In 1837, at the age of fifty-three, Dr. Macmichael suffered a stroke of paralysis which obliged him to retire from professional life and he died two years later at his residence in Maida Vale. Sir Thomas Watson, the famous London Physician, was one of Dr. Macmichael’s friends who knew him many years. In 1878 Sir Thomas Watson wrote of him as follows, to Munk:[1] “Dr. Macmichael was fond of society, and qualified alike to enjoy and embellish it. Having travelled long and seen many cities and the manners of many men, he possessed a large stock of general information, was fertile in various and amusing anecdotes, and was wont to mix, with certain natural ease and grace, in lively and interesting discourse, without making his own share in it unduly prominent. His cheerfulness and equanimity of temper, and kindness of heart, endeared him to a large circle of devoted friends, of whom a very few only, at the time of this writing, survive to commemorate his engaging qualities and to regret his loss.”
Under Sir Henry Halford’s presidency the College of Physicians underwent a great awakening. It acquired, largely through his individual efforts, a splendid new home and he also originated the evening meetings which were henceforth held in the Hall. These were held once a month during the first six months of the year, at nine o’clock in the evening. Tea and coffee were provided. The meetings were attended not only by physicians, but by many persons of prominence in the various walks of life. The papers presented at them were, therefore, as a general rule, adapted to a mixed audience. They were not read by their authors, but by the Registrar of the College, except in the instance of the President, who was permitted to read such communications as he might wish to make himself. A great part of Sir Henry Halford’s success in these innovations was due to the active part taken by Macmichael in seconding his efforts in this as in every other way by which he could show his gratitude and aid his friend and benefactor. In nothing could he have succeeded better in awakening renewed interest in the venerable College than by directing attention to its past history and to the achievements of the illustrious men who had been connected with it. It was probably this desire which led Macmichael to utilize his erudite knowledge of the subject in the compilation of the fascinating book to which he gave the name of “The Gold-Headed Cane.”
The new College was opened on the 25th of June, 1825. According to its veracious autobiography, on the previous day the Cane was deposited in a corner closet of the new building, “with the observation that I was no longer to be carried about.” The Gold-Headed Cane now occupies a glass case in the Library of the College, where it may have the consolation of feeling that it is gazed on by many visitors who have read its history and been stimulated by it to wish a close view of the author.
The Cane was carried successively by Radcliffe, Mead, Askew, Pitcairn and Baillie, and bears their various arms engraved upon its head. It was presented to Sir Henry Halford by Dr. Baillie’s widow and he in turn placed it in the College.
Dr. Macmichael’s happy inspiration to write its autobiography was carried into effect at the time when the enthusiasm of the Fellows at the acquisition of their splendid new hall was at its height. The first edition was published in 1827, and a second edition in the succeeding year. A third edition, edited by Dr. William Munk, was published in 1884, forty-five years after Macmichael’s death.
The cane in ancient days was regarded as an essential part of the equipment of every physician. Dr. Munk, in the third edition of the Gold-Headed Cane, adverts to this fact and also explains the origin of the custom. The cane usually carried by physicians had for its head a knob of gold, silver or ivory, which was hollow, and perforated so that it served to contain aromatic preparations which could be inhaled as a preventive of contagion. The favorite preparation for this purpose was the “vinegar of the four thieves,” or Marseilles Vinegar, an aromatic vinegar which, according to the confession of four thieves (who had, during a plague at Marseilles plundered the dead bodies) had prevented them from contracting the disease while pursuing their nefarious occupation.
The Gold-Headed Cane was adorned by a cross bar for a top instead of a knob, a fact which Munk explains by the statement that Radcliffe, its first owner, was a rule unto himself, and very possibly preferred a handle of that kind for his cane as a distinction from that used by the majority of physicians.
With its passage from the possession of Dr. Pitcairn into that of Dr. Baillie, the Cane pathetically states: “I ceased to be considered any longer as a necessary appendage of the profession, and consequently the opportunities I enjoyed of seeing the world, or even of knowing much about the state of physic, were very greatly abridged, and of but rare occurrence.”
With the account of Baillie and the state of physic in his time the Cane ceased its autobiography and regarded its honorable career as closed. Dr. Munk, in the third edition, published in 1884, wrote a continuation of the narrative in very good imitation of Macmichael’s style, which brought the story down to the year 1871.
The publication of a new edition of a medical and literary classic such as the Gold-Headed Cane requires no apologia. The three previous editions are now all of them so difficult to obtain, the book so eagerly sought for, and its perusal productive of so much profit and pleasure, that the demand is obvious.