66 of Irish septs exercised their authority through the consent of the collected unit. The chief thus elected was bound by certain obligation. If he disregarded these, or if his followers tired of his rule, they left him and his chieftainship ended." The like picture in the "Germania" of Tacitus is a picture of Celts in Germany, not Teutons. They, as has been lately shown, founded republics in Alsace. Nicolai,* discussing the Celtophile Paul Souday, remarks that he endeavored "to show that probably all Germany's eminent men were of Celtic origin." "But," adds Nicolai, as a matter of fact, South Germany, to which most of them belong, was originally a Celtic country." The reverence for women which Tacitus depicts was Celtic, not Teutonic. The Celtic speaking races held to that sex equality (rather than proprietorhsip in women) which dominates American ideals to-day. "Even in their days of barbarism," remarks Havelock Ellis,** "the Celtic speaking races were peculiarly free from any idea of proprietorship in women. Their women were highly honored. In Celtic poems they took the initiative in love." Street car signs. show this reverence is still the case in Ulster. In Belfast every street car has the legend: "Life boat rules: Women and children first." The influence of Norman contempt for women is seen in the south, as George Moore† points out. The plantation of Ulster added a very mixed race from western Scotland to that already present in Ireland. Before the Norman conquest under Henry II and Pope Hadrian IV, a very considerable admixture with Scandinavians had occurred. This was shown not only by the settlement of Iceland by people with three-fifths Celtic blood,†† and in the Gaelic colony at Bergen, Norway. where Ibsen was born, but likewise in the Danish blood of Brian Boru the last overlord elected for Ireland. Ulster became the refuge of protestants from every people in Europe: Scotch covenanters, English dissenters, Huguenots, Palatines, Magyars, Spaniards, Italians and Scandinavians. The Anglican church and trade policy later drove large numbers from the north of Ireland to America, and also an industrial population from the south, of like ideals. These Irish emigrants were naturally embittered aganist British rule. The Ultonians retained more old Celtic culture and political economy than the south. Of the evolution of the Celt into the Anglo-Celt, Fiona Macleod (William Sharpe) draws a vivid picture: "The Celt," he remarks, *Biology of War. **Psychology of Sex, iii †The Untilled Field. ††Sparling: Volsung Saga. Montegazza: Physiognomy. but this appa "has at last reached his horizon rition of a passing race is no more than the fulfillment of a glorious resurrection. For the genius of the Celtic race stands out now with averted torch, and the light of it is a glory before the eyes and the flame of it is blown into the hearts of the mightier conquering people. The Celt falls but his spirit rises in the heart and brain of the Anglo-Celtic peoples with whom are the destinies of the generations to come." Of the democracy and culture of the Anglo-Celt, Matthew Thornton showed himself an able representative. He was born in Ireland in 1714. His father settled at Wiscasset, Maine, when Matthew was three years old. To give Matthew an academic education his father after a few years removed to Worcester, Massachusetts. Matthew was intended for the medical profession. profession. After serving an apprenticeship, according to the usages of the time, to Dr. Grant of Leicester, Mass., who became his preceptor, he began the practice of medicine. Preceptorship training had then, and much later, great advantages, as Lawson Tait pointed out in an autobiographic sketch. Before the War of Independence, Matthew Thornton achieved affluence from his profession. With the exception of one period he practiced medicine in Londonderry. In 1745 he joined the successful expedition against Cape Breton as a surgeon. From that time (1745), he led a quiet professional life until 1775. Then the New Hampshire royal government was dissolved, and a convention met which elected Dr. Thornton president of the state. Before this he had been appointed justice of the peace by the royal governor. He was likewise a colonel in the New Hampshire militia. He became the backbone of the opposition to the tyranny of George III and the British Parliament. This opposition was so well organized that, when Benning Wentworth, the royal governor, abdicated and fled, order was maintained under the authority of the Continental Congress. The system of government adopted when the powers of the convention ceased was that of a general assembly advised by the Continental Congress. Dr. Thornton was chosen speaker in January, 1776. In September, 1776, he was appointed a delegate to the Continental Congress for one year. He took his seat in November and was then admitted to sign his name to the Declaration of Independence, although the vote sanctioning the measure had been taken July fourth preceding. In this he was not singular. Several other delegates were similarly situated. Just before his first term as congressman he had been appointed judge of the New Hampshire Superior Court and member of the Court of Common Pleas. In December, 1776, he was reelected to congress for one year. At the end of his term he retired. He retained his Superior Court judgeship until 1782. He retired from practice in 1779, except in cases of urgency, devoting himself to agriculture and public affairs. He was elected member of the General Court and at one time was state senator. At eighty, he was attacked by pertussis, which was followed by years of spasmodic asthma. He died June 24, 1803, at the age of eighty-nine. FLATTEN OUT YOUR JAGGED VERTEBRAE "Too many of our men and women are round shouldered." Have a look, my dear friend, at the backs of our men, At the shoulders some fair women sport; Then reach for some paper, put ink on your pen, And draft a line splendidly taut; But whatever you do, don't place that there line On the shoulders and backs aforesaid, Unless your geometric aesthetics decline And you court acute angles instead. True, a line that's convexed may be fine, rightly placed And symmetrically burnished and pruned; But a northeastern tangent looks better effaced From a spine inartistically tuned. We may pardon alienists who find happy zest In a neurotic's wavering screed, But oaks vieing apple trees squirming their best Become ludicrous objects indeed. Ain't it queer how some folks will buckle and droop, Was windlassing them on the sly. The tops of their coats, or whatever they wear, Distend like a fissured glacier; While about them the eddying currents of air Seem to wear a centrifugal leer. Dear no, I'm not joking; one ever observes On this toe-trodden, mundane routine, That sweep from the belt to the bean. At church, nickelettes, in the highbrow's domain, Even where they wield dumb-bells galore, They keep copyrighting again and again Those arcial segments I score. Oh, that my own shoulders were warped and rotund, Like a partial eclipse of the moon! I'd keep S. O. S.-ing for some Schuetzen Bund To pepper my ham into tune. I'd even seek work, brave a harrowing death, Go out with anaemics to dine, If 'twould help prove the wealth of the oxygen breath, And the worth of a vertical spine! EMIL G. BOLZ. New York, N. Y. THE SPINAL COLUMN Have you ever noticed how delightfully frank and brutal the average musical critic is in his description of the efforts of concert artists? And how unreservedly, often undeservedly, he pans the work of the musician, who, poor chap, has no recourse except to gnash his teeth and swear. An artist, after perhaps years of preparation and study, finally reaches that stage of perfection which demands a public recital for the exhibition of his talents and goes to the expense of engaging a hall, buying himself flowers, printing posters and tickets, hoping by the favorable press comments to establish a metropolitan reputation. The day after his day of days, he eagerly reads the verdict of the critics, and nine times out of ten is horrified by the total lack of perception evidenced in the adverse comment. Many a reputation has been slaughtered to make a critical epigram. All of which preamble is merely to give us the opportunity of wondering what we would feel like, if the medical and surgical man's work were subjected to the same frank and unbridled criticism. What the surgeon's feelings would be, for instance, after a hard afternoon's work at the hospital, to be greeted with the following in his morning paper: DR. KNIFE GIVES AN ALL APPENDIX Surgeon Shows Fine Diagnostic Sensibility but Poor Dr. A. Sharp Knife chose for his recital yesterday an all appendix program, a program in which there is ample scope for what is best in his art, but though he displayed much vigor in his major preludes, especially the incisions, there was a noticeable slowing up of his technique in the peritoneal passages and frequent glaring discord in his handling of the meso-appendix, as well as a profound disregard of the traditions in his treatment. of the closing chords, his string work being especially faulty. The accompaniment, as rendered by the officious Dr. Interne, lagged perceptibly at important moments, and the work of Dr. E, N. Dormir left nothing to be desired but anaesthesia and relaxation. In short, Dr. Knife again proved himself to be one of the least satisfactory surgeons now before the public and one who deserves no larger audience than the scattered few who greeted him yesterday. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. NOTE: The Editor of the Column will be glad to receive questions from subscribers on any and all subjects, promising to spare no time beyond a minute, nor any expense beyond ten marks in finding an appropriate and authoritative answer. DEAR COLUMNIATOR: Is it appropriate to call the anaesthesia fee, Hush : Ans. There is much to be said in favor of your suggestion, but by priority that term belongs to the 50 per cent. which the Professor doesn't keep. DEAR SPINY: In computing my Income Tax Return, may I deduct the amounts held out by, or given by, me to my procurers, and if so, how? DR. I. SPLITT. Opinions differ; some of our most eminent proportionists deduct under the heading of "Losses sustained from fire, storm, shipwreck or theft"; others classify them under "Advertising Expenses," but undoubtedly the most popular plan is to treat them the same as the other half of the fee, i, e., omit them entirely. á la SHAKESPEARE. From "The Drug Merchant of Venice." It blesseth him that gives and him that. . . . undertakes. At Last a Cure For the Flu. Mrs. Weis was near death from influenza. Dr. Parker said he had given up all hope of saving her when she gave birth to twins. Since that time she has steadily improved. This is the part of the Spinal Column frequently used for local anaesthesia. As practiced by some of our friends, it should be termed vocal anaesthesia. CYRIL BARNERT, M. D. New York, N. Y. R THE MEDICAL PICKWICK is a monthly literary magazine for and by physicians JULIAN W. BRANDEIS, A. M., M. D., Editor-in-Chief. Contributing Editors: George F. Butler, A. M., M. D. Floyd Burrows, M. D. William Brady, M. D. All matter printed in THE MEDICAL PICKWICK, unless otherwise specified, is contributed exclusively to this magazine. Address all communications relating to editorial matter to the Editor, who will be pleased to consider manuscript suitable for publication in THE MEDICAL PICKWICK and will return those unavailable if postage is enclosed. He is not responsible for the opinion of contributors. All manuscripts and communications of a business nature should be addressed to Medical Pickwick Press, 15 East 26th Street, New York City. Subscription price in the United States, $3.00; Canada, $3.25; Foreign, $3.50. Single Copies, 35 cents. Copyright, 1920, by Medical Pickwick Press. there is a sound basis for the opinion held by the laity as expressed above. Our disposition, or temper, is not to extol our colleagues for their adherence to the tenet of silence. At the moment, we are thinking how much better it might have been if we occasionally had unleashed our tongues and spat out what we so honestly felt. Think of the stories of carcinomata subjected to the emanations of a faradic battery until the last dollar had departed from the family purse. Recall the histories of months of serum treatment administered to sanguine tuberculous subjects that have been told to you. Hark back to that ectopic that was pronounced a mere belly-ache without any attempt at a physical examination. Run over in your mind a few of the tales that have been recounted over your desk and ask yourself if your forbearance was always a kindness. Do we not, perhaps, carry "ethics" to the nth+1 power? So far as the public is concerned we are certainly a righteous aggregation of citizens. How often it happens that a new patient informs us that she is about to tell the story to us of the unskillful treatment she has undergone at the hands of a brother practitioner, adding, with complete assurance and resignation: "But, of course, I do not expect you to agree. Doctors never will admit anything detrimental to their fellow practitioners." There are many who will hold their arms aloft in unfeigned astonishment at this point and ask us where our domicile may have been all these days. We do not want an argument, therefore we hasten to add that we, too, have heard now and then, of violations of the "code," but we feel that we can declare with certainty that the knockers are so far in the minority that WE E can think of nothing more superfluous than the advice offered here and there, in our medical contemporaries, that the doctor should not neglect to take a vacation. We should define à physician as a professional man who works for nine, ten or eleven months to earn the right to have the balance of the year for play. We make this little note merely in the hope that some of our readers will consider that THE MEDICAL PICKWICK is in the field for these vacation stories for the yearly Outdoor number, which appears in October or November. |