RAMBLES in EUROPE” by FRANCIS R

SELECTIONS FROM GIBSON’S “RAMBLES IN EUROPE” By FRANCIS R. PACKARD, M.D. PHILADELPHIA, PA. ON better or more vivid descrip- the University of Pennsylvania but did tions of the famous members not graduate. Instead he went to Edinburgh of the medical profession who where he received the degree of m.d . in flourished in France and England 1809. While abroad he and some friends in the first half of the nineteenth century chartered a vessel and sailed to Spain where have been preserved for us than those the Peninsular War was being fought. contained in Dr. Gibson’s account of his They saw the battle of Coruma. In 1815 he trip to Europe in the year 1839. From him was again in Europe and was a spectator we have received most of our impressions of the battle of Waterloo, receiving a slight of their appearance, methods of practice, wound on this occasion from a stray bullet. and professional standing. The book is He was probably the only American to be long out of print and quite scarce. It seems present at both of these famous battles. worthwhile to print some of the most inter- In 1811 he was active in establishing the esting of its pages, especially because some medical department of the University of of the statements contained in them have Maryland, in which he was professor of been much garbled in the course of frequent surgery until 1819, when he succeeded repetitions and are worthy of preservation Physick in that chair at the University of in their original form. Pennsylvania, occupying it until his retire- William Gibson was born in Baltimore, ment in 1855. Gibson was a fine teacher, March 14, 1788. He attended St. John’s and a bold and dexterous operator. In College in Annapolis and Princeton College, 1812 he tied the common iliac artery for and subsequently took a medical course at 8 Wilder, A. Op. cit., p. 762. aneurysm. In addition to his professional following question, in rapid succession, and the accomplishments he was a scholar, and greatest interest evinced in the various answers possessed considerable artistic ability. He returned—all touching points of practice, either died on March 2, 1868. peculiar to America, or in conformity with The following extracts are taken from English or French doctrines, or notions, or, “Rambles in Europe in 1839 with Sketches as sometimes happened, adverse to both. Thus employed, an hour glided quickly away, when of Prominent Surgeons, Physicians, Medical a servant entered and whispered, audibly, that Schools, Hospitals, Literary Personages, the rooms werb full of patients, all anxious to Scenery, etc., by William Gibson, m.d .” obtain his advice. He rose suddenly, apologized The book was published by Lea and Blan- for leaving me, and said “Come and breakfast chard in 1841. with me to-morrow precisely at nine, and any morning, if you please, at the same hour, as Sir Astl ey Coope r long as you remain in London, and I will go It was natural I should wish to see the through with you, day after day, the various Wellington of British surgery, as Sir Astley preparations in my museum, the most valuable Cooper has been emphatically styled. I had and choice of which are contained in my house.’’ attended his lectures, occasionally, and wit- The next morning I was at my post by the nessed his operations, in Guy’s and St. Thomas’s appointed time, breakfast was served precisely hospitals, thirty years before; I was familiar to the minute, and half an hour afterwards I with his writings and high reputation at home, found myself in his museum listening to a abroad, and indeed, throughout the civilized lecture on the structure and functions of the world, and felt no ordinary desire to form the thymus gland, illustrated by some of the most acquaintance of one who, in addition to the beautiful preparations I ever beheld. At half highest professional renown, was allowed, by past ten I took leave, and Sir Astley said at common consent, to be among the most finished parting “Come to me if you can, tomorrow at gentlemen of the day; I repaired therefore, to two o’clock, and I will take you to Guy’s his house, without any introduction whatever, Hospital, show you the establishment and its was ushered into his presence, and received with large and splendid collection of preparations—- a courtesy and urbanity I was totally unpre- many of which occurred in my own practice, pared to expect; for, upon my name being and are very interesting and unique in their announced, by an attendant, he came forward character.’’ Whilst riding, upon that occasion, with ease and alacrity, and expressed, in the for miles along the crowded streets of London, kindest possible way, his pleasure at meeting and moving so slowly as scarcely to reach our one connected with a university he had Jong destination for an hour and a half, I was forcibly known by reputation, and with some of whose struck with the fund of anecdote which he was professors he had been upon the most intimate constantly pouring forth, chiefly illustrative of terms of friendship, whilst fellow-pupils with the scenes of his long and eventful life, and them, under the celebrated Hunter. Imagine relating, in many instances, to ludicrous, or a tall, elegantly formed man, moderately robust, remarkable, circumstances in the history of with a remarkably pleasing and striking coun- some of his professional brethren, all told in such tenance, red, and fresh as a rose, apparently a way, as to convince me that he possessed an about fifty-eight or sixty years of age, but, in innate love for fun, or mischief, so refined, reality, above seventy, very agile and graceful however, by benevolence, as never to wound or in all his movements, simply, but handsomely tarnish, the characters of those whose peculiar- attired, with a spirit and vivacity, and bearing ities, or infirmities he portrayed. I was the more of a youth, with, in short, no marks of advanced persuaded of this ingredient in his composition, age, except a head as white as the driven snow, afterwards, from hearing, through an old friend and a very just conception may be formed of of his in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth, where the appearance of Sir Astley Cooper. he was born, the following anecdote—upon the I had scarcely been seated five minutes before truth of which I thought I could rely. “Sir I found myself deeply engaged in discussing Astley,’’ said he, “was the son of a clergy- all the knotty points of surgery, question man of Yarmouth, where, upon an occasion, the church bells began to ring, so vehemently, as occasion, going considerably out of his way, to alarm the inhabitants, who ran in great and up a long flight of stairs, expressly to numbers to the parsonage to inquire of the shake hands with an old woman, who had been minister the cause of such terrific peals from the one of his principal nurses more than forty steeple. ‘Oh!’ said the reverend gentleman, years, and the only surviving individual, he ‘I have no doubt it’s all the work of that mis- said, who had been connected with the hospital chievous wag of mine—Master Astley—and as long as himself. his hopeful playmate, Tom Goodfellow.’ Accord- After showing several interesting cases in ingly, upon ascending the steeple, it was found, the wards—one, an amputation at the shoulder- as predicted, that the boys were busily at work, joint, performed by Mr. Key, and in a fair way full swing, pulling and hauling the rope in fine to recovery, the stump being nearly healed, style, and amazingly delighted at the stir and and beautifully formed—he led the way to the sensation they were creating throughout the surgical cabinet, and pointed out, with his town, and the trouble they were giving to the own hand, each interesting specimen, giving honest citizens.” its history and peculiarity, and waiting, pa- During the ride Sir Astley mentioned to me, tiently until I had secured his remarks in my also, a striking peculiarity—which showed the note-book. There, and afterwards at St. power and extent of his memory—by remarking Thomas’s I had the opportunity of examining he could take up any of the poets, and from two all the preparations referred to in his great work or three readings repeat for years afterward on Hernia, the specimens in which the aorta, whole passages without the slightest omission the iliacs, the subclavian and carotid arteries or mistake, and in proof of it, immediately had been tied by himself, and the causes of recited several pages from Young’s Night failure, or success, amply demonstrated. There, Thoughts. In conversing with him concerning also, I saw a specimen in which the subclavian the destruction of Hunter’s papers, by Sir had been tied successfully, by Mr. Key, in a Everard Home, he remarked it was true, and case where the axillary artery had been torn, an act of great folly on Sir Everard’s part, in an attempt to restore a long-standing disloca- inasmuch as it led to the belief he had never tion of the shoulder, and the result of which produced an original work, but had stolen every proved that I myself had been justified in pur- thing from Hunter; whereas, he had strong suing the same course, under similar circum- reason to believe, Sir Everard had only burnt stances, long before. From the museum (the papers which he conceived to be of little or no extent and beauty of which can only be appreci- importance, and that he was not, justly, charge- ated by those who have examined it closely, as able in a single instance, with plagiarism.

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