Henry James

Washington Square Henry James

DURING a portion of the first half of the present century, and more particularly during thelatter part of it, there flourished and practised in the city of New York a physician whoenjoyed perhaps an exceptional share of the consideration which, in the United States, hasalways been bestowed upon distinguished members of the medical profession. Thisprofession in America has constantly been held in honour, and more successfully thanelsewhere has put forward a claim to the epithet of "liberal." In a country in which, to playa social part, you must either earn your income or make believe that you earn it, the healingart has appeared in a high degree to combine two recognised sources of credit. It belongsto the realm of the practical, which in the United States is a great recommendation; and it istouched by the light of science-a merit appreciated in a community in which the love ofknowledge has not always been accompanied by leisure and opportunity. It was anelement in Dr. Sloper's reputation that his learning and his skill were very evenly balanced;he was what you might call a scholarly doctor, and yet there was nothing abstract in hisremedies-he always ordered you to take something. Though he was felt to be extremelythorough, he was not uncomfortably theoretic, and if he sometimes explained mattersrather more minutely than might seem of use to the patient, he never went so far (likesome practitioners one has heard of) as to trust to the explanation alone, but always leftbehind him an inscrutable prescription. There were some doctors that left the prescriptionwithout offering any explanation at all; and he did not belong to that class either, whichwas, after all, the most vulgar. It will be seen that I am describing a clever man; and this isreally the reason why Dr. Sloper had become a local celebrity. At the time at which we arechiefly concerned with him, he was some fifty years of age, and his popularity was at itsheight. He was very witty, and he passed in the best society of New York for a man of theworld-which, indeed, he was, in a very sufficient degree. I hasten to add, to anticipatepossible misconception, that he was not the least of a charlatan.