File:Through the magic door (1920) (14764454565).jpg

Identifier: throughmagicdoor00doyluoft (find matches)
Title: Through the magic door
Year: 1920 (1920s)
Authors: Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930
Subjects: Books and reading
Publisher: London Murray
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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than had been once believed, and they 78 THROUGH THE MAGIC DOOR have slowly learned that they can afford toconcede the validity of all the secondarycauses assigned by Gibbon and even of othersstill more discreditable. The fact is, as thehistorian has again and again admitted, thathis account of the secondary causes whichcontributed to the progress and establish-ment of Christianity leaves the question as tothe natural or supernatural origin of Chris-tianity practically untouched. This is allvery well, but in that case how about thecentury of abuse which has been showeredupon the historian ? Some posthumous apologywould seem to be called for. Physically, Gibbon was as small as Johnsonwas large, but there was a curious affinity intheir bodily ailments. Johnson, as a youth,was ulcerated and tortured by the kings evil,in spite of the Eoyal touch. Gibbon givesus a concise but lurid account of his ownboyhood. I was successively afflicted by lethargiesand fevers, by opposite tendencies to a
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EDWARD GIBBON. From the Painting by Henry Walton. THROUGH THE MAGIC DOOR 79 consumptive and dropsical habit, by a con-traction of my nerves, a fistula in my eye,and the bite of a dog, most vehementlysuspected of madness. Every practitionerwas called to my aid, the fees of the doctorswere swelled by the bills of the apothecariesand surgeons. There was a time when Iswallowed more physic than food, and mybody is still marked by the indelible scars oflancets, issues, and caustics. Such is his melancholy report. The factis that the England of that day seems to havebeen very full of that hereditary form ofchronic ill-health which we call by the generalname of struma. How far the hard-drinkinghabits in vogue for a century or so before hadanything to do with it I cannot say, norcan I trace a connection between struma andlearning; but one has only to compare thisaccount of Gibbon with Johnsons nervoustwitches, his scarred face and his St. Vitusdance, to realize that these, the two mostsolid En

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