CHAUCER’S DOCTOR.
In giving an account of the profession of medicine as seen in London, both in ancient and modern times, one cannot do better than begin with that “Doctour of Phisik” described by Chaucer as setting out from the “Tabard” in Southwark with the other pilgrims bound for the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury about the year 1380. Chaucer’s lines have been often quoted, but I make no apology for giving them once more, because the description of the “doctour” bears the stamp of truth and is sufficiently minute to bring the individual before us:—
“There was also a Doctour of Phisik,
In al this world ne was ther non him lyk
To speke of Phisic and of Surgerye.”
It may be that the poet means to convey the idea that doctors of the fourteenth century, like some of those of the nineteenth, were prone to talk “shop.”
“For he was grounded in astronomye.”
Astrology at this time was an essential part of medicine, and the simplest remedies were not applied without consulting the stars, so that to be “grounded in astronomye” was most essential.
“He kept his pacient wondurly wel
In houres by his magik naturel.
Wel cowde he fortune the ascendent
Of his ymages for his pacient.”
Here we have reference to mystical modes of treatment which were then much in vogue. Amulets and charms were constantly prescribed; the doctrine of signatures—i.e., the giving of those plants having some slight resemblance to parts of the human body or to some prominent symptom of disease, for the relief of the organs or diseases which they resembled—was in every-day use; and the treating of images in order to affect the original of the image was a constant practice among witches, and was probably used by the profession.
“He knew the cause of every maladye
Were it of cold or hete or moyst or drye,
And where thei engendrid, and of what humour.”
Here we have allusion to the Hippocratic humoral pathology as developed by Galen.
“He was a verrey parfight practisour,
The cause i-knowe, and of his harm the roote
Anon he yaf the syke man his boote” (remedy).
Quick diagnosis and prompt treatment.
“Ful redy hadde he his apotecaries
To sende him dragges, and his letuaries,
For eche of hem made othur for to wynne.
Here frendschipe was not newe to begynne.”
It would seem that even in Chaucer’s time the advertising druggist was as pushing as at present.
“Wel knew he the olde Esculapius,
And Deiscorides, and eeke Rufus,
Old Ypocras, Haly and Galien;
Serapyon, Razis and Avycen;
Averrois, Damascen and Constantyn,
Bernard and Gatisden, and Gilbertyn.”
Our friend’s library was tolerably complete, for here we have a list of the medical “scriptures,” Greek, Roman, and Arabian, an acquaintance with which was the whole duty of a physician, and which to doubt was heresy. The last two names on the list refer to John of Gaddesden and Gilbert, both English writers, of whom I shall have a few words to say presently.
“Of his diete mesurable was he,
For it was of no superfluité,
But of gret norisching and digestible.”
Doubtless there were many things then which took the place of pancreatic emulsion and extract of malt.
“His studie was but litel on the Bible.”
This line is frequently quoted to show that the scepticism with which doctors are often charged is of no modern growth. The point of the line is, however, to be found in the fact that Chaucer’s doctor was certainly a priest, as were all the physicians of his time, and that the practice of medicine had drawn him away, somewhat unduly perhaps, from the clerical profession, to which he also belonged.
“In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,
Lyned with taffata and with sendal.”
A robe of scarlet and sky-blue, lined with silk. Equally gorgeous doctors may be seen at the present time by those who attend at Burlington Gardens on “Presentation Day.”
“And yit he was but esy in dispence;
He kepte that he wan in pestilence.
For gold in phisik is a cordial;
Therefore he lovede gold in special.”
The priest-physician was fully as fond of his fees as are any of his successors. But to come to particular instances which prove the truth of Chaucer’s graphic picture.