Dr. Harrison

“ Harrison, then [Pg 4] the beneficent despot of Guy’s, and was by him appointed Assistant-Physician in 1824. This was a victory for unconventional procedure, for it had always been the custom to appoint men at Guy’s who had been original pupils, and not to receive men who were already qualified and in practice into the charmed circle. It was soon evident that a great practical physician had joined the hospital staff, and he was further recognised in 1827 by receiving the lectureship of Materia Medica. ”

“ Barton’s squared frame filled the door it brought with it a sense of relief. Queer how sane associating with children made a man. Almost immediately he was followed by Hoffbein, Peters and Paton ... together. They had just settled themselves when Dr. Harrison strode in. There was an armor of righteousness about him that dazzled. Dr. MacArthur had never seen Harrison this way before. Like some great patriarch of Biblical fame girded for battle. ”

“ Harrison was one of the small band of teachers who raised the Royal Infirmary school of medicine at Liverpool to the position of the well-equipped medical faculty of the University of Liverpool. In 1869 the private school of the infirmary became a joint-stock company, money was raised, and new laboratories were built. Harrison as secretary-manager sought to supply each lectureship as it fell vacant with a young and energetic man who was unhampered by the demands of private practice. ”

“ He gave her a genial, recognizing little smile, which was not exactly in his "part"—but came in spite of him.
"Do you know, I should like to hear it, Miss Faith. I always like lectures illustrated. What have you done already?"
"There is an almost bed-ridden woman two miles off, who will bless somebody all winter for the comfort of a rocking-chair—all her life, I may rather say;—a common wooden one, Dr. Harrison."
"That is a capital idea," said the doctor. "She will bless you, I hope." ”

“ And yet it was partly that, though given in very gentle, grave tones.
"There is more to fear than to hope, dear Faith,—and there is everything to hope, and nothing to fear!"
She turned away to the breakfast-table; and said little more till the meal was over. Then she rose when he did.
"I am going now, Endy!"—The tone was of very earnest determination, that yet waited for sanction.
"Yes," he answered—"Dr. Harrison says the fever is not contagious, I waited to know that. If I can I shall get free before midday, so I may meet you there. ”

“ Harrison, as if she divined what he was about, would upset all his plans by a few words, or a look or smile—some little expression which meant nothing, and could never be used against her; but which, by a man in his state, might be interpreted to mean a great deal. ”

“ The thing of which Ethridge told you yesterday afternoon, is this morning.... At three A.M. the patient in Bed 11, Ward B, Medicine Clinic was found ... dead. There was an unexplained puncture from a hypodermic syringe in the left arm.”
“MacArthur,” Dr. Harrison’s voice had become an august bass, “are you s-u-r-e?”
MacArthur stood up and walked toward Dr. Harrison. In his extended hand was the typewritten sheet. He was even straighter than he had been 76 in the autopsy room. For thirty-odd years his and Dr. Harrison’s great passion had been the Elijah Wilson Hospital. Harrison rose. ”

“ Summers, hurrying toward the kitchen. “Doctor Harrison, you would better stay here and eat dinner with us. Just telephone your wife that I’ve kept you.”
But Murray was at the door already.
“Wait, young brother,” said the minister, placing a detaining hand on his arm. “You’ve a duty here yet not finished, I take it. You’ve a Sunday-school class to teach in a few minutes, and it is a very critical time for those boys. They will have heard of your confession this morning, and their hearts will be very impressionable.”
“Doctor Harrison, I can’t teach a Sunday-school class. I never did teach! ”

“ He began life as a schoolmaster, but in 1837 Benjamin Harrison, the treasurer of Guy’s Hospital, who had noticed his ability, brought him up to London from the school at Lewes where he was usher, and gave him employment at the hospital, where he also gained permission to attend the lectures. In 1843 he was made a lecturer in the medical school of the hospital, in 1851 he was chosen an assistant physician, and in 1856 he became full physician. ”

“ They fastened my wrists with fetters softly lined with leather, and light. I was almost free. They led me further along a stone vaulted corridor. I heard the echoes, and I heard her footsteps—a door opened, my feet rustled on straw. The gag was taken from my mouth; the bandage from my eyes—Oh, Christus! what a pitiable sight met my gaze. Virginia was kneeling on the ground, her face upraised to mine. I could see by the dim light that came from a large opening above, that she was bound as I was, but—O Sporus! thou child of Tartarus—her fetters were so heavy she could scarcely lift them unaided. ”

“ Harrison was a cold-blooded man, But it is possible that such men are not as well qualified to judge of the temperature of a man's blood as his friends and intimates who have seen him in all the vicissitudes of his daily life, ministering with sympathy and self-sacrifice to relatives and friends who, overtaken by some great calamity, have found his heart as tender as a child's. ”

“ General Harrison was akin to the Covenanters who bore both Bible and sword into battle. His eminence in the law was due to his deep learning in its history and philosophy. Short of stature, and without grace of person,—with a voice pitched rather high,—he was a remarkably interesting and persuasive speaker. If I may so put it, his political speeches were addressed as to a trial judge rather than to a jury, his appeal being to reason and not to passion or prejudice. He could, in rapid flights of campaigning, speak to many audiences in a day without repeating himself. ”

“ Harrison said that sick people always liked lots of air. This started a discussion about fresh air and illness in which every one joined except Elliot, who was not consulted. After this they fell to talking about the ordinary topics of the college world, which continued until twelve o'clock, when Harrison suddenly remembered his future profession, and sent them all home. ”

“ Harrison murmured to his wife, and took a few steps towards Lady Ulrica and the mysterious visitor. He was a connoisseur of feminine beauty, and he had been struck by what he mentally termed the “exquisite accuracy” of the profile presented to him. It had come clear and sharp against the background of the plantation, white and vivid in the moonlight; a forehead in a vertical line over the delicately rounded chin, a perfectly curved aquiline nose and the suggestion of a fine, sensitive mouth. Harrison saw it as the considered and patient modelling of some idealised profile in a cameo. ”

“ Upon his resignation from the army Allen entered upon the practice of medicine in Philadelphia. Partly owing to his dental education he was led to develop the special surgery of the air passages, and among his fifty-odd papers on medical and surgical subjects, many relate more or less closely to this field of work.
At the time Harrison Allen began the practice of medicine there was little opportunity for a man to earn his living by entire devotion to science and teaching. ”

“ Harrison bore up with the firmness of a Roman matron, and the humility and resignation of a tried Christian mother.
In 1814, General Harrison resigned his position in the army and went to live at North Bend, fifteen miles below Cincinnati, on the Ohio. In the limits of this sketch it is impossible to give all the interesting details of Mrs. Harrison’s life during her thirty years’ residence at the old homestead. Many, very many of her acts of neighborly kindness and Christian charity will never be known on earth, for she shrank from any display of benevolence. ”

“ I feel that all and each of you regard your comfort, your health, even your lives, as secondary to a sacred duty. In your hands, gentlemen, will by and by rest the grave responsibility of life and death,—a responsibility to be seriously yet cheerfully accepted by the well educated and practical surgeon. I, too, have a grave responsibility, not only as a surgeon, but as a teacher, and yet I must ask the students to suspend their important labours for a time. ”

“ Mr. Mysinger, her conqueror and his own, no less, was approaching down the sunny promenade. He gave the two in the car just one full surveying stare; then casually moved his gaze a degree or two away. But, as he dropped back out of the range of vision, Charles could have sworn he saw a smile springing under the glossy mustache he had once pledged himself to pull off. ”

“ The instant before, a man's head and shoulders had protruded suddenly through the broken-in parlor window, and Henry, waiting patiently in the shadow of the wall had flatted him to the floor with a heavy chair, which broke in his hands. Then he heard swift footsteps in the hall, and divining what had happened, bounded out.
"Stand clear, man!" cried Varney loudly. "I'm going out."
A prolonged shouting indicated that the promise was heard with approval outside. But not so with Henry, who closed in on him fiercely, crying: "Not hon your bloomin' life, you don't—harskin' your pardon, sir!" ”

“ He climbed into the luxurious car with a sense of pleasure as of coming to his own surroundings once more, and rode down the pretty village street, his companion meanwhile drawing his attention to the buildings they were passing.
“This is the manse. You’ll like Mr. Harrison, I’m sure. He’s a marvellous humble-great man. If it weren’t for his humility he’d be nabbed up by some of the great city churches. Here the senior elder lives. ”

“ Harrison gain by all this? He did gain some hours of pleasure—that would have been very exquisite pleasure, but for the doubt that haunted him, and respecting which he could get no data of decision. The shyness and reserve did pass away from Faith; she met him and talked with him as a pleasant intimate friend whose company she enjoyed and who had a sort of right to hers; the right of friendship and kindliness. But then he never did anything to try her shyness or to call up her reserve. He never asked anything of her that she could refuse. ”

“ He settled for a short time in London, and was physician to the Carey Street Dispensary. On the death of his father he succeeded to a large and lucrative practice in Hull and the neighbouring parts of Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. He was also elected physician to the Hull Infirmary. He manifested a warm interest in promoting the educational movement in the town. ”

“ Harrison has an important engagement, and can't wait either. I didn't count on this emergency, though usually I allow for delays. If I only had two girls now—Say!" he cried, as he looked over at Ruth and Alice. "They might do it—they might fill in! How about it, Mr. DeVere; would you let them substitute in this drama? It's a simple thing, and with two minutes' coaching they can do it. That will let Harrison get his train, and I can go on with the next scenes. Will you girls try?" ”

“ Harrison was reappointed successively by President Jefferson and President Madison. He organized the legislature at Vincennes in 1805, and applied himself especially to improving the condition of the Indians, trying to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors among them, and to introduce inoculation for the small-pox. He frequently held councils with them, and, although his life was sometimes endangered, succeeded by his calmness and courage in averting many outbreaks. ”

“ Harrison exists very decidedly—a Wall-street speculator, and well known as such by business people, a capital man behind a trotter, an excellent judge of wine. Probably he will come here from the city once or twice before we leave, and I shall find an opportunity to introduce you to him, for he is really worth knowing and considerable of a man, as we say—no fool at all, except in the way he lets his wife bully him. ”

“ Who, in the civil hospital, or in the sacred chamber of private life, may dare to enter, and not bear with him, in a well balanced mind, that store of practical knowledge which nothing save dissection—constant, laborious dissection—of the human body, and the unwearying study of post mortem appearances, can afford him? I say, if he hold not the attainment of this knowledge as the one great object of his life, let the student at once abandon his professional career, and seek elsewhere for a more congenial pursuit. Gentlemen, our studies need no excuse. ”

“ There was nothing else Brion could do until the Nyjord rebels made contact. Irritation bit at him. At least Lea was doing something constructive, he could look in on her.
He opened the door to the lab with a feeling of pleasant anticipation. It froze and shattered instantly. Her microscope was hooded and she was gone. She's having dinner, he thought, or—she's in the hospital. The hospital was on the floor below and he went there first.
"Of course she's here!" Dr. Stine grumbled. "Where else should a girl in her condition be? She was out of bed long enough today. ”

“ Entering, in 1843, King's College school, where Frederic Harrison was one of his companions, he rose to be captain, distinguishing himself alike in classics and mathematics. In Oct. 1849 he passed to Trinity College, Cambridge, his parents accompanying him in order to provide him with a home in the town. In his second year at Trinity he won an open mathematical scholarship, and after gaining several college prizes, graduated B.A. in 1853 as thirteenth wrangler, and sixth in the second class in the classical tripos. ”