Clergymen and Doctors: Curious Facts and Characteristic Sketches. — John Shaqi
Clergymen and Doctors: Curious Facts and Characteristic Sketches.Anonymous
History
Clergymen and Doctors: Curious Facts and Characteristic Sketches.
Anonymous
Clergy; Medicine -- Anecdotes; Medicine -- Humor; Pastoral theology -- Anecdotes; Physicians
go to a surgeon that should tell him, your leg will gangrene within
three days and it must be cut off, and you will die unless you do
something that I could tell you, what listening there would be to this
man! Oh, for the Lord's sake, tell me what this is, I will give you any
content for your pains!'" Not only has this loss of reward through the
devising of new appliances for preventing human suffering, not made
medical men, as a rule, one whit less anxious to devise them, or adopt
them when devised; but it is in the experience of all, that in many
cases physicians can render services gratuitously, which they would
never have had the opportunity of rendering if it was not understood,
both by themselves and the suffering, that they gave their skill
cheerfully for God's sake as for gold's sake, to those who were unable
to appeal to the latter power.
_Ancient Fees of Magnitude._--Seleucus--the one of Alexander's generals
to whom the kingdom of Syria fell at the break-up of the empire of
Macedonian conquest--gave to Erasistratus 60,000 crowns "for
discovering the disorder of his son Antiochus." Alcon, whose dexterity
is celebrated in Martial's _Epigrams_, was repaid by the public, in the
course of a few years' practice, the sum of 10,000,000 sesterces
(£80,000) which he had lost by a law-suit. Four Roman physicians,
Aruntius, Calpetanus, Rubrius, and Albutius, for their attendance on
Augustus and his two immediate successors, enjoyed each an annual
salary of 250,000 sesterces, equal to £2000 sterling.
_Early English Fees._--In 1345, Edward III. granted to his apothecary,
Coursus de Gungeland, a pension of sixpence a-day; and "Ricardus Wye,
chirurgicus," had twelve pence per day, and eight marks per year, for
his services. Under the same king, "Willielmus Holme, chirurgicus
Regis," is rewarded with the permission, during his lifetime, "to hunt,
take, and carry off wild animals of all kinds, in any of the royal
forests, chases, parks, and warrens." In the Courts of the kings of
Wales, the physician or surgeon was the twelfth person in rank, and his
fees seem to have been fixed by law. For a flesh wound, not of a
dangerous character, he got nothing but such of the wounded man's
garments as the blood had stained; but for any of the three classes of
dangerous wounds, he had in addition 180 pence, and his maintenance so
long as his services might be in requisition.
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