Doctors of Samuel Johnson and his court / by James P. Warbasse.

  • Warbasse, James Peter, 1866-1957.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Doctors of Samuel Johnson and his court / by James P. Warbasse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Jolinson for tlic services wliich he has performed in the interests of medical history, and for attentions which he has bestowed upon the works of medical men. He wrote the life of Boerhaave (1739); I'e wrote the life of Sydenham (1742), which was afterwards jirefixed to Dr. Swan’s edition of the works of Sydenham; he wrote the dedication to Dr. Mead in Dr. James’ Medical Dictionary (1743) ! lie dedicated a mnnber of his papers in The Adventurer to Dr. Bathurst (1753); he wrote the life of Sir Thomas Browne (1756) ; and he was the author of most com])limentary reviews of Browne's “Christian Morals’’ (1756) and Goldsmith’s “Traveller (1764). Besides these he had among his friends many medical men. In this little view into the medical world of the i8th century we .shall touch the lives only of tho.se who are honored by mention in the chronicles of .Mr. James Boswell. .At the convivial gatherings of “The Club” at Ivy Lane at the Turk’s Head, and at the Lssex Head, where the art of con- versation was cultivated, as it never has been cultivated since, there were always medical meml)ers present. The disap])carance of such gatherings as these, has accompanied the decadence of the gentle art of conver.'-ation. which was once the glory of medical men. .At the.se gatherings the first doctor of medicine whom we encounter is Goldsmith. Oliver Goi.us.mitii. M.D., ( 1728-1774), was born in Ireland, at Ballymahon on the river Inny. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and entered upon medicine at Kdinburgh in 1752. Here he played the flute, sang his songs, attended the lectures of .Alexander Monro, and joined the Medical Society of Edinburgh. The record of his good-fellowship, his singing and tale-telling is richer than the record of his devotion to medical studies. He was a restless soul and soon proposed to go to Leyden to attend the lectures of .Albinus. .At Leyden he came in con- tact with Gaubius, remained long enough to study the character of the Dutch, and then set out on foot, and without money, to travel the continent. With his flute and his wits he %von his way. .At the University of Lorraine he received the degree of Bachelor of Aledicine. At Paris he studied chemistry under Rouelle, and thence proceeded to Germany, Switzerland and Italy. His doctor’s degree he received at Padua. .At the end of a year of wandering, he landed at Dover with a few pence and much e.xperience. Out of these travels he wTote the “Enquiry into Polite Learning in Europe,’’ the “Philosophic