Observations on some of the parts of surgical practice: to which is prefixed an enquiry into the claims that surgery may be supposed to have for being classed as a science / [John Painter Vincent].

  • Vincent, John Painter.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on some of the parts of surgical practice: to which is prefixed an enquiry into the claims that surgery may be supposed to have for being classed as a science / [John Painter Vincent]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    their exertions, whether these have reference to the mind or to the body. Again, in those employ- ments to which the world assigns the highest cha- racter in the exercise of the means of procuring competency, that is, professions, there seems to be an implied understanding that the persons engaged in them have a scientific condition of mind. But this is by no means true, as it may be found in some cases, that even the artizan exhibits a more scientific development of mind than the profes- sional man, who possesses a higher degree of re- spectability in the eye of the world. But however confused the way may be in which the term is adopted, and however much the want of clearness in fixing the precise distinctions that exist between science and art, it would seem that it is upon the acknowledged superiority of a scientific character that professional men lay claim to the advantages of the high ground they occupy. In this way it is probably assumed that profes- sional men are necessarily men of science. The surgeon is by no means backward in putting in claims of this kind. But as the grounds of his pretensions may be questionable, it may fulfil an useful purpose to inquire into the validity of them, inasmuch as if these grounds are not found capable of vindicating the claim, it will show that surgeons have a duty, incumbent on them, of setting about acquiring the means of improving the scientific character of their profession, and therefore of af-
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