Report of the Central Board of Health of Jamaica / presented to the legislature under the provisions of the 14th Vic. chap. 60, and printed by order of the Assembly.

  • Jamaica. Central Board of Health
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Central Board of Health of Jamaica / presented to the legislature under the provisions of the 14th Vic. chap. 60, and printed by order of the Assembly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of liicse vvlio laborcHl under mortal disease, wliile their nearest and dearest kindred, and friends, would calmly remain seated around, in useless and idle ob- servance ; (med'cines and nourishment unadminis- tered, medical advice disregarded and set at nought), contenting themselves with the positive conviction that '* it was of no use, as his time was come.— Again, it is found that on the outbreak of disease, there are persons ready to give assertion to their own pre-conceived opinions, while they cavil with facts, the result of the deep study, research, and extensive experience of the ablest and most learned authorities. These are apt to ])lace their assumptions, acquired from limited experience, in opposition to the well considered and oft tried observations of those who have been specially appointed to consider these sub- jects, and have spent the greater part of their lives in their.study, investigation, and treatment. Every point which arises, having any tendency to strengthen or uphold their partially considered doc- trines, is greedily caught at, and exaggerated, idle and unauthenticated rumours are readily seized hold of, decorated v/ith the garb of truth and promulgated without reflection, conveying for a time misery and dismay to the minds, of even those who are least susceptible of their direful influences, and fatally aug- menting the alarm and wretchedness of the timid, the nervous, and the afllicted. This state of things is not to be wondered at when the constitution of the human mind is considered, and its aptness to grasp with avi- dity and a tight hold, first impressions; the ''post hoc propter hoc'' argument, will ever be foremost, where the reasoning powers have not been duly disciplined and taught by experience, the uncertainty and fallacy of relying alone upon external appearances. This ob- servation is not confmed to the non-professional, for if the history of diseases be looked at, it will be found that at one period or another, physicians have been met with, who readily placed in the category of infec- tious and contagious diseases^ many of those which A 2