REMINISCENCES OF A
WORKHOUSE MEDICAL OFFICER.
JOSEPH ROGERS, M.D.
REMINISCENCES OF A WORKHOUSE
MEDICAL OFFICER
EDITED, WITH A PREFACE
BY
PROF. THOROLD ROGERS
London
T. FISHER UNWIN
26 PATERNOSTER SQUARE
MDCCCLXXXIX
PREFACE.
The author of the brief narrative which I have edited, and have seenthrough the Press, passed away before the printing of his work wascompleted. What he wrote was composed under the presence of a mortaldisease, the issue of which he clearly foresaw. But he was unwilling toquit life without leaving behind him some record of the evils with whichhe grappled, of the obstacles which he had to encounter, and of thechanges which he strove to effect. He might indeed, and with theacquiescence of the profession which he honoured, have claimed thecredit of those great reforms in the treatment of the sick poor, and inthe status of his professional brethren, to which the labours of hislife were directed; but he has preferred to give a narrative of hisexperiences, and to leave his reputation to the members of the great andbeneficent calling which he followed,[Pg vi] and to those among the public whowere cognizant of his zeal and perseverance.
My late brother was the descendant of three generations of medicalpractitioners, who, from the first quarter of the eighteenth century,plied the art of tending and healing the sick down to the last quarterof the nineteenth, for his elder brother relinquished his practice onlyabout ten or a dozen years ago. And this was in the same locality. Butsoon after my brother Joseph was qualified he went to London; and veryspeedily after he came to London he began the labour of his life—thereform, namely, of the medical relief accorded to the indigent poor. Tothis he surrendered the prospects of professional success andfortune—prospects which his professional abilities might have madecertainties; for this he sacrificed popularity, health, and all that avigorous constitution might have assured to him. He literally worehimself out by his labours.
It is infinitely more difficult for a medical practitioner to urgenecessary but unpopular reforms than it is for any other professionalperson to do so. The physician believes that he can succeed only byraising no prejudice against himself. He is always tempted to beneutral, when partizanship may seem likely to imperil his interests.There are no safe prizes to be[Pg vii] won in the one profession which everyone allows to be beneficent, whatever may be thought of otherprofessions. By a code of honour which is rigidly adhered to, theprocess of a physician's treatment cannot be kept to himself. By anequally rigid rule, the confidences reposed in him are as sacred as thesecrets of the confessional. It is no easy matter to win position andfortune in a calling which is regulated by the strictest rules ofprofessional honour. It seems easy to imperil the most carefullyacquired reputation by running counter to obstinacy and prejudice.