Reminiscences of Lawson Tait / [Christopher Martin].

  • Martin, Christopher, 1866-1933.
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Reminiscences of Lawson Tait / [Christopher Martin]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    open his mouth without insulting somebody.” Truly a case of the pot and the kettle ! He was an able and convincing speaker and debater, ready in retort, quick to see the weak points in an opponent’s arguments, and clever in concealing his own. Some of you may remember a debate on the “Germ Theory of Disease” at the Medical Institute in 1895. He had the whole of the local surgical talent against him Jordan Lloyd, Priestley Smith, Morrison, Barling, Leedham Green, etc.—all tearing his arguments to pieces. But lie was a match for the lot of them and came out of the debate triumphant; though we all knew he was wrong and they were right. Another occasion on which he gained an intellectual victory over his opponents was in the action for libel Dr. Denholm brought against him at the Manchester Assizes. He had some of the ablest of the Manchester medical men arrayed against him—Whitehead, Lloyd Roberts, Dreschfeld, Reynolds, Japp Sinclair and others. The case looked very black; but when he got into the witness box he refuted their arguments and statements so cleverly that both Judge and jury were won over to his side and the case against him collapsed ignominiously. He was a hater of hypocrites, humbugs and cowards ; but in his heart admired those who had the courage.to stand up to him. I remember once he went into a patient’s room and rang the bell several times for a nurse, but no one came. He stormed out of the room and down the corridor to the nurses’ sitting-room. There he met a new nurse—an Irish girl—who had just joined his staff. “ Where the devil have all the nurses got to? ” he roared. “ I’m damned if I know, sir,” she calmly answered. This “soft” answer turned away his wrath and rather pleased him than otherwise. He was an ugly enemy; and when he hit he hit hard, and did not mind whether it was above or below the belt. He was fond of rushing into print, both in the local press and the medical journals. Some of his controversies with Keith and Spencer Wells in the British Medical Journal between 1889 and 1892 were acrimoniously conducted on both sides, the letters being very pungent and scathing. In private life he was a charming companion, and it was a pleasure to listen to his conversation. Some of the most interesting hours I have spent were at his dinner table, where he enter¬ tained all sorts of guests—Kropotkin the Nihilist, Prof. Blackie of Edinburgh, Alfred Hayes the poet, Toole the actor, Hugh Fraser the diplomatist, Canon O’Sullivan of Solihull, and others. It was indeed a treat to listen to them, with their wit and repartee and their merry stories. I only wish I had recorded some of the latter. He had a violent temper and when he let himself go was like a