Some Personal Recollections of Dr. JanewayClark, James Bayard
Science
Some Personal Recollections of Dr. Janeway
Clark, James Bayard
Janeway, Edward Gamaliel, 1841-1911; Physicians -- United States -- Biography
One characteristic which never failed to impress those who met him was
his reserve. It was the quality of it which was so striking. It was not
a reserve which was raised of aloofness; there was no particle of that,
no self-esteem, no egoism--common builders of reserve--yet on the other
hand it was not the retreat of shyness as many might have thought,
though out of it a certain constraint was undoubtedly born. One might
almost say it was a result rather than a reserve; the result of a
something hard at work within; a preoccupying something; a gestating
something, the offspring of which was--well--what _he_ was.
Another quality which leaves itself deep carved in the memory of these
early days of acquaintance was the quiet, unconscious respect he seemed,
with equal unconsciousness, to inspire in all about him; and more, even
in those who in kinship and friendship were closest to him, and with a
constancy which never wavered. In those days only the more evident
traits of his character came home to me. It was rather by feeling, by
intuition, that he impressed me. I had no measure of my own with which
to estimate his mental attainments. I had a kind of awe, of hero-worship
in knowing him, which left me reticent in the discussion of any medical
matters with him--so I usually stuck in those days to safer subjects.
It was not until two or three years later, after I was graduated, that I
had any association of a professional nature with him. It was near the
end of the summer, up in the mountains. An elderly lady, a member of a
well-known family, was suddenly taken ill. I was hurriedly called to see
her, and on arriving at her cottage was told that Dr. Janeway had been
sent for also and would be there soon; but they were anxious to have me
go to the patient at once. The state of excitement into which this, my
first professional call, threw me, was in itself enough without the
crushing thought of what the great man might think of me, a then
full-fledged M.D. I was ushered into the bedroom where she lay, totally
unconscious and breathing heavily. As I hastened to the house, I had
been formulating in my mind just the questions I should put to her--for
I had learned in the medical school how to take a careful history--and
there she lay without speech, without hearing, and without response. As
I stood looking at her I could feel, rather than see, the family
anxiously crowding about the doorway, waiting for me to tell them just
what the trouble was, how serious it was, what were the chances of her
recovery. At that moment I wondered why I had ever thought of studying
medicine. I sat down by the bedside and felt her pulse. Why was she
unconscious? I tried to think of all the things which caused a state of
unconsciousness. Suppose she should die before I could think of what the
trouble was, and before I could do anything to save her life! The
thought was staggering! And then as I looked down at the patient again
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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