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THE
GOLD-HEADED CANE.
BOTANICAL GARDENS, CHELSEA
THE
GOLD-HEADED CANE
BY
WILLIAM MACMICHAEL·M·D·
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
SIR WILLIAM OSLER, B.A., M.D., F.R.S.
AND A PREFACE BY
FRANCIS R. PACKARD, M.D.
NEW YORK
PAUL·B·HOEBER
1915
Copyright, 1915
By PAUL B. HOEBER
Published April, 1915
Printed in the U. S. A.
INTRODUCTION.
It is very fitting that a new edition of theGold Headed Cane should appear just at thistime, as a memorial of the life and labours ofits first owner, Dr. John Radcliffe. Here inOxford, where his name is writ large in stone,we had hoped to have ceremonies appropriateto the 200th anniversary of his death, but atpresent the University has other things to thinkof. The Radcliffe Trustees have, however, arrangedwith Dr. Nias and the Clarendon Pressto issue a brief life and an account of the TravellingFellows, with whom his name is associated.When and where he got the celebratedcane is unknown. To the story of his life sowell told here by Dr. Macmichael nothing needbe added. There is probably no name in ourprofession with which are associated so manybenefactions. The Radcliffe Infirmary, originallyerected by his Trustees out of theirfunds, has become one of the most important[vi]of the county hospitals in England; but theTrustees no longer have any financial interestin its support. The Radcliffe Observatorywas built by them and they pay the upkeepand the salary of the Radcliffe Observer. TheRadcliffe Camera or Library, one of the mostbeautiful buildings in Oxford, was designedfor the scientific part of the Bodleian Library.After the laboratories were centred about themuseum it was found more convenient to havethe scientific books close at hand, and one ofthe old Guilds, the Draper’s Company of London,put up a beautiful new building in whichthe Radcliffe Library is now housed, all theexpen