CHAPTER IV 



FOTHERGILL AS A PHYSICIAN HIS WORK IN 

 THERAPEUTICS 



I swear by Apollo the healer and by ^Esculapius, that I will use the 

 regimen in aid of the sick to the best of my power and judgment. I 

 will keep away from all hurt and wrong-doing ; nor will I ever give a 

 deadly drug to anyone who asks me for it ; but with purity and with 

 holiness will I observe my course and follow my art. Whatsoever I 

 may see or hear in the life of men that ought not to be published abroad 

 I will hold secret. And as I fulfil this oath and break it not, may the 

 full enjoyment of my life and art be granted to me, held in honour 

 among all men to the end of time. Extracts from the " Oath of 

 Hippocrates," fifth century B.C. 



If a doctor's life may not be a divine vocation, then no life is a 

 vocation, and nothing is divine. Confessio Medici. 



Si les fonctions du medecin sont belles, c'est moins en effet dans les 

 palais et parmi les grandeurs que dans la demeure etroite et mal saine 

 du pauvre. C'est la ou 1'homme peut secourir rhomme, sans concours 

 et meme sans temoins ; c'est la ou Ton est sur de trouver des larmes a 

 essuyer, des infortunes a plaindre. Disons-le a la louange des mede- 

 cins, quel autre ordre de citoyens remplit ces devoirs augustes avec 

 autant de zele et de courage ? VICQ D'AZYR, loge de Fothergill. 



THE public repute of Fothergill during the latter years 

 of his practice throughout Great Britain and Ireland, in 

 some parts of Europe, and in the North American colonies 

 and the East and West Indies, was probably greater than 

 that of any other London physician. Franklin says that 

 many Quakers crossed the Atlantic on purpose to consult 

 him. His postal address had long been merely " Dr. 

 Fothergill, London." 



What were the causes of his extraordinary success in 

 practice ? Let us take some personal qualities first. 

 Fothergill was an admirable man of business, orderly and 

 dispatchful, giving no place to delay. This enabled him 

 to carry through work of wide extent and variety without 



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