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BAILLIE, MATTHEW, M.D. a
distinguished modern physician and anatomist, was the son of the Rev.
James Baillie, D.D. Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow.
He was born October 27, 1761, in the manse of Shotts, of which parish
his father was then minister. The father of Dr Matthew Baillie was
supposed to be descended from the family of Baillie of Jerviswood, so
noted in the history of Scottish freedom; his mother was a sister of the
two celebrated anatomists, Dr William and Mr John Hunter; and one of his
two sisters was Miss Joanna Baillie, the late well known and amiable
authoress of "Plays on the Passions." After receiving
the rudiments of his education under his father’s immediate
superintendence, he began his academical course in 1773, in the
University of Glasgow, where he distinguished himself so highly as to be
transferred, in 1778, upon Snell’s foundation, to Baliol College,
Oxford. Here, when he had attained the proper standing, he took his
degrees in arts and physic. In 1780, while still keeping his terms at
Oxford, he commenced his anatomical studies at London, under the care of
his uncles. He had the great advantage of residing with Dr William
Hunter, and, when he became sufficiently advanced in his studies, of
being employed to make the necessary preparations for the
lectures, to conduct the demonstrations, and to superintend the
operations of the students. On the death of Dr Hunter, March 1783, he
was found qualified to become the successor of that great man, in
conjunction with Mr Cruickshank, who had previously been employed as Dr
Hunter’s assistant. His uncle appointed him by will to have the use of
his splendid collection of anatomical preparations, so long as he should
continue an anatomical lecturer, after which it was to be transferred to
Glasgow College. Dr Baillie began to lecture in 1784, and soon acquired
the highest reputation as an anatomical teacher. He was himself
indefatigable in the business of forming preparations, adding, it is
said, no fewer than eleven hundred articles to his uncle’s museum. He
possessed the valuable talent of making an abstruse and difficult
subject plain; his prelections were remarkable for that lucid order and
clearness of expression which proceed from a perfect conception of the
subject; and he never permitted any vanity of display to turn him from
his great object of conveying information in the simplest and most
intelligible way, and so as to become useful to his pupils. The
distinctness of his elocution was also much admired, notwithstanding
that he never could altogether shake off the accent of his native
country. In 1795, Dr Baillie embodied the knowledge he possessed through
his own observations and those of his uncle, in a small but most
valuable work, entitled, "The Morbid Anatomy of some of the most
important parts of the Human Body," which was immediately
translated into French and German, and extended his name to every land
where medical science was cultivated. The publication of this little
treatise was, indeed, an era in the history of medical knowledge in this
country. It combined all the information formerly scattered through the
writings of Bonetus, Lieutaud, and Montagni, besides the immense store
of observations made by the ingenious author. The knowledge of the
changes produced on the human frame by disease had previously been very
imperfect; but it was now so completely elucidated that, with the
assistance of this little volume, any person previously acquainted with
morbid symptoms, but unacquainted with the disease, could, upon an
examination after death, understand the whole malady. Perhaps no
production of the period, ever had so much influence on the study of
medicine, or contributed so much to correct unfounded speculations upon
the nature of disease, to excite a spirit of observation, and to lead
the attention of the student to fact and experience. Along with all its
excellencies, it was delightful to observe the extreme modesty and total
absence of pretension, with which the author, in the fulness of his
immense knowledge, ushered it into the world.
In 1787, Dr Baillie had
been elected physician to St George’s Hospital, a situation which
afforded him many of those opportunities of observation upon which the
success of his work on Morbid Anatomy was founded. In 1789, having taken
his degree of M.D. at Oxford, he was admitted a candidate at the College
of Physicians, and in the following year had the full privileges of
fellowship conferred upon him. About the same time, he was elected a
fellow of the Royal Society, to which he had contributed two essays. He
served the office of censor in the Royal College of Physicians, in 1792
and 1797, and that of commissioner under the act of parliament for the
inspection and licensing of mad-houses, in 1794 and 1795.
In 1799, Dr Baillie
relinquished the business of an anatomical lecturer, and in 1800
resigned his duties as physician to St George’s Hospital. Partly by
the influence of his fame as an anatomist, and partly through the
disinterested recommendations of several members of his own profession,
he found himself gradually tempted into the less agreeable business of a
general physician. He was always resorted to, when more than ordinary
scientific precision was required. About the year 1801, when he had
attained the mature age of forty, he had become completely absorbed in
practice. As a physician, he possessed, in an eminent degree, a facility
in distinguishing diseases,—one of the most important qualifications
in the practice of medicine; as a want of accuracy in discriminating
symptomatic from primary affections leads to the most serious errors;
which it may be said that, when a disease is once distinctly
characterised, and the peculiarities of the case defined, the cure is
half performed. Habits of attentive observation had enabled Dr Baillie
to know, with great accuracy, the precise extent of the powers of
medicine; indeed, there was no class of cases more likely to fall under
his observation than those in which they had been abused; younger
practitioners being apt to carry a particular system of treatment beyond
its proper limits; Dr Baillie’s readiness, therefore, in seeing this
abuse, rendered his opinions, in many cases, of great value. Yet he was
always scrupulously anxious, through the natural benignity of his
disposition, to use his knowledge with a delicate regard to the
interests of those juniors whose procedure he was called upon to amend.
He managed, indeed, this part of his practice with so much delicacy that
he was held in the utmost affection and esteem by the younger branches
of the profession.
Dr Baillie was remarkable
for forming his judgment of any case before him from his own
observations exclusively; carefully guarding himself against any
prepossessions from the opinions suggested by others. When he visited a
patient, he observed him accurately, he listened to him attentively, he
put a few pointed questions—and his opinion was formed. Beneath a most
natural and unassuming manner, which was the same on all occasions, was
concealed an almost intuitive power of perceiving the state of his
patient. His mind was always quietly, but eagerly directed, to an
investigation of the symptoms; and he had so distinct and systematic a
mode of putting questions, that the answers of his patients often
presented a connected view of the whole case. On such occasions, he
avoided technical and learned phrases; he affected none of that
sentimental tenderness, which is sometimes assumed by a physician with a
view to recommend himself to his patient; but he expressed what he had
to say in the simplest and plainest terms; with some pleasantry, if the
occasion admitted of it, and with gravity and gentleness, if they were
required; and he left his patient, either encouraged or tranquilized,
persuaded that the opinion he had received was sound and honest, whether
it was unfavourable or not, and that his physician merited his
confidence. In delivering or writing his opinions, he was equally
remarkable for unaffected simplicity. His language was sometimes so
plain, that his patients have been able to repeat to their other medical
attendants, every word which he had uttered. In consultation, he gave
his opinion concisely, and with a few grounds; those grounds being
chiefly facts, rather than arguments, so that little room was left for
dispute. If any difference or difficulty arose, his example pointed out
the way of removing it, by an appeal to other facts, and by a neglect of
speculative reasoning.
In every relation and
situation of private life, Dr Baillie was equally to be admired; and it
must be added, that the same liberal and just ideas which, on all
occasions, guided his conduct as an individual, ruled him in his many
public duties: he never countenanced any measures which had the
appearance of oppression or hostility towards the members of his
profession. Men seldom act, collectively, with the same honour and
integrity as they would do individually; and a member of a public body
requires an unusual share of moral courage, who opposes those measures
of his associates, which he may not himself approve of; but if there was
one qualification more than another, which gave Dr Baillie the public
confidence he enjoyed, and raised him to the zenith of professional
distinction, it was his inflexible integrity.
In 1799, Dr Baillie
commenced the publication of "A Series of Engravings, to illustrate
some parts of Morbid Anatomy," in successive fasciculi, which
were completed in 1802. The drawings for this splendid work were done by
Mr Clift, the Conservator of the Hunterian Museum in Lincoln’s Inn
Fields; and they were creditable at once to the taste and liberality of
Dr Baillie, and to the state of art in that day. Dr Baillie afterwards
published "An Anatomical description of the Gravid Uterus;"
and throughout the whole course of his professional life, he
contributed largely to the transactions and medical collections of the
time. When he was at the height of his popularity, he enjoyed a higher
income than any preceding physician, and which was only inferior to the
sum received by one particular contemporary. In one of his busiest
years, when he had scarcely time to take a single meal, it is
said to have reached £10,000. He was admitted to have the greatest consultation
business of his time; and it was known that he was applied to for
medical advice from many distant quarters of the world. From his
arduous, and to his mind, often irksome duties, he enjoyed no
relaxation for many years, till at length he began to indulge in an
annual retirement of a few months to the country. On one of the first of
these occasions, he paid a visit to the land of his birth, which, during
an absence of thirty years, spent in busy and distracting pursuits, he
had never ceased to regard with the most tender feelings. The love of
country was, indeed, a prominent feature in his character; and he was
prepared on this occasion to realize many enjoyments which he had
previously contemplated with enthusiasm, in the prospect of once more
beholding the land and friends of his youth. The result was far
different from his expectations. He found most of his early companions
either scattered over the world, in search, as he himself had been, of
fortune, or else forgotten in untimely graves; of those who survived,
many were removed beyond his sympathies by that total alteration of
feeling which a difference of worldly circumstances so invariably
effects in the hearts of early friends, on the side of the depressed
party as well as the elevated.
Dr Baillie was introduced
to the favourable notice of the royal family, in consequence of his
treatment of the duke of Gloucester. Being subsequently joined in
consultation with the king’s physicians, upon his majesty’s own
unhappy case, he came more prominently than ever into public view, as in
some measure the principal director of the royal treatment. The political
responsibility of this situation was so very weighty, that, if Dr
Baillie had been a man of less firmness of nerve, he could scarcely have
maintained himself under it. Such, however, was the public confidence in
his inflexible integrity, that, amidst the hopes and fears which for a
long time agitated the nation, on the subject of the king’s health,
the opinion of Dr Baillie ever regulated that of the public. On the
first vacancy, which occurred in 1810, he was appointed one of the
physicians to the king, with the offer of a baronetcy, which, however,
his good sense and unassuming disposition induced him to decline.
Dr Baillie at length sunk
under the weight of his practice, notwithstanding that for several years
he had taken every possible expedient to shift off his duties to the
care of younger aspirants. At the last quarterly meeting of the College
of physicians before his death, when there was a full assemblage of
members, in the midst of the affairs for the consideration of which they
were called together, Dr Baillie entered the room, emaciated, hectic,
and with all the symptoms of approaching dissolution. Such was the
effect of his sudden and unexpected appearance, that the public business
was suspended, and every one present instantly and spontaneously rose,
and remained standing until Dr Baillie had taken his seat; the incident
though trivial evinces the effectionate reverence with which he was
regarded. Besides the natural claim he had upon this body, from his
unapproached anatomical and medical skill, and the extraordinary
benignity and worth of his character, he had entitled himself to its
peculiar gratitude by leaving to it the whole of his valuable collection
of preparations, together with the sum of six hundred pounds to keep it
in order. Dr Baillie died on the 23d of September, 1823.
Dr Baillie had married, 5th
May, 1791, Miss Sophia Denman, second daughter of Dr Denman of London, a
distinguished physician, and sister of Mr., subsequently Lord Denman and
Lord Chief-Justice of England. By her he left one son, to whom he
devoted his estate of Dantisbourne, in Gloucestershire, and one
daughter. The sums of effects destined by his will, many of which were
given to medical institutions and public charities, were sworn in the
Prerogative Court at less than 80,000 pounds.
Dr Baillie is thus
characterized in the Annual Obituary for 1824. "He seemed to
have an innate goodness of heart, a secret sympathy with the virtuous,
and to rejoice in their honourable and dignified conduct, as in a thing
in which he had a personal interest, and as if he felt that his own
character was raised by it, as well as human nature ennobled. He
censured warmly what he disapproved, from a strong attachment to what is
right, not to display his superiority to others, or to give vent to any
asperity of temper; at the same time he was indulgent to failings; his
kindness to others leading him on many occasions to overlook what was
due to himself; and even in his last illness he paid gratuitous
professional visits which were above his strength, and was in danger of
suddenly exhausting himself by exertions for others. His liberal
disposition was well known to all acquainted with public subscriptions;
the great extent to which it showed itself in private benefactions is
known only to those who were nearly connected with him, and perhaps was
fully known only to himself." |
