Abernethy

“ One very great charm in Abernethy in consultation was, that there was no difficulty in getting him to speak out. Some men are so afraid of being wrong, that they never give you the whole of their opinion in a case involving any difficulty. It is so obscure, and followed up by so guarded a prognosis, that it sometimes amounts to no opinion at all.
Even with surgeons who were very unobjectionable, Abernethy in his best manner contrasted very favourably. ”

“ The minister of Antrim promulgated his new opinions in an association of like-minded presbyterians, called The Belfast Society. The issue was a division of the one camp of Presbyterianism into two, known historically as subscribers and non-subscribers. Abernethy was at the head of the latter.
In 1719 Abernethy's opinions and sentiments found memorable expression in a sermon on the text (Romans xiv. 5) : ‘Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind,’ in which he nobly vindicated private judgment and christian liberty; but it was as fuel added to fire. ”

“ To examine the question, we must for the moment forget our admiration of Abernethy; be no longer dazzled by his genius, but look only to our duty; endeavour to discover his defects, or rather those of the state of the question when he left us, and see what further investigation has afforded in aid of supplying them.
In the first place, we must examine a little further that proposition which we have seen both in Hunter and Abernethy under different forms. Hunter says the disturbance of the organ sympathizing is sometimes more prominent than that of the organ with which it sympathizes. ”

“ In anatomy he did no original work of any value, but was a very brilliant lecturer, and as such instructed most of the eminent men of the coming generation. As a physiologist he became known for some desultory and not very important researches, but chiefly as the defender of John Hunter, whose views, after his death and before the posthumous publication of his lectures, Abernethy had almost a monopoly in expounding. ”

“ This is among the many proofs of Abernethy's perception of character. Mr. Owen had dissected for lecture; and Abernethy saw, or thought he saw, a peculiar aptitude for more general and enlarged anatomical investigation. The whole world now knows how nobly the Professor has justified the hopes of his talented master. It would be out of place for us to attempt a compliment to a man so distinguished in a science, wherein the varied pursuits of a practical profession allow us to be mere amateurs; neither do we wish to forget other gentlemen who distinguish themselves in this branch of science ”

“ The astute, business-like mode of carrying on the profession, which seems to have characterized Sir Charles Blicke's practice, could have had few charms for Abernethy. Mere money-making had never at any time much attraction for him, and, at that period of his life, probably none at all; whilst the measured pretensions of surgery to anything like a science could hardly have been, at times, otherwise than repulsive. ”

“ Besides circumstances of minor interest, interspersed through the volume, there are some of great importance. The facts relating to the marriage of Mr. Abernethy not only disprove a number of idle reports, but offer another contribution to the general kindness and sincerity of his character. In selecting a few extracts from his thoughts on Religion and Morals, I have been desirous of placing on record some of Mr. Abernethy's sentiments on these all-important questions, without forgetting that I am writing the Memoirs, not of a Divine, but of a Philosophical Physiologist and Surgeon. ”

“ His sensibilities remain—nay, perhaps are sharpened—and thus, whilst they tend to exasperate his wants, they increase the difficulty of supplying them. There is here afforded a grateful opportunity for the indulgence of what we believe, amidst some exceptions, to be the ruling spirit of medical men: a sensitive philanthropy, which no men in the world are more liberal in disbursing. Abernethy had his full share of this excellence. ”

“ We are often told by lecturers of the value of knowledge for various purposes—for increasing the power and wealth of the country—for multiplying the comforts and pleasures of society—for amassing fortunes, and for obtaining what the world usually means by the term distinction. But Abernethy created a feeling distinct from and superior to all mere utilitarian purposes. He made one feel the mission of a conscientious surgeon to be a high calling, and spurned, in manner as well as matter, the more trite and hackneyed modes of inculcating these things. ”

“ CHAPTER IV.
"There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. Were there no positive command which enjoined it, nor any recompense laid up for it hereafter, a generous mind would indulge in it, for the natural gratification which accompanies it."—Addison.
Sir William Blizard was an eminent surgeon and an enthusiastic student of the profession, as studied in his day. He had a certain bluntness of manner, which was not unkind neither. He was very straightforward, which Abernethy liked; and he had nothing of a mercenary disposition, which Abernethy held in abhorrence. ”

“ He had had to encounter that misconstruction, misrepresentation, ridicule, even malice—save the mark!—which are too frequently provoked by any attempts to tell people that there is something more correct than the notions which they have been accustomed to value. Still, when we compare Abernethy's course with that of many—we had almost said most—benefactors to science, he might be said to have been a fortunate man. If a man has power, and a "place to stand on"—and Abernethy had both—truth will tell at last. ”

“ Abernethy used to like very well to talk with Spurzheim, who resided for some time in this country. One day, Abernethy, half-seriously, half-humorously said to Spurzheim: "Well, Doctor, where do you place the organ of common sense?" Spurzheim's reply certainly sustained the coincidence of phrenological deductions with those of experience. "There is no organ," said he, "for common sense, but it depends on the equilibrium of the other organs." ”

“ His successor was Gartnaidh, son of Domelch, who belonged to the nation of the southern Picts, and appears to have had his royal seat at Abernethy, on the southern bank of the Tay, near its junction with the river Earn. The only fact recorded of his reign is that he built the church of Abernethy two hundred and twenty-five years and eleven months before the church of Dunkeld was built by King Constantin. ”

“ The public have long since expressed their opinion on Mr. Lawrence's Reply and Lectures; and whatever may be regarded as their decision, we have no disposition to canvass or disturb it. There was nothing wonderful, however unusual, in a young man so placed, in a profession like ours, getting into a controversy with a man of such eminence as Abernethy, particularly on speculative subjects. ”

“ We do trust that these few propositions will induce some to think; for, as Abernethy used to say, lectures will never make surgeons: and we feel equally confident that no books, no individual efforts, however costly or sincere, will really benefit or inform any portion of the public or the profession, except such of them as may be induced to think for themselves. ”

“ It will be our endeavour to point out the position occupied by Abernethy, in that (as we trust) gradually dawning science, to a particular phase of which our object and our limits will alike restrict our attention. ”

“ While Abernethy was saying this, Kinlay was venting a torrent of oaths and words in disparagement of my father and his men.
"You villain! you rascal!" continued the skipper, "if you say another word against Sandy Ericson I'll pitch you out at the window!" ”

“ Abernethy exemplified a very rare and powerful combination of intellectual qualities. He had a perception of the facts of a subject at once rapid, penetrating, and comprehensive, and a power of analysis which immediately elicited those relations which were most important to the immediate objects of the investigation; a power, of course, of the utmost value in a practical profession. ”

“ Abernethy, I should prefer your at once telling the patient what is your opinion on the case."
He then declared his opinion; but, fearing he might injure one or other party, with the following exordium: "Now, madam, we are all liable to mistakes: there is no man living who does not make more or less; and I am sure I make mistakes; therefore I may do so in my opinion of your case. But for the life of me I cannot perceive that you have any disease in your hip." ”

“ In Abernethy, we can hardly help thinking that his education was more calculated to do just the contrary. "To level a boy with the earth," because he ventured on "a crib to Greek Testament," is, to say the least of it, very questionable discipline for a shy and irritable organization. To restore to its original form the tree which has been bent as a sapling, is always difficult or impossible. ”

“ There is little doubt that Abernethy's proposal was as just and considerate of the interests of all parties, as it was in favour of those of science. We cannot think that any one, who considers the whole subject without prejudice, will arrive at any other conclusion. ”

“ A man's brain is like a box packed in a hurry; when all is done, you neither know what you have got, nor what you have forgotten.
Here again Abernethy was in general very happy. Various circumstances would sometimes, indeed, in the Anatomical Course, oblige him to put more into one lecture than was usual; but he had always, in such a case, some little manœuvre to sustain the attention of his audience. No man was ever a more perfect master of the ars est celare artem. ”

“ Thus he would speak of the pancreas, or sweetbread; cartilage, or gristle. Few people are aware how many difficulties are smoothed by such simple manœuvres. Nothing interests people so much as giving anything positive. We think it not improbable that many a man has heard a lecture, in which animals have been described with whose habits he had been perfectly familiar, without having recognized his familiar acquaintances in the disguise afforded by a voluminous Greek compound. Abernethy seemed always to lecture, not so much as if he was telling us what he knew, as that which we did not know. ”

“ The particular district of Fifeshire in which the following incidents occurred lies between the villages of Strathmiglo and Auchtermuchty on the south, and those of Newburgh and Abernethy on the north. From the last of these places, which is still known as the metropolis of the ancient Pictish empire, a deep and narrow gorge, called Abernethy Glen, stretches southward amongst the Ochils for more than a mile. On leaving the open fertile country below, and getting into this pass, the contrast is striking. ”

“ The pupils were wont to discuss most subjects in their gossips in the Square of the hospital, or elsewhere; and many a careless hour has not been unprofitably so employed. On such occasions, those who were so inclined would no doubt use ridicule, or any other weapon that suited their purpose; and so long as any reasonable limits were observed, Mr. Abernethy was the last person likely to take notice of anything which might have reached him on the subject. On the contrary, it was his excellence, and his often-expressed wish that we should canvass every subject for ourselves ”

“ Abernethy's manner was at times—always, in serious cases, and, so far as we ever observed, to hospital patients—invariably, as unaffectedly, kind as could be desired. It is too true that, on many occasions of minor import, that impulsiveness of character which we have seen in the boy, was still uncontrolled in the man, and led him to say things which, however we may palliate, we shall not attempt to excuse. ”

“ He saw, from time to time, many men, of whose capacities we know he had the highest opinion, shut out from the hospital by the mere circumstance of their not having been apprentices; and two of these were the late Professor Macartney, of Dublin, and the present distinguished Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Professor Owen. And here we must pause to record one of our numerous obligations to the perceptivity and justice of Abernethy. ”

“ There are men who have so individualized themselves that they seem to obscure their identity by any new title. John Hunter was scarcely known by any less simple appellation. We hardly now say "Mr." Hunter without feeling that we may be misunderstood. It begins to have a sound like "Mr." Milton or "Mr." Shakspeare; Abernethy and John Abernethy are fast becoming the only recognized designations of our philosophical surgeon, for even the modest prefix of Mr. is fast going into disuse. Be this as it may, it is certain he declined the honour ”

“ No man could be more sensitive than Abernethy with regard to any imputation on his honour; but that once satisfied, I am persuaded that nothing would have been more unwelcome to him than that his Memoirs should have contained, unnecessarily, one word that should offend any one; nor anything more acceptable than its avoidance under circumstances of provocation. ”

“ He early perceived the talents, and was probably the first to encourage the industry, of his distinguished pupil. Enthusiastic himself, he had the power of communicating a similar feeling to many of his pupils; and he appears to have contributed one of those impulses to Abernethy which are from time to time necessary to sustain the pursuit of an arduous profession.
Some men seem to like anatomy for its own sake; examinations of structure merely, by dissection, or the microscope, have a kind of intrinsic charm for them. ”