On the class of medical literature most needed at the present day : addressed to the students of St. Bartholomew's Hospital / by Horace Dobell.

  • Dobell, Horace Benge, 1828-1917.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the class of medical literature most needed at the present day : addressed to the students of St. Bartholomew's Hospital / by Horace Dobell. 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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    FAILURE OP THE there is another very important view of the matter which we have not yet considered ; one which, I think, shoiild always be taken when considering the history of periods : I mean, a view of the eflPects of the Greek philosophy, not as to whether it answered the end for which it was adopted, not as to the correctness of theories then constructed, or the truth of axioms then held, — but a view of the Greek philosophy in the aggregate,— of all the philosophers, all their systems, all their failures, and all their successes, classed together as constituting the philosophical period in the history of the sciences, and of medical science in particular. Now, as the effect cannot be coincident with the cause, but must follow it, if we wish to learn the effect of the philosophical period we must not examine that period, but the one which succeeded it; and it is extremely interesting to do so in the present case, for the effect so forcibly arrests our notice, — That which followed the philosophical was the anatomical period. The effect of the failure in philo- sophy was to call for anatomy : and from this we learn that those who for 180 years had employed such noble talents in endeavouring to improve a science by reason, had, by the endeavour, pointed out that the materials for that reason to work with were yet de- ficient. It is a common opinion, and has also been held and sup- ported by those who have studied the subject, that the Greeks disregarded experience, and spun their philosophy out of their own thoughts alone; and this is supposed by many to be their essential error, — that the chief cause of their failure was the neglect and ignorance of facts.* Now, with respect to the sciences in general, we cannot doubt that many facts were wanting; that, indeed, all those were deficient which have been discovered since. So far, therefore, there certainly was an ignorance of facts; but I do not think we can justly accuse the Greeks of neglecting facts; on the other hand, we see by their works that they were most sedulous in collecting and arranging all that they then knew: and this opinion is expressed by Dr. Whewell. He says — I will first notice some errors which may naturally occur to the mind as possible causes of failure, but which we shall be able to show were not the real reasons in this case. The cause of failure was not the neglect of facts. I conceive, he says, it may be shown that the Greek philosophy did in its opinions recognise the paramount value of observations, » History of the Inductive Sciences, by the Eev.W. Whewell, M.A., vii). i. p. 73. Parker, ] 837 .