The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters.

  • Bowerbank, Lewis Q.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    9/108 (page 3)
    COR£?.ESP»0]SrDEISrCE. To the Editor of the Colonial Standard. Kingston, 23rd January, 1865. Sir,—As several of my friends have requested me to lay before the public, a statement of the circumstances which led to my re- signation of the office which I recently held in the Public Hospital, I have been induced to accede to their desire, not from any wish to obtrude my official conduct on the public, but chiefly with the view of correcting certain misrepresentations which have been circulated, with regard to the reasons which induced me to sever my connec- tion with this institution, in which, for a period of nearly three years, I have served as one of its Chief Medical Officers. It has been alleged that I was induced to tender ray resigna- tion of office, in consequence of the recent alterations or changes which the Grovernor has thought fit to make, with regard to the pe- riodical retirement of the Medical Officers, and that my inability to remain in the Hospital, as a permanent member of the Medical Staff, was the principal cause of my resignation of office. But such is not the case. I never had, and have not now, any particular de- «ire to act in such a capacity ; but «n order to show this more clearly, it is necessary that I should enumerate somewhat in detail, the circumstances which first led to my late official connection with the Institution. On the occasion of the vacancy in the Hospital Medical Staff, which occurred by the death of Dr, McGrath in 1858, I was re- quested to put forward my claims to that appointment, and received eveiy assurance of being elected to the office if I desired to hold it, I declined, however, and left the way open for Dr. Bowerbank, who had signified his desire to obtain the situation. He canvassed the votes of the Hospital Commissioners, in whom the patronage was vested, and he did so unopposed by me, and if I remember rightly, by any body else. The Commissioners, however, for reasons best known to themselves, did not entertain iiis application, and from the moment of his rejection, Dr, Bowerbank commenced his famous Hospital Campaign, which after a duration of four years, was tem- porarily suspended, but not terminated, by the removal of Dr. Scott, from his office of principal Medical Officer of the Hospital. This gentleman's connection with the Hospital, terminated in Marcli 1862, and on the 20th of that month Governor Darling wrote to me requestiug that I would agree to act as Dr. Scott's successor. At that time I had become so disgusted at the discreditable manner in which the Hospital controversy had been conducted, that I felt no desire whatever to form any official connection with the Institution, *iid this feeling on my part seems to have been pretty well under- A