DR. R. W. DARWIN. 



17 



My father took a different view and maintained that the 

 gentleman would recover : he was proved quite wrong in all 

 respects (I think by autopsy) and he owned his error. He 

 was then convinced that he should never again be consulted 

 by this family ; but after a few months the widow sent for 

 him, having dismissed the old family doctor. My father was 

 so much surprised at this, that he asked a friend of the widow 

 to find out why he was again consulted. The widow an- 

 swered her friend, that ' she would never again see the odious 

 old doctor who said from the first that her husband would die, 

 while Dr. Darwin always maintained that he would recover ! ' 

 In another case my father told a lady that her husband would 

 certainly die. Some months afterwards he saw the widow, 

 who was a very sensible woman, and she said, ' You are a very 

 young man, and allow me to advise you always to give, as 

 long as you possibly can, hope to any near relative nursing a 

 patient. You made me despair, and from that moment I lost 

 strength.' My father said that he had often since seen the 

 paramount importance, for the sake of the patient, of keeping 

 up the hope and with it the strength of the nurse in charge. 

 This he sometimes found difficult to do compatibly with truth. 

 One old gentleman, however, caused him no such perplexity. 



He was sent for by Mr. P , who said, * From all that I 



have seen and heard of you I believe that you are the sort 

 of man who will speak the truth, and if I ask, you will tell 

 me when I am dying. Now I much desire that you should 

 attend me, if you will promise, whatever I may say, always 

 to declare that I am not going to die.' My father acquiesced 

 on the understanding that his words should in fact have no 

 meaning. 



" My father possessed an extraordinary memory, especially 

 for dates, so that he knew, when he was very old, the day of 

 the birth, marriage, and death of a multitude of persons in 

 Shropshire ; and he once told me that this power annoyed 

 him ; for if he once heard a date, he could not forget it ; and 

 thus the deaths of many friends were often recalled to his 

 mind. Owing to his strong memory he knew an extraordi- 



