Famous Givers and Their Gifts

by Sarah Knowles Bolton

The learned Dr. Walter Moxon, who has been called from his combination of tenderness and ability "the perfect physician," was associated with Guy's Hospital for twenty years. Dr. Wilks says, in the garden of Dr. Moxon, "In the winter lumps of suet and cocoanut sawn in rings were hung upon the arches and boughs for the benefit of the tits, and loaves of bread were broken up for the blackbirds, thrushes, finches, and sparrows. Always before taking his own breakfast on a winter's morning, Moxon first saw to the feeding of his feathered friends."

Dr. Richard Bright, whose name is given to the disease which he so carefully studied, was for years connected with Guy's Hospital. He wrote valuable books, and was an untiring student. "He was sincerely religious, both in doctrine and in practice, and of so pure a mind that he never was heard to utter a sentiment or to relate an anecdote that was not fit to be heard by the merest child or the most refined woman."

Sir Astley Paston Cooper was associated with Guy's for twenty-five years. His father was a clergyman, and his mother an author. It is said that he was first attracted towards surgery by an accident to one of his foster-brothers. The youth fell from a heavy wagon, the wheels of which passed over his body, tearing the flesh from the thigh and injuring an artery, from which the blood flowed freely. Nobody seemed to know how to stop the blood, when Astley, a boy scarcely more than twelve, took out his handkerchief, and tied it tightly around the thigh and above the wound, thus staying the blood till a surgeon could be brought. Sir Astley used to say this accident, which resulted so well, created in his mind a love for surgery. His uncle, William Cooper, was a surgeon at Guy's, and encouraged his nephew's inclination for the medical profession. At twenty-three Sir Astley married a lady of wealth, lecturing on surgery on the evening of his wedding-day without any of the pupils being aware of his marriage. The first year of his practice he received £5 5s.; the second year, £26; the third year, £54; the fourth year, £96; the fifth year, £100; the sixth year, £200; the seventh, £400; the eighth, £610; the ninth, £1,100. When he was in the zenith of his fame he received £21,000 in one year. One merchant paid him £600 yearly. For a successful operation he was sometimes paid one thousand guineas. Each year he is said to have given £2,000 or £3,000 to poor relations.

"In his busy years," writes Dr. Samuel Wilks, "he rose at six, dissected privately until eight, and from half-past eight saw large numbers of patients gratuitously. At breakfast he ate only two well-buttered hot rolls, drank his tea cool, at a draught, read his paper a few minutes, and then was off to his consulting-room, turning round with a sweet, benign smile as he left the room." At one o'clock he would scarcely see another patient. "Sometimes the people in the hall and the anteroom were so importunate that Mr. Cooper was driven to escape through his stables and into a passage by Bishopsgate Church. At Guy's he was awaited by a crowd of pupils on the steps, and at once went into the wards, addressing the patients with such tenderness of voice and expression that he at once gained their confidence. His few pertinent questions and quick diagnosis were of themselves remarkable, no less than the judicious, calm manner in which he enforced the necessity for operations when required."

At two o'clock Sir Astley Cooper went across the street to St. Thomas's Hospital to lecture on anatomy. "After the lecture, which was often so crowded that men stood in the gangways and passages near to gain such portion of his lecture as they might fortunately pick up, he went round the dissecting-room, and afterwards left the hospital to visit patients or to operate privately, returning home at half-past six or seven. Every spare minute in his carriage was occupied with dictating to his assistants notes or remarks on cases or other subjects on which he was engaged. At dinner he ate rapidly, and not very elegantly, talking and joking; after dinner he slept for ten minutes at will, and then started to his surgical lecture, if it were a lecture night. In the evening he was usually again on a round of visits till midnight."

Sir Astley received a baronetcy and a fee of £500 for successfully removing a small tumor from the head of George IV. He wrote several books, and was president of various societies. He was as famous abroad as at home. The king of the French bestowed upon him the decoration of the Legion of Honor. He died of dropsy in 1841 in his chair, surrounded by his friends, saying, as he passed away, "God bless you; adieu to you all," and was buried under the chapel near Thomas Guy. His only child died in infancy. There is a statue of Sir Astley in St. Paul's Cathedral, and a bust of him in the museum of Guy's. He said of himself: "My own success depended upon my zeal and industry; but for this I take no credit, as it was given to me from above." He is said to have left a fortune of half a million of dollars.

The beloved Frederick Denison Maurice was elected chaplain of Guy's Hospital in 1836, when he was thirty-one. He wrote to a friend, "If I could get any influence over the medical students I should indeed think myself honored; and though some who have had experience think such a hope quite a dream, I still venture to entertain it." There seems no reason why a medical student, or any student indeed, should be rough in manner or hard of heart. A true man will be a gentleman not less in the dissecting-room than in the parlor. He will be humane to the lowest animal, and tender and considerate in the presence of suffering.

Sir William Withey Gull, the son of a barge-owner and wharfinger in Essex, who rose to eminence by his power of work and will, was for twenty years physician and lecturer at Guy's Hospital. Going there as a student when he was twenty-one, he was told by the treasurer, "I can help you if you will help yourself." He used to say that his real education was given him by his sweet-faced mother. He won many prizes, acted as tutor to gain the means of living, and made friends by his winsome manner as well as his knowledge. The lady to whom he was engaged died, but her father was so attached to young Gull that he left him a considerable legacy. Mr. Gull afterwards married a sister of his friend Dr. Lacy. He rose rapidly in his profession, and was made F.R.S. in 1869, having been made LL.D. of Oxford and Cambridge the previous year.

His knowledge was profound on many subjects,—poetry, philosophy, and of course medicine. His industry was astonishing to all, and his personal influence remarkable. "Not many years ago," says Dr. Wilks, "we heard an old student of Guy's descant on his beautiful lectures, and especially those on fever. On being questioned as to what Gull said which most struck him, he said he could not remember anything in particular, but he would come to London any day to hear Gull reiterate the words in very slow measure, 'Now typhoid, gentlemen.' ... When Gull left the bedside of his patient, and said in measured tones, 'You will get well,' it was like a message from above.... It was not penetration only which Gull possessed, but endurance. It was ever being remarked with what deliberate care he went over every case, as if that particular one was his sole charge for the day."

Dr. Gull attended the Prince of Wales in his very severe illness from typhoid fever in 1871, when his life was despaired of; and for this he was created a baronet, and Physician Extraordinary to the Queen. He died of apoplexy, Jan. 29, 1890, leaving a fortune of £344,000 (over a million and a half of dollars), largely earned by his own industry and ability. His son, Sir Cameron Gull, has founded a studentship of pathology at Guy's, worth about £150 per annum. Sir William was buried, by his own desire, in his native village, Thorpe-le-Soken, beside his father and mother.