USA > New York > Old New York : or, Reminiscences of the past sixty years > Part 3
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and imperious, surrounding himself with an atmosphere of formality which might be considered affected at the pres- ent day ; in practice, a rigid eonstruetionist ; a physician after tho straitest sect, who honored and magnified his office, and always looked on the more demonstrative branches of medical science, such as anatomy and sur- gery, as inferior in dignity to his own more metaphysical pursuits."
Tho same competent authority thus estimates Dr. Franeis's professional character : " As a medieal lec- turer, Dr. Franeis was always an impressive speaker, uniformly animated, and frequently eloquent. Whether he viewed a question analytically or historically, in a pro- fessional or seeular light, his learning made him equally familiar with it, and his sound common sense enabled him to take the route that led most directly to the point he wished to attain. In the siek-room he was kind and affcc- tionate, but less affected than some physicians. The soft footsteps and kind words with which he approached the bedside were admirable, and at onee secured confidence. Though he was not quite as ready in medical praetiee as men who have had a long hospital experience, yet his pre- scriptions were eminently scientific and successful. In consultation, when he brought the full powers of his mind to bear on a case, he threw such a flood of light upon it as at once to secure the admiration of his associates. He seemed, in faet, a living library, a walking cyclopædia of knowledge. His opinion was sometimes given with for- mality, but it was with no more than he believed due to his office."*
The admiration and sympathy with which his eminent teacher and subsequent partner inspired Dr. Francis, is apparent from his allusion to him in his " Old New York," which might stand for a bit of self-portraiture :-
* Dr. Mott's Eulogy.
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" It was not unfrequently remarked by our citizens, that Clinton, Hosaek, and Hobart, were the tripod on which our city stood. The lofty aspirations of Hosack were further evinced by his whole career as a citizen. Surrounded by his large and costly library, his house was the resort of the learned and enlightened from every part of the world. No traveller from abroad rested satisfied without a per- sonal interview with him; and, at his evening soirées, the literati, the philosopher, and the statesman, the skilful in natural seience, and the explorer of new regions, the arehæologist and the theologue, met together, participators in the recreation of familiar intercourse."
Doubtless some of Dr. Francis's convictions in regard to his profession would be deemed obsolete by the young practitioner of to-day ; and yet many of these wero founded upon long experience, and vindicated by rational induetion. As a general rule, it may be said of him that he had no sympathy with those gratuitous expedients whereby a life of mild invalidism is amused into a kind of medieal dilletantism; he contended that Nature should be relied on, with abstinence and repose, to facilitate her re- cuperative power, in all eases except where active treat- ment was indispensable, and then he was opposed to any compromise. He had little sympathy in the modern reli- anee on violent muscular exercises to obviate the derange- ment of the vital functions ineident to sedentary pursuits, ascribing many organie troubles to this unnatural strain upon the physical energies ; moderate exercise, good air, and congenial recreation, he believed far better adapted to seeure health than an hour's contortion, which might de- velop the arms and legs, but would also exhaust rapidly that nervous energy whereon the brain depends for its healthful activity. He has been thought to have retained more of the old-fashioned, conventional emphasis of the physician's rôle than most of his American contemporaries ;
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but no member of the profession ever so candidly associ- ated its precepts and principles with every-day life ; no medical authority could be more accessible and humani- tarian ; he delighted to identify his spécialité with the gencral welfare, and associate its interests with those of less technical branches of knowledge. Thus, in his dis- course to the students of Bellevue Hospital, he traces the history of anatomical investigations in New York from the times of the Dutch to the present day, and makes the course of that science illustrate the social condition of the place and people. "I am so constituted," he naïvely re- marks in his Historical Discourse, " that I cannot avoid a notice of our departed medical men, whenever I address New-Yorkers on the subject of their city." This loyalty to his vocation and esprit du corps which the Doctor, on all occasions, exhibited, in personal intercourse, literary opportunities, and professional duties, endeared him to his medical brethren, and, despite the proverbial jealousy of rivals in practice, induced a degree of individual affection and posthumous recognition rare in the annals of medical science. Dr. Mott uttered the common sentiment of his fraternity when, at the close of his Eulogy, he thus ad- dressed the spirit of their departed associate : "Gently and lovingly do we take thee in our arms, and tenderly and mournfully do we bear thee away from the compan- ionship of the living, and placc thee high on thine own pedestal, among our other illustrious dead. Henceforthi thy name and reputation are ours ; and this Academy, representing the Genius of Medicine, will guard thy fair fame, even as the angel guarded the gate of Par- adise."
The variety of his practice was remarkable as bringing him into relation with every class of people, and affording him a wide range of incidental observation, and every de- gree and kind of personal sympathy. He had, in the first
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place, patients who regarded him as the family friend of years, and manifested a confidence and affection which was as rare as it was beautiful to contemplate; then, he had established such a reputation as a lover of genius, that all who had the most distant elaim to that inueh-abused distinction, laid their infirmities before him ; he was the consulting physician of a long-established Life-Insurance Company, and passed an hour daily in Wall street, thus becoming familiar with the excitements and characters of that financial eentre; and, during the summer months, constant applications from strangers visiting New York attested the extent of his professional reputation; add to these habitual duties. the number of medical offices he sue- cessively filled, and the many poor he attended, and it is evident his sphere embraced every rank of society and all voeations.
There was one requisite of the physician's duty which Dr. Francis possessed and fulfilled in so eminent a degree, that it was recognized almost to the exclusion of every other, when first the news of his death saddened the eity of his love and the scene of his long, useful, and benign career: we allude to his benevolence-so constant, patient, and overflowing, as to entitle him to the lionors of a public benefactor. His time, skill, and purse, and, above all, his sympathy, were freely and frankly devoted to the relief of human suffering, to an extent and with an alaerity unpar- alleled in the annals of the American medieal profession. Every day his door was besieged by poor patients, who seldom left it without a supply of medieine, food, elothing, or money ; some of them were the protégés of years ; now it was an invalid printer, and now a decayed aetor; to-day, a worthy old negro ; to-morrow, an over-worked Irish- woman ; of that elass so difficult to aid, and yet so in need of the most delieate consideration-those " who had seen better days," and struggled with poverty under the aggra-
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vation of refined habits of life and superior education ; no physician had more dependent on his generous counsel and care- which holy duty was cheerfully shared by his family, and sometimes by his friends.
Curious were the scenes and incidents to which this lay ministry to the unfortunate gave rise; annual gifts, of humble but gracious valuc; applications from exiles, pen- niless scholars, and "landless resolutes." So open was his hand to melting charity, that it was never safe for him to carry a full purse ; its contents would all disappear in the course of the day, so that he would often have to walk from a distant part of the city, failing to encounter any of the hundreds of omnibus-drivers who knew him too well not to trust him for a ride. That he could never say "No," is the only reproach plausibly made against him ; arrogant mendicants have been known to threaten suicide, colporteurs to waylay his path with subscription- papers ; while, on the other hand, the " roughs " opened a passage for him to the polls, when they hustled a million- naire, so well attested was his humanity. A member of his own profession, on arriving in the city, having an exalted idea of the Doctor, was disappointed at the facetiousness which happened to be the only quality he exhibited at their first interview. A few days after, accident carried the stranger into the squalid purlieus of the Five Points ; and as he was picking his way through the reeking crowds of filth, his steps were arrested by the sight of a poor man, tearfully carrying a little coffin, and Dr. Francis walking bareheaded behind-the only mourner, except its father, for a child he had faithfully attended. This was a new phase of benevolence, and it gave the wondering spectator, as he declared, an indelible and almost sublime impression of the humanity of the good physician.
But the distinctive and noble feature of his professional career was its public spirit. Instead of that absorption in
-
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the lucrative business of a physician, intent only upon his fees, and oblivious of the disinterested claims of a vocation wherein learning and humanity so legitimately blend, Dr. Francis devoted the intervals of his practice to the ad- vancement of medical science as a great social interest. His first course of lectures as professor in a new and un- endowed College, were gratuitous ; he labored unceasingly in behalf of the several hospitals with which he was offi- cially connected ; and the first meeting of the Medical Board of the Bellevue after his decease, when another was obliged to occupy the chair so long and acceptably filled by him, was impressive in the highest degree from the emotion which his old companions, in the administration of this charity, found it impossible to suppress, and which found expression in the most touching, because the most spontaneous, tributes offered to his memory. His name is forever identified with the other prominent institutions of the city and State consecrated to the ministry of Science and Benevolence, either as their active official representa- tive or successful public advocate. Sanitary laws and hygienic improvements found also in him a wise and per- sistent expositor ; no American physician has written and spoken more ably on epidemic and contagious diseases- especially the yellow fever and Asiatic cholera, to the first of which maladies he came near being a victim in boy- hood, while, during the prevalence of the latter in New York, his courageous zeal and heroic self-devotion are still remembered with gratitude and honor. All the medical writings of Dr. Francis are of a comprehensive and prac- tical kind-relating to subjects upon which an enlightened public opinion is essential; they were invariably elicited by the needs of society and the profession ; and although some of them have lost significance through the progress of scientific knowledge and its general diffusion, to many of them may be traced important reforms in practice, and
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in all are found invaluable suggestions. Among them are his treatise on the Uso of Mercury (1811) ; Cases of Morbid Anatomy (1814) ; Febrile Contagion (1816) ; Denman's Practice of Midwifery, with Notes (1825) ; Letter on Chol- cra Asphyxia (1832) ; Observations on the Mineral Waters of Avon (1834) ; and the Anatomy of Drunkenness. He also contributed articles to different medical periodicals on obstetrics, vitriolic emetics in the membranous stago of croup, Sanguinaria Canadensis, Iodine, the goître of Western New York and Canada, on medical jurispru- dence, yellow fever, death by lightning, caries of the jaws of children, elaterium, and ovarian disease. Of his career bc- fore visiting Europo, one of his medical friends observes : "Clear and cogent in his teachings, and free in his diverg- ing utterances to catch up happy and remote conceits, ho became a pleasing and popular lecturer. His whole soul was in his work. Between lecturing, visiting patients, and writing for medical quarterlies, he was kept inces- santly busy ; for at this time, besides his professional du- ties, he was co-editor, with Hosack, of the American Medi- cal and Philosophical Register, founded by them in 1820, and attending to the largest practice then in the city. The receipts from his profession were for many years $15,000; and considering the fact that at the time he commenced practice, the population of New York was but 68,000 souls, it may well be compared even with tho apoc- ryphal sums of more modern days."*
Some of his experiences among the unfortunate would furnish many a thrilling or humorous chapter to Dickens or Samuel Warren. He had taken care of a discarded son and brother of one of the leading families of the city for some years-one of those graceless fellows who are best described as their own worst enemies, with good
* Dr. A. K. Gardner.
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qualities, but reckless, improvident, and dissipated ; the individual referred to had finally worn out the patience of his relatives and become an outcast, and as he lay upon his death-bed in a garret, the family physician alone remained faithful to the prodigal. It was a stormy night in winter, and the Doctor's lonely vigil was interrupted by a knock at the door, upon responding to which, it slowly opened, and there entered one of the most elegant and unprincipled men about town-one who had held high political office, and who moved in the most select circles ; he was followed by a servant bearing a covered salver ; the Doctor knew that through this man's kindred love of pleasure, but more self-possessed and calculating nature, the poor victim who lay dying there had been lured to his destruction ; he knew that a latent feeling of remorse had induced the prosperous roue thus to ostentatiously succor his now degraded boon companion in his extremity ; and with the consciousness of this latent meaning of the scene, he described it as one that might be literally transferred to a tragedy or romance with most artistic effect; the contrast between the handsome costume and elaborate courtesy of the visitor, and the haggard features and mis- erable covering of the dying wretch ; the dainty tray of delicacies served on plate, and the dilapidated furniture of the dingy room ; the raving of the storm without, and the extraordinary interview which occurred, made the hour like the catastrophe of a life-drama. Nor was this illusion lessened when, in the cold, gray dawn, after the dazzling guest had retired and the poor outcast had breathed his last, the myrmidons of the law entered to seize the hardly cold body of the spendthrift. True to the last, the Doctor succeeded in beguiling them from the immediate execution of the writ, and, sending for a vehicle, bore the remains secretly to the house of one of his relations, whence, three days after, a sumptuous funeral gave no
DR. JOHN W. FRANCIS. xxxix
hint to the world of the pauper exit of the son and brother of " one of our first families."
An eccentric German philosopher was for some months one of the doctor's protégés. His broad, kindly face and long hair, his naïve manners and talk, a radical simplicity of character, ignorance of the world and profound knowl- edge of books, his lofty aspirations and hand-to-hand struggle for bare subsistence, made him an object of pecu- liar sympathy to his kind physician ; they discussed Ger- man authors and metaphysical theories, polities, and life ; and the brave poverty and frugal content of his patient endeared him to his medical friend. It was singular to note, amid the practical spirit of an American commercial city, such a complacent idealism and speculative indi- gence; while the Doctor pitied his circumstances, and found their alleviation a most perplexing problem, he had a theory for every disappointment, a metaphysical solace for every actual trouble. Thus, when he proposed to marry the daughter of an impoverished lady, selected according to Goethe's principle of the elective affinities, the prudent mother suggested that it was out of her power to bestow any outfit. "Madam," said the lover, " I also am poor." She then reluctantly communicated the fact that the object of his affection was in delicate health, and unequal to endure privation or encounter carc. "Madam," argued the persevering suitor, "I am also feeble ;" then, as a last resort, and with great reluctance, she said : "I feel it my duty to inform you that my daughter's mind has been seriously affected ; twice in her life sho has been de- ranged." "Madam," eagerly exclaimed the lover, "I also am flighty." While the Doctor looked forward with alarm to the prospect of an increase to a family so poorly equipped for the battle of life, the contemplative German had no misgivings, but sent for his friend one night about the witching hour; and when the Doctor called him from
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an adjoining room to see his first-born son, the insignia of poverty around did not in the least depress his paternal exultation : by the light of two sputtering tallow-candles he surveyed the little stranger, and, plaeing a tin pan of water upon a three-legged stool, took the baby in his arms, kuelt down, and after an ejaeulatory prayer in his native tongue, dipped his fingers in the improvised font, and, slowly plashing the infant's brow, baptized him Em- manuel Kant.
VI.
Few men amid our material and busy eivilization enjoy the associations of literature as did Dr. Francis. Inees- sant professional occupation prevented him from making it a pursuit, but he had an intense appreciation of its amenities ; he was thoroughly versed in its anecdotical history, and knew by heart the materials from which D'Is- raeli the elder eonstrueted his voluminous record of the fortunes of authorship. Not as a thing apart, a seholar's demesne, an abstraet interest, but from its relation to human life and character, he loved the world of letters and all its processes, instruments, and denizens, from the philosopher, annalist and bard, to the proof-reader and librarian ; book-stores and editorial sanetums were to him deleetable resorts ; he made himself at home immediately with the books in his patients' houses, and seemed to regard attendance, without fee or reward, upon authors, artists, and aetors, the highest privilege of his profession. There was something remarkably eneouraging to even the humblest votary of pursuits, so little honored in a eommu- nity where trade and fashion rule, in this hearty and abso- lute reeognition of their worth and interest. He had a way of regarding authorship almost Epicurean, and sat himself down to the most easual "feast of reason and flow
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of soul" with an air of conscious blessing that made one think of Lamb's advocacy of gracc before other daily comforts than those of animal subsisteuce. To hear him inquire of an acquaintance engaged in a literary under- taking as to its progress and prospects, was refreshing, after having seen no such sympathetic curiosity elsewhere manifested, except in regard to the Price-Current and Stock-Report. Goldsmith, with his hearty spirit of humanity, gave a kindly emphasis to his picture of the village alehouse when he described its humble convivial- ity as giving " an hour's importance to the poor man's heart ;" and it was the cheer and the charm that the Doc- tor's sympathy gave to the obscure labors of the intellect- ual hermit, or the hazardous enterprise of the adventurous scholar, that, in life, made precious to them his compan- ionship, and now endears his memory. Two of his young friends were engaged for three years in the preparation of au extensive biographical aud critical work of natioual interest, but at the same time so elaborate as to offer little eucouragement for such coutinuous and unprofitable labor, except to those actuated by strong love of letters and of usefulness. It was precisely such an achievement as would enlist the earnest sympathy of Dr. Francis, for it involved curious exploration of the past, estimates of character, auecdote-hunting, and critical research ; moreover, it reflected honor on the mind of the country, illustrated its progress, and chronicled its intellectual benefactors. Tho authors subsequently declared that tho vigilant and active interest which their good friend the Doctor constantly exhibited in their long task, his assi- duity in procuring them materials, and the manner in which he identified himself with the somewhat bold and difficult experiment, did more to keep them in heart, and their labor cheerfully progressive, than any other inspira- tion. When half an hour of leisure, between his profes-
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sional visits, allowed, the Doctor's gig would be seen from their study-window to draw up before the door. Before he alighted, he would hand a newspaper to the driver- sure sign that he intended to linger; and then, with a jovial greeting, burst, like morning sunshine, upon the delighted friends, weary perhaps with hours of irksome peneraft. They were in the habit of assorting the erude material of their work in large envelopes, and these were arranged in a long box divided into compartments. To examine, from time to time, add to, and discuss these memoranda, historieal, biographieal and eritieal, was a friendly pastime to the Doetor ; so that, when comfortably seated, his hat and gloves laid aside, his speetaeles duly wiped and reassumed, and his eigar lighted, he would say, with the genial expeetaney of a London alderman calling for turtle, or an English squire for a sight of the hounds, "Now, Doetor, bring out the harmonieon," a term that not inaptly suggested the harmonizing influenee of such reereative tastes upon a busy physician's life of ineessant grave eare and responsibility.
This aetive interest in literary enterprises, especially those devoted to native subjeets, Dr. Franeis not only manifested by encouraging authors and advocating their elaims, but directly promoted by pecuniary aid and gratu- itous professional ministrations, so that not a few of the personal and historieal records that now furnish materials to editors and annalists in regard to our country, which have appeared during the last forty years, owe their pub- lieation, or many of their most valuable details, to his liberal assiduity. The labors of Peter Foree and Jared Sparks enjoyed no more earnest advocate than he. His eare kept alive Dunlap, and his benevolence secured the completion of that industrious compiler's valuable ehroni- eles of the Fine Arts and the Drama in the United States ; the National Portrait Gallery received his consistent sup-
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port ; Allibone's Dictionary of Authors, Duyckinck's Cy- clopædia of American Literature, and Appleton's New Cy- clopædia, were among the undertakings in which he ex- hibited an ardent personal concern ; and all these works contain evidences of his stores of knowledge, frecly and carefully imparted from the impulse of genuine public spirit. The prefaces and notes of more volumes than it is easy to enumerate, acknowledge obligations of this kind to Dr. Francis ; from the pages of Rces's Cyclopædia, which was in the course of publication during his visit to England, to those of Alden's Collection of American Epitaphs; from Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, to the Medical Biographics of Dr. Gross; from the Memorials of Webster to " Valentine's Manual of the City of New York ; all along the path of that literature which preserves the names of national benefactors and local or professional celebrities, wc find traces of his rich memory and his respect for the sacred, but too often neglected, duty which gathers up and saves from oblivion the events and the characters that illustrate and honor our country's development. Few Americans habitually entertained so just a sense of the importance of authentic records : as if anticipating the scientific analysis whereby recent historians and philosophers revive and ex- pound the truths of Civilization, giving a new significance to the least regarded facts of social life, Dr. Francis cher- ished in his memory, cited in his conversation, and recorded whenever practicable, whatever his observation or reading furnished that served to give vital meaning to character or moral interest to circumstances. The letters and visits of inquiry he received from individuals engaged in special researches made him appear like a bounteous oracle and almoner of knowledge; and it was by virtue of his disin- terested love thereof, and his extraordinary sympathy with such labors in the cause of general intelligence, that ho was confidently sought and benignly useful. No American
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