History of the Fife Pitcairns

458 THE FIFE PITCAIRNS.
the prescription which had been left behind (which was
nothing more than infusion of roses, with a little additional
mineral acid), he made this reply : —
" The last thing a physician learns, in the course of his
experience, is to know when to do nothing, but quietly to
wait, and allow Nature and time to have fair play, in
checking the progress of disease, and gradually restoring
the strength and health of the patient."
Dr David Pitcairn's 1 manner was simple, gentle, and dignified.
From his kindness of heart, he was frequently led to give more
attention to his patients than could well be demanded from a
physician, and as this evidently sprang from no interested motive,
he often acquired considerable influence with those whom he had
attended during sickness. No medical man, indeed, of his emin-
ence in London, perhaps ever exercised his profession to such a
degree gratuitously ; besides, few persons ever gained so extensive
an acquaintance with the various orders of Society.
He associated much with barristers, &c, had a taste for the
fine arts, and his employment as a physician in the largest hospital
in the kingdom made known to him a very great number of persons
of every rank and description in life. His person was tall and
erect ; his countenance during youth was a model of manly beauty,
and even in more advanced life he was accounted remarkably
handsome. But the prosperous views that all these combined
advantages might reasonably open to him were not of long
duration.
Ill health obliged him to give up his profession and quit his
native country. He embarked for Lisbon in the summer of 1798,
where a stay of eighteen months, in the mild climate of Portugal,
during which period there was no occurrence of the spitting of
blood with which he had been affected, emboldened him to return
to England, and for a few years more resume the practice of his
profession. His health continued delicate and precarious, and in
the spring of the year 1809 he fell a victim to laryngitis, a disease
that had hitherto escaped the notice of medical men, and so had
the peculiar and melancholy privilege of enlightening his pro-
fession in the very act of dying.
A flattering tribute to his memory, written by Dr Wills,
was inserted in the ' Gentleman's Magazine ' soon after
his decease. Dr Matthew Baillie attended him, and has
1 Dr Munk's Roll of the Royal College of Physicians.