The collection had, of course, much increased, when in 1785, Sir Ashton Lever, shortly before his death, disposed of it by lottery. The winner, Mr. Parkinson, built “a very elegant and well-disposed structure for its reception, about a hundred yards from the foot of Blackfriars Bridge, on the Surrey side.”[68] The admission was one shilling. Presumably it did not pay, for it was sold by auction in 1806. The sale lasted sixty-five days. The number of lots being 7,879, and the catalogue occupying 410 octavo pages. Then there were the museums of the two Hunters—that of Dr. William Hunter, F.S.A., &c. In the period of which I treat, his anatomical specimens, coins, &c., were exhibited at the Theatre of Anatomy, in Great Windmill Street, whence, according to his will, they were after a certain time transferred to the University of Glasgow, where they now are. His brother John, who was also a F.R.S., had a grand collection of anatomical preparations, which was purchased by the Government for £15,000, and deposited, pro bono publico, in the College of Surgeons.
CHAPTER XLV.
Medical—The Doctor of the old School—The rising lights—Dr. Jenner—His discovery of vaccination for smallpox—Opposition thereto—Perkins’s Metallic Tractors—The “Perkinean Institution”—His cures—Electricity and Galvanism—Galvanizing a dead criminal—Lunatic Asylums—Treatment of the insane—The Hospitals.
A PROPOS of Doctors—the medical and surgical branches of the profession were emerging from empiricism, and science was beginning to assert herself, and laying the foundation of the English School of Medicine, the finest the world has yet seen. The doctor of the old school (as given in the next page) was still extant, with his look of portentous sagacity, his Burghley-like shake of the head, his bag with instruments and medicaments, and the cane—always the gold-headed cane—which came in so useful, and gave such a look of sapience when applied to the side of the nose, affording time for consideration before giving an opinion on a doubtful case—a relic of the time when, in its gold top, was carried a febrifuge, such as aromatic vinegar, or the such like. Similar types are also given in a political caricature by Isaac Cruikshank.
A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL—1803.