no THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE ILLUSTRIOUS BOERHAAVE.* 



By WILLIAM T. LUSK, M.D., LL. D. 



OF the serious questions which need to be considered at the 

 outset of a professional career there is none more vital than 

 that of personal conduct. This is recognized by the provision for 

 the medical man of a code of ethics, which shows him how the 

 portion of the ten commandments which teaches one's duty to- 

 ward one's neighbor, is applicable to his dealings with the public 

 and with other medical men. It is useful to the class which need 

 to be reminded that for uprightness a man should do no murder, 

 should not steal, should not bear false witness, should not covet. 

 But the sweetness and light which should govern our relations 

 to others are not the product of written law. The real training 

 comes from action with attendant victories and defeats. There is, 

 however, a special inspiration to higher effort which is derived 

 from the study of the lives of distinguished men. For this rea- 

 son I have thought it might be profitable for you to follow with 

 me on this occasion the career of the Dutch physician Hermann 

 Boerhaave. In his day his fame was world-wide. A letter ad- 

 dressed to the " illustrious Boerhaave, physician in Europe," by 

 a mandarin in China, in those days of limited communication, 

 reached him without inquiry or delay. In the history of medicine 

 he ranks as the peer of Hippocrates and Sydenham. 



He was born in Voorhut, a small village, two miles distant 

 from Leyden, on December 31, 1668. His father, James Boer- 

 haave, was a poor minister with a large family. He had, as 

 we learn from a few but very precious memoranda left by his 

 famous, son, a good acquaintance with Latin, Greek, and He- 

 brew, and was well versed in historical studies. He was, in fact, 

 a modest scholar, simple and unpretending, but with high ideals, 

 and respected by all for his probity and honor. With special 

 gratitude the son recalls the self-denying economy by which the 

 father sought to provide the means of educating his nine living 

 children. 



James Boerhaave was twice married. Hagar, the mother of 

 Hermann, died when he was five years old. She left seven chil- 

 dren. From her Hermann inherited his taste for natural sci- 

 ence. At the end of a year, James married a Mrs. Dubois, a 

 minister's daughter. By her he had six children, but, owing to 

 her obliging, impartial disposition, the old home sheltered an un- 

 divided family. In his memoranda Hermann commemorates the 



* An address delivered before the graduating class of the Medical Department of Yale 

 University, June 26, 1894. 



