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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 9 (December 1, 1936)

[section]

“There are men and classes of men that stand above the common herd: the soldier, the sailor and the shepherd not infrequently; the artist rarely ….; the physician almost as a rule. He is the flower (such as it is) of our civilisation …. Generosity he has, such as is possible to those who practise an art, never to those who drive a trade; discretion, tested by a hundred secrets; tact, tried in a thousand embarrassments; and, what are more, Heraclean cheerfulness and courage.”

Robert Louis Stevenson in his dedication of “Underwoods” to his doctors.

(S. P. Andrew photo.) Sir Truby King.

(S. P. Andrew photo.) Sir Truby King.

Stevenson's tribute to the altruism of the doctor applied to the profession in general; it was addressed to the general practitioner. The debt that the people owe to their skilful and hardworking and generous medical men can never be paid in full or even told in full. Every doctor must be something of a philanthropist at heart, otherwise he would never have adopted such a calling. But there are exceptional men, who stand out like king-trees of the forest above their fellows; men whose love for humanity, devotion to duty, and indifference to selfish considerations invest them with a saint-like character; Sir Frederick Truby King is pre-eminently one of these Father Damiens of the medical world. As I write this Sir Truby lies very ill, his body worn out in the service of the suffering and the weak; his life's work done. He is seventy-eight. His brain is as keen and bright as ever, but there is no need now for him to concern himself about the future of the duty to which he devoted all his powers and all his resources. The work goes on, the helping of women and children, the salving of infant life.

The world-famous system of the Plunket Society, with which the name of King of Karitane is associated, has saved many thousands of infant lives, and it will save many thousands more. It has given an enormous stimulus to better health for the young, it has educated the community in parenthood; its influence is widespread in the building up of strong and healthy men and women, wisely nourished and protected against disease.

The Truby King Karitane Hospital on Melrose Heights, Wellington, where mothers and infants are cared for and where a factory manufactures health food for the little ones, is a wonderful monument of toil and skill and self-sacrifice. With Sir Truby's name is, of course, associated the late Lady King's. For forty years that noble lady shared her husband's work and shaped with him the splendid institution and the methods of nutrition that went to reduce the infant death rate in New Zealand until it is the lowest in the world.