George Amberson

“ Even men like Pope and Addison, who had little in common but that which should elevate and adorn human nature, were so dragged down by the demon of controversy, that, commencing with little more than the irritability of poets, they ceased only when they had forgotten even the language of gentlemen. In the controversy in question, Mr. Abernethy's position was a very difficult one, and one which shows how easily a man with the best intentions may find himself engaged in a discussion which he never contemplated ”

“ Nothing could be further from the earnest and thinking John Hunter than anything dramatic. Abernethy had that happy variety of countenance and manner that can be conveyed by no other term. Hunter, without being slow, was cautious, circumspect: Abernethy, without being hasty, was rapid, penetrative, and impulsive. Never were two minds so admirably fitted for the heavy-armed pioneering in science, and the comparatively light-trooped intellect which was calculated to render the first clearing easily convertible to those practical necessities with which the science had to deal. ”

“ George W. Melville, chief engineer of the expedition, commanded the third boat, and in a book with the title "In the Lena Delta" (Boston, 1885) , wrote of his search for his companions and finding their bodies the following March.
He bears testimony to Ambler's medical skill and nobility as a man. He says: "In the histone of Arctic research there has only been one ship that was free from scurvy; this was the Jeannette. This is the best encomium that I can pass upon Ambler. On the march his services were invaluable. During the illness of Chipp he was roadmaster as well as surgeon. ”

“ We shall see how the industry and circumspection of the Argus-eyed Hunter, as Abernethy used to call him, enabled him to unfold a legend in nature, which he had neither length of days, sufficient opportunity, nor perhaps aptitude, wholly to decipher; and how far it was developed into practical usefulness by the penetrative sagacity and happy genius of Abernethy; which, like light in darkness, guides and sustains immediate research, and animates and encourages onward inquiry. ”

“ If great men are endowed with powers given only to the few, their success generally turns on the steady observance of the more homely qualities which are the common privilege of the many—caution, circumspection, industry, and humility. Again, genius is often charged with weaknesses by which more ordinary minds are unfettered or unembarrassed. We may emulate the justice, the independence of mind, the humanity, the generosity, the modesty, and, above all, the conscientiousness of Abernethy, in all serious cases ”

“ 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. ”

“ We have sometimes thought that lecturers who have had several desirable qualifications have materially diminished the attraction of them by faults which we hardly know how to designate by a better term than vulgarity, ill-breeding, or gaucherie. Now Abernethy had, in the first place, that most difficult thing to acquire, the appearance of perfect ease, without the slightest presumption. Some lecturers appear painfully "in company;"221 others have a self-complacent assurance, that conveys an unfavourable impression to most well-bred people. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ There is something very characteristic of this, when, in the decline of life, he writes "Yours unremittingly," to one whose unusually lengthened years had enabled him to witness Abernethy's entry into life, and, at the conclusion of the labours of his distinguished pupil, to join with a public body in expressing the high sense entertained of the obligations which he had conferred on science and mankind. Few men could have been placed in positions more trying than that in which he found himself in his controversy with Mr. Lawrence. ”

“ We should have thought it, therefore, of all things in the world the least likely that a representation of any theory of Hunter's should have disturbed the harmony which ought to exist between men engaged in scientific inquiries. It shows, however, the value of confining ourselves as strictly as possible to phenomena, and the conclusions deducible from them. Nothing could possibly be more philosophical than the terms in which Mr. Abernethy undertook to advocate Mr. Hunter's views of life. ”

“ A boy thwarted in his choice of a profession, is generally somewhat indifferent as to the course which is next presented to him; besides, as his views would not have been opposed but for some good reason, a warm and affectionate disposition would induce him to favour any suggestion from his parents. Sir Charles Blicke was a surgeon in large practice; he lived at that time in Mildred's Court, and Abernethy's father was a near neighbour, probably in Coleman Street. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When Abernethy arrived, he went into the room into which the patient was to be brought, and, looking on the instruments, &c. on the table, said: "Ay, yes, that is all right;" then, pausing for a moment, he said: "No, there is one thing you have forgotten;" and then, throwing a napkin over the instruments, added: "It is bad enough for the poor patient to have to undergo an operation, without being obliged to see those terrible instruments."
Few people get off so badly in the world as poor gentlemen. There are multifarious provisions in this kingdom for all sorts of claimants ”

“ Abernethy followed her into the hall, pressing her to take back her fee, or to let him give her another prescription; but the lady was inexorable, and left the house.
The foregoing is well-authenticated. Mr. Stowe knows the lady well, who is still living. But many of these stories, to our own knowledge, were greatly exaggerated. Abernethy would sometimes offend, not so much by the manner as by the matter; by saying what were very salutary, but very unpleasant truths,272 and of which the patient perhaps felt only the sting. We know a gentleman, an old fox-hunter, who abused Abernethy roundly ”

“ With no such power, we are almost inclined to regret the impossibility of doing Abernethy justice, without saying something of nearly all his works. If, however, in so doing, we make one more step towards familiarizing the public with matters which affect their best interests, we shall not regret any labour which this, the most difficult part of our task, may have required.
We so usually connect pain with disease, that, in our haste, we are apt to imagine that it is not merely the worst feature, but the only sign of it. ”

“ The adage that "curses, like chickens, come home to roost," is far from inapplicable. After all, many of the hospital surgeons are little known; and the public inference with regard to men invested with such splendid opportunities of distinguishing themselves, is not very flattering. Mr. Abernethy, so far297 from benefiting from the "System," appears to us to have suffered from it in every way.
His talents, both natural and acquired, would have given him every thing to hope and nothing to fear from the severest competition ”

“ Abernethy's closing career at the hospital gave him no great reason to rejoice at the "hospital system." Men, who could see nothing in leaving very much more important situations to an indefinite succession of apprentices, cavilled at a prospective lectureship for his only son; whilst his lectures were delivered over to gentlemen—one of whom had, from an early period, ridiculed, as he said, the opinions which he taught as—and which we now know to have been—John Hunter's ”

“ Hunter's other views. At that time there was nothing published, showing that Mr. Hunter's ideas of life were what Mr. Abernethy represented them to be; they might have been remembered by men of his own age, but this was not very good for controversy; and as that was made a point of attack35, it is well that the since collected "Life and Lectures of John Hunter," by Mr. Palmer, have given178 us a written authority for the accuracy of Abernethy's representations.
In theorizing on the cause of the phenomena of living bodies, men have, at different times, arrived at various opinions ”

“ By marriage Abernethy obtained a partner for life who to personal attractions added those social and moral excellences which combine to form a superior woman—one to whom such a man as Abernethy could, and always did, to his last moment, look up with equal respect and affection, as the wife, mother, and the friend. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Is it possible103 to read many of the experiments of Spallanzani24, without feeling the same disgust that Abernethy used to express in regard to them; or to read of opening animals alive, dividing them with instruments, breaking their bones, or running red-hot wires into their cavities, without feeling (if, indeed, any thing better is to be regarded as merely "mawkish sentimentality") that at least valuable time has been wasted in pursuits which have been brutalizing and unproductive? ”

“ Amid the peaceful glories of a useful profession, there is nothing that sinks deeper or interests our regard more, than a man, in the hour of success, remembering what is due to others. We think this remark particularly applicable to the late Mr. Tait, in the following case. The letter from Abernethy was obligingly sent us by Mr. Tait's son and successor. The remarks with which Mr. Tait concludes his case, are as creditable to the writer as to him whom they were intended to honour. ”

“ Yet the more insight we obtain into the histories of men, the more we perceive how constantly the most brilliant have been aided by the more homely qualifications to which we have adverted.
No doubt some minds are so constituted as to be moderately certain of success or distinction in almost any pursuit to which they might have been directed; and we are disposed to think that Abernethy's was a mind of that order; but there is abundant evidence to show that his talents were at least equalled by his industry. ”

“ John Hunter declined undertaking to teach anatomy at forty (1768) , because it would have "engaged his attention too much to admit of that general attention to his profession; to forming habits and established modes of thinking, which he thought necessary." In Abernethy's after life, we think we saw a good36 deal of the wear and tear that early and diversified labour had impressed on his physical organization. In advancing life, the natural desire for ease, if not carefully guarded, may not be without its perils ”