Around the Red Lamp: Medical Life as It Used to Be

Tales of Victorian Medicine as told by one of the great story tellers of all time... Arthur Conan Doyle. M.D. Everyone knows Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His Sherlock Holmes mysteries have become classics in western literature. But not everyone knows that Conan Doyle was also a physician-an ophthalmologist to be precise. In fact, it was his unfortunate lack of patients that gave Doyle the time he needed to write, and resulted in the creation of Sherlock Holmes. But Doyle's output was not limited to mystery writing. His historical novels and short stories were very popular throughout his lifetime. It was only natural therefore that, sooner or later, he would turn his attention to writing about medicine. He did this in 1894 with the publication of Round the Red Lamp. These are stories of medicine as it used to be. It was a time before production-line office visits, before computerized CAT scans-for that matter, it was even before X-rays had been invented. It was an era when physicians routinely made house calls
and the "family doc" not only knew your medical history, but that of your parents and your grandparents as well. He knew it because he had personally treated all three generations. Around the Red Lamp is a priceless insight into those times. Doctors treat the sick, but where does a Victorian doctor turn when he is the one who is ill? No physician enjoys seeing a patient die
but leave it to an old soldier to show a young doctor how to die with courage and honor. What's a small town doctor to do when he suddenly finds himself facing competition-especially when the competition is coming from the loveliest female physician he has ever seen? All these stories and more in Around the Red Lamp