The profession of medicine : its study, and practice ; its duties, and rewards / by Charles West.

  • Charles West
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The profession of medicine : its study, and practice ; its duties, and rewards / by Charles West. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    the Duties and Qualifications of a Physician, published in 1772; and with those of Dr. Percival,* in his Medical Ethics, which appeared in 1803. My original intention was to republish the two in a condensed form, with such additions and alterations as the lapse of time might render necessary. I soon, however, found the attempt impracticable, so great has been the change in society, and especially in medical society, within the past hundred years. The apothecary in Dr. Gregory's time was the physician's servant, and nothing more. He sup- plied the medicines which he had no right to prescribe, and acted as a sort of male nurse; as Green tells us in The Sparrow and Diamond: The doctor used his oily art Of strong emetic kind ; Th' apothecary play'd his part, And engineer'd behind. Even thirty years later, when things had im- proved, the apothecary still occupied a completely subordinate position. The physician, says Dr. Percival, should occasionally make his visits in conjunction with the apothecary, who will regard the free communication of the physician as a privilege and means of improvement. f * Note B, p. III. t Medical Ethics, pp. 54, 55.
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