Genre:

Short Fiction

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Microscopy, Theory

    Dr Charles Dinwiddie of St Louis has 'eminent ability as a medical man' (566), and his 'one relaxation was his microscope, and he rigorously confined himself with that to the study of animal tissues, the coagulations of lymph and the like, the crystallizations of poisons, peering as deeply into nature and as widely as he could, and all in the interests of medicine' (565). His medical career, as well as his health and state of mind, begin to decline, however, after a number of setbacks such as 'Patients [who] could not pay' and 'New theories of medicine [that] became popular, which Dr. Dinwiddie abhorred and denounced' (567). These 'troubles and curiously complicated kinds of trial' finally result in the dedicated and talented physician's premature death (568).