WELL-PAID DOCTOBS.

Bruce Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 1933, 17 February 1888, Page 5

WELL-PAID DOCTOBS.

"Do London doctors earn more than Queen's Counsel? 1 ' As a rule, they do not; but the incomes of the, three leading physicians and the three leading lawyers are about equal— that is to wy, at the rate of £12,000 a year each. The largest sum ever earned in one year by a doctor was £20,000, made by Sir Astley Cooper. The three men at the head of the medical profession in England at the present day are' Sir "William Jenner, the court physician, Sir William Guy and Sir Andrew Clark. Just lately the Jast-named has obtained considerable notoriety. He was induced to visit a very wealthy lady at Nice, and he received the un--precedented fee of .£5,000. , Oiie-fifth of this amount he retained as a remuneration for his services, and the re*! mainder he divided between two charitable institutions connected with his profession. ; Speaking of his fees, there is a tale told of a rich colonial gentleman living in Kent who had the misfortune to itake a slight cold. Not satisfied with his local medical attendant, he desired to have Gull down from London in consultation. Gull happened to be away, and Sir William Janner came instead. He was duly paid his fee of £75 for the visit. The patient, feeling no better, then sent to Edinburgh to a leading doctor of that city, who travelled the four hundred miles in order to see him, and in ordinary course received a guinea for every mile, that was four hundred guineas. Again the patient felt no better, and this time Gull was summoned and attended. "I suppose," suggested the local practitioner, "you will pay Gull what you paid Jenner — £75." "Nonsense," indignantly retorted the tick gentleman, "I am not going to pay - Gull less than I did the Scotchman," and lie drew a cheque for 400 guineas. Before he got'rid of his cold he had paid £1,000 in fees. : Sir William Gull himself relates a story of an eccentric patient upon whom, in the days when chloroform or ether were never used, he performed a difficult operation, from which the! old gentleman recoyered. But he refused to pay Gull his fees, and, as the doctor left the bedroom in an enraged state, tne old man snatched off his night-cap, and, flinging it at him, cried : "Take that; I'll give you nothing more J" Gull picked ?up the night-cap; and cooling down in his brougham, he commenced to rip open the lining. Con- < cealed therein he found a crisp Bank of England note for £200. This story, by the *ay, has been told' of several other eminent doctors. Guy began life in a humble way as assistant to a hospital lecturer at thirty-five shillings per week. When admitted to praotice his first year's fees amounted to £25, , but he himself says that each year they increased by one third* He is a man of dry humour. Once the Bishop of Dorr/ consulted him, and the great doctor gravely said : ' "You must go to; Nice, my lord." g " Oh, I can't go to Nice* I'm too » busy." "It must be either Nice or heaven," was the doctor's retort. , "Oh, then," quickly added the divine, "I'll go to Nice."