seven years after he was chosen Library 
 Keeper, to which office he was elected in 
 1733, through the influence of Sir Hans 
 Sloane, who continued through life his great 
 patron. Edwards was an extraordinary man; 
 when young he had been intended for trade, 
 but having an opportunity to travel, he much 
 improved himself; and when, on his return 
 from abroad, he was lucky enough to obtain 
 the leisure which his office here afforded him, 
 he devoted himself to the study of natural his- 
 tory, and became by great assiduity a distin- 
 
 * 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. 
 
PITCAIRN. 187 
 
 guished ornithologist. During thirty-six 
 years he was Librarian to the College, and in 
 that period was chosen Fellow of the Royal 
 and Antiquarian Societies, and by the first of 
 these learned bodies was rewarded with the 
 Copley medal; of which he was deservedly so 
 proud, as to have caused it to be engraved in 
 the title-page of the first volume of his work. 
 Were he in my place, he would exhibit to you 
 the treasures of our Library, which, though 
 imperfect as a collection of medical books (for 
 it consists chiefly of donations), is rich in rare 
 classics, curious manuscripts, and in very 
 scarce and valuable Treatises on Civil Law." 
 On returning to the Hall, we ascended a 
 broad staircase, the sides of which were hung 
 with pictures, and on the first landing-place 
 stopped, to read the long inscription to the 
 memory of Harvey. " This," said my master, 
 " was voted by the College, in 1659, the year 
 after the death of this illustrious man. You 
 see it is on copper, which proves that it is a 
 copy of the original epitaph, for that was on 
 marble *. During his lif etime a statue, or- 
 
 * Marmor incisum epitaphium, in suo apud nos Mu- 
 saeo. — Harney's MS. 
 
188 PITCAIRN. 
 
 namented with a cap and gown, on the pedes- 
 tal of which was another inscription, had been 
 erected in the Hall of the College, in Amen 
 Corner; but this honorary tablet which we are 
 now looking at was placed in the Museum 
 which bore his own name." And this differ- 
 ence of position is alluded to in the inscription 
 itself, for after enumerating the virtues, the 
 discoveries, and more especially the various 
 claims Harvey has to the eternal gratitude of 
 the College, it concludes — 
 
 Ne mireris igitur Lector 
 
 Si quern Marmoreum illic stare vides 
 
 Hie totam implevit Tabulam. 
 
 Abi et merere alteram. 
 
 We now reached the great room, or Csena- 
 culum, wainscoted by Harney with Spanish 
 oak, at the expense of some hundred pounds, 
 in the most elegant manner, with pilasters and 
 carved capitals; and here the President ex- 
 plained to his nephew the pictures with which 
 this and the adjoining Censor's Room were 
 adorned. He particularly called his attention 
 to the portraits of Sir Theodore Mayerne, of 
 Sydenham, of Harvey, and of the deeply 
 
PITCAIRN. 189 
 
 learned Physician and antiquary, Sir Thomas 
 Browne, the author of the Religio Medici. 
 While gazing on that of Sir Edmund King — 
 " To be a court Physician now-a-days," said 
 my master, " does not involve quite so much 
 responsibility as formerly, for the Doctor 
 whose likeness is before us incurred consider- 
 able hazard, by saving for a time the life of 
 His Majesty Charles the Second. When the 
 King was first seized with his last illness, it 
 was in his bedchamber, where he was surprised 
 by an apoplectic fit, so that, if by God's provi- 
 dence Dr. King had not been accidentally 
 present to let him blood (having his lancet in 
 his pocket), His Majesty had certainly died 
 that moment; which might have been of dire- 
 ful consequence, there being nobody else pres- 
 ent with the King, save this Doctor and one 
 more. It was considered a mark of extraor- 
 dinary dexterity, resolution, and presence of 
 mind in the Doctor to let him blood in the very 
 paroxysm, without staying the coming of 
 other physicians, which regularly should have 
 been done, and for want of which it was at 
 first thought that he would require a regular 
 pardon. The Privy Council, however, ap- 
 
190 PITCAIRN. 
 
 proved of what he had done, and ordered him 
 £1000 — which, by the by, was never paid him." 
 
 We next passed to the portrait of Vesalius, 
 on board, by Calker. " This famous anato- 
 mist," continued the President, " was some 
 time Physician to the Emperor Charles the 
 Fifth, but being disgusted with the manners 
 of a court, he made a voyage to the Holy 
 Land; on his return thence to fill the chair 
 of Professor of Medicine at Padua, to which 
 he had been invited on the death of Fallo- 
 pius, he was shipwrecked in 1564, in the Isle 
 of Zante, where he perished of hunger." 
 
 Opposite the full length portrait of Sir 
 Hans Sloane my master paused, and told his 
 nephew, that " Sir Hans, in the decline of 
 his life, had left London, and retired to his 
 manor-house * at Chelsea, where he resided 
 about fourteen years before he died. Our Li- 
 brarian, Edwards, of whom we were talking a 
 few minutes ago, was used to visit him every 
 
 * Sloane Street and Hans Place are names still re- 
 tained: the estate now belongs to Lord Cadogan. 
 Charles, Baron Oakley, brother of the first Earl Ca- 
 dogan, married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir 
 Hans Sloane. 
 
PITCAIRN. 191 
 
 week to divert him for an hour or two with the 
 common news of the town, and with any par- 
 ticulars that might have happened amongst 
 his acquaintances of the Royal Society, or 
 other ingenious gentlemen, and seldom missed 
 drinking coffee with him on a Saturday. The 
 old baronet was so infirm, as to be wholly con- 
 fined to his house, except sometimes, though 
 rarely, taking a little air in his garden in a 
 wheeled chair; and this confinement made him 
 very desirous to see any of his old acquaintance 
 to amuse him. Knowing that the Librarian 
 did not abound in the gifts of fortune, he was 
 strictly careful, Edwards used to say, that 
 he should be at no expense in his journeys 
 from London to Chelsea; and Sir Hans would 
 calculate what the cost of coach hire, waterage, 
 or any other little charge attending on his 
 journeys backward and forward would 
 amount to, and, observing as much delicacy as 
 possible, would oblige him annually to accept 
 of it. In this quiet and inoffensive life did 
 he continue exercising the most charitable dis- 
 position towards decayed branches of families 
 of eminent men, famous for their learned 
 works, till January, 1753, when he died, with 
 
192 PITCAIRN. 
 
 great firmness of mind, and resignation to the 
 will of God. Thirty years before this event, 
 he had presented to the Apothecaries' Com- 
 pany his botanical garden at Chelsea, upon 
 the following conditions, viz. the payment of 
 £5 per annum, and the yearly offering of fifty 
 plants to the Royal Society, till the number 
 amounted to 2000. If it were attempted to 
 convert it to any other use, it was to devolve to 
 the Royal Society, and ultimately to the Col- 
 lege of Physicians; but the intentions of the 
 original donor have been most faithfully and 
 liberally fulfilled by the Apothecaries, who 
 expend a very large sum annually, with no 
 other view than the promotion of botanical 
 knowledge, more especially in the cultivation 
 of curious and rare plants. In 1748, they 
 erected a statue * to Sir Hans, in front of the 
 green-house, with this inscription — 
 
 Hansio Sloane Baronetto Archiatro 
 
 Insignissimo Botanices Fautori 
 
 hoc honoris causa monimentum 
 
 Inque perpetuam ejus Memoriam 
 
 Sacrum Voluit 
 
 Societas Pharmacopjeiorum Londinensis 
 
 1733." 
 
 * It is by Rysbrach, and cost £280. 
 
PITCAIRN. 193 
 
 The merit and virtues of Sir Hans had par- 
 ticularly caught the attention of young Pit- 
 cairn, and his character continued to form the 
 subject of conversation as the senior returned 
 with his nephew to his own house. 
 
 " The immediate result of his death," ob- 
 served the uncle, " was the foundation of the 
 British Museum; for this great patron of sci- 
 ence, being well aware how much it is bene- 
 fited by the aggregation of various objects, 
 and anxious that his fine collection should be 
 preserved entire, directed by his will, that after 
 his decease the whole of his Museum of natural 
 and artificial curiosities, which had cost him 
 £50,000, should be offered to Parliament for 
 the moderate sum of £20,000, to be paid to his 
 family. 
 
 "The contents of his collection were very 
 various, and consisted of his library, books of 
 drawings, MSS., &c. 50,000 volumes. 
 
 Medals and coins, 23,000 
 
 Cameos, intaglios, seals, &c. 1,500, 
 besides antique idols, anatomical preparations, 
 amphibia, insects, minerals, volumes of dried 
 plants, mathematical instruments, &c. the 
 particulars of which were entered in a cata- 
 
194 PITCAIRN. 
 
 logue that was comprised in thirty-eight 
 volumes folio, and eight volumes quarto. 
 
 " The offer directed in the will of Sir Hans 
 Sloane was immediately made to Parliament, 
 and accepted without hesitation; and before 
 the expiration of the year of his death an Act 
 was passed, ordering the payment of the stipu- 
 lated sum to his executors, and vesting the 
 property of the Museum in trustees for the 
 use of the public. To this scientific reposi- 
 tory was soon afterwards added whatever the 
 Legislature could command; the Cottonian 
 Library was obtained, and the Harleian col- 
 lection of MS. was purchased; and in order 
 to defray the expenses of these different ac- 
 quisitions, and to provide a proper mansion 
 for their reception, Parliament raised the sum 
 of £100,000 by way of Lottery. The trus- 
 tees then bought of the representatives of the 
 Montague family the house which had been 
 built by the first Duke of Montague ; a stately 
 and ample palace, which had been originally 
 ornamented by the fresco paintings of the fa- 
 mous Verrio, representing the Funeral Pile 
 of Dido, the Labours of Hercules, the Fight 
 with the Centaurs, and other designs, excel- 
 
PITCAIRN. 195 
 
 lent on the walls and roof of the great room. 
 The gardens and appurtenances occupied to- 
 gether ahout seven acres. The first mansion 
 was destroyed by a fire, which broke out in the 
 night of January 22d, 1685, and burnt with 
 so great violence that the whole house was 
 consumed by five o'clock; but it was immedi- 
 ately rebuilt, and ornamented by artists sent 
 from France for that purpose. 
 
 " The British Museum was opened to the 
 public in 1759." 
 
 I had often been to the College of Physi- 
 cians, but never till this occasion been carried 
 thither in the hands of a President, and my 
 present master appeared to me to dwell with 
 great satisfaction upon every part of the struc- 
 ture, and every thing connected with its his- 
 tory, which was probably not felt the less from 
 the reflection that the distinction of the Fellow- 
 ship had been conferred upon him without his 
 having passed through the ordinary routine of 
 an English academical education. For sev- 
 eral years Dr. William Pitcairn was the lead- 
 ing Practitioner in the city, and thus afforded 
 me an opportunity of observing more closely 
 the manners of the wealthy inhabitants of that 
 
196 PITCAIRN. 
 
 quarter, and contrasting them with the habits 
 of the more polite and courtly end of the town, 
 to which I had previously been chiefly accus- 
 tomed. In 1784 he resigned the office of 
 President, being succeeded by Sir George 
 Baker; and in seven years afterwards died, 
 when I was bequeathed to his nephew, Dr. 
 David Pitcairn: this promising young man 
 had realized the expectations formed of him 
 in early life, and before he took his Doctor's 
 degree at Cambridge, had been elected Phy- 
 sician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The 
 commencement of his private medical practice 
 may be dated about the year 1780, and he was 
 placed at the head of his profession in Lon- 
 don by the death of Dr. Warren. 
 
 I have spoken before of this eminent Phy- 
 sician, but his professional career was so bril- 
 liant, and attracted my notice in so remarkable 
 a degree, that I must bestow an additional ob- 
 servation on his character. If posterity 
 should ask what works Dr. Warren has left 
 behind him worthy of the great reputation he 
 enjoyed during his lifetime, it must be an- 
 swered that such was his constant occupation 
 in practice among all classes of people, from 
 
PITCAIRN. 197 
 
 the highest to the lowest, that he had no leisure 
 for writing, with the exception of a very few 
 papers published in the College Transactions. 
 But the unanimous respect in which he was 
 held by all his medical brethren, which no man 
 ever obtains without deserving it, fully 
 justifies the popular estimate of his character. 
 To a sound judgment and deep observation 
 of men and things, he added various literary 
 and scientific attainments, which were most 
 advantageously displayed by a talent for con- 
 versation that was at once elegant, easy, and 
 natural. Of all men in the world, he had the 
 greatest flexibility of temper, instantaneously 
 accommodating himself to the tone of feeling 
 of the young, the old, the gay, and the sor- 
 rowful. But he was himself of a very cheer- 
 ful disposition, and his manners being pecu- 
 liarly pleasing to others, he possessed over the 
 minds of his patients the most absolute con- 
 trol; and it was said, with truth, that no one 
 ever had recourse to his advice as a Physician, 
 who did not remain desirous of gaining his 
 friendship and enjoying his society as a com- 
 panion. In interrogating the patient he was 
 apt and adroit; in the resources of his art, 
 
198 PITCAIRN. 
 
 quick and inexhaustible ; and when the malady 
 was beyond the reach of his skill, the minds 
 of the sick were consoled by his conversation, 
 and their cares, anxieties, and fears soothed 
 by his presence. And it may be mentioned 
 among the minor qualities which distinguished 
 Dr. Warren, that no one more readily gained 
 the confidence or satisfied the scruples of the 
 subordinate attendants upon the sick, by the 
 dexterous employment of the various argu- 
 ments of encouragement, reproof, and 
 friendly advice. The height he had rapidly 
 attained in his profession he maintained with 
 unabated spirits till his death, which took place 
 in 1797, at the age of sixty-five, at his house 
 in Dover Street. 
 
 Dr. David Pitcairn resided many years in 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields, and was early admitted 
 a Fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian So- 
 cieties. To these meetings it was my lot often 
 to be taken, and gradually to become ac- 
 quainted not only with the members, but, in 
 the course of the various conversations which 
 I overheard, to pick up a good deal of infor- 
 mation connected with the former history and 
 establishment of these learned bodies. I will 
 
PITCAIRN. 199 
 
 endeavour to describe one of the most remark- 
 able evenings passed at a meeting of the first 
 of these Societies. 
 
 When I was in the service of Dr. Mead, the 
 Royal Society met in one of the Professors' 
 Rooms in Gresham College; and many of the 
 Members used to dine at Pontac's, in Ab- 
 church Lane. The house was kept by a 
 Frenchman, who had been cook to M. Pontac, 
 president of the parliament of Bourdeaux; 
 and who, from respect to the memory of his 
 master, hung up his effigies as the outward sign 
 of his place of entertainment. Soon after 
 their first incorporation by charter, these con- 
 vivial meetings themselves were made sub- 
 servient to the purposes of science, and were in- 
 tended, as well as their more formal stated as- 
 semblies, to further the progress of knowledge. 
 For it is related that on April 2d, 1682, at a 
 supper where several of the Society were pres- 
 ent, every thing was dressed, both fish and 
 flesh, in Monsieur Papin's digestors (then 
 newly invented) , and the philosophers ate pike 
 and other fish bones, all without impediment; 
 nay, the hardest bones of beef and mutton 
 made as soft as cheese, and pigeons stewed in 
 
200 PITCAIRN. 
 
 their own juice, without any addition of water. 
 From this scientific entertainment one of the 
 guests sent home a glass of jelly to his wife, 
 to the reproach of all that the ladies ever 
 made of their best hartshorn. But this was 
 in the infancy of their establishment, when the 
 zeal of the original founders of the Society 
 was in its full energy. They had in fact only 
 existed as a corporate body about twenty 
 years, for it was in 1662 that Charles the Sec- 
 ond granted them a charter, at a period which 
 was certainly peculiarly favourable to the 
 progress of science in Britain. The sudden 
 restoration of the King had healed the di- 
 visions of party, and the effervescence of tur- 
 bulent minds was directed to the advance- 
 ment of knowledge, instead of political specu- 
 lation. The germ of the Royal Society may 
 indeed be traced a few years further back than 
 the period now mentioned, since, so early as 
 1645, several ingenious men, residing in Lon- 
 don, agreed to meet once a week to discourse 
 upon subjects connected with Mathematics 
 and Natural Philosophy. They assembled 
 sometimes in Cheapside, at others in Gresham 
 College, but chiefly in the lodgings of Dr. 
 
PITCAIRN. 201 
 
 Goddard, in Wood Street. This last place 
 was preferred, because the Doctor kept in his 
 house an operator for grinding glasses for 
 telescopes. The revolutionary troubles sus- 
 pended for a time these meetings, but after 
 the restoration they were revived in the apart- 
 ments of Mr. Rooke, in Gresham College; a 
 set of regulations was drawn up, and a weekly 
 contribution of one shilling was collected from 
 each of the members, in order to defray the 
 expenses of their experimental investigations. 
 The chief objects of their association were 
 to publish periodically all the discoveries which 
 came to their knowledge, and to perform ex- 
 periments. For the first of these purposes 
 their Secretary was appointed Editor of their 
 Transactions, the first Number of which ap- 
 peared in 1665, by Mr. Henry Oldenburg*. 
 They were not for some time continued regu- 
 larly, owing to their limited sale, and to the 
 
 * 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. 
 
202 PITCAIRN. 
 
 small profit which accrued to the Editor. 
 For the second purpose a person was ap- 
 pointed, with a salary, to contrive suitable ex- 
 periments, and to have every thing ready for 
 their exhibition: besides which they hired a 
 man, whom they called their English itinerant, 
 and who regularly gave an account of his au- 
 tumnal peregrination about England, bring- 
 ing dried fowls, fish, plants, animals, &c. 
 
 Such was the simplicity of this early estab- 
 lishment, when every step was a discovery, 
 and every judicious experiment led the for- 
 tunate philosopher to eminence. In that 
 infant period of science apparatus had been 
 procured with difficulty, and the greatest phi- 
 losophers were obliged to labour with their 
 own hands to frame the instruments which 
 they were to use. Hence it was found ex- 
 pedient to keep in the rooms of the Society a 
 collection of all such machines as were likely 
 to be useful in the progress of experimental 
 knowledge. It was soon discovered that little 
 progress could be made by an individual, and 
 all felt the necessity of mutual co-operation. 
 Money was, therefore, furnished for the pur- 
 chase of convenient apparatus, curators and 
 
PITCAIRN. 203 
 
 operators were employed, by whom many capi- 
 tal experiments were made under the eyes of 
 the Society, and exhibited to the distinguished 
 strangers who were invited to be present. 
 Nor was this latter an uncommon occurrence. 
 Immediately after they had obtained their 
 charter, when Charles the Second intimated 
 his intention of being present at one of their 
 meetings, Sir Christopher Wren, who had 
 been consulted upon the matter, suggested 
 that His Majesty should be entertained with 
 some experiments upon the barometer, which, 
 besides being amusing, were useful and easy 
 of exhibition. 
 
 The King was an experimenter himself, and 
 had an elaboratory at Whitehall, though, 
 whether he believed the philosopher's elixir 
 attainable, or had ever seen projection, does 
 not appear. But having bought the receipt 
 of the famous arcanum Goddardianum for 
 the sum of £1500, His Majesty was wont to 
 witness the distillation as it was going on. 
 The drops were procured from raw silk, one 
 pound of which yielded an incredible quantity 
 of volatile salt, and in proportion the finest 
 spirit that ever was tasted. The salt (a 
 
204 PITCAIRN. 
 
 coarse kind of spirit of hartshorn) being re- 
 fined with any well scented chemical oil, made 
 the King's salt, as it was used to be called. 
 The experiments were shown to the King 
 three years before the fire of London, which 
 drove the Society from Gresham College; 
 when they were invited by Mr. Howard to 
 sit at Arundel House, in the Strand; who also 
 bestowed upon them the noble library that had 
 been collected by his ancestors. After the fire 
 the Society returned to Gresham College, 
 which when they finally left, they purchased 
 a house in Crane Court, Fleet Street, where 
 their meetings continued to be held, till the 
 government, a short time ago, allotted them 
 apartments in Somerset House. Since that 
 period, the Club, which consists of the more 
 select of the Society, have for many years 
 dined at the neighbouring tavern, the Crown 
 and Anchor; where, at half past five o'clock 
 on each Thursday previous to the sitting of 
 the Society, you are sure of meeting with very 
 indifferent cheer, but excellent company. On 
 the 7th April, 1791, I accompanied Dr. Pit- 
 cairn to the tavern, and met there Prince Po- 
 niatowsky, who had been invited as a guest. 
 
PITCAIRN. 205 
 
 Sir Joseph Banks was in the chair. His 
 Highness appeared about fifty, had a good 
 face, was of middling stature, was dressed in 
 black, had the order of Malta in his button- 
 hole, and wore his hair in a round curl. — 
 When the dinner was over, after the usual 
 toast, " the King," Sir Joseph proposed the 
 health of the King of Poland, which was drunk 
 by the company. Soon after, the Prince took 
 an opportunity of the President's getting up 
 for a moment or two from table, to propose 
 Sir Joseph's health. — From the tavern we ad- 
 journed to the apartments of the Royal So- 
 ciety in "Somerset House, where the distin- 
 guished stranger, who had been balloted for 
 on the preceding Thursday, was admitted a 
 Fellow, as a sovereign prince, by the title of 
 Duke de Lowitz. The President addressed 
 him as Prince Primate of Poland; and he was 
 styled in the minutes, " His Highness Prince 
 Michael Poniatowsky, Prince Primate of Po- 
 land, Archbishop of Gnesna, and sovereign of 
 the principality of Lowitz." 
 
 When the meeting broke up, my master ac- 
 companied a very intelligent friend and Phy- 
 sician in his carriage home, and the discourse 
 
206 PITCAIRN. 
 
 naturally turned to the subject of the eminent 
 foreigner whom they had that evening seen. 
 " You know," said Dr. Samuel Foart Sim- 
 mons, " that the Prince is the brother of the 
 present King of Poland, and since his arrival 
 in England I have seen a great deal of him, as 
 he has done me the honour of inviting me fre- 
 quently to his table. The motive of his visit 
 to England at this moment is, to absent him- 
 self during the present session of the Diet, 
 that he may avoid all interference in the ques- 
 tion now agitated, relative to the succession. 
 My introduction to him was through Dr. 
 Szaster, a Polish Physician, whom the Prince 
 had met at Paris, and who is much esteemed 
 by him, and who was recommended to me by 
 some of my friends. My first visit to His 
 Highness, at his house, No. 11, Soho Square, 
 which had been taken ready furnished for 
 him, was in company with Dr. Grieve, who 
 from his residence in Russia and Poland, and 
 his consequent acquaintance with the lan- 
 guages and customs of those parts of Europe, 
 has rendered himself very agreeable and 
 highly useful. As a Polish dinner given in 
 London was quite a novelty to myself, and 
 
PITCAIRN. 207 
 
 perhaps may be so to you, I will describe it 
 minutely. I was invited for four o'clock, and 
 our party consisted of six: before we sat down 
 to table a glass of Dantzick liqueur was 
 handed round on a waiter, with which, as a 
 foreign custom, we readily complied. 
 
 " On taking our seats, the Prince placed 
 himself at the head, and I took a chair on his 
 right hand, while His Highness's Physician 
 sat at the bottom and carved. Two dishes of 
 oysters were first placed on the table, and a 
 servant then handed round a plate of lemons, 
 cut into halves. I was going to drink a glass 
 of wine with Dr. Grieve, for decanters of wine 
 stood on the table near us; but the Prince 
 pleasantly observed, that he hoped^ as Phy- 
 sicians we would excuse him if he reminded 
 us of an old Polish opinion, that beer and not 
 wine should be drunk immediately after oys- 
 ters. When the oysters were taken away, a 
 tureen of soup, called by the Poles bosch, 
 made of milk and beet-root, and having an acid 
 smell, was placed at top, bouilli at bottom, and 
 a dish of boiled tongue, sliced and mixed with 
 vegetables, in the middle. The Physician cut 
 slices of the bouilli into the dish, which a serv- 
 
208 PITCAIRN. 
 
 ant carried round to the company: the same 
 ceremony was also observed with respect to 
 the other dish. Then slices of buttered 
 French roll, covered with a chocolate-coloured 
 powder, which I understood to be grated hare, 
 were handed about. — After the second course, 
 which consisted of fritters, roast turkey, and 
 some made dish in the middle, the dessert was 
 put upon the table, and the servants withdrew. 
 The Prince was in excellent humour, ex- 
 tremely communicative, and the conversation 
 became interesting. 
 
 " He had dined a few days before with the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, who had told him 
 an anecdote which had pleased him so much, 
 that he had communicated it in a letter he 
 had just written, and which was going by the 
 next post to Poland. Before he sealed his 
 letter, His Highness read that part of it to us. 
 It related to a dramatic writer whose play 
 had been a good deal applauded, and who was 
 informed that on a particular night a great 
 philosopher and mathematician was to be pres- 
 ent at its performance. ' This,' said the au- 
 thor, ' is the man for me : I shall long to hear 
 what he says of my play. The opinion of 
 
PITCAIRN. 209 
 
 such a judge will be really worth having.' 
 The mathematician took his seat in the centre 
 of the pit; and when the performance was 
 over, the author was anxious to have his 
 opinion of the piece. ' I find,' said the philo- 
 sopher, ' that such an actress has pronounced 
 3284 words, that such an actor has pro- 
 nounced 2864,' &c. ; and this was the only re- 
 ply that the mortified dramatist could obtain. 
 " The Prince continued his amusing anec- 
 dotes, and related to us that one of his brothers 
 had engaged a Frenchman as a pastry-cook, 
 in which art he greatly excelled, but who was 
 so drunken a fellow that a sentinel was always 
 placed at the door to prevent his getting 
 strong liquors before he had finished -his work. 
 At length, however, his frequent intoxication 
 became intolerable, and it was necessary to 
 discard him. He went to Dantzick, where he 
 found a vessel bound to Petersburgh, in which 
 he embarked; and, on his arrival in that city, 
 accidentally heard of a nobleman near Mos- 
 cow, who was in want of a preceptor for his 
 son. The pdtissier offered his services, was 
 accepted, and travelled in an elegant coach 
 to his destination. Of Italian, which he was 
 
210 PITCAIRN. 
 
 to teach, he knew not a word; but being a 
 native of Provence, he spoke the dialect of 
 that part of France. This he taught his pupil, 
 and was for some time in great credit. But 
 the nobleman having at length a visitor who 
 spoke Italian, the impostor was detected, and 
 he was ignominiously driven out of the family. 
 For some months he rambled about Tartary, 
 and lived on the hospitality of different 
 hordes; but after an absence of more than 
 two years, finding his way back into Poland, 
 he threw himself at the feet of his old master, 
 and was taken again into his service, upon 
 promising better behaviour in future. 
 
 " We now adjourned to another room, and 
 drank our coffee, after which frankincense was 
 burned before the Prince, who expressed a 
 wish that we should not be in a hurry to de- 
 part. In the course of the evening it ap- 
 peared that he did not think very favourably 
 of the English writing travellers ; particularly 
 " ces gouverneurs," as he called them, who 
 eagerly catch up every thing they hear in con- 
 versation, for the sake of printing it. The Eng- 
 lish minister at Warsaw had observed to him, 
 that he found himself oftentimes situated awk- 
 
PITCAIRN. 211 
 
 wardly enough with his raw young country- 
 men ; but that this was nothing when compared 
 with the trouble he had when they came accom- 
 panied with a travelling pedant as their tutor. 
 
 " Speaking of his brother, His Highness 
 told us that he could speak English before 
 his arrival in this country, which was in 1754 ; 
 and added that George the Second, upon being 
 informed that the King of Poland had re- 
 mained a certain number of months at Paris, 
 previous to his coming to England, asked 
 why His Majesty had stayed there so long. 
 ' To learn English,' was the reply. 
 
 " The conversation having turned on Rus- 
 sia, the Prince spoke of a certain courtier 
 there, who, when Biron was disgraced, said, 
 ' Ay, that fellow was the cause of my losing 
 two of my teeth.' ' How so? ' said somebody. 
 < Why, because a dentist came here whom he 
 patronised; and in order to pay my court to 
 Biron, I sent for that man to draw two of 
 my teeth.' We next talked of Potemkin, who 
 is said to have seduced five or six of his nieces, 
 one after the other, and then to have married 
 them off, except the youngest, who is now his 
 mistress. He has the reputation of having 
 
212 PITCAIRN. 
 
 always kept up his influence with the empress, 
 notwithstanding her favours have been be- 
 stowed on so many others since his time, and 
 of having always contrived to get his succes- 
 sors discarded whenever he found them ac- 
 quiring too much power. Before we left, the 
 Prince desired his secretary to bring out his 
 orders : viz. his Order of the White Eagle, and 
 that of Malta, both in brilliants, the latter of 
 which was most admirably set." 
 
 Here the Doctor left off speaking, and we 
 reached home. 
 
 Prince Poniatowsky remained in England 
 till June 13th, when he set out on his return 
 to Warsaw. On his way through Holland 
 he received intelligence of the revolution in 
 Poland. The journey he had undertaken had 
 originated in the circumstances which had 
 paved the way for this event. At the open- 
 ing of the Diet, he had pronounced a dis- 
 course which had directed the eyes of his coun- 
 trymen to their real political situation, and 
 this had gained him many enemies. He was 
 now going back to share in the shortlived gen- 
 eral joy. For this sudden and ill-concerted 
 attempt to withdraw the kingdom of Poland 
 
PITCAIRN. 213 
 
 from under the influence of Russia ultimately 
 involved the exhausted republic in an unpros- 
 perous war, and was shortly afterwards fol- 
 lowed by the loss of the fine and fertile prov- 
 inces of the Lesser Poland and Lithuania *. 
 
 * 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: 
 
 Hie 
 
 In Undis Elystri 
 
 Josephus Poniatowsky 
 
 Princeps 
 
 Summus Exercitus Polonorum Praefectus, 
 
 Imperii Gallici Mareschallus, Tribus Vulneribus 
 
 Letiferis acceptis, Ultimus ex Acie discedens 
 
 Dum receptum magni Gallorum Exercitus tuetur, 
 
 Vita Gloriae et Patriae sacrata functus est 
 
 Die 19 Octobris, An. 1813, 
 
 Anno iEtatis Impleto 52. 
 
 Popularis Populari, Duci Miles, 
 
 Hoc Monumentum, Lachyrmis suis irrigatum, 
 
 Posuit 
 
 Alexander Rozniecki. 
 
214. PITCAIRN. 
 
 The success of Dr. Pitcairn in practice was 
 great, and though one or two other Physicians 
 might possibly derive more pecuniary emolu- 
 ment than himself, certainly no one was so 
 frequently requested by his brethren to afford 
 his aid in cases of difficulty. He was per- 
 fectly candid in his opinions, and very frank 
 in acknowledging the extent of his confidence 
 in the efficacy of medicine. To a young 
 friend, who had very recently graduated, and 
 who had accompanied him from London to 
 visit a lady, ill of a consumption, in the coun- 
 try, and who, on their return, was expressing 
 his surprise at the apparent inertness of the 
 prescription, which had been left behind, 
 (which was nothing more than infusion of 
 roses, with a little additional mineral acid), 
 he made this reply, "The last thing a phy- 
 sician learns, in the course of his experience, 
 is to know when to do nothing, but quietly to 
 wait, and allow nature and time to have fair 
 play, in checking the progress of disease, and 
 gradually restoring the strength and health 
 of the patient." 
 
 The extensive practice of my master neces- 
 
PITCAIRN. 215 
 
 sarily brought me in contact with every phy- 
 sician of any eminence, of whom the most 
 prominent was unquestionably that profound 
 and elegant scholar, Sir George Baker, the 
 soundness of whose judgment was acknowl- 
 edged by all. To him the whole medical world 
 looked up with respect, and in the treatment 
 of any disease in the least degree unusual, 
 if it was desired to know all that had ever 
 been said or written on the subject, from the 
 most remote antiquity, down to the case in 
 question, a consultation was proposed with 
 Sir George Baker. From his erudition every 
 thing was expected. He was particularly 
 kind to the rising members of his profes- 
 sion, whom he encouraged and informed 
 with great condescension and apparent inter- 
 est. He was a native of Devonshire, was edu- 
 cated at Eton, and, afterwards, at King's 
 College, Cambridge. The accuracy and ex- 
 tent of his classical learning particularly en- 
 gaged the respect and admiration of the mem- 
 bers of those institutions; and to the inhabit- 
 ants of Devonshire he rendered a signal serv- 
 ice, by pointing out the source of that species 
 
216 PITCAIRN. 
 
 of colic and subsequent palsy, which had long 
 been the bane of that county. It was re- 
 ported at the time of the publication of his 
 " Essay concerning the Cause of the Endemial 
 Colic of Devonshire," that the farmers were 
 much annoyed at his discovery; but every 
 prejudice was at length overcome by the force 
 of truth; and the use of lead in the construc- 
 tion of their cider vessels, which he clearly 
 demonstrated to be the cause of that malady, 
 has since been discontinued *. 
 
 Sir George Baker commenced his profes- 
 sional career at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, to 
 which place he had been invited by a large 
 circle of friends whom he had known in early 
 life; but this was a situation too limited for 
 the exertion of his talents, and he soon re- 
 moved to London. In the metropolis it was 
 not long before he arrived at very extensive 
 practice and reputation, and he was appointed 
 Physician to Their Majesties. His character, 
 
 * The benefit conferred upon his countrymen by this 
 discovery was thus spoken of in an Harveian oration, 
 delivered 1809: — Quod si unum civem qui servasset, 
 corona quondam civili esset donandus; quid ille meruit, 
 qui totam provinciam in salutem vindicavit? 
 
PITCAIRN. 217 
 
 his learning, and his authority rendered him 
 for several years a distinguished President of 
 the College of Physicians. As an author, he 
 must be estimated rather by the value than 
 the extent of his works; for his Thesis de af- 
 fectibus Animi, published as an exercise at 
 Cambridge in 1755, his Harveian Oration, and 
 his two treatises, de Catarrho Epidemico and 
 de Dysenteria Londinensi, are models of the 
 purest and chastest classical style. With 
 studious habits, and unassuming manners, he 
 combined great playfulness of imagination, 
 as will appear from the two following speci- 
 mens of Latin pleasantry. 
 
 Epigram on two brothers who applied to 
 Sir George Baker for advice nearly at the 
 same time: 
 
 Hos inter fratres quantum disconvenit ! alter 
 Corpus ali prohibet, se nimis alter alit; 
 
 Hinc ambo segrotant; sed non est causa timoris; 
 Nam penes est ipsos certa utriusque salus. 
 
 Cautus uterque suam mutet, me judice, vitam; 
 Huic cibus, ast illi sit medicina fames. 
 
 Which may be thus rendered in English: 
 
 Behold two brothers, how unlike their state! 
 One's too indulgent, one too temperate; 
 
218 PITCAIRN. 
 
 Hence both are sick; but let not this alarm them, 
 The cure is in themselves, and will not harm them. 
 Let me prescribe, with caution, to each brother, 
 Food for the one, and fasting for the other. 
 
 On Mrs. Vanbutchel, who was preserved as 
 a Mummy at the request of her husband, he 
 wrote the following inscription. Under the 
 superintendence of Dr. Hunter, Mr. Cruik- 
 shank injected into the arteries spirits of tur- 
 pentine, coloured by vermilion. She died at 
 the age of forty, and her body, thus prepared, 
 was kept by her husband in his own house dur- 
 ing his lifetime ; at his death, his son presented 
 it to the College of Surgeons, where it is now 
 to be seen in a mahogany case. 
 
 In reliquias Marise Vanbutchel, novo miraculo con- 
 servatas, et a marito suo superstite, cultu quotidiano 
 adoratas : — 
 
 Hie, expers tumuli, jacet 
 Uxor Joannis Vanbutchel, 
 Integra omnino et incorrupta, 
 Viri sui amantissimi 
 Desiderium simul et deliciae; 
 Hanc gravi morbo vitiatam 
 Consumtamque tandem longa morte 
 In hunc, quern cernis, nitorem, 
 
PITCAIRN. 219 
 
 In hanc speciem et colorem viventis 
 
 Ab indecora putredine vindicavit 
 
 Invita et repugnante natura 
 
 Vir egregius, Gulielmus Hunterus, 
 
 Artificii prius intentati 
 
 Inventor idem, et perfector. 
 
 O fortunatum maritum 
 Cui datur 
 Uxorem multum amatam 
 Retinere una in unis aedibus, 
 Affari, tangere, complecti, 
 Propter dormire, si lubet, 
 Non fatis modo superstitem 
 Sed (quod pluris sestimandum 
 Nam, non est vivere, sed placere, vita) 
 
 Etiam suaviorem 
 Venustiorem 
 Habitiorem 
 Sobdam magis, et magis succi plenam 
 Quam cum ipsa in vivis fuerit ! 
 O ! fortunatum hominem et invidendum 
 Cui peculiare hoc, et proprium contingit 
 Apud se habere faeminam 
 Non variam, non mutabilem 
 
 Et egregie taciturnam ! 
 
 This epitaph was first given imperfectly to 
 the public in Franklin's translation of Lu- 
 cian, and, certainly, without the consent of the 
 author. 
 
220 
 
 PITCAIRN. 
 
 * 
 
 To return to Dr. David Pitcairn: his man- 
 ner was simple, gentle, and dignified; from 
 his kindness of heart, he was frequently led 
 to give more attention to his patients than 
 could well be demanded from a physician ; and 
 as this evidently sprung from no interested 
 motive, he often acquired considerable influ- 
 ence with those whom he had attended dur- 
 ing sickness. No medical man, indeed, of his 
 
 * Dr. David Pitcairn. 
 
PITCAIRN. 221 
 
 eminence in London perhaps ever exercised 
 his profession to such a degree gratuitously. 
 Besides, few persons ever gained so extensive 
 an acquaintance with the various orders of 
 society. He associated much with gentle- 
 men of the law, had a taste for the fine arts, 
 and his employment as a physician in the larg- 
 est hospital in the kingdom, made known to 
 him a very great number of persons of every 
 rank and description in life. His person was 
 tall and erect; his countenance during youth 
 was a model of manly beauty, and even in 
 advanced life he was accounted remarkably 
 handsome. But the prosperous views that all 
 these combined advantages might reasonably 
 open to him were not of long endurance. 
 
 Ill health obliged him to give up his pro- 
 fession and quit his native country. He em- 
 barked for Lisbon in the summer of 1798, 
 where a stay of eighteen months in the mild 
 climate of Portugal, during which period 
 there was no recurrence of the spitting of 
 blood with which he had been affected, em- 
 boldened him to return to England, and for 
 a few years more resume the practice of his 
 profession. But his health continued delicate 
 
222 PITCAIRN. 
 
 and precarious, and in the spring of the year 
 1809 he fell a victim to a disease that had 
 hitherto escaped the observation of medical 
 men. Pitcairn, though he had acquired great 
 practical knowledge, and had made many 
 original observations upon the history and 
 treatment of diseases, never published any 
 thing himself; but the peculiar and melan- 
 choly privilege was reserved for him, to en- 
 lighten his profession in the very act of dying. 
 On the 13th of April, he complained of a 
 soreness in his throat; which, however, he 
 thought so lightly of, that he continued his 
 professional visits during that and the two 
 following days. In the night of the 15th his 
 throat became worse, in consequence of which 
 he was copiously bled, at his own desire, and 
 had a large blister applied over his throat. 
 On the evening of the 16th Dr. Baillie called 
 upon him accidentally, not having been ap- 
 prized of his illness; and, indeed, even then, 
 observed no symptom that indicated danger. 
 But the disease advanced in the course of that 
 night, and a number of leeches were applied 
 to the throat early in the morning. At eleven 
 o'clock in the forenoon, Dr. Baillie again saw 
 
PITCAIRN. 223 
 
 him. His countenance was now sunk, his 
 pulse feeble and unequal, his breathing la- 
 borious, and his voice nearly gone. In this 
 lamentable state, he wrote upon a piece of 
 paper, that he conceived his windpipe to be 
 the principal seat of his complaint, and that 
 this was the croup. The tonsils were punc- 
 tured, some blood obtained, and a little relief 
 appeared to have been derived from the opera- 
 tion. Between four and five o'clock in the 
 afternoon his situation seemed considerably 
 improved ; but soon afterwards a slight drowsi- 
 ness came on. At eight, the patient's breath- 
 ing became suddenly more difficult, and in a 
 few minutes he was dead. This was the first 
 case of this peculiar affection of the throat that 
 has been distinctly recognised and described. 
 It was an inflammation of the larynx, or upper 
 part of the windpipe, of so insidious a nature 
 as hitherto to have passed unnoticed. 
 
 Although approaching to the well-known 
 complaint called croup, it differs in some re- 
 spects, particularly by the presence of the 
 following symptoms : — Painful deglutition, 
 partial swelling of the fauces, and a perpet- 
 ually increasing difficulty of breathing. The 
 
224 PITCAIRN. 
 
 mouth of the larynx, or aperture by which air 
 is admitted into the lungs, is so much nar- 
 rowed, that the vital functions are actually 
 extinguished by the stricture. And yet the 
 apparent inflammation in the throat is so in- 
 considerable, that upon a superficial observa- 
 tion, it would hardly be noticed; but in its 
 progress the voice is changed, becomes alto- 
 gether suppressed, and the disease terminates 
 in suffocation. 
 
BAILLIE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The mother of Dr. Baillie was the sister 
 of John Hunter, the celebrated anatomist and 
 physiologist. From the university of Glas- 
 gow, he went, in 1780, to Balliol College, Ox- 
 ford, where he graduated, and settled early in 
 London, under the immediate superintend- 
 ence of his other maternal uncle, Dr. William 
 Hunter. Following the example of his dis- 
 tinguished relations, he became himself a 
 teacher of anatomy in 1785 ; and he continued 
 
226 BAILLIE. 
 
 to lecture for nearly twenty years. In de- 
 livering 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 in- 
 debted to the assiduous instruction of his 
 uncle, who spared no pains in cultivating in 
 his young pupil a habit of ready and exact ex- 
 planation; 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 prepara- 
 tion 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 or 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 
 
BAILLIE. 227 
 
 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 ap- 
 pendage 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 conver- 
 saziones in Ormond Street, in the spacious li- 
 brary 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 So- 
 
228 BAILLIE. 
 
 ciety, 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 orna- 
 ment of the faculty. My only consolation 
 arose, as I was handed about, from the obser- 
 vation, which it was impossible not to make, 
 that among the philosophers present there was 
 a great proportion of medical men, who ex- 
 amined 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 Secre- 
 tary to the Royal Society, who early relin- 
 quished 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 condi- 
 tion 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. 
 
BAILLIE. 229 
 
 My present was the very reverse, in almost 
 every particular, of my early master, Dr. Rad- 
 cliffe. In person, Dr. Baillie was consider- 
 ably below the middle size, with a countenance 
 rather plain than prepossessing, a Scotch dia- 
 lect, and blunt manners. Than his first ad- 
 dress 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 mi- 
 nute and accurate knowledge of the structure 
 of the human body; and, Second, the most 
 perfect distinctness and excellent arrange- 
 ment, in what may be called the art of state- 
 ment. For this latter quality he was very re- 
 markable; and even when he was compelled 
 to relinquish lecturing (by which he had ac- 
 quired it), in consequence of the growing ex- 
 tent 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 care- 
 
230 BAILLIE. 
 
 lessness; 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 ad- 
 mitted, 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 al- 
 ways 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. 
 
BAILLIE. 231 
 
 " 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 mix- 
 ture 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 se- 
 lected the leading features of the subject, and 
 neglecting all minor details, he systematically 
 abstained from touching upon any thing in- 
 genious, subtle, or far-fetched. Hence, in the 
 treatment of disease, he was not fertile in ex- 
 pedients, 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 ex- 
 pectation of the patient. But this peculiarity 
 of mind, which was perhaps a defect in the 
 practice of his profession, was a great advan- 
 tage to him in his discourse, and rendered him 
 
232 BAILLIE. 
 
 unrivalled as a lecturer. After writing a pre- 
 scription, he read it over with great care and 
 consideration, for fear of having committed a 
 mistake. 
 
 During his latter years, when he had re- 
 tired from all but consultation practice, and 
 had ample time to attend to each individual 
 case, he was very deliberate, tolerant, and will- 
 ing 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 de- 
 tails of an unimportant story. After listen- 
 ing, 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 
 
BAILLIE. 233 
 
 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 com- 
 petent knowledge of the science of medicine 
 itself; but to gain the good opinion of the pa- 
 tient 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 in- 
 finitely too vague, too general, and unsatis- 
 factory; 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 
 
234 BAILLIE. 
 
 anxious solicitude for the comfort of the in- 
 valid, it shows a nice discrimination of the vir- 
 tues 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 par- 
 ticularly excel. Par exemple: 
 
 " Le dejeuner consistera en the froid, ou 
 eau froide sucree, ou non sucree avec du lait, 
 et du pain a volonte. Le diner permet une 
 ou deux portions de viande fraiche, tendire, 
 du pain rassis et des legumes farineux. 
 
 " Le vin sera mis avec Veau pour boisson, 
 et on en boira un seul verre pur (de Xeres) 
 sur la fin du diner. 
 
 ce Les patisseries, la graisse, les legumes 
 venteux, les fruits, sont defendus. 
 
 ee Une soupe au bouillon ou de Veau avec 
 du lait, ou du the et du pain serviront de 
 souper." 
 
 A letter of directions like these, though fol- 
 lowed by the prescription of nothing more 
 energetic than une legere infusion de feuilles 
 d'oranger, et deux demi lavemens, will go far- 
 ther to impress upon the mind of his patient a 
 high opinion of the skill of the Doctor, than 
 
BAILLIE. 235 
 
 the simple and efficient practice of the most 
 judicious and honest Physician of the English 
 school. 
 
 If this be true in ordinary cases of sick- 
 ness, it is more especially so with the hypo- 
 chondriac, 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 Cay- 
 enne 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 mo- 
 ment, the progress of medicine for the last 
 hundred and fifty years. 
 
 Sydenham died the very year I became con- 
 nected 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 
 
236 
 
 BAILLIE 
 
 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 di- 
 rected his first attention to the careful observa- 
 
 * This bust of Sydenham is in the Censor's Room. 
 
BAILLIE. 237 
 
 tion 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 stand- 
 ard 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 mo- 
 tive of his actions the will of God. He was 
 benevolent, candid, and communicative, sin- 
 cere and religious; qualities which it were 
 happy if they would copy from Jiim, who 
 emulate his knowledge and imitate his meth- 
 ods. 
 
 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 epi- 
 taph 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 
 
238 BAILLIE. 
 
 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 iEvum 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 pa- 
 tient 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 
 
BAILLIE. 239 
 
 the immediate introduction of this natural 
 method; though so convinced was its judi- 
 cious and discerning author of its propriety, 
 that he foretold, with confidence, its ultimate 
 universal employment — obtinebit demum me 
 vita functo. 
 
 The prediction has been completely ful- 
 filled; 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 ap- 
 pear, 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 ap- 
 peared, and the full effect of the example of 
 Sydenham was for some time lost in the se- 
 ductive influence of visionary speculation. 
 
 What Mead effected in the improvement of 
 medicine, by contributing so materially as he 
 
240 BAILLIE. 
 
 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 Boer- 
 haave, superior perhaps in learning and in- 
 formation, and possessing more judgment 
 than any of them. He has been compared 
 to Galen, being endowed with the same ex- 
 tensive range of knowledge on all topics di- 
 rectly or indirectly connected with medicine, 
 the same dexterity in availing himself of the 
 information of his predecessors or contem- 
 poraries, and the same felicity in moulding 
 these separate materials into one consistent 
 and harmonious whole. By his great assi- 
 duity, his acquaintance with chemistry and 
 botany, in short with every department con- 
 nected with medicine, he raised the University 
 of Leyden, his native town, to the rank of 
 
BAILLIE. 241 
 
 the first medical school in Europe. The 
 next name, at which in this hasty and imper- 
 fect 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 pa- 
 thology. 
 
 Cullen, who occupied the medical chair in 
 the University of Edinburgh for a long series 
 of years, was a man of a shrewd and penetrat- 
 ing genius, and for some time his doctrines, 
 which were proposed with an air of candour, 
 and even with a spirit of philosophical scep- 
 ticism, 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 sub- 
 stitution 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 
 
242 BAILLIE. 
 
 prevail almost uniformly through all orders 
 of society, to the entire disappearance or miti- 
 gated 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 pub- 
 lished his " Inquiry into the Causes and Ef- 
 fects of the Variolas Vaccinas," and announced 
 to the world the importanct 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 ves- 
 tiges 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 coun- 
 tries of Europe. With us, crowds of the 
 poor go unvaccinated, permitted not only to 
 imbibe the small-pox themselves, but to be at 
 
BAILLIE. 243 
 
 large, scattering the poison on those whom 
 they chance to meet. Whereas abroad, in 
 most of the other parts of Europe, vaccina- 
 tion has been ordered by government; no one 
 who has not undergone either cow-pox or 
 small-pox being allowed either to be con- 
 firmed, 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 hun- 
 dreds perished. Vaccination, by the excite- 
 ment of a very trifling disorder, imparted a 
 charmed life, over which the small-pox gen- 
 erally seemed to have no influence ; for its pro- 
 tecting power must be qualified. It is fool- 
 ish to deny that the pretensions of this great 
 discovery were, in the enthusiasm of the mo- 
 ment, 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 in- 
 oculation, namely, one in three hundred. 
 
244 BAILLIE. 
 
 But I must return from this short digres- 
 sion, 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 en- 
 tire 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 com- 
 pleted his sixty-third year. 
 
 His bust is placed in the College of Phy- 
 sicians, and the President, on the 22d Decem- 
 ber, 1823, having announced the bequests con- 
 tained in his will, consisting, amongst others, 
 of his library, read the following observations 
 on the medical character of his departed friend 
 and colleague. 
 
BAILLIE. 
 
 245 
 
 " The same principles which guided Dr. 
 Baillie in his private and domestic life, gov- 
 erned 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 
 
 * In the Censor's Room. 
 
246 BAILLIE. 
 
 incurred great inconvenience to himself, by his 
 punctual observance of appointments with the 
 humblest practitioners. 
 
 " In consultation, he was candid and lib- 
 eral 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 cir- 
 cumstances of the case had made a consulta- 
 tion 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 clear- 
 ness of conception, and in such simple un- 
 adorned language as was intelligible to his pa- 
 tient, 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 
 
BAILLIE. 247 
 
 cultivated minds. But as the assumed gravity 
 and outward signs of the profession were now 
 considered obsolete customs, and were, by gen- 
 eral consent, laid aside by the physicians, and 
 as a more curious anxiety began to be ob- 
 served 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 neces- 
 sary in the sick room. The innovation re- 
 quired 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 mor- 
 bid anatomy (that alteration of structure, 
 which parts have undergone by disease), en- 
 abled him to make a nice discrimination in 
 symptoms, and to distinguish between disor- 
 ders which resemble each other. It gave him 
 a confidence also in propounding his opinions, 
 which our conjectural art does not readily ad- 
 mit; and the reputation, which he enjoyed 
 universally for openness and sincerity, made 
 his dicta be received with a ready and unresist- 
 ing faith. 
 
248 BAILLIE. 
 
 " 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 in- 
 discriminately 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, notwith- 
 standing its air of mechanical precision, such 
 examination is not to be depended upon be- 
 yond a certain point. Great disordered ac- 
 tion may prevail in a part without having yet 
 produced such disorganization as may be sensi- 
 bly 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 in- 
 evitable consequences of such a system is fre- 
 quent disappointment in foretelling the issue 
 of the malady, that most important of all 
 
BAILLIE. 249 
 
 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 ex- 
 ample of dangerous tendency to those who 
 have not had his means of acquiring knowl- 
 edge, nor enjoyed the advantages of his great 
 experience, nor have learned, by the previous 
 steps of education and good discipline, to rea- 
 son 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 em- 
 ployed, 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 princi- 
 pally 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 
 
250 BAILLIE. 
 
 which were required, an account of the symp- 
 toms which accompany the progressive altera- 
 tion 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 uni- 
 versally popular. Impressed as he was with 
 the great importance and value of such morbid 
 preparations in assisting the physician to dis- 
 criminate obscure internal diseases, his gen- 
 erosity 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 Col- 
 lege, and in other periodical works ; all written 
 in a plain and simple style, and useful as con- 
 taining the observations of a physician of such 
 extensive experience. 
 
 " But justice cannot be done to Dr. Baillie's 
 medical character, unless that important fea- 
 ture in it which appeared in every part of his 
 conduct and demeanour, his religious prin- 
 
BAILLIE. 251 
 
 ciple, be distinctly stated and recognised. 
 His ample converse with one of the most won- 
 derful works of the Creator — the formation of 
 man, inspired in him an admiration of the Su- 
 preme Being which nothing could exceed. 
 He had, indeed, ' looked through Nature up to 
 Nature's God; ' and the promises of the gos- 
 pel, on the conditions explained by our Re- 
 deemer, were his humble but confident hope 
 in life, and his consolation in death. 
 
 " If one precept appeared to be more prac- 
 tically 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 fa- 
 cile crederes; magnum libenter." 
 
 The sentiments of the College itself towards 
 Dr. Baillie may be collected from the follow- 
 ing 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 
 
252 
 
 BAILLIE. 
 
 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 
 
 * Portico of the College of Physicians, Pali-Mall East. 
 
BAILLIE. 253 
 
 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 re- 
 ligious 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 ex- 
 plained 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 
 
254 BAILLIE. 
 
 been broken in upon by a temporary exhibi- 
 tion 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 wit- 
 nessed; and it is to be hoped, that these addi- 
 tional 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 EXD 
 
IXDEX. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Amen Corner, The College of 
 Physicians in, 117 
 
 Anatomy, 87 
 
 Anne, Queen, 27^18; her ill- 
 ness, 48; and death, 35; 
 Radeliffe blamed by the 
 public, 36 
 
 Antimony, its use and disuse 
 in medicine, 99 
 
 Arcanum Goddardianum, 203 
 
 Aristophanes, Harney's notes 
 and criticisms on, 101 
 
 Ascites, tapping in, 70 
 
 Aselli, 92 
 
 Askew, Dr., 149; a great trav- 
 eller, 150; a great book 
 collector, 151 ; makes bib- 
 liomania fashionable, 155 
 
 Baillie, Dr. Matthew, 225; 
 his appearance and man- 
 ner, 229; treatise on mor- 
 bid anatomy, 226; his 
 practice, 230 
 
 Baker, Sir George, his pro- 
 found attainments, 115; 
 his Latin pleasantries, 
 217, 218 
 
 257 
 
 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 ill- 
 ness, 52; attended by Sir 
 Hans Sloane, Cheyne, and 
 Mead, 52 
 
 Caius, Dr., 86 
 
 Caldwall, Dr., and Lord Lum- 
 ley found lectures at the 
 College of -Physicians, 89 
 
 Cane, The Gold-Headed, its 
 origin, 4, 184; its descrip- 
 tion, xix; in seclusion, 253 
 
 Charles I, Halford's connec- 
 tion with, xiii 
 
 Charles II, at the Royal Soci- 
 ety, 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) 
 
258 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cinchona bark, 97 
 
 College of Physicians, open- 
 ing of the, 2; sites of, in 
 Knight Rider Street, 114; 
 in Amen Corner, 117; in 
 Warwick Lane, 131; un- 
 der 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 natural- 
 ist, his book on birds, 186; 
 his visits to Sir Hans 
 Sloane at Chelsea, 190 
 
 Ent, Sir George, his interview 
 with Harvey, 111; ob- 
 tains the MS., " Exercita- 
 tiones de Generatione 
 Animalium," 112; is 
 Knighted by Charles II. 
 in the College of Physi- 
 cians, 125 
 
 Esculapius, the mourning, 30 
 
 Eugene, the Prince, 30 
 
 F 
 
 Fees, medical, 38 
 
 Fire of London, 127 
 
 Fox, Dr., his deathbed and 
 farewell to Harney, 106 
 
 Freind, Dr., committed to the 
 Tower, 72; visited there 
 by Mead, 73; liberated 
 through Mead's interven- 
 tion, 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 discov- 
 erer of the circulation of 
 the blood, 92; Sir George 
 Ent's interview with him, 
 111; "Generation of Ani- 
 mals," 112; his "Mu- 
 seum " 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; inscrip- 
 tion, 187 
 
INDEX. 
 
 259 
 
 Heberden, Dr., the elder, 160, 
 165; his literary tastes 
 and associates, 167; his 
 liberality, 168; his ad- 
 dress and high principles, 
 171 
 Hulse, Sir Edward, 162 
 Hunter, Dr. William, viii, 
 225 
 
 Inoculation of small-pox, 65 
 Isiaca, the Tabula or Mensa, 
 34 
 
 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 
 
 Library of College of Physi- 
 cians, 185 
 
 Linacre, the first Preident of 
 the College, 81; his por- 
 trait, 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. Cald- 
 wall, found lectures at the 
 College of Physicians, 89 
 
 Lymphatics, their discovery, 
 92 
 
 M 
 
 Macmichael, William, life of, 
 xi, xii; appointed Physi- 
 cian 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 quaran- 
 tine, 62; inoculation of 
 small-pox, 65 j tapping in 
 dropsy, 70; his politics, 
 71; his library and col- 
 lections, 79; his liberality 
 to scholars, 143; great 
 hospitality, 145; his pro- 
 fessional 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 physi- 
 cians' canes, xix 
 
 Museum of Harvey, opening 
 of, 120 
 
260 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 N 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, last ill- 
 ness of, 134 
 
 Nias, Dr., v 
 
 Nicholls, Dr. Frank, 123 
 (note) 
 
 Page, Dame Mary, extraor- 
 dinary 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 lead- 
 ing 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 inten- 
 tions marred, 14; blamed 
 for death bf Queen Anne, 
 36; his history, 37; his 
 fees and income, 39; his 
 bequests, 40 (note), vi; 
 his death, 50 
 
 Radcliffe Infirmary, v 
 
 Ron j at, Mons., le premier 
 chirurgien du Roi, 23,, 24 
 
 Roubiliac, his bust of Mead, 
 and extortionate demand, 
 153 
 
 Royal Society, its early his- 
 tory, 140, 199; the quali- 
 fications for President of, 
 139; Philosophical Trans- 
 actions, 201 
 
 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 gar- 
 dens at Chelsea, 192; the 
 British Museum, 193 
 
 Small-pox, 242; inoculation 
 of, 65; Dr. Mead's ad- 
 vocacy of, 67 
 
 Stahl, metaphysical theory of, 
 240 
 
 Sydenham, 235; his merits, 
 237; on quinin, 98 
 
INDEX. 
 
 261 
 
 Talbor, Sir Richard, on 
 
 quinin in fever, 98, 99 
 Tabula, Isiaca, 34 
 
 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 experi- 
 ments in electricity, 145 
 
 William III., 8, 12, 21; char- 
 acter of, 24 
 
 Willis, Dr. Thomas, his merits 
 as an anatomist, 95 
 
 Wilmot, Sir Edward, 182 
 
Date Due 
 
 ..'/ 
 
 
 
 
 v» 2 Ml 
 
 
 
 
 j-7-3^r 
 
 
 
 
 ,<-2/-3/ 
 
 ■^ 
 
 
 
 - .v.. 
 
 
 
 
 ^ .- . „■• 4" f *> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JUL ^ Ql< 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 f> 
 
 
 
 

 
 >^e-