.Tune, 1930.] MEDICINE IN SHAKESPEARE: GREEN-ARMYTAGE. 333

SPECIAL ARTICLES. caster in Twelfth Night, Helena in All's Well that Ends II7ell. It is possible that Shakespeare also put Dr. Cains in The Merry Wives of Windsor in this category, for gynecology and tropical diseases in when the learned doctor boasts of his surgical skill SHAKESPEARE.* and threatens to remove the testicles of Sir Hugh Evans " V. B. m.d., f.r.c.p. for with his love he is dubbed By GREEN-ARMYTAGE, (Lond.), interfering" affairs, " belly- stale," a Castalian Urinal" and Monsieur LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, King Mockwater," though I must say I have a liking for Professor oj Midwifery and Gynecology, Calcutta that one small meed of praise he earns from the Medical College, and Surgeon to the Eden Hospital for innkeeper," Women, Calcutta. Shall I lose my doctor? No, he gives me the potions and the motions." Two years I had the honour of to this ago speaking Early Marriage. Society of the medical lore found in the Bible. To-night I am Before of medicine, it will hoping to interest you in some aspects of medicine speaking tropical perhaps be convenient to illustrate the of portrayed by Shakespeare. poet's knowledge I expect that most of you are aware that books have gynecology. In Elizabethan as in India to-day, been written suggesting that the Bard of Avon was times, early marriage was the rule rather than the exception,- but it lawyer, soldier, courtier, or astronomer, and gardener is obvious that the thereof were for yet, such was his that I almost to persuade dangers recognised, genius, hope in Romeo and I. of you that he was a doctor. Juliet, iii., speaking Juliet, Capulet says to Paris:? In the thirty-six plays mention is found of practically " all child is a in the world, the diseases and drugs known in this time, and in My yet stranger I She hath not seen the change of fourteen years, roilus and Cressida, V. i., you will find a long list of Let two more summers wither in their pride, such ills as the flesh was then heir to. But quite apart Ere we think her to be a bride." from such record, it is astounding to discover the may ripe To which Paris replies:? Wonderful knowledge of and " " physiology, pathology, than she are mothers made to which the bear witness. Let us Younger happy Psychology plays and retorts acclaim him in his own words "How noble in reason, " Capulet And too soon marred are those so early made." how infinite in faculty, in how like a god.' apprehension And in the next scene says to Juliet:? ^ " Lady Capulet illiam Shakespeare was born on 23rd April, 1564, and We'll think of marriage now, died on the anniversary of his birth in 1618, that is than you are made already mothers, twelve years before to the world his Younger Harvey published By I was mother much upon juomentous discovery of the circulation of the blood. my count, your "l't these years, it should be remembered that for thirty years the That you are now a maid." Poet was mixing constantly with the keenest brains of the realm, both in and out of London on his theatrical Quickening. 'ours, and that that was the glorious Elizabethan age There are two references to this, one in Love's Labour when merchant, fired the voyage of Lost, V. ii.:? " venturers, by " Hakluyt and the new with the of unless you the honest the poor " map augmentation Faith, play Trojan, the. Indies (Twelfth Night) were seeking trade facilities wench is cast away, she's quick, the child brags in her with the distant West and East. belly already, she's yours." Surely then it needs but little to picture And the other in A Comedy of Errors, I. i.:? the imagination " returning wanderers in the convivial company of till my factor's death, Shakespeare and his player friends at. the Mermaid, Drew from me the kindly cmbracements of my exchanging their tales of courts, courtesans and spouse Countries. From whom my absence was not six months old Those were the days of the Renaissance of Medicine Before herself, almost fainting under the pleasing of Art, when such famous men as Punishment that women became a joyful 1' Fallopius, Vesalius, bear, abricius, Columbus and Montanus had begun scienti- Mother of two goodly sons, fic dissection of the cadaver, and it is by no means And which was strange, the one so like the other "nprobable that heard of these men, or As could not be distinguished but by name." saw Shakespeare engravings of their discoveries in some London Obviously a case of uniovular twins. house was close touch Printing with which he in Longings of Pregnancy. throughout his life. Nor, in assessing his knowledge of The only mention of this condition that I can find is must it be that his eldest daughter ^ledicine, forgotten rather a one in II. i.:?Measure " for Susannah married Dr. John Hall in 1607, and that quaint MeakYire, she came in with and save therefore some of his wealth of clinical observation Sir, great child, longing, your honour's for stewed we niay be attributed to this close association with one of reverence, prunes. Sir, had but two in the in a fruit a dish'of the profession, the number of his house, dish, although greater plays some three honours have seen such Were written before that date. pence, your In the dishes, they are not China dishes, but very good thirty-six plays, seven regular physicians are dishes." 'Mentioned but, be it noted, no surgeon, except it be These lines would appear to indicate that regular that. Dick in who was so intoxi- Surgeon Twelfth Night, traffic with the East was usual in 1608 when this cated that he could not attend his duties, oil will quite ,0member play was written. " the lines " Didst see Dick Parity of Ages in Husband and Wife. " Surgeon, sot? Oh, he's drunk Sir Tobv, an hour agone, his eyes, In 1582 Shal cespeare married Anne Hathaway who Were was set, at eight in the He's a rogue." eight years his senior. The marriage, judging by ^t morning. , that time, besides physicians licensed to practise the bard's absences and his will, cannot be considered > a the of or of Barber one: will remember that all he left ' College' Physicians Company I happy 3rou her "rgeons, there were a host of quacks, both male and ; was his second best bed. f'male, allowed bv Act of Parliament in 1543 the I think he nicely points the physiological moral of "wrty 10 practise,'" if they had knowledge and experi- their disparity in ages in those lines in Twelfth Night, ?.nc!0 of the nature of herbs and and of II. iv., which were/written in 1600: ' roots, waters, " ?perat ion of the same." As instances of these, you Too old by heaven. Let still the woman take remember Dr. Pinch in The Comedy of An elder than herself, so wears she to him, p1!1lar Errors, Laurence in Romeo and Jidiet, the female water So sways she level in her husband's heart. For boy, however we do praise ourselves, a . \ paper road before the Medical Section of the Our fancies nre more giddy and infirm SHUic Society of Bengal on 20lh January, 1030. woman's are." L Than 334 THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE. [June, 1930.

Death of the Foetus. In Henry VIII, V, i., the agony of Anne Boleyn at Or its macerated retention in utero?probably due to the birth of the future Queen Elizabeth of England II. as an is described:? put forward by Henry VIII, iv., " syphilis?is the in excuse for his divorce from Katherine of Aragon:? Queen's labour, " in and feared Who hath commanded Nature that my lady's They say great extremity, womb, She'll with the labour end." If it conceived a male child by me, should And in contrast it is rather amusing in the last Do no more offices of life to it than lines of the same scene to observe the disgust of His The grave does not to the dead; for her male issue Majesty when he was told by the garrulous old lady E're died ere were or shortly after that he had a daughter: they made, " This world had aired them." As like you as a cherry is to cherry." 3. And in Henry VI, Part 3. IV. iv., Queen Elizabeth It is of interest to note that in Henry VI, Part the birth of Gloucester is described as ill-omened bemoans the disastrous effect of acute emotion upon V, vi., and difficult in the lines:? the child within her, in the lines:? " " Fair hope must hinder Life's decay, Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain, And forth less than a mother's And I the rather wean me from despair yet brought hope, To an and unformed For love of Edward's off'ring in my womb, wit, indigested lump." This is it that makes me bridle passion, And later in the same scene we are told in his own And bear with mildness my misfortune's cross, words that he was a footling presentation and born Lest with my sighs or tears I blast or drown with teeth:? " King Edward's fruit, true heir to England's crown." For I have often heard my mother say I came into the world with forward. Of course I need not remind you that the idea of the my legs as The midwife wondered, and the women cried infant being born the poet says:? ' "Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains, 0 Jesus bless us he is born with teeth,' Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious, And so I was. Which plainly signified " That I should snarl and bite and the Patched with foul moles and eye offending marks play dog." as a result of pre-natal influence still holds to-dav. Again, it would appear from Richard III. IV, iv.. though we are unaware of any scientific explanation. that not only does the poet describe the birth of Premature Birth. Gloucester as difficult, but it looks as if it was a case of oligoamion and that this was the cause of the That birth may occur from the rolling of premature deformities, for we read in Henry VI, Part 3, III, ii? a ship, will be of interest to manv mothers proceeding the words:? home from India, for if is described in Pericles, III, i.;? " " She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe, Lucina, O To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub, Divinest and midwife gentle, patroness To make an envious mountain on my back To those that crv bv night, deliver thv deity Where sits deformity to mock mv body, Aboard our dancing boat, make swift the pangs To shape my legs of an unequal size, Of my queen's travails." To disproportion in every part." And in A Winter's Tale. II, ii.. fear and at grief being Moreover it would seem that it was recognised that cast into causes Hermione to prison Queen have a the foetus could be deformed or morbid and labour:? strangled by precipitate premature condit ions in ulero, for we have the lines in Richard III' "How fares our gracious lady?" " IV, iv.:? As well as one so and so forlorn " great Oh, that she might have thee hold on her frights and intercepted May together, grief. By strangling thee in her accursed womb." Which never tender lady hath borne greater, Which would She is something before her time delivered." suggest strangulation by the umbilical cord. Toxaemia of Pregnancy. Cazmrean Section. Although the line I am going to quote was not written with reference to conception, it so beautifully There seems little doubt that this operation was well gilds the picture of a woman pregnant, with anxietv known and talked about in the days of Shakespeare, and sickness, that I feel compelled to make use of it, for not only are there two actual references in the for who in India has not seen the sallow icteric face plays, but an expression is used metaphorically in Kind of the unwilling mother. The line is from Troilus and John, V. iii., which would indicate that his audience Cressida, I, iii--? was well acquainted with the operation. The line? "What hath set the on are:? grief jaundice your cheeks." " You bloody Neros, ripping up the womb Labour. Of your dear mother England, blush for shame." The references to difficult labour are interesting to And although Shakespeare may have had "little us for as I pointed out in my former address, there Latin and less Greek," it is quite probable that he are very few instances in the Bible of dvstocia, and had heard of those lines in Ovid (Melam. Lib., 2. !? but of two deaths following confinement, the one from 630):? exhaustion and the other probablv from inversion of Nature flammis uteroaue parentis, the uterus or post-partum haemorrhage. But as I then Eripuit geminique tulit Chironis in antrum. remarked, this absence of any record of difficult labour '11? Which indicate that Aesculapius was cut from is what one would of primitive people expect living mother's womb. Perhaps you will let me remind y?11 active, nomadic lives. Conditions were healthy, of the story, that Coronis, the mother of the unborn probablv much the same in districts and anions country Aesculapius by Apollo, was killed bv Artemis f?r the well-to-do of Merrie so we England, perhaps should unfaithfulness. Her body was about to be burnt not sweet Master to mention h,s expect, Shakespeare the pyre, when Apollo snatched the boy from difficult labour. If death in child-bed were common, it the mother's womb (and the flames) and carried him to , is considering the enormous wealth of hardly likely, cave of the wise Centaur Chiron, who instructed medical lore ho gives us. that he would have hiflj omitted in the cure of all diseases, and so he became the grea to make use of the fact in one or other of the plays. of medicine to the Greeks. ,, god _ On the other is hand, this perhaps surprising when The is of great antiquity, and I think we remember that one of the commonest causes operation ^ rickets, is to the credit of the Church of Rome that it of existed in areas of the Ti?nl^ dystocia, the crowded larger larised and countenanced it in mediaeval davs, doubtle*_ towns in the 60 poet's time, for within years of his in the teeth of violent hostility. Mr. Herbert death, the first authenticated of " Spenc^ description rickets, tells us that we owe the title Cesarean Section alias the "English disease" was written Dr. by Glisson. a Jesuit priest Theophile Raynaud, who published June, 1930.] MEDICINE IN SHAKESPEARE: GREEN-ARMYTAGE. 335 memoir in 1637 entitled I)c ortu injantium contra Sterility. it naturam per seclionen Caesarean tractatio. Anyhow In niediaival times there existed, as there does in idea which can safely he assumed that the popular India to-day, a belief in the efficacy of charms and result of the labels Julius Ca;sar as being the first living orotic flagellation for the cure of this condition. In we know his operation is erroneous, for historically Julius Cccsar, I. ii., Shakespeare makes use of Plutarch's and had rumour or mother lived long after his birth, description of the feast Lupercalia, in order to remedy tradition of such an operation surrounded him, surely Calphurnia's sterility. Let me quote you the passage Plutarch would have mentioned it and Shakespeare from Plutarch:? of " touched upon it in his play. As a matter interest, In those days many young noblemen and a the it is possible that the word Cajsarean is play upon magistrates ran up and down the city with their Latin verb cacdo. upper garments'off, striking all they met with thongs the first authentic of Mr. Herbert Spencer tells us that hide by way of sport, and many women, even of of mother record of Cesarean section, with the recovery the highest rank, placed themselves in the way and and child, is by Bauhinus. The operation was per- held out their hands to the lash, as boys in school of formed by a sow gelder, Jacob Nufer Siegershaufen, do to the master, out of the belief that it procures an who, after thirteen midwives and several lithotomists easy labour for those who are with child, and makes had failed to deliver or relieve his wife, decided to those conceive who are barren." The child operate with a razor non sccus quatn porco. I'm sure you will like that reference to the and and later boy lived to the age of 77, the mother recovered his schoolmaster written in A.D. 100, and will wish that were was delivered of twins, and four other children there were more of this nowadays in our schools. even in those born naturally after them. So you see, The lines of Shakespeare are:? " mean a days once a Ca;sarean, did not always "Forget not in your speed Antonius Caesarean." To touch for our elders say his Calphurnia, The question now arises, whether in plays The barren, touched in this body chase Shakespeare refers to the classical operation, or to post- Shake off their sterile curse." mortem Caesarean section for you remember that in boasts:? Aphrodisiacs. V. vii., the Thane of Glamis trust been Macbeth,'' Throughout the ages much has placed in I bear a charmed which must not yield life, the doubtful efficacy of such substances. For To one of woman born." instance, in The Merry Wives oj Windsor, V. v., we have the 1 o which Macduff " replies:? invocation of Falstaff:? " Despair thy charm, Let the sky rain potatoes, let it thunder to the still hast served And let the angel whom thou tune of Green Sleeves, hail kissing comfits, snow mother s womb Tell thee, Macduff was from his eringoes, let there come a tempest of provocation, I Untimely ripp'd." will shelter me here." is that was sweet ?1 o my mind, the interpretation of these lines The potato of that time the potato, the mother of Macduff perished prematurely or in Convolvulus battatus, which like the eringo (sea holly) labour, and, in obedience to the edicts of Holy Mother had the reputation of being able to restore decayed Lhurch, the baby was cut from her womb. vigor. Of course I need not remind you that our Again, in Cymbeline, V. iv., we have the lines:? potato of to-day is the Solanus tuberosum, and with " was from Virginia Sir Lucina lent me not her aid, tobacco, originally brought by Walter But, took me in her throes, Raleigh. It interest some of you to know that the tune of That from me .was Posthumus ripp'd may Green Sleeves is an old ballad entered at Stationers' Came 'mongst his foes, crying Hall the words and tune of which are still A thing of in 1580, pity." extant. ?I with the lines in I. i.:? I. Brabanlio infers a secret his,' together Again in Othello, i., for which their father knowledge of aids to concupiscence when he says:? hen old and fond of issue, took such sorrow "Arc there not charms, I hat he quit being, and his gentle lady By which the property of youth and maidenhood -"ig of this gentleman, our theme, deceased May be abused. Have you not heard, Roderigo, the babe As he was born. The king he takes Of some such thing." J o Leonatus. his protection, calls him Posthumus And later he accuses Othello of influencing ^ ould seem to leave no shadow of doubt that the Desdemona:? on with foul Poet infers post-mortem Cesarean section, from the "Thou has practised her charms, word with or upon the name Posthumus, and the ripp'd, Abused her delicate youth drugs, minerals [Ja.V? enpuit in the lines of Ovid. That weaken motion." Midwives. The First of the Injant. Cry References to midwives are numerous, and it is . I feel in the anxious moments that many a mother that Shakespeare was thinking of these women when the baby's life probable Immediately' following child birth, when he wrote in Tweljth Night, IV. iv.:? m in Lear, IV. " doubt, will appreciate the lines King his water to the wise women." ^ Carry " " But it would appear that the wise women were like we smell the air rhou know'st the first tjme Dickens' Sarah Gamp, too prone to liquid refreshment, Waw^ aQd cry, lor in the same II, v., Marcius says:? are come play we are born we cry that we but true, does it work upon him?" -pIo "?Nay, say this great stage of fools." And Sir'Toby answers:? "Like aqua vitce on a midwife." , . Lactation. t The midwife of those days apparently exhibited a to read that Juliet was not weaned UTit;, ls,interesting trait not altogether obsolete to-day, was three old. The poet states that perhaps loquacity, the years but with us the punishment does not fit the crime. had to wormwood on her nipples in alas, 0rUeror,i afrse put For instance, in Titus Andronicus, IV. ii., because she to wean thc child:_ the was "a tongued babbling gossip," midwife ?Mien it did taste the wormwood on the nipple long was in order to stay the evidence of Uf fool, murdered my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty in her Ao see the illegitimacy patient! it and fall out with dug." are lines in tetchy But against this, there those Romeo and the prolonged lactation, Juliet does not Juliet, I. iv., referring to Queen Mab as the fairies' ar?esplteppear same scene to for in the .. have been very rickety, midwife:? . , e read:? "This is the hag, when maids he on their back the rood them, and learns them first to or ^en she could stand alone, nay be That presses bear ue about. them women of good carriage." could have run and waddled all Making ~~ " 3:36 THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE. [June, 1930.

Medico-Legal. Diseases met with in the Tropics. Apart from the reference in The Winter's Tale, II, ii Malaria. where Paulina asseverates the law of all countries of In the low-lying and undrained areas of England, all times, that a woman pregnant cannot suffer capital malaria was more or less endemic in the days of punishment, in the lines:? Shakespeare, consequently it is not surprising to find " This child was prisoner to the womb ;ind is in his plays numerous references to this disease. The held till the By law and process of great nature, thence general opinion in those days?which Freed and enfranchised, not a party to discoveries of Laveran and Ross, was that malaria arose sun for The anger of.the king, nor guilt}' of from inhaling the miasma of warmed swamps, If the of the in the Tempest, II. ii., Caliban says any be, trespass queen." " Ail the infections that the sun sucks There is the claim of Joan of Arc in Henry VI, up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall Part v., from. execution, on the plea 1, V, exemption And make him inchmeal a disease." of by pregnancy:? in Julius II. i. " and again Ccesar, " I am with child, ye bloody homicides Is Brutus sick, and is it physical to walk Murder not then the fruit within my womb, unbrae'd, and suck up the humours Although ye hale me to a violent death." Of the dark morning. It is only fair to Shakespeare's memory to state that To dare the vile contagion of the night, eminent modern scholars doubt whether he was the And tempt the rheumy and unpurg'd air, author of the above episode in this play. They aver To add unto his sickness" that the was tinkered with, and and in Lear, II. iv. original manuscript " King its author accepted the idle rumours of her enemies infect her beauty against the Maid, just as we accepted the most amazing You fen sucked fogs, drawn by the powerful sun reports about the Germans in the Great War. For if To fall and blast her pride." you will read Andrew The Maid Further, in Timon of Athens, IV. iii. Lang's masterpiece of " France, you will see that there is irrefutable evidence O blessed breeding sun, draw from the earth produced of her austere chastity throughout life, and Rotten humidity, below thy sisters orb you wi}l recall her last piteous appeal:? Infect the air." " The various clinical of fever are in Alas will they treat me so horribly and cruelly types recognised several For instance in Dame and burn my body, that never was corrupted, and places. Henry V, II, i., of Falstaff as consume it to ashes this day." Quickly speaks "So shaked of a burning quotidian, that it is most not relevant to it is a Although strictly gynecology, lamentable to behold." curious fact that (he should allude in poet Cymbeline, In Richard II, II. i., we read of the death of John I. to animal for the of iv., experimentation purpose of Gaunt the of he had " discovering potency drugs. Perhaps read, presuming on an ague's or heard of the of the Caesar privilege" experiments perfidious also in Julias Ccesar, I. ii., we have reference to the for in the same he describes the effects Borgia, play rigor, pallor, and wasting after malaria in the lines of chronic arsenic " poisoning, fit was on " When the him I did mark A mortal mineral, which being took should by How he did shake, his coward lips the minute, feed on life, and lingering, by inches Did from their colour fly, waste you." And that same eye did lose his lustre, I did Of acute arsenic poisoning, he gives a'vivid descrip- hear him groan tion in King John, V. vi. And that tongue of his, alas it cried There are several other references to poisonous drugs Give me some drink, Titinius." in use at that time, for instance the line in Hamlet also in II. ii. " IV. vii. Caesar was ne'er so much your enemy " " As that same I have bought an unction of a mountebank ague which hath made you lean." In The III. the delirium of is would seem to indicate curare, whereas the words I. v. Tempest, ii., malaria " " a described With juice of cursed hebenon in vial " mean He is in his fit now, and doth not talk must hemlock (Conium) which you will remem- " ber Socrates died of. The lines in after the wisest " Macbeth, I, iii., Have we eaten of the insane root and in As You Like It, III. ii., there is that beautiful " That takes the reason metaphor prisoner " refers of course to Henbane He seemed to have the quotidian of love upon " (Hyoscyamus) which if it be eate or dronke, it breedeth madness him, he that is so love sliak'd." or slow likeness of sleepe." It is interesting to note that in Troilus and Cressida, III. iii., that an attack of of the line that I like Shakespeare recognised ague Personally, speaking drugs, be best is that appeal of Cleopatra to Charmian might precipitated by exposure to the sun- " insolation?for we have the lines Give me to drink mandragora, "And danger, like an ague subtly taints' That I out this of time might sleep great gap Even then when we sit idly in the sun." My Anthony is away." Though perhaps Iago's description in Othello, III. iii., 'Plague. is almost as fine There are innumerable allusions to the plague, for it must be remembered that in the the Citv "Not poppy nor mandragora, poet's day of London was free from' this disease. In the Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, rarely various references to the it is at Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep pestilence, difficult times to know whether the inferred Which thou ow'dst jresterday." poet bubonic plague or typhus, for both diseases were equally common and to know that or It may interest you Mandragora may frustrate diagnosis even to-day. For instance, in Mandrake, was the antispasmodic that Reuben gave to Coriolanus, IV. i. and which was so to Rachel in Leah, helpfid Genesis, "Now the red pestilence strike all trades in 14. XXX, Rome, their occupations perish." And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and in The I. ii. " Tempest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them The red rid you for me plague learning " unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah. " your language Give me I pray thee of son's mandrakes." and in II. " thy Troilus and Cressida, i. And Jacob slept that night with Leah and she "A red murrain on thy jades tricks" conceived." And later also "Rachel conceived." and in iii. June, 1930.J MEDICINE IN SHAKESPEARE: GREEN-AKMYTAGE. 337

" He is so that tho death plaguey proud, and (lion, in Troilus and Crcssida, V. iii., the wasting tokens cry 'No recovery."' ot consumption, as possibly complicating syphilis or Whatever the actual disease, it is obvious that it was malaria is described " then as very infectious, for in Twelfth A recognised being whoreson ptisick, a whoreson rascally ptisick so Night, I. iv., we read I an " " (roubles me, and have such rheum in mine eyes Even so one catch the quickly may plague and ache in mine bones, that unless a man "were and in 1. Richard II, iii. cursed, I cannot tell what (o think on it" "Suppose devouring pestilence hangs in our air, again, in A Lover a Complaint we find a reference which And thou art flying to a fresher clime." may be construed to mean the foetid breath of (he In interest this connection it is of great that consumptive, should refer to two methods of treatment " ?Shakespeare Oh. that sad breath his spongy lungs bestowed." which were as common then as they are in the East to-day, for in Coriolanus, III. i., we read of segregation Hydrophobia. in case the of infectious diseases It was " is obvious that this well known (o follow the to his Pursue him his house lest infection, bite of a rabid for in The ? dog, Comedy of Errors, V. i being of catching nature, spread further." we have (he lines whereas in l{omco and .Juliet, V. ii., iniected individuals '* The venom clamours of a jealous woman, are forcibly interned in their own house " Poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth." .' v the searchers of the town Suspecting that we both were in a house Pyorrhoea. Where the infectious pestilence did reign, I expect most of you are aware that the modern (ooth Sealed up the doors and would not let us forth." brush came into fashion about 1700. Prior to this while of you Finally, speaking quarantine, perhaps little care was taken of the teeth except perhaps the will allow me to dear thought of quote Shakespeare's occasional use of the stick customary in India to-day. and his of our island home England appreciation being It is however that caries was rare in those from the external in those lines from probable segregated world, days because of breast feeding, a full vitamine diet and Richard II. i. II, 'he saint use of knife and fork, but there can be little "This fortress built nature for by herself, doubt that did exist, for we have the lines in infection and the hand of war." pyorrhoea Against Corwlanus, II. iii., Dysentery. "Bid them wash their faces and keep their teeth There are but few allusions to this malady, which clean," is and in Julius Ccesar, I. ii., Casca says the many scenes of camps and battle, " considering The uttered such a deal 'of Perhaps remarkable, but there is the following line in rabblement Titus III. i. stinking breath." " Andronicus, My bowels cannot hide her woes, Moreover you will remember in The Merry Wives of But like a drunkard must I vomit them Windsor, Falstaff speaks of "kissing comfits," which and in Troth is and Cressida, II. ii. refers to a custom of taking perfumed cachous to " a to in No ladv of more softer bowels, more spongy sweeten the breath, habit referred Borneo and to in the sense of fear." I. iv. suck Juliet," I have often wondered why some modern pill vendor. Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are." 0,1 has not patient with chronic constipation adopted In the epilogue to As You Like It, it would appear Hamlet's words 'bat, was common in " halotitis unpleasantly Elizabethan For this relief, much thanks." days, for Rosalind says, " of Anaemia. If I were a woman, I would kiss as many you as had breaths that I defied not." e have noted the pallor wljjch the. poet associated we those caustic lines in the 130th with malaria, but it is obvious that he had observed Finally have as a Sonnet which Mr. G. B. Shaw observes is such chlorosis, or secondary anaemia of women, thing to women, Quite from the same condition in men, for in anathema apart " II. we have those beautiful lines And in some is there more delight, twelfth" Night, iv., perfumes ] she never told her love Than the breath that, from my mistress reeks." But let concealment like a worm i' the bud Feed 011 her damask cheek, she pined in thought Syphilis. And,, with a green and yellow melancholy, There are so many references to this malady under She sat like patience on a monument various titles such as "the French disease," the "rotten " Smiling at grief disease of the South," "the Neapolitan disease" that ftnd in Romeo and Juliet, IV. i., the still more beautiful I need not detail them, except perhaps in the interests lines of to say that the most arresting are " syphilographers The roses in thy lips and cheeks to be found in Hamlet, V. i., Measure for Measure, Shall turn to paly ashes." I- ii;. Henry V, II. ii-, and Timon of Athens, IV. iii. Whereas in Part 2, IV. iii-. Falstaff refers Henry IV, Incontinence Urine. male green sickness in words which are, I think, of particular interest to us in You are all aware that this is a condition often seen " Bengal, For thin drink doth so overcool their blood, and in children and prostatic old men, but perhaps not into a kind of making many fish meals they fall many of you know that Shakespeare mentions the male green sickness, and then when they marry they fact?which is corroborated by Ben Jonson in his play get wenches. They are generally fools and cowards, Everyman in His Humour, and is vouched for by the which some of us should be, but for inflammation, Hon. Robert Bovle?that it is proverbial that the music -^nd in Anthony and Cleopatra, III. ii-, we read of the bagpipes' has the power to produce enuresis. "And Lepidus is troubled with the green sickness.' Here are the lines in The Merchant of Venice, IV. i. " Some men there are that love not a gaping pig. Consumption. Some that are mad if they behold a cat, First we have those lovely lines in A Winter's 7ale, And others, when the bagpipes sing i the nose iii., which are so peculiarly applicable to the zenana Cannot contain their urine. Av?rld of India Ben Jonson's lines are " pale primroses " What ails thy brother? Cannot he hold his " That (lie unmarried, ere they can behold water at the reading of a ballad? a " to him is worse than Bright Phoebus in his strength, malady Oh no, a rhyme cheese Most incident to maids." or a bagpipe." L. 338 THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE. [June, 1930.

" Goitre. more courtship lives In carrion flies than Romeo, they may seize in must have seen Shakespeare, living Stratford, many On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand cases of neck which was doubtless as com- Derbyshire And steal immortal blessing from her mon then as it is in the hill tracts lips. Darjeeling to-day. Flies may do this, when I from this must fly." Therefore I am sure these lines in The Tempest, III. iii., will appeal to you Alcohol. " Who would believe that those were mountaineers, Merrie in the of was well like had England days Shakespeare Dewlapp'd bulls, whose throats hanging noted for its beer vide Othello, At them wallets of flesh." drinking propensities, II. iii., but it is doubtful whether the mead and hop Pruritus. grown beer did much harm. The poet-actor-manager lived in convivial times, therefore it is a pleasure to It is obvious that scabies was known and its cause read in Henry VIII, I. iv. understood, for in llomeo and Juliet, I. iv., we have " Good company, good wine, good welcome, the reference " Can make good people "Not half so as a round little worm, our big " but I think Scotch and American friends respec- Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid tively will the lines in Othello, II. iii. " appreciate and again in The 11. ii. I have a " Tempest, Come lieutenant, stoup of wine." Yet a tailor might scratch her where'er she "Not I have a and " to-night good lago, very poor did itch unhappy brain for drinking. I could well wish and in I. Marcius says would invent some other form of " Coriolanus, i., courtesy entertain- " What's the matter, you licentious rogues, that ment rubbing the poor itch of your opinion, make but I doubt if even a Scotsman would accept the advice yourselves scabs." of Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 2, IV. iii. "If I had a thousand sons the first human Diagnosis by the Appearance of the Urine. principle I would teach them, would be to forswear a thm This is probably one of the very oldest methods of potation and addict themselves to sack." diagnosis, and as you are aware it still exists -in the East and the followers of amongst Ayurvedics the x Mental Disorders. Baghbat. In Shakespeare's time this custom was " Nothing illustrates the of William called water casting," and there are many references genius Shakespeare as well as his of the mind to it the the best reading with the causation, throughout plays. Perhaps known and of mental diseases. To those who occurs in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, II. i. development " are particularly interested I may refer them to the These follies shine through you like water in a book of Dr. John Bucknill in 1867 on The that not an eye that sees you but is a published urinal, physician Mad Folk For our will be on of Shakespeare. purpose it to comment your malady." " sufficient to remind you that Othello" and Julius Diet. Ctesar suffered from which in the latter pla>' " epilepsy, Brutus calls the falling sickness." I feel sure that my Hindu and vegetarian friends II. we will feel complimented by the lines in Twelfth Night, In King Lear, iv., have the curious reference I. iii. to hysterica passio, and in Troilus and Cressida, II- 111- " of in word? I am a great eater of beef, and I believe Ulysses describes the symptoms Achilles seems to indicate his as that does harm to my wit" which disease incipient general to which Sir Toby feelingly replies paralysis of the insane. "No question about it" The tragedies of Macbeth and Hamlet portray a but they should mark well the words of Longaville in knowledge of psychological medicine without parallel Love's Labour Lost, I. i. in and those of you who have had occasion " literature, Fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits to be called to such a case, will appreciate the words Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits." of the canny Scotch doctor in Macbeth, III. i. " but On the other in Julius I. the This disease is beyond my practice, I think hand, Ccesar, ii., follv the of asceticism is described as follows, dare not speak, more needs she the divine than " Let me have men about me that are fat, physician." . Sleek headed men and such as as he discreetly tries to pass her on to the confessional- sleep o'nights, to' Yon has a lean and Moreover, I like to think that that same canny doc Cassius hungry look, 0 Such men are dangerous." perhaps originated the Rule of the Commissioners Lunacy that we should record a patient's own words In The Comedy of Errors, V. i., there is good advice as evidence of mental instability, for you will remernbe' for doctors and students, who as you know, due to he says are to hurried and irregular meals, prone suffer from " I will set down what comes from to satisfy indigestion and duodenal ulcer, for it is written her. " remembrance the more Unquiet meals may give you indigestion." my strongly." and in Macbeth, III. iv. There seems little doubt that Shakespeare fore' " in Let good digestion wait on appetite, and shadows the principles of modern psycho-analysis health on both." those famous lines " For those who are romanticists I like the words of Canst thou not minster to a mind diseased, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, II. i. Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Speed" Though the chameleon love, can feed on air I am Raze out the written troubles of the brain one that am nourished by my victuals, and would And, with some sweet oblivious antidote fain have meat." Cleanse the bosom of that stun clogg'd " perilous . Which the heart . To show you in India, Shakespeare's appreciation of weighs upon and I feel that the authorities of all mental the importance of a clean milk supply, surely there is hospita j will that the treatment of nothing to equal Launcelot's remark in III. i., of the rejoice proper diseases can be credited to his for in Much Au? same play, genius, About V. we read "She can look you, a sweet virtue in a Nothing, i., milk, " maid with clean Fetter madness in a hands." strong silken thread, ; Charm ache with and with words." Speaking of public health, it is of more than ordinary air, agony interest to find that even so long ago as the days of There are many other references to melancholia ? flies were looked upon as carriers, for in mania in the plays, for instance in the Comedy an

" luost anxious moments, for in Love's Labour Lout, V. Ho that but fears the thing lie would not know, ii-j we read Hath by instinct, knowledge from others eyes " Your task shall be with all the fierce That what he feared, is chanced." endeavour of your wit, It is worthy of note that the poet well understood " To enforce the pain'd impotent to smile the importance of the previous history of adjudging for for in Part III. we read disease," Henry IV, 2, i., " The miserable have no other medicine, There is a history in all men's lives But only hope." Figuring the nature of the times deceased, 11 The which a man Finally, there are those wise lines in King Henry , observed, may prophesy to With a near of the main chance of Bart 2, 111. i., which to my mind are so apposite aim, things the state of politics in England and India to-day, As not yet come to life." " the time allotted me is to an Then you perceive the body of our kingdom Gentlemen, coining end, and remarked in How foul it is, what rank diseases grow you remember what Lord Say near heart of it Henry VI And with what danger (he " to which Warwick answers Long sittings to determine poor men's causes, " Hath made me full of sickness and diseases." It is but as a body yet distempered, to be restored I trust you will not think of me as Which his former strength may Nevertheless," " By good advice and little medicine." A fellow of infinite jest and most excellent fancy If one one realises how who reads Shakespeare earnestly " Prophetic he is and how nearly he touches existence waxes desperate with imagination," and customs I think he must bu? rather believe that to-day. For instance, " have foreseen the modern jazz band for, although he My endeavour has been as a he is To frame your mind to mirth and merriment, Irequently speaks of music remedy, equally " an Which bars a thousand life emphatic that as a soothing agent it may have harms, and lengthens he writes and so opposite effect. In Richard 11, V. v., " Give me commendation for free "This music mads me; let it sound no more; my For, though it have liolp madmen to their wits, entertainment." men mad. I know I have but touched upon the fringe of this In me, it seems, it will make wise " Again, he foresees modern late hours and overeating great subject and my thesis is but a thing of shreds and but if I fresh interest and describes an excellent remedy. Here are the lines patches," have awakened hi Bart IV. i. in the world's greatest poetic genius, I shall consider Henry" IV, 2, YVe are all diseased myself sufficiently rewarded. our wanton hours, And, with surfeiting, and References. Have brought ourselves into a burning fever, The And we must bleed for it." Bucknill, J. C. (1SG7). Mad Folk of Shakespeare. A. and the Medical Again, perhaps we owe the modern waistless line of Doran, (1899). Shakespeare women to Shakespeare, for we read the words of Queen Society. Elizabeth in Richard III Green-Armytage, V. B. (1927). Gynaecology and " Ah! cut my lace asunder. Obstetrics in the Days oj the Patriarchs. to beat.' Andrew (1908). Maid France? Longmans That nij- pent heart may have some scope Lang, oj However, it is nice to read in The Comedy oj Errors Green. that Dr. Binch had a good bedside manner. The line Lee, Sydney. Life oj Shakespeare. reads Maudsley (1908). Heredity, Variation and Genius. " Give me hand and let me feel your pulse." John Bayer. your Arts in And the of a voice Moyes, J. Medicine and Kindred '' description ladj^'s Her voice was ever Shakespeare. soft, A. Plutarch's Lives. Gentle and an excellent thing in woman." Clough, (1876). low, St. Clair Thomson Transactions of the the seems to the effect of (1916). Although poet appreciate Medical the recent festive season in the line Society. " Howard. Works William Shakespeare. For my voice I have lost with hollaing and Staunton, oj " Herbert Ccesarean Section. singing of anthems Spencer, (1925). jt is obvious that Shakespeare was well aware ol the benefits of fresh for we read such lines as " air, The most wholesome physic of thy health air." " giving The air is quick and it pierces and sharpens the stomach." " There's fresher air my lord in the next chamber, Lead in ladies." p. your finally, Jet us not those words " forget Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, ~ ^ hich we ascribe to Heaven." n remember he does not overestimate the help of we Medicine," for read I consider medicine life be death By" may prolong'd, yet ill seize the doctor too."

Prognosis. is said of Sir William Osier that he never saw a P?tient, however desperately ill. without leaving behind same idea is to be fn ^n- atlnosphere of hope. The u7 Anthony and Cleopatra, II. v. Though it be honest, it is never good fn* "ring bad news" we read in Henry IV, Part 2, I. i.