SKETCHES OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN IRELAND.

87 shadow of Mr.

COLLES, which concealed him

thought was meet from the SKETCHES OF THE MEDICAL public view; and what made this reflection. PROFESSION IN IRELAND. the more poignant was, that there existed

more

than he

little hope of the too-enduring substance which enveloped him in its shade being removed within any reasonable period of sucPARK-STREET SCHOOL. cessional expectancy. As the " nearest and SOME time about the year 1825, a propodearest friends " will decide in such cases sal for the establishment of a private medifor their own welfare in parting, that moment cal school was made by the late Mr. THOMAS ia generally considered the best for separaRoo.rEY of the Meath, to Mr. CUSACK, of tion, when the resulting benefits of the Mr. ROONEY, who viewed Stevens’ Hospital. the most autumnal aspect. scientific pursuits through the sober medium movement wear With so many motives for attempting the of political economy, persuaded himself, it was not wonderful that Mr. after a diligent series of experiments on the experiment, should adopt with avidity the adCUSACK credulity of patients and apprentices, that vice of his friend Mr. ROONFY: it was howhe had at that period acquired a surplus of £ ever but the project, not the partner, of knowledge and reputation which might be which he approved. timeRequesting profitably employed in the instruction of that dangerous "integer" in all diplomatic the of surgical students in -Mr. CasACx employed the Ireland. In applying to Mr. CUSACK, he transactions hours of deliberation with effect; and it was fancied he had found a partner worthy of the sound of the mason’s hammer the enterprise; and in all other respects, only by in Park-street, and the publication, of a prosave that of estimating Mr. CcsACK’s saof its school, from which his name gacity at too low a rate, the selection was spectus was excluded, that Mr. ROONEY’S simple founded upon correct principles of calcu- dreams of fame, fortune, and alliance with his lation, and a clear perception of character. honourable friend, were at length dissipated Fortune, aided by his own exertions, had into thin air! placed Mr. CUSACK in pretty much the The appropriation of Mr. ROONEY’S prosame predicament of means and motives unincumbered by any connection with for pushing his conquests farther, as Mr. ject its legitimate parent, was not however the ROONEY himself; and it may be readily difficulty which Mr. CUSACK had tu supposed that he received the proposition only That indeed was an elfort which overcome. with alacrity and favour, however different mind might have accomplished ; any vulgar his opinion might be of the mode of carry- but the choice of associates to secure sue.. ing it into execution. A crisis in his cirand the provision against loss in the cumstances had arrived, and adopting of failure, were subjects which reevent Shakspeare’s motto, that quired somewhat higher qualities of address There is a tide in the affairs of men, for their attainment. The yoking in of a Which, taken at the ilool, le.ids on to fortnne," single restive spirit in the new academic ha boldly resolved to turn the advantages team, might derange if not impede altoof the surgeoncy of Stevens’ Hospital to the gether its future progress; while cheap as best account, and to prove to his indulgent human labour has always been in Ireland, patrons, the Governors of that Institution, bricks and mortar, timber and slates, do not who so generously had compounded with move into architectural coaptation without their consciences in his appointment, that the encouraging smiles and dulcet notes of these advantages were not conferred in vain. the financial Orpheus of College-green. It Directing his attention to his own consequently became a point of the first - the point to which most of Mr. CUSACK’S importance with Mr. CUSACK, to devise a thoughts tend-he saw himself surrounded plan by which the building might; be made by not less than forty apprentices, the ex- disposable without loss to the proprietors, penses of whose education, though once dis- in the event of failure bringing it under the dominion. Several g.’tgcharged, were only about to commence; and, if not directed into some more appro- gestions were offered on thepoint; one pria.te channel, must of course flow into the would have it built in the shape of a reCollege Treasury. Friendly a-3 Mr. Cusacis spectable dwelling; anosher in that of an has ever be8n to the Collage of Surgeons, it hotel; a third, and so on, would have it aswas not to be expected that he would sepa- same the form of a manufactory of some rate for its benefit the double tide of taxation kind or other; at all and each of which to which pupils were then subjected, when it Mr. CusACK nodded one of his characterinto one istic negatives. The originality of his mind might be so conveniently diverted little Pactolusof whose " golden sands him far ous of the path of he would be the sole trustee. Independently common-place expedients ; and turning the of these considerations, so natural to one in helm of invention into those loftier regions his condition, it is hijhly’probable that he of discovery and humbug, in which on other may have felt himself adumbrated by the occasions he had been ;ao fortunate, he at

MR. CUSACK.

rising generation

cess,

position

"House-Agent’s"

beaten

"

car ied

88

length hit upon a plan worthy of

his

geniuss the

establishment

was soon

completed by

and of adoption. The plan upon whichthe addition of congenial associates, selected Mr. CUSACK settled in this instance, is sci Mr. CUSACK on a principle, the operation characteristic of his mental resources, that; of which in this institution shall form, should a word or two on its origin may not be out; we have space, the subject of our concluding of place. About the time of which we are remarks. speaking, the Protestant principle seems to While many of these, his earlier com. have been undergoing one of its periodical movements in Ireland; the spirit of multi- panions, have transferred themselves to the " of the surgical corporation plication was vigorously stirring within it; "ofrich preserves Mr. CUSACK, ambitious of the Dublin, the and promised daily to shatter unity of the Irish Church into all the religious forms most exalted station in that head-quarter of and fragments of Christianity expected corruption, " bides his time;" and awaits in from the " Second Reformation." Here decent silence the fulfilment of that arr angewas an opening vista in which Mr. CUSACK ment which rumour, at least, has established beheld with pleasure the new edifice of between him and Mr. CoLLES, for succession Park-street safe from the fluctuations of the to the chair of surgery. Upon his qualifi"market" and the contingencies of the cations for this important office, there is "hammer." To provide for the new-born some difference of opinion, but it is owing no communities of Christians called into being doubt to a misunderstanding of the nature of the duties belonging to the situation, and by the labours of the "Propaganda" of of his character as a surgeon. It is true he Cavan, convenient places of worship, was both a laudable and a safe speculation. Mr. holds a high place with many in the meCUSACK, following up this happy idea, pro- chanical medicine of Dublin, and that if a judicious application of surgical posed at once that the new building should prompt and be constructed so as to be convertible at science, in all cases requiring its interfer. any future period into a snug dissenting ence, be intended by this estimate, his merits " Meeting-house," by the mere removal of have not been overstated. With all the the profane accompaniments of anatomy ! manipulations of surgery, and all those signs The thought was so obviously a masterpiece by which surgical diseases are recognised, of sagacity, that it was unanimously agreed long experience and observation must have to ; a draft of the building thus "contrived a made him familiar. Neither will it be double debt to pay " was forthwith ordered; disputed that he is conversant with the and, in its circular-headed windows and ga- writings of most British surgeons, and that bled front, it still preserves the provident he has from time to time tested the value of their doctrines in the wards of Stevens’. stamp of Mr. CUSACK’S genius. The proofs and concessions however which Mr. CUSACK was equally happy in the establish his competency to serve his paselection of his fellow-labourers. Various tients, do not necessarily apply to the case circumstances combined to point out Dr. of his pupils, there being no greater fallacy JACOB as an eligible and willing agent in than that which assumes that an efficient the concern. Notwithstanding his often practitioner must be a good teacher. Every and ardently-expressed admiration of Dr. student who has attended Mr. CUSACK’S lecMACARTNEY of Trinity College, Dr. J. was tures, must have observed in them a practical weary of the subordinate character of De- refutation of such an hypothesis. Educated monstrator ; and probably conceived he had in a school which restricted surgery within acquired sufficient knowledge and credit by the narrowest possible limits, and almost his own connection with that eminent Pro- entirely excluded the aid of rational specufessor, to undertake the part of a principal lation in treating the subjects of that sciin a smaller establishment. Besides, he must ence, Mr. CUSACK’S duties as a surgeon, have felt that in an institution as restricted and interests as a partisan of that school, by the statute-book to one undeviating have only confirmed him in the errors of his course, as a planet to its orbit by the laws of times, and, it is to be feared, they incapacitate gravitation, and, indeed, fully as little subject him from taking his place among the phito human influence, there was no prospect losophic professors of the present day, who of opportunities occurring for the exerci- would illustrate, by a knowlege of princitation of those peculiar qualities, of which ples, the dark mysteries of empiricism. He Dr. JACOB has since given to the world so scarcely takes the trouble to conceal the many convincing testimonies. His heart opinion (which, in despite of all profession panted for a wider scope of exertion-his to the contrary, would still be obvious from "borrowed plumes"trembled for migration; his discourses), that surgery has for some . and like the youthful Norval who "had time arrived at the acme of perfection ; and he only that all attempts to extend its boundaries, heard of battles and longed &c.," required to hear the roll of the recruiting or to innovate on the method of studying it drum, to enlist in the ranks, and it must be in Stevens’ Hopital, are but the mere dreams allowed that he met with a chief worthy of of modern enthusiasts. Even in the ever-

by

.

’

his high destination. The corps dramatique

of changing empire

of

science, Mr. CUSACK

89

.

would be a tory; and fling upon the irre- nication of knowledge, by a bundle of sym.. sistible current of improvement, the feeble bols to represent words and ideas. The disjecta membra poetce, may, indeed, fetters of authority, and the usages of past ages. The consequences of this tone of be recognised now and then in his dislocamind assume an amusing aspect in the lee- ted sentences and dark inuendoes, but it ture-room. Believing, as Mr. CUSACK does, would require a commentator with the that a surgical education consists in a know- talent of a CUVIER for reconstruction, to ledge of certain operations, and an acquaint- patch them up into an intelligible form. ance with certain morbid phenomena, it There are occasions, however, when Mr. may well be supposed that he has devoted CUSACK can put off the dull lineaments of little attention to the arrangement of his affected wisdom, and be roused into turbulectures, or to the subjects of which they are lent excitement, when the passions of selfcomposed. Most lecturers, too, condescend interest and ambition assert their natural to respect the quality, and even the quantity, sovereignty in his breast, over the artificial of their language, as a necessary means of assumptions of equanimity and moderation. communicating their ideas. Mr. CUSACK We recollect having witnessed one of these pursues an opposite course, and enters the glowing, but incautious triumphs of tempertheatre as if determined to substitute panto- ament over the frail and fictitious virtues of mime for all the "parts of speech." Others design and cultivation. The metamorphose attempt to conceal their poverty of ideas by of the wily simpleton into the coarsest para profusion of words; Mr. Cusacx rejoices tisan was complete, and indicated abilities in the converse of the device, and leaves worthy of higher objects and a better direchis auditors to infer the depth and extent of tion. The cause of medical reform had been his knowledge by the parsimony of his then making rapid progress in Dublin, and phrases, and the exuberance of his physiog- was openly and ably advocated in some of nomical expression. His face serves as a the private schools. It was thought prudent " sort of " chapel-of-ease to his tongue, the to attempt to stop its further advances, by muscles of the one most faithfully undertak- opposing to its march the once effectual ing the performance of half the duties of the barriers of corporate authority and profesother. The narration of a train of symp- sional prestige. Mr. CUSACK was chosen to toms, or the description of a morbid appear- carry the onslaught on the reformers into ance, commenced in an impressive tone, is fatal effect. He entered the theatre, folnot unfrequently concluded through the lowed by a mob of exulting retainers, who myological medium of Mr. CUSACK’S speak- degraded even the humble duties of vassaling countenance. He may now and then age by the mean and ferocious malignity of proceed as far as the first or second member their conduct. The long and vacant gaze of a sentence in describing a disease, or de- of universal acquiescence with the opinions livering an opinion; but it rarely happens of all men, habitual to Mr. CUSACK in his that he does not finish the effort by a cer- intercourse with the world, was seen to tain knowing contraction of the external lower, as he commenced the charge, into a canthus, or a profound protrusion of the lurid expression of cowardly irritation; and under-lip, in which much of Mr. CUSACK’S the regulated phases of his features, with mute eloquence appears to reside. With which he was wont to veil from view his these silent auxiliaries of his descriptive private convictions, to be fixed in a spaspowers, we have seen him ogle half the his- modic impersonation of powerless rage. A tory of a " fungus hmmatodes;" and go torrent of pointless vituperation on all those through no inconsiderable portion of an who were opposed to that system of which with the sole assistance of the he stood forth the characteristic advocate, operation, " orbicularis oris." It is not, however, to came to his relief, and, in the course of be supposed, that Mr. CUSACK’S face is re- some time, with the apathy of his auditors markable for the mobility of its structure, or to the frantic appeal, restored him to the a playful variety of expression so often con- tranquil indulgence of his taste in buffoonery nected with high intellectual endowments. beyond which it is not quite safe for him to No greater mistake could arise out of our venture to rise. Not many years have imperfect representation, as the few pecu- elapsed since this furibund but futile effort liarities we have stated are only rendered was made to strangle medical reform in its conspicuous by standing out in isolated re- birth in Ireland; but few as these years lief upon the broad and unsymmetrical disk have been, the) are sufficient to teach Mr. of a torpid and common-place physiognomy. CUSACK and his satellites the folly of enWe recollect nothing, indeed, in fiction or deavouring to preserve, by such means the in reality, which can so well convey to the rotten outposts of corruution against the mind of one who has not seen the original innovating influences of time and thought. in his intercourse with his class, a correct The party who then smiled encouragement notion of Mr. C.’s manner and appearance,as on their leader,—who hallooed him on like the account of SWIFT’S philosopher in the a mastiff on his prey, are now, together acallemy of Laputa, who undertook to su- with him, as tamely as so many spaniels, persede the use of language in the commu- crouching beneath the lash of reform; and

90

humbly,

but

treacherously, beseeching its advocates at the seat of government, to preserve a little longer in some mitigated state of corruption, that institution which mercy itself cannot rescue from the punishment due to, and incurred by, its crimes. In general Mr. Cusncx, however, commands his temper, and dissimulates with His college intrigues are cleverly success. triumphant

conceived, and conducted with prudence,

giving his opponents an opportunity plans, and carrying them into execution without any squeamish regard for seldom

to obviate his

the means. No one knows better than he, how to insinuate the advantages of conser.

INTERCEPTED LETTERS. "DEAR SIR HENRY: The liberal and manner in which yon condescended to receive my letter, and the valne you appear to have placed on my observe. tions, prompt me again to take the liberty of addressing you on some other matters relative to the present system of things in the profession. Your last letter, indeed, the most striking; clauses of which I snb. mitted to the consideration of some active and bustling fellows, created a good deal of discussion, some applauding in the most unqualified manner all your remarks, whilst a few, who presumed to be more fastidious, professed to doubt the of your con. propriety of some duct. The grumblers seem to object in par. ticular to the principle of your associating yourself directly or indirectly with disrepu. table individuals. We all agreed that the conduct of the surgical Knight was con, temptible, and some contended that it would have been a much higher, and certainly a exceptionable line of conduct, for our distinguished President to have adhered to a

good-natured

vative principles in College politics, or to lull into repose the rising scruples of juvenile independence about a vote on a fieldday in Stephen’s Green.. If fair words do not win over the reluctant youth to his objects, a well-timed intimation of promotion being shortly in the way, relaxes resistance, and seldom fails of bringing him within the fortunate ranks of one of Mr. CusACK’s " majorities." By these and similar means he has got at the head of a party in the i College, through whose agency that tion has been effectually usurped. Its treaand kept at defiance, sury, property, and professorships, are now straight- forward course, than become an accomplice with, the rather wholly at their disposal. and converted to without the slightest intriguer alluded to. In comparing your. their own to or justice regard public opinion. Since self with BONAPARTE, it was remarked, Mr. CUSACK established this league between during our conversation, that the comhis own and the College school, the profes- parison did not in all respects hold good; NAPOLEON had to govern nations, sorships in the latter, which an honest and for, whilst had merely to legislate for a handful of you sacred as independent profession would hold Oxford and Cambridge disciples. It is true the sources of scientific instruction, and as it became important, in the Emperor’s the appropriate and honourable rewards of vast field of government, to employable talent and industry, have been almost with- statesmen and skilful generals, of dubious but it was because they should not out exception given away as compensations and his watch. his engaged for services rendered in the support of this fulness overby themenemies, them from prevented ruinous confederation. Through a reform mischief. But those who have at. alone of medical law, relief;is now to be soughttempted to alienate themselves from your i from the evils of a combination which in-cause, really are not worthy of your notice, cludes within its vortex a disposable force for they can never assist the glorious pur. in which we are struggling under your of corruption far beyond the controlling pose banners. They are a powerless squad, and power of any liberal party which could be so bereft of principle as to merit every con. formed in the College in its present state. tempt. The real liberals, indeed, affirm (and To this remedial change every eye is now I believe them to he sincere) that they turned; and, as in all probability the condi- would not degrade themselves by such an tions of it will be shortly announced by the association, or have the public suppose for a moment that they either had or wished to Government, we shall take an early oppor- have anything to do with them. The detunity of developing at greater length the cided tone which you assumed when alluding scheme adopted by Mr. CusA.CK to frustrate to the organs of gastronomy acluisitivethat measure, and of adding a few snggea- ness in guiding mankind, whilst it may be tions on some essentials which, to be efli- highly creditable to your penetration, surprised some of us not a little. Nothing, cient in Ireland, it must contain. indeed, but positive proof will convince some ERINENSIS. of the incredulous that by a good dinner or a rich patient, you could seduce such a man Dublin, March 25, 1836. as Dr. W. from the straight-forward path. He is yet young, and hia success in lifn must

parts

institu- less

purposes

that

character, be

I doing