A Medical Survey of the Irish Famine of 1846

A Medical Survey of the Irish Famine of 1846 A I?obert Campbel/ Memorial Oration By LT.-GEN. SIR WILLIAM MACARTHUR, K.C.B., D.S.O., O.B.E., M.D., D.SC., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.P.I. MANY years ago as a house surgeon in the Royal Victoria Hospital, it sometimes fell to my duty to call on Mr. Robert Campbell in the middle of the night to deal witf some surgical emergency in the wards. And when on these occasions I would hang on every word of his oracular pronouncements-and unlike some other oracles I have encountered, I never knew Mr. Campbell to be wrong-I did not dream then that my name would ever in any way be linked with his. He was an extraordinary man, with long continued silences, so that he would go through all the stages of a complicated operation without uttering a word; then, at too infrequent intervals, his outbursts of eloquence, when he would pour forth a store of wisdom and knowledge to the profit and delight of all fortunate enough to hear him. Sometimes he would go on at such length as to disorganize the whole work of the Extern Department, and the Sister in desperation would rattle dishes and turn on taps to warn "Robert"' that it was time he went off. I remember one such day when the Sister dispatched a nurse to find out if these demonstrations had had any effect. The scout peeped cautiously round the door, but Mr. Campbell-who never missed anything-saw her and looking up with a little twinkle in his eye, he said, "Robert's still here !" And, Ladies and Gentlemen, I think that, both in spirit and in influence, "Robert" is still here to-night. I assure you I will always treasure this Medal; first, because of its association with a man whom, when I knew him, I revered on this side idolatry; and second, because the award has been made by fellow-members of my own Medical School.