CHAPTER XVIII
Dr. Turnbull was the doctor who, it will be remembered, lived in the
square near the church. There was another doctor in Eastthorpe, Mr.
Butcher, of whom we have heard, but Dr. Turnbull's reputation as a
doctor was far higher than Mr. Butcher's. What Eastthorpe thought
of Dr. Turnbull as a man is another matter. Mr. Butcher was
married, church-going, polite, smiling to everybody, and when he
called he always said, "Well, and how are WE?" in such a nice way,
identifying himself with his patient. But even Eastthorpe had not
much faith in him, and in very serious cases always preferred Dr.
Turnbull. Eastthorpe had remarked that Mr. Butcher's medicines had
a curious similarity. He believed in two classes of diseases--
sthenic and asthenic. For the former he prescribed bleeding and
purgatives; for the latter he "threw in" bark and iron, and ordered
port wine. Eastthorpe thought him very fair for colds, measles,
chicken-pox, and for rashes of all sorts, and so did all the country
round. He generally attended everybody for such complaints, but as
Mr. Gosford said after his recovery from a dangerous attack, "when
it come to a stoppage, I thought I'd better have Turnbull," and Mr.
Gosford sent for him promptly.
Dr. Turnbull was born three or four years before the outbreak of the
French Revolution. He was consequently a little older than the
great Dr. Elliotson, whose memory some of us still piously cherish,
and Dr.
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