Dr. Charles Badham : Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the University of Glasgow, 1827-1841 / by James Finlayson.

  • James Finlayson
Date:
1900
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. Charles Badham : Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the University of Glasgow, 1827-1841 / by James Finlayson. 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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    This edition was dedicated to Sir Henry Halford, President of the Royal College of Physicians, to whom, as we shall see, he owed his appointment to the Glasgow Chair of Medicine. In the field of poetry, l)r. Badham had made other attempts. In particular, in Black wood-s Magazine, vol. 25, 1829, he published “ Lines written at Warwick Castle.” The poern consisted of sixteen stanzas, occupying nearly three pages of the Magazine. The somewhat pedantic style of the author comes out not only in a Greek and Latin quotation as a heading, but in the elaborate notes, which actually extend to double the number of pages occupied by the little poem itself! These six pages of closely printed notes bristle with quota- tions in Greek and Latin. This poem, along with eight more, was issued in the form of a slim duodecimo volume, “ not printed for publication,” in 1835. There is a copy in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. The preface is dated from “ College of Glasgow, 1st May, 1835,” but the author’s name does not appear, although his identity was plain enough. Apparently one object in issuing it was to dedicate it to Dr. Hawtrey, the Headmaster or Provost of Eton, under whom Badham’s sons had studied. The title is “ Brief Recollections, Chiefly of Italy. By an Amateur,” Glasgow, 1835. The last piece in the little volume has medical bearings, written in a light vein ; it is entitled “ The Gold-Headed Cane.” In the preface, Glasgow comes in for a little condescending approval as regards the classical culture of some at least of its medical graduates. Coming from one who had studied in Edinburgh, and subsequently at Oxford, the following crumb of comfort is worth quoting :— “ In Glasgow, it is true that I have known several whom I am ready to presume good scholars, from knowing the great advantages they had possessed, subsequently taking medical degrees, but here, in an endowed university, there are really vastly more inducements to students to go through the ‘ gown ’ [arts] classes, than in any other place in Scotland.” At the date of the preface, the Latin Chair in the Glasgow University was occupied by the learned student of Roman antiquities, Professor William Ramsay, and the Greek Chair was rendered famous by the brilliancy of Sir D. K. Sandford. With these distinguished scholars as colleagues, we can under- stand his guarded admission that Glasgow students had “ great advantages.” The appointment of Dr. Badham by the Crown to the Chair of Medicine in the Glasgow University, was made, apparently,