Post Mortems: II
MERE MORTALS
Boswell: But of what use will my book be when it is finished?
Johnson: Never mind the use—do it!
History is an Art and should be written withimagination.
Anatole France.
Post Mortems: Two
Mere Mortals
Medico-Historical Essays
By
C. MacLaurin
M.B.C.M., F.R.C.S.E., Hon. Deg. Padua
Lately Lecturer in Clinical Surgery, the
University of Sydney; Late Consulting
Surgeon, Royal Prince Alfred
Hospital, Sydney; Late Honorary
Surgeon, Royal
Hospital for Women,
Sydney
New York
George H. Doran Company
COPYRIGHT, 1925,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
MERE MORTALS
—B—
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
This book is
Affectionately Dedicated
To my Wife
and
To my Daughter
MRS. A. P. MACKERRAS
Preface
Great numbers of people, especially medicalmen, have written to me asking me tocontinue the short studies of great men of thepast that I began in Post Mortem; and the resultis the present volume.
Many reviewers complained that Post Mortemcontained too much “medical jargon,” whateverthat may mean. There is doubtfullysuch a thing as medical jargon; it is merely amethod of expressing thoughts for which there isno English equivalent except by the method ofa cumbrous sentence. For that reason I havetried to translate my thoughts into English wheneverit is possible. If by mischance a technicalterm should have crept in, you will find mostmedical terms in any decent modern Englishdictionary; or failing that, they are all simplytaken from the Greek. But there is anotherjargon than medical. There is the filthy jargonwhich insists on saying “the Red Plague” whenwe mean syphilis; or “in a certain interestingcondition” when we mean to say “pregnant.”
That jargon I absolutely refuse to use. Thoseelderly people with fixed minds who prefer thatsort of thing had better stick to Little Arthur orsomething equally fictitious. As a doctor writingon very serious subjects I must claim the doctor’sprivilege of writing with absolute frankness;without suspicion of coarseness.
And I beg you not to accept as diagnoses whatare sheer speculations.