Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/338

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. x. GOT. 25, 1902.

and have spent many pleasant evenings alone with him, and until I saw DR. SYKES'S first note I had never heard a suggestion that Dr Elliotson was a homceopathist. But even i Dr. Elliotson was a homoeopathic doctor, why should DR. SYKES infer that Thackeray was a believer in homoeopathy any more than that he was a believer in mesmerism because Dr Elliotson had espoused the cause of mesmer ism 1 Thackeray was " ill, sick, well nigh unto death," and why should he be supposec to believe what the doctor brought in to attend him believed ?

Dr. Elliotson was described in the Times as " one of the most distinguished scientific men of the age," in the 'D.N.B.' as "with- out doubt the foremost among the eminent physicians of the day," and in the Medical Times as "the most brilliant light of the

Erofession," and the homoeopathists in Eng- md and America would surely have claimec a man so eminent in medical science had he been one of their body.

I must now say a word or two about whal Thackeray's little daughter said : " Oh, papa do make her well again ; she can have a regular doctor, and be almost dead, and then will come a homoeopathic doctor who wil' make her well, you know." One would like to see the whole of Thackeray's letter in which this saying is referred to. I infer that it was written in 1850, after Thackeray's recovery, arid after the publication of the number ol 'Pendennis' containing chap. 1, in the one- volume edition, " The Happy Village Again,' at the end of which it is stated of Helen Pendennis that "she lay all night in an alarming state. ' DR SYKES asks, " Who then was it to whom the child alluded ? " I agree with him that it probably does allude to her father's illness and its cure, but what then ? The child was born on 28 May, 1840, and so was about ten years old when she spoke to her father about Helen's illness, and we are all in the dark how the statement came to be made. DR. SYKES appears to consider that this child's statement proves three things : first, that Dr. Elliotson was a homoeopathic doctor; secondly, that Thackeray's regular practi- tioner " was displaced in favour of " Dr. Elliotson ; and, thirdly, that Thackeray was " a believer in homoeopathy " !

I may say, by the way, that Dr. Elliotson was far too honourable a man to allow the general practitioner attending Thackeray to be displaced, and I find it stated in Merivale and Marzials's "Great Writers Series" that Thackeray "was kindly tended by Dr. Elliotson to whom 'Pendennis' was afterwards dedi- cated, and by Dr. Merriman of Kensington

Square." If this is correct, it was the ordinary case of an eminent physician being called in to act with the general practitioner in consequence of the serious turn the illness had taken. Dr. Merriman was on friendly terms with Thackeray, and was, I gather, his ordinary medical man, and he it was who was called in to him when he found him dead. See " Great Writers Series," pp. 155, 213 and 9,15. He was not a homoeo- pathic doctor I am sure. He is thus de- scribed in the ' Medical Directory ' of 1849, "Apoth. Ext. to the Queen, Gen. Med. Attendant on H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent, and H.R.H. the Princess Sophia." I venture to say after looking into the matter carefully that DR. SYKES has drawn conclusions from most insufficient premises, and that he was not justified in stating unequivocally that Thackeray was a believer in homoeopathy.

If Thackeray is declared to be a believer in homoeopathy on such evidence as that relied upon by DR. SYKES, then Dickens also ought to be declared to be a believer in homoeopathy, for in the 'Life of Charles Dickens ' by Kitton, p. 359, it appears that when Dickens was suffering in America from an attack of influenza he wrote, "I have tried allopathy, homoeopathy, cold things, warm things, sweet things, bitter things, stimulants, narcotics, all with the same result"; and further, in Serjeant Ballan tine's 'Experiences ' it is stated that in order to guard against sea- sickness "the illustrious author [Dickens] armed himself with a box of homoeopathic globules " (vol. i. p. 242).

I am afraid it will be thought that I have elaborated this matter too much, but 4 N. & Q ' is read in America, where there are a very large number of homoeopathists, and, as accuracy is above all things necessary in 4 N. & Q.,' it is desirable to settle the question DR. SYKES has raised. HARRY B. POLAND.

Inner Temple.

CORONATION SERMONS (9 th S. ix. 501 ; x. 198, 276). My mention of Dr. Cameron Lees was with reference to his account of the attendance of Charles I. at St. Giles's Church "to hear sermon." I was in error when I wrote that Laud '' officiated " at the coronation service in the Chapel Royal, Holy- rood. David Lindsay, Bishop of Brechin, preached the, sermon, taking 1 Kings i. 39 as his text, and Spotswood placed the crown upon the king's head. But Laud took a very important part in framing the corona- ion service, and in arranging for and direct- ng its performance. The author of ' Chapters on Coronations,' London, 1838, says or the