The student soon learned the physiognomy of disease by going about with
his master; fevers, pleurisies, asthmas, dropsies, fluxes, small-pox,
sore-throats, measles, consumptions. He saw what was done for them. He
put up the medicines, gathered the herbs, and so learned something of
materia medico and botany. He learned these few things easily and well,
for he could give his whole attention to them. Chirurgery was a separate
specialty. Women in child-birth were cared for by midwives. There was
no chemistry deserving the name to require his study. He did not learn a
great deal, perhaps, but what he did learn was his business, namely, how
to take care of sick people.
Let me give you a picture of the old=fashioned way of instruction, by
carrying you with me in imagination in the company of worthy Master Giles
Firmin as he makes his round of visits among the good folk of Ipswich,
followed by his one student, who shall answer to the scriptural name of
Luke. It will not be for entertainment chiefly, but to illustrate the
one mode of teaching which can never be superseded, and which, I venture
to say, is more important than all the rest put together. The student is
a green hand, as you will perceive.
In the first dwelling they come to, a stout fellow is bellowing with
colic.
"He will die, Master, of a surety, methinks," says the timid youth in a
whisper.
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