James Bayard Clark

“ Janeway's relation to his profession and to his fellow physicians was one of rare felicity, and well it might have been, for his code of professional conduct stood squarely upon that principle of consideration for others, on which the hope of a some-time civilization in reality, must ever rest. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," was more than his motto ”

“ To a practical wife, what could be more natural than an interest which embraced with some satisfaction the thought of her husband's immediate reward—that reward which could be readily converted into the shoes and frocks constantly needed by the little brood about her? So led on with the thought in her mind, she inquired how far the Doctor had travelled—the town to which he had gone. He told her with readiness the name of the railway station where the practitioner had met him and driven him to the patient's house ”

“ A little later as we came out from a talk with the family, he turned to them and said: "Now the doctor and I wish to have a little consultation together." How well I remember my feelings at that moment as he led me into a room apart and closed the door. Anticipating what seemed to me inevitable I said: "Of course, Dr. Janeway, they will want someone who is older, someone with more—" He cut me short with, "You are going to take care of her." ”

“ If by some happy chance these pen-pictured glimpses should bear some likeness to the man—if they should bring out here and there a line or colour which will recall some characteristic, show some quality, reveal some trait which, for those who knew him, will help to keep his memory fresh, they will have earned for themselves a very good reward. ”

“ In days when doctors are flying from creeds and more—from faith, seeking to solace their souls in science alone, this great man's simple adherence to the teachings of Christ become dramatic proof of his powers of vision. ”

“ If his income was ample, his energy was enormous, and he spent both freely for the best interests of his profession and his people whom he loved. One hears of the fabulous fees physicians sometimes get. [Pg 26] Dr. Janeway never used his unique position to prey upon the pockets of patients, simply because they were people of large worldly wealth. To him a patient was a human being who was sick and who needed to get well by the shortest possible route science and sense could secure. ”

“ We have just gone there to live, you know, and we want to be sure to have the best doctor in case we have to call one in." Dr. Janeway replied: "You cannot do better than Dr. N. I know him very well. He is a good doctor. He won't do you any harm." The lady went away and I went back to my work in the laboratory, but that phrase kept ringing in my ears. "He is a very good doctor. He won't do you any harm." ”

“ It was soon after my return from study abroad, while I was seeking a suitable position in a city hospital. This particular place was all but secured when another post was offered to me by the head of one of the largest [Pg 40] medical institutions in town. With youthful naïveté, I expressed my appreciation of the offer but explained my reasons for wishing to secure the appointment I had been seeking. Incensed by the fact that I did not directly jump at his offer, the noted doctor brought the interview rapidly to an end, and I departed. ”

“ When Dr. Janeway found this out, it was plain that there was still another side to the Doctor, for his strength to strike [Pg 41] out at foul play showed its sufficient force on that occasion. It is almost needless to say that the desired appointment was very soon mine. [Pg 42]
IX
There were three things I should say the Doctor did not like. One of these was the newspaper reporter who tried to get "inside" information when some especially prominent person happened to be a patient of his. This was not just a simple, single-sided dislike which the Doctor felt, either. ”

“ Janeway which dates from those earlier days in his office and which deals with that large class of people who imagine they are ill—those people whose numbers are directly proportionate to periods of so-called prosperity, who call forth innumerable cults of curing, and who are the mainstay of much of the mummery in medicine. ”

“ Edward Gamaliel Janeway was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, August 31, 1841. He was graduated from Rutgers College in 1860, receiving the degree of B.A. and M.A. from that institution. In 1864 he was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, receiving the degree of M.D. Later in life, the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him, by Rutgers in 1898, by Columbia in 1904, and by Princeton in 1907. While in the medical school in the years 1862 and 1863, he was made acting medical cadet in the United States Army hospitals at Newark, New Jersey. ”

“ The revised version: "Do others before they do you," which has come so largely into recent vogue, both professionally as well as commercially, would have had little appeal to a man whose real goal lay so far on beyond personal position and private gain. In no better place than here, [Pg 32] with his simple and straight code of conduct, can I mention something of Dr. Janeway's religion. ”

“ He began to practise medicine in New York City where he continued and ended his professional career. In 1869, he became professor of pathology and practical anatomy in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, continuing in that capacity until 1876. From 1868 to 1871 he was visiting physician to Charity Hospital. In 1871 he became visiting physician to Bellevue Hospital where he remained for many years and where, in the pathological department, he won such distinction. He later became visiting and consulting physician to other hospitals in the city. ”

“ He saw in these patients, wholly free from organic disorder, yet a prey to aches and obsessions, to fears and depressions, the unhappy results of that conflict in the subconscious self between the natural order of life and the socially ordered life. ”

“ The makings of a material monument were within his easy reach—the thing which spells supreme success in life for so many men and women, and not a few physicians, was at his very door had he cared to look in that direction ”