THE SIXPENNY DOCTOR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 248, 25 February 1911, Page 9

THE SIXPENNY DOCTOR.

A LONDON INSTITUTION. In the whole tragic story of the terrible affray in Houiidsditelit no incident is more drastic than the visit of Dr. Seanlan in the dead of night to the house of the murdered man in Grove-street, summoned thither by the two young foreign women, whose incoherent mutterings gave liim no clue to the scene at which he was to assist (says the London Telegraph). "Attention is inevitably directed to the lives of these medical practitioners, called up to undertake duties in such startling circumstances. The medical profession has at all times contained heroic men who have flinched from no sacrifice, and from no danger, and in the mean streets of the metropolis large numbers of them daily pursue their vocation unmindful of externals, disdainful of dangers, and unconcerned as to consequences. If it be heroic to attend the haunts of low-class animals, they are indeed heroic, for they never trouble to enquire as to the nature of the house they are to visit, yet they will tell you there is no heroism in their work, and when they give their reasons, you admit they are right.

"So far as the East End is concerned, the doctors who practise there are agreed as to the law-abiding character of the residents. They will tell you .there are desperadoes and criminals, but they are exceptions to the rule. But it is not in this tliat the safety' of medical men lies. It is in the inherent respect entertained by the inhabitants for men called in to combat pain and disease. The poor have a hard life. They are not given to exaggerate their ailments. Illness is a luxury in which they cannot afford to indulge. When, therefore, they are constrained to call in medical aid, suffering has generally reached an acute stage. The doctor is "then regarded as a missioner as well as a doctor, a messenger of hope and mercy, as well as a curer of ailments. As such he is looked upon almost with awe, and the respectful salutation he always receives is eloquent of the esteem in which he is held. "Nor is it to correct to assume that the practices of East End doctors are unremunerative. On the contrary, they are often the means by which handsome incomes are obtained. There is one wellknown instance of a medical practitioner in Whitechapel who made between £2OOO and £3OOO a year from his patients, though his fees were often as low as Od. This sixpenny fee is quite a common one, though generally the remuneration is Is. "How, it may be asked, can such small fees produce so large an income, especially as they include payment for medicine? The reply is to be found in the number of patients with which doctors have to deal. At their surgeries many of them attend to as many as sixtv and seventy per evening, between the hours of six and nine. There are no bad debts, and there is no sending in of accounts. One invariable custom everywhere prevails—payment is made at the time of the visit. l

"Yet is is a strenuous life which the doctor leads, for difficult and severe is the tension of examining and treating such large numbers at his surgery. Jew and Gentile, native and foreigner, all alike to him are interesting. His is a game of life and death. But too frequently he stands with them in the land of deepening shadows. He knows the struggles of those whose life is often worse than death. Wliv need he fear? Why speak ill of his East End?