Toast: Dr Arthur Conan Doyle
Toast: Dr Arthur Conan Doyle is an article written by C. Frederick Kittle published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 5, 1994).
Toast: Dr Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, heavily disguised as Mark McPherson, with Christopher Roden and Barbara Roden, following his appearance on the Saturday evening of the Convention weekend.
SHERLOCK HOLMES! Of course that's why we remember Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes is easily the world's best-known literary character and the quantity of volumes of Sherlock Holmes stories published is second only to the Bible. However, we must recall first and foremost that Conan Doyle was a physician. Many of us, captured initially by the charm of his great detective, have subsequently become interested in the why, what and how of Conan Doyle's departure from the field of medicine and his evolution as a writer.
The emergence of Conan Doyle as a writer is a fascinating trip. To a large extent it reflects each individual's steps in a career, and begins with the influences of early life. Conan Doyle was the product of what we hear about so much today — a dysfunctional family. Think for a moment. For generations the Doyle family had had a proud heritage. The grandfather and uncles were well-known and acclaimed in the professional art world and in the church. In the Dictionary of National Biography, the English equivalent of the American Who's Who, his grandfather and three uncles are listed and with ACD's own later appearance there are five people in three generations-a remarkable record!
But to Arthur Conan Doyle fell the lot of having an alcoholic father, banished from London at an early age to Edinburgh. At best Charles Doyle's income was meagre, but he had true artistic ability, perhaps fortified in its imagery by alcoholism, and he helped introduce a new genre of art form-a whimsy of proportionately large animals and small children done in pastel colors. His work and art were, however, overpowered by his alcoholism.
Among these constraints Conan Doyle grew up in the slums of Edinburgh, nourished and motivated by a loving, devoted and well-educated mother. His heredity, his mother's love and perhaps the frequent harassment of his relatives, consciously or unconsciously, prompted him to choose a career which would separate him from his relatives and their achievements. He decided to become a physician. The rest of the family would soon respect him and his choice he was determined, he was ambitious, he had the physical and mental abilities to accomplish his goal. And he did-even though medical school at Edinburgh took an extra year. He needed that extra time to earn money for his mother and his education. These extra jobs, working as a doctor's assistant and a ship's doctor, fitted appropriately with his medical training.
Of significance to Conan Doyle was his friendship with one of the older students, George Budd, both in the classroom and on the soccer field. George impressed ACD greatly and it is easy to understand his attraction to Budd. Budd's family in the medical field had the same acclaim and notoriety that Conan Doyle's family did in the art world. In Budd's family there were at least four uncles and a father in medical practice-authors of textbooks, teachers of medicine and practitioners. Budd was an exuberant person-academically, physically, and medically and frequently unorthodox. Many of their experiences together and Budd's characteristics are related in the poorly-disguised autobiographical account of Conan Doyle's early years in medical practice, The Stark Munro Letters.
After graduation Conan Doyle entered general practice with Budd. However, this association soon deteriorated and ACD began practice by himself. With this independence and his natural qualities of creativity and energy his inner forces soon emerged and he gradually devoted himself full time to writing. The decision was not forced upon him by any external circumstances; by his own volition he chose to become an author.
One of my most prized possessions is the original manuscript of a talk, "The Romance of Medicine,' given by Conan Doyle to the medical students at St. Mary's Hospital in London in 1910. Written almost twenty years after Conan Doyle stopped his medical practice, it eloquently expresses his philosophy about medicine, himself, and society. ACD stresses the educational value of medical school with its emphasis on work, accuracy, attention to details, and logical thinking. He also relates in a stirring manner the many ways in which disease and medicine have altered history-as exemplified by the medical victories over yellow fever and malaria; how disease has influenced famous people-the epilepsy of Caesar, the frequent abdominal pains of Napoleon, and the baldness of Francis the First of France that resulted in the invention of wigs.
Most clearly, however, Conan Doyle emphasises the necessity for humanism in medicine, and the undue materialism and the intellectual priggishness he saw in medical practice--a problem still present today, although currently this subject is receiving more attention than it has in the past.
Conan Doyle introduced medical topics into his writings more than any previous author-recall the numerous medical references and characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories. This was done at a time when medical subjects were considered taboo for the general public. By his efforts many other physicians have entered the literary arena-not only to provide interesting fiction, but also to acquaint the public with medical knowledge. Along with many other prominent medical authors, I mention Dr. Ralph Major whose book, Disease and Destiny,' portrays the interaction of disease and history just as Conan Doyle did in 'The Romance of Medicine.' The well-known physician, Dr. Logan Clendening, probably the first to write about medical problems on a routine basis in a newspaper column, is known to you for his entertaining story about the arrival of Sherlock Holmes in Heaven and his assistance to the Lord in His search for Adam and Eve. Conan Doyle found all of life a romance, but none of us should forget that by his efforts he helped change medicine from its previous dogma to a more humane and understandable profession.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN — We have many things to appreciate about the full and incomparable life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This Society is rapidly on its way in the exploration and promulgation of these fascinating areas.
Let us drink a toast to a very important facet of Conan Doyle's life — his training as a physician, the influence of medicine in his career and his influence in helping the public to understand better the field of medicine. Thank you.
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
