Bentley’s Miscellany and Mad Doctors
There is a popular charivari?a line ancl cry raised abroad against ^ ” Mad Doctors tliey are pointed at and hunted down, like the un- fortunate mad dog which Goldsmith described in his celebrated Epi- taph. Whence does this arise 1 Is it from ignorance, or from that love of the ridiculous which is one of the characteristic features of the present age 1 True it is that prejudices founded originally upon matters of fact are always difficult to eradicate. The persistency o mental impressions would appear to be transmitted from one genera- tion to another; and hence some uncducated people ma>’ nnagine that the poor lunatic is still immured in a prison-like cell and chained from the wall to his bed of straw, and tliey may, to complete the picture of his misery, also suppose him to be tyrannized over by a house doctor, who has all the heartles.sness of a common gaoler and the ruthlessness of a hired turnkey. But the possibility of this?all commonly well-informed persons, particularly literary men, know to be at present utterly false ; we therefore marvel that Ave should find in so highly respectable and excellent a contemporary as ” Bentley’s Miscellany” an article perpetuating, if not, to a certain degree, origi- nating such misrepresentations. Instead, however, of accusing the author of ignorance, we are rather disposed to attribute his defalca- tion to that spirit of caricature which now-a-days gives a grotesque aspect to the simplest, as well as to the most serious incidents of daily life. Indeed, we are inclined to think that the extravagantly comic vein which now prevails deteriorates from the interests of science and the true dignity of literature. ” Vive la bagatelle” was Dean Swift’s frequent exclamation ; but let it be in proper place and season;?and we entertain a strong conviction that human suffering, under what- ever calamitous form it may be developed, ought to be held sacred from ridicule.
These observations have heen suggested by the article referred to? viz., the 31st Chapter from the “Note Book of a Coroner’s Clerk,” by the author of “Experiences of a Gaol Chaplain.” We may in- deed very conscientiously object in limine to any series under such a title, for the duties of a coroner, Avho is called upon to investigate into the causes of sudden death, are, it is obvious, of too distressing a nature to be trifled with even in fiction. We cannot imagine so unfeeling a spectacle as that of a mock inquest introduced into the middle of a broad farce?yet Ave are here promised a description of one in the next chapter ; but the experience of a Gaol Chaplain may someAA’hat have blunted the finer susceptibilities of the heart. For this reason Ave need not be surprised to find our author?partly, Ave pre- sume, from ignorance and partly from a desire of displaying the co- ruscations of his subtle Avit?-joining in the outcry raised against ” mad doctors but upon this point we Avould fain have a feAV Avords with this learned Tlieban.
To designate a physician by the pre-nomen of any class of diseases he may specially treat is a manifest absurdity. We may as avcII talk of a lung doctor?a stomach doctor?or a kidney doctor, as of a ” mad doctor.” ^ Or to change the illustration, Ave may, looking to the legal profession upon the same principle, speak of a petty-larceny attorney ? a burglary solicitor?or a forging attorney-general. This Avould really be as apposite as the the term ” mad doctor” thus vulgarly applied to those professional men Avho devote their industry and talents to the study and treatment of one of the most difficult and important departments of medical science. We do not find in Germany or in France any such disposition to underrate the status of such men as Ideler, Jacobi, Foville, Leuret, Mitivie, Parchappe, and others, avIio toil in the same field ; yet in England, as if avc Avere still oppressed by the superstition and darkness of the middle ages the same class of men are denounced as empirics?”mad?nothing else but mad. This is the moral propounded by the coroner’s clerk, who next pre- tends to give an account of the proceedings of a Commission in Lunacy, which are totally unlike anything of the kind we ever wit- nessed. It is difficult to say, indeed, which of the imaginary cha- racters he describes giving evidence in the case is most absurd. The “mad doctor” is thus portrayed, probably after the type of some Newgate official, which the author’s experience or imagination may have suggested :?” He” [Doctor Quoddums] ” was a sour looking elderly gentleman, who heightened the forbidding expression of sharp angular features by a constant and ominous frown. Very voluble and very prompt was he in his replies. * * * The doctor’s gloomy features relaxed into a lively green when he uttered this dictum?he smacked his lean lips and looked around him with the triumphant air of a man who had said something pre-eminently feli- citous and appropriate.” ‘* * “Sir!” says Quoddums, and knitting his brows fiercely and frowning upon Bohun as if he would annihilate him, ” I am versed in Insanity and I practice among the mad. * * * I am not to be deceived?it’s an impossibility. 1 found my decision upon data which cannot mislead me. I judge by the eye?its colour?its sadness?its unrest ; the involuntary move- ments of the hands tell me much?the action of the muscles of the mouth tell me more. I want no words?no language?no sounds to influence my decision !” Here Dr Quoddums swelled out his rude ungainly figure, put a thumb into each pocket of his perfect velvet waistcoat, and faced his auditory, revolving round as it were on a pivot to each point of the compass. ” Once adopted, it is immovable, and I pronounce unhesitatingly Sir Philip Grey de Fontenay to be insane.”
Our readers will observe that the author here somewhat defeats the objects of his own satire, as the expression of the eye, the invo- luntary movements and actions of the muscles of the mouth are physiognomical signs for the guidance, with other symptoms, of every pathologist; but why this exaggerated account of the personnel of the doctor should be given does not appear, excepting for the pur- pose of that species of ridicule which is of the lowest order?viz., per- sonal ridicule. The young man who is the supposed lunatic, Sir Philip Grey de Fontenay, is next brought into court, and where is the humanity, we would fain ask, of such a description as the fol- lowing 1?” He looked pale, helpless, feeble, agitated, could with difficulty articulate, and his reply to the courteous and reassuring terms in which the commissioners addressed him, if reply indeed there were, was a whisper.” “We all know that patients are unhap- pily so reduced by great and prolonged mental suffering; but it is too painful a picture for a gratuitously fictitious representation. The afflictions of mankind ought to be held sacred, and perhaps there is no disease which should be more tenderly treated than the one which is here so unkindly and ruthlessly dealt with. We have next, as before a Commission of Lunacy, a mock examination into the religious CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.
creed and conduct of the unfortunate young man, who, to heighten the dramatic effect of the tale, is supposed to be a clergyman, and questions are asked as to the manner in which he performs his clerical duties, and his observance of the anniversary of his ordination. But Ave must here abruptly break off, for the incidents of such a nar- ration are, to our mind, too melancholy for repetition ; indeed, we confess that we have no admiration for that description of wit which neither ” points a moral nor adorns a tale.” The author, as Ave have premised, promises in the next chapter an account of the inquest upon the remains of poor Sir Philip Grey de Fontenay; but before he proceeds Ave should recommend him to reflect that his experience, fictitious or real, as a chaplain in a gaol, Avas probably among criminals Avho Avere in ” robust unfeeling health,” but the sufferings of those whom it may please Providence to afflict Avitli mental disease assume a very different aspect. The sorroAVS of the house of mourning? nay, the distress of the individual mind, struggling in the sliadoAV of its OAvn eclipse Avith sad and misshapen thoughts, ought not to be dilated upon by the pen or pencil of the caricaturist; and Ave hope the accomplished editor of ” Bentley’s Miscellany,” avIio is so highly and deservedly esteemed in the litemry Avorld, will permit us to assure him that ” mad doctors” do not in the least degree resemble the portrait Avhicli his contributor has draAvn of them, and that all persons avIio have had any experience in the treatment of the insane feel they have so strong a claim upon our sympathies that Ave can- not contemplate even the imaginary delineation of their malady without feeling deep regret that so painful a subject should be Avan- tonly travestied into the details of an uninteresting fiction.
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