Dr. Morgan

“ DR. MORGAN (returning in haste) .—"I forgot. I don't think our poor patient is very rich. I confide him to your disinterested benevolence." (Hurries away.)
DR. DOSEWELL (in a rage) .—"Seven miles at six o'clock in the morning, and perhaps done out of my fee! Quack! Villain!"
Meanwhile, Dr. Morgan had returned to the sick-room.
"I must wish you farewell," said he to poor Mr. Digby, who was languidly sipping his tea. "But you are in the hands of a—of a—gentleman in the profession."
"You have been too kind,—I am shocked," said Mr. Digby. "Helen, where's my purse?"
Dr. Morgan paused. ”

“ The impression which the arguments in his communication and his earnestness made upon the Board of Trustees, sustained by the letters from abroad which were submitted, prevailed with them to accede to Dr. Morgan’s propositions. The Trustees approved the scheme, and, as the minutes express it, “entertaining a high sense of Dr. Morgan’s abilities and the high honors paid to him by different learned bodies and societies in Europe, they unanimously elected him Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic.” The first medical professorship in America was thus created. ”

“ Morgan's house. At first Kike Lumsden, playing hide-and-seek with his own motives, as other men do under like circumstances, gave himself much credit for his grateful attachment to the family. Surely gratitude is a generous quality, and had not Dr. Morgan, though of another denomination, taken him under his roof and given him professional attention free of charge? And Mrs. Morgan and Jane and Nettie, had they not cared for him as though he were a brother? What could be more commendable than that he should find himself loth to leave people who were so good? ”

“ Three minutes between you and instant death, Ensign Bradley, for should one of your men enter the room now you see what you would have to expect, sir."
"Oh, sir, have mercy——"
"Unless you do exactly what I say you will be lying there with that carrion," cried Morgan, kicking the prostrate body savagely with his jewelled shoes.
"What do you want me to do? For God's sake be quick, Your Excellency. Time is almost up. I hear the men move." ”

“ Morgan had introduced him to an elderly and talkative spinster, and then, as he felt, basely deserted him, he was rescued by Rose-Ann; steered through a whirlpool of encounters—he almost failed to recognize Clive Bangs in his evening clothes, with that wild lock of hair neatly slicked into its proper place—and brought into the presence of Howard Morgan himself, who was standing, a tall and impressive figure, with grey hair, a nose like an eagle’s beak, and flashing eyes, in the midst of, as it seemed to Felix, swirling tides of people. ”

“ We can not place the ladders which will give you access to yonder helpless town."
"Then to the men you go!" cried Morgan ruthlessly. "Forward here, two or three of you, take this woman! She chooses——"
"Death——" cried the abbess, snatching a dagger from the nearest hand and driving it into her breast, "rather than dishonor!"
She held herself proudly erect for a moment, swayed back and forth, and then fell prostrate upon the sand, the blood staining her white robe about the hilt of the poniard. She writhed and shuddered in agony where she lay, striving to say something. ”

“ The cry of "Father" had reached the ears of Morgan, who is sleeping in the next room, and roused him into consciousness. He knows the doctor's voice. Why is he here at this late hour? "Do you feel any pain, Mary?" The question he hears distinctly, and the faintly uttered reply also. He is sober enough to have all his fears instantly excited. There is nothing in the world that he loves as he loves that child. And so he gets up and dresses himself as quickly as possible; the stimulus of anxiety giving tension to his relaxed nerves. ”

“ After the marriage Morgan obtained the post of physician to the Marshalsea, Dublin, and took a house in that city, No. 35 Kildare Street, with the view of establishing a practice. Between 1815 and 1824, however, most part of his time was spent abroad with Lady Morgan, to whose works ‘France’ (1818) and ‘Italy’ (1821) he contributed appendices on law, medicine, and other matters. In 1818 he published ‘Sketches of the Philosophy of Life,’ and in 1822 ‘Sketches of the Philosophy of Morals’ (both London, 8vo) , in which he attempted to popularise the ideas of Bichat, Cabanis, and Destutt de Tracy. ”

“ He practised at first as a surgeon in Charlotte Street, and on 13 April 1805 married Miss Hammond, daughter of William Hammond of Queen Square, Bloomsbury, and the Stock Exchange. She died in 1809, leaving issue one child, a daughter. Morgan was a friend and admirer of Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination, and published in 1808 ‘An Expostulatory Letter to Dr. Moseley on his Review of the Report of the London College of Physicians,’ London, 8vo. ”

“ The greatest difficulty confronting Dr. Morgan, however, was that of obtaining hospital supplies. The finances of the Continental Army were never in a particularly good condition; but during Dr. Morgan's career as chief of the medical department they were at a very low ebb. It was the jealousy and insubordination of the regimental surgeons which finally played a large part in causing his dismissal from the post of director-general. On July 17, 1776, Congress passed a law, based on a memorial presented to it some time previously by Dr. ”

“ Stringer, and at length Congress appointed a committee to investigate, acting upon the report, with the result that Congress dismissed both Dr. Stringer and Dr. Morgan from their positions. Morgan, in righteous indignation, published one of the most interesting documents in the medical literature of this country, namely, his pamphlet entitled "A Vindication of His Public Career in the Station of Director-General of the Military Hospitals and Physician-in-chief to the American Army," Anno 1776, by John Morgan, M. D., F. R. S., Boston, 1777. ”

“ His medicines can do your father no good. But I suppose you must have some. He's no physician, therefore there's no fee. He'll send a bill—it can't be much. You understand. And now, God bless you."
Dr. Morgan was off. But as he paid the landlady his bill, he said considerately, "The poor people up stairs can pay you, but not that doctor—and he's of no use. Be kind to the little girl, and get the doctor to tell his patient (quietly, of course) to write to his friends—soon—you understand. Somebody must take charge of the poor child. ”

“ Morgan.—"All one, sir! Doctor signs the death-warrant—'pothecary does the deed!"
Dr. Dosewell, (with a withering sneer.) —"Certainly we don't profess to keep a dying man alive upon the juice of the deadly upas-tree."
Dr. Morgan, (complacently.) —"Of course you don't. There are no poisons with us. That's just the difference between you and me, Dr. Dosewell!" [Pg 549]
Dr. Dosewell, (pointing to the homœopathist's travelling pharmacopœia, and with affected candor.) —"Indeed, I have always said that if you can do no good, you can do no harm, with your infinitesimals." ”

“ Morgan was called to the professor's chair at Geneva Medical College, in accordance with the wishes of those around him he delivered a full course of lectures on anatomy and surgery. He continued to lecture until the year 1838. On January 23, 1839, he assumed the chair of surgery in the Western College of Physicians and Surgeons, and then again, August 10, 1840, took a corresponding position in the Geneva Medical College. Here he remained for nearly four years, when, his ambition once more getting the better of him, he gave up his chair and went to Buffalo to resume practice as a surgeon. ”

“ Jim bowed.
"Sir Savile Smart was so kind as to wire--as well as you--and tell us that you were coming to take poor Dr Morgan's place. Very sad, was it not? Such a nice, quiet old gentleman! But it's only old gentlemen and women that these cowardly Hooligans venture to touch--indeed, we hardly dare go out after dark! It gave us a great shock when we heard of what had happened to Dr Morgan. The poor dear gentleman was really past work, and must have fallen an easy prey to the ruffians. My husband is not so young as he was, and I often feel nervous lest something should happen to him! ”

“ For a hundred years, he said, men had been reading science and investigating, as they had been reading history, with the result that they knew some science and some history. “So he went up into his tower, and there he has been these twelve years,” said Mrs Morgan, “with Angharad and no comforts. You would think by his letters that his thoughts had become giddy up there. Only five letters have I had from him in these twelve years. This is all,” she added, showing a small packet [101] in her handbag. “For the last six years nobody has heard from him except Ann. ”

“ The founder of the first medical school in America was of Welsh ancestry, his father, Evan Morgan, having emigrated from Wales to Pennsylvania, settling in Philadelphia, where he became a very successful merchant. John Morgan went to the Academy at Nottingham, in Maryland, kept by the Rev. Samuel Finley. Morgan received the degree of A. B. from the College of Philadelphia in 1757, with the first class that graduated. He then served as apprentice to Dr. John Redman (q. v.) , thirteen months of the time being passed as resident apothecary to the Pennsylvania Hospital. ”

“ Morgan slapped at his shoulder by way of good-fellowship and to hearten him, but Dan slipped away under the extended hand with a motion as subtle and swift as the twist of a snake when it flees for its hole. He had a deep aversion for contact with another man's body. He hated it as the wild horse hates the shadow of the flying rope.
"Steady up, pal," said Morgan, "the lads mean no harm. That tall man is considerable riled; which he'll now bet his sombrero agin you when it comes to shootin'." ”

“ MORGAN, WILLIAM (1750–1833) , actuary, born in June 1750 at Bridgend, Glamorganshire, was the eldest son of William Morgan, a surgeon practising in that town, by Sarah, sister of Dr. Richard Price [q. v.] George Cadogan Morgan [q. v.] was his only brother. He was intended for the medical profession; but owing to his father's limited means he was apprenticed, 11 July 1769, to a London apothecary. Towards the end of 1771 he returned home to assist his father, but on his death, in 1772, Morgan returned to London, and through the influence of Dr. ”

“ Prime said, Mo?" asked Mr. Alibone, quite cheerful-like. "Tell us again, old man." For you see, Uncle Moses he'd brought back quite an encouraging report, whatever anyone see fit to say, when he come back from the Hospital. Dr. Prime was the House-Surgeon.
"I don't take much account of him," said Uncle Mo. "A well-meanin' man, but too easy by half. One o' your good-natured beggars. Says a thing to stuff you up like! For all I could see, my boy was as white as that bit of trimmin' in your hand, M'riar." [Pg 35]
"But won't you tell us what the doctor said, Mo?" said Mr. Alibone. ”

“ Morgan took his foot off the chair behind the desk and sat down. "Suppose they were soaked through and you were standing on a metal plate—steps or a manhole cover—what good would your lightning rod do you then?"
Infield shrugged slightly. "I suppose a man must take some chances."
Morgan said, "You can't do it, Henry. You're crossing the line. The people we treat are on one side of the line and we're on the other. If you cross that line, you won't be able to treat people again." ”

“ Here was a chance for Jim to reassure himself.
"For all I could say," said he, "the lassie may be up at the Rectory now. She'd come with her lady, as I make it out; just for the first go off, seeing the old mother's not handy for to nurse her up. Not that there'd be the need for it, to my judgment. These here doctor's stories...."
The old man interrupted him, stopping in the road to speak, with an uplifted impressive finger. "Do'ant ye hearken to none o' they, Master Coupland. They be a main too clever, that they be! Why, I'm not the only ma'an with a tale to tell about they doctors?" ”

“ The next day Mrs Morgan travelled down to see her son. When she asked me to accompany [98] her I did so with some curiosity; for I had already become something of a stranger at Abercorran House, and had often wondered what had become of David Morgan up on his tower. His mother talked readily of his younger days and his stay in London. Though he had great gifts, some said genius, which he might have been expected to employ in the study, he had applied himself to direct social work. For a year he laboured “almost as hard,” he said, “as the women who make our shirts.” ”

“ REALIZATION AND A JOB
Rex Morgan came back from his mother’s funeral and sat down on the front porch of the little place he had always known as home. He was a slender young man, twenty years of age, with the complexion of a girl, well-moulded features, somber brown eyes, and an unruly mop of black hair.
His black suit was slightly threadbare, the cuffs of his shirt rough-edged from many washings. He smoothed back his hair, staring at the skyline of the little city of Northport, California. It had suddenly occurred to him that he was all alone in the world. ”

“ He found Morgan in the rather too luxuriously furnished living room. At sight of the large, pudgy man in his flowered dressing gown, a cigarette held loosely between pursy lips, colorless eyes blinking at him over the top of an evening newspaper, McBride's original sensation of disgust and unappeasable outrage came again upon him, and he knew that he was glad he had undertaken the task immediately before him.
Morgan too was well-born; he too was a bachelor, a member of good clubs, but he was a thorough rotter. Men despised and women feared him. ”