_Post Mortems: II_ MERE MORTALS _Boswell_: But of what use will my book be when it is finished? _Johnson_: Never mind the use—do it! * * * * * History is an Art and should be written with imagination. ANATOLE FRANCE. _Post Mortems: Two_ Mere Mortals Medico-Historical Essays By C. MacLaurin M.B.C.M., F.R.C.S.E., Hon. Deg. Padua _Lately Lecturer in Clinical Surgery, the University of Sydney; Late Consulting Surgeon, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney; Late Honorary Surgeon, Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney_ [Illustration] New York George H. Doran Company COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY MERE MORTALS —B— PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA This book is Affectionately Dedicated To my Wife and To my Daughter MRS. A. P. MACKERRAS Preface Great numbers of people, especially medical men, have written to me asking me to continue the short studies of great men of the past that I began in _Post Mortem_; and the result is the present volume. Many reviewers complained that _Post Mortem_ contained too much “medical jargon,” whatever that may mean. There is doubtfully such a thing as medical jargon; it is merely a method of expressing thoughts for which there is no English equivalent except by the method of a cumbrous sentence. For that reason I have tried to translate my thoughts into English whenever it is possible. If by mischance a technical term should have crept in, you will find most medical terms in any decent modern English dictionary; or failing that, they are all simply taken from the Greek. But there is another jargon than medical. There is the filthy jargon which insists on saying “the Red Plague” when we mean syphilis; or “in a certain interesting condition” when we mean to say “pregnant.” That jargon I absolutely refuse to use. Those elderly people with fixed minds who prefer that sort of thing had better stick to _Little Arthur_ or something equally fictitious. As a doctor writing on very serious subjects I must claim the doctor’s privilege of writing with absolute frankness; without suspicion of coarseness.