138 



Reminiscentia. — No, 7/7. — Dr. Gom. 



[March 1, 



spondents, and apologizinsf for drawing 

 so largely on your patience, 1 am, &c. 

 W.M. Partridge. 

 Bowbridge, Gloucestep, Jan, 12. 



For the Monfldif ilfagazine. 

 REMINISCENTIA.— No. III. 



DR. GOM. 



IT is remarkable that so little (in- 

 deed scarcely any tiling in print) 

 has been said upon the singular cha- 

 racter who is in;ulc the subject of these 

 recollections. 



]>r. (loni was, in body and mind, 

 distinguished fi'oin ordinaiy men. He 

 was six feet two or three inches in 

 height, of an athletic make, and al- 

 though upwards of seventy wlieii the 

 wiiter was introduced to him, yet 

 he was as upright as a dart. He was a 

 native of Statfordsliire, not far from 

 Birmingham, where the small property 

 lie called his patrimonial, was silualed. 



It is said tliat in his earliest days lie 

 was admired for the uncommon strength 

 of his mind, inoi-e tlian for the progress 

 he made in his education. In fact, in 

 his youth he look a dislike to the gc- 

 uerally established system of school- 

 learning, but seemed better pleased 

 with the instruction of a neighbouring 

 gentleman, charactei'ised as a free- 

 thhi/cei; and who had, in fact, been 

 obliged to leave (he university of Cam- 

 bridge (where lie had graduated) for 

 his openly-avowed penchant to unita- 

 rianisin. This volunteer preceptorput 

 into young (iojn's hands the translated 

 works of ilr'lveiius and Rousseau, with 

 which wriiings he expressed himself 

 delighied, but eipially anxious to be 

 able to read in the original. The 

 pupil was not long before he attained 

 bis wish in this respect; since the 

 knowledge he had of J.atin quickly en- 

 abled liim to understand (hat univer- 

 sally spoken language, the French. 



From the philosophical, our young 

 student often dipped into the dra- 

 matic French writings, till at length 

 he resolved that he would not relax 

 his inquiries into the language of the 

 most polished nation on the globe, till 

 the wit of Moliere should l)e as well 

 understood by him as the reasoning of 

 Montesquieu. He was known to, and 

 noticed by, the Earl of Hertford of that 

 day, and he found no great difliculty 

 in obtaining the sanction he wanted 

 for his visit to Paris, by being allowed 

 to make his bow or leave his card at the 

 hotel of the ambassador of Great Bri- 



tain. He now was in the high road to 

 study French and physic togetlier. He 

 had cliosen this faculty in preference 

 to (iiatofthe law, which a fond parent 

 had jiointed out to him, from his utter 

 aversion to (lie quirks and quiddities 

 mixed up in its practice. 



It was chielly from the notice of 

 the late Lord IStormont, then the repre- 

 sentative of (he court of St. James's to 

 that of Versailles, that Dr. Gom's ad- 

 vice was re(]uired by (he sick English 

 of Paris. His professional income 

 tliereby far exceeded that of many of 

 the French profession, (hough of equal 

 pretensi(nis, and still better known, 

 since, wiii'.e his countrymen never of- 

 fered less (han a guinea, or a Louis, 

 and ofien more, as a fee, (he Parisian 

 physician accepted, with a bow of ac- 

 knowledgment, a piece of six livres ! — 

 and that after marked attention to?, and 

 counting the pulses by a stop watch ; 

 as also making all the necessary in- 

 quiries of the patient and the nurse, 

 and giving directions even concerning 

 the ingredients of (he bouillon. These, 

 uhich are consideied by the Frencli 

 practitioners of pliysic, as requisite or 

 essential observations intlu! sick house 

 or chamber, are, by the English deemed 

 almost univ(!rsally unnecessary, and 

 especially by the ycleped eminent 

 ones, hut are left to the province of (he 

 nurs:! or cook. If also the doctor 

 should liap))en to he entitled professor, 

 as Sir Matthew or Sir Mark, he will 

 still more disdain (lie degrading office 

 of looking at any tiling but (he patient's 

 face and t'.ie doctor's fee. 



In this respect, following a middle 

 or rational course. Doctor Gom was cri- 

 ticised by the physicians of the rival 

 nation, who aimed to be his rivals also 

 in their art. As his discourse was al- 

 ways sincere, so were his actions in- 

 dependent. He did not envelope his 

 practice in mystery, as did the jugglers 

 of old, who professed to cure diseases, 

 but reasoned upon tiie infirmities of the 

 human body, as a philosopher or mathe- 

 matician would upon the imperfections 

 of an organised hydraulic machine. 

 The Brtuionlan sifstetn, in a great mea- 

 sure, quadrated with his own ; and his 

 practice bore great resemblance to that 

 of the much-admired, biit too prema- 

 turely lost. Dr. Hugh Smylii, His 

 prescriptions carried with them a beau- 

 tiful simplicity. A discerning practi- 

 ser may, by any one of them, discover 

 the ill it was calculated to remove. He 



did 



