Struggles and Triumphs

A History of the Tarrant County Medical Society - The Gold-Headed Cane
By Margie B. Peschel, MD

The Gold-Headed Cane, as it passes from one recipient to the next, perpetuates that warm love, personal regard, esteem, and respect of physicians for physicians of Tarrant County Medical Society (TCMS).

Doctors today do not use a cane entwined by a single serpent to conjure up a cure as Asclepius the Greek god did. The rod and snake together were used to drive off evil spirits and bring healing.

This act of healing was abandoned around 400 BC, when a Greek man named Hippocrates came up with the theory that diseases rather than evil spirits were responsible for sickness of the body.

Centuries later in England, however, doctors did begin to wear wigs and carry canes.

The head of the cane was gold, silver, or ivory, and contained a cavity in which aromatic substances such as rosemary, camphor, or Marseilles vinegar were carried. The inhalation of these substances was thought to prevent contagion, and they served the additional purpose of counteracting offensive odors.

In 1951, a group of TCMS doctors felt we needed to have a way to honor our physicians. Dr. William Crawford shared a book with the group called The
Gold-Headed
Cane, a story of a very famous Gold-Headed Cane which from 1684 to 1823 was continuously carried by the most outstanding London physicians of the time. These men were John Raddiffe, Richard Mead, Anthony Askew, William Pitcairn, and Matthew Baillie. The widow of the last doctor gave the illustrious cane to the Royal College of Physicians in London, where it remains today.

TCMS was impressed with the possible use of a “Gold-Headed Cane” as a symbol of honor and respect for outstanding physicians in our community. The existence of such an honor would serve as an inspiration to the younger doctors and encourage them in their family, social, civic, religious, and professional lives to cultivate those essentials of character calculated to secure for them the respect and good will of their colleagues and the profession at large, and in addition, the high esteem and confidence of the public.

Dr. Porter Brown, a kind, humble gentleman, was the donor of the cane. Dr. Brown had a cane made by Haltom’s Jewelers that was similar to the Gold-Headed Cane in London. As the donor, Dr. Brown made the rules regarding how the cane was to be awarded. He specified that he was never to receive the cane and that the first recipient was to be the late Dr. C.O. Terrell, a universally loved pediatrician who had died a few months earlier. The first Gold-Headed Cane ceremony was held in December 1951. Dr. Brown determined that the award should be a free expression of the whole Medical Society. He wanted no politicking. The eligibility and voting requirements have slightly changed during the years, but looking over the past recipients of the cane, the methods have worked fairly well.

The Gold-Headed Cane Award has accomplished what Dr. Porter Brown and the doctors of TCMS hoped it would.  It allows us to come together to show our solidarity and at the same time show our respect for one of our members—the Doctor’s Doctor. See you at the Gold-Headed Cane Award Dinner in October!