The prospects of surgery : being the introductory address given at the Liverpool School of Medicine, on 29th Sept., 1877 / by Rushton Parker.

  • Parker, Rushton, 1847-1932.
Date:
[1877]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The prospects of surgery : being the introductory address given at the Liverpool School of Medicine, on 29th Sept., 1877 / by Rushton Parker. 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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    which forms the chief basis of the conception I have of rational medicine. The empirical facts from time to time made known, have been, more or less, handed down, forgotten, re-discovered or bandied about in discussion; being sometimes as stoutly con- tested as at others maintained. By degrees, with the progress of science, not only have empirical facts come to be better understood and more capable of explanation, but the ground work of the new science of rational medicine has been un- doubtedly laid ; in this respect establishing a parallel with the history of philosophy, which has seen the mists of metaphysics quietly disappear under the steady dawn of scientific day. Many have supposed that a victory over .disease could only be reputably obtained by a previous thorough groundwork in the natural history of health ; and upon this idea is based, I imagine, the use of the term empiricism in its bad sense, as implying a hap-hazard, rough-and-ready, rule-of- thumb practice, arrived at, it is supposed, by pure accident, and undeserving the recognition of educated men. It is for this reason, I suppose, that some of us are known as scientific doctors, while others are regarded as so-called practical men. The views implied by these two phrases, while often regarded as antagonistic are both in my opinion deserving of every consideration. There is so much to be learned before anything like a famili-
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