David Macbeth Moir, who faithfully performed the arduous duties of a medical practitioner in Edinburgh, and whose life was almost wholly devoted to the service of his fellows, was the famous "Delta" of _Blackwood's Magazine_. His poems, some four hundred of which he contributed to "Maga." alone, are out of fashion now, though their delightful vein of reflectiveness and their charm of expression should preserve them from absolute neglect. The heavy labours of his profession did not seem to check his literary productiveness. His poems fill two large volumes; his prose works are by no means meagre or unimportant, and his "Sketches of the Poetical Literature of the past Half-century," is a standard work on the poetry of his period. Medical treatises, too, came from his pen; and his "Life of Mansie Wauch, Tailor," is one of the most agreeable of genuine Scotch sketches. His biographer correctly summed up the merits of the worthy doctor as a literary worker in the words "Good sound sense, a simple healthy feeling, excited and exalted though these may be, never fail him. He draws from nature, and from himself direct." Quiet humour and simple pathos, a love of humanity, deep reverential feeling, and originality of thought--all these are found in "Delta's" writings, and serve, with his own admirable nature, to keep his memory green.
Of Dr. Conan Doyle, the most conspicuous instance of the hour of the doctor turned author, no detailed notice is requisite, as the main facts of his career are sufficiently well known, and his literary work promises to bring him both fame and fortune. Undoubtedly he exemplifies the fact that the medical hand can scarcely be concealed when it takes to the pen, for his novels and stories abound in allusions which only his study, training, and experience as a doctor could suggest. His reading and observation largely provide the technique of his romances. Something of the same could be said of Smollett's work, though the medical knowledge of the author was often turned to less agreeable account. In fact, most of Smollet's references on this score were the reverse of delectable, and I refrain from a more precise examination of them. The unexpected use to which Mr. R. D. Blackmore has turned his knowledge of medicine--for he studied medicine as well as law seriously in his youth--in several of his novels, notably in the last, "Perlycross," has excited much interest and attention among the profession. So marked is this that I cannot refrain quoting from a singularly interesting criticism penned by a leading physician in the Midlands. "The medical incidents in 'Perlycross,'" he says, "are pourtrayed with an accuracy which shows an intimate knowledge of the profession and its members.... No doubt the opinions expressed by one learned doctor were those of the time represented in the story, though they could hardly be received with justice in the present day. Speaking of the illness of Sir Thomas Waldron, he says (p. 18):--'At present such a case could be dealt with best in Paris, although we have young men rising now who will make it otherwise before very long.' The key to this difficulty is found later on (p. 159) where the technical word 'introsusception' is mentioned as the disease or condition from which the patient suffered. At the time spoken of Parisian surgeons, headed by the eminent Dupuytren, excelled in the art of surgery; at the present time such a case could be treated as well by any hospital surgeon in England as in the metropolis of France.... The book contains an admirably-described case of catalepsy, which is equally well explained. The cure of the attack is described with consummate skill and power. The keystone of the whole position of medical knowledge is contained in a few words towards its close. In these days of rapid transition from one excitement to another it would be well to take the lesson to heart, and to remember what the author speaks of as two fine things--'If you wish to be sure of anything see it with your own good eyes,' and the second, 'Never scamp your work.' How these sayings may be applied in the practice of the profession may with profit be learned from a perusal of the pages of 'Perlycross.'" Perhaps I am going too far in claiming Mr. Blackmore as a medical man who has taken to literature, but the excuse of his early training, combined with this curious result of it manifested in his writing, proves irresistible.