The physicians of the last century : a lecture introductory to the course at the Philadelphia Association for Medical Instruction, delivered on Monday, March 23, 1857 / by J. Da Costa ; published by the class.

  • Jacob Mendes Da Costa
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physicians of the last century : a lecture introductory to the course at the Philadelphia Association for Medical Instruction, delivered on Monday, March 23, 1857 / by J. Da Costa ; published by the class. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Hans has left himself a monument well befitting his honors of President of the College of Physicians, and of the successor to the chair of Sir Isaac Newton at the Royal Society. The pomposity of some of these ancient doctors must have been prodigious, and was not a little set off by their dress, which always consisted of a full dress suit, coat of silk or velvet, of a sword, and, as signs of their medical dignity, of an enormous wig, a gold headed cane, and sometimes a muff. The gold headed cane and wig were indispensable; to practise without them would have been considered as an insult to the profession. Some of the wigs of the last century acquired quite a celebrity. Dr. Brock- lesby's peruke was well known from the fact of its being daily carried through the exchange, the barber exclaiming, Make way, make way for Dr. Brocklesby's wig! The reputation of one of these professional ornaments, belonging to Dr. Dalmahoy, has been transmitted to us in song: If you would see a noble wig And in that wig a man look big, To Ludgate Hill repair, my joy, And gaze on Doctor Dalmahoy. When the pomposity of medical men diminished, a circumstance to which the ridicule thrown on them by Moliere's plays contributed not a little, less stress was laid on the dress; so that now a days a physician is not to be recognized by his outer garments. We dress like other people. Canes are not usually carried by medical men; although they are still immensely popular with medical students. Wigs have given way to natural hair, and perhaps to a fondness for nicely trimmed mustaches: and muffs— fancy a doctor with a muff—have now no connection with the profession, excepting when in the hands of some of our modern female brethren.