On curettes and curetting / by Alexander Keiller.

  • Keiller, Alexander, 1811-1892.
Date:
[1878]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On curettes and curetting / by Alexander Keiller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    alarm prevail regarding its occurrence ; secondly, that hydrophobia is in ordinary cases a curable affection, provided prompt measures are used for its cure ; thirdly, that the phenomena of the disease point to its clearly specific nature, and to its being derived in man exclusively from the diseased secretions of rabid dogs and of allied animals ; and lastly, that the best means for ensuring the public safety consist in the widespread knowledge of the nature of the disease and of the measures to be adopted for the prevention and cure of the disorder. ‘‘ Knowledge is power ” in truth, in the pres¬ ence of the sudden danger which a rabid dog or a serpent’s tooth, or indeed any other untoward accident, may bring. The know¬ ledge which points the way of safety can in no case be regarded as exaggerating an evil, even although such knowledge deals with details which to non-professional readers may appear unpleasant, and which usually fall to be considered by the physician and surgeon alone. Whilst the diffusion of technical information as a me'ans of averting disease and death may be regarded as exempli¬ fying ^‘saving knowledge” of the most valuable kind. Article VI.—On Curettes and Curetting. By Alexander Keiller, M.D., F.E.C.P.E., Consulting Physician for the Diseases of Women to the Eoyal Infirmary, etc. (Bead before the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society.) The truth, if not the wisdom, of the proverbial phrase, Tempora mutantiir.^ nos et mutamur in illis, certainly applies to this, the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society. The time was, and indeed has not gone long by, when we used to have very few written papers, and such as were then given were short compared to the more lengthy and more carefully-written communications which the spirit of change, if not of improvement, has brought about. I must not, however, and do not specially, object to this obvious change ; but having a keen recollection of the benefits derived from the old conversational style of conducting the Society’s business, which was always practical, I merely refer to it now when, instead of saying the little I have to say, I must, in order not to be singular, do as others do, read any remarks I may have to make. My object in again bringing up this subject so soon after the reading of Dr Munde’s paper is not to find fault with that communication, or with the views therein expressed, but to tender the results of my own experience on a practical matter in which experience alone can prove the safest, because surest, guide. From what was said on the evening when Dr Munde’s com¬ munication was read, I was strongly impressed with the idea that curettes and curetting would become so fashionable amongst us, that there might be a rushing after them, and that the already
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