The doctor in old New York / by F.H. Bosworth.

  • F. H. Bosworth
Date:
[1898]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The doctor in old New York / by F.H. Bosworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    personality and practice afford us an interest¬ ing subject for study. They certainly did not treat disease with any intelligent conception of the pathological process they intended to counteract, or of the true action of drugs ; yet they undoubtedly thought they cured dis¬ ease. Was it by their practice or their per¬ sonality ? Something of the practice we have seen. Their personality was a curious pic¬ ture. On the continent at this time the doctor was decked out in long black gown and skull¬ cap, a modification of the robe of his priestly predecessor. There seems to have been an evident attempt to make himself impressive and decorative. His gold-headed cane was absolutely essential, and we have, preserved in the College of Physicians in London, to this day, the cane carried successively by Radcliff, Mead, Askin, Pitcairn, and Bailey. His wig was adorned with two and even three tails, and so elaborately dressed that he often went bareheaded through the streets of London lest it should become disordered. His silk coat and stockings and silver buckles appear to have been essential parts of his dress, and even a muff to preserve the softness and deli¬ cacy of the hands was carried by many. Up to the days of Charles II. he made his visits on horseback, riding sideways after the fash¬ ion of women, but after that time he rode in Costume of tbe Sevens teentb Century 2>octor
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