Volume 1

A dictionary of practical medicine : comprising general pathology, the nature and treatment of diseases ... with numerous prescriptions ... a classification of diseases ... a copious bibliography with references, and an appendix of approved formulæ ... / by James Copland.

  • James Copland
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of practical medicine : comprising general pathology, the nature and treatment of diseases ... with numerous prescriptions ... a classification of diseases ... a copious bibliography with references, and an appendix of approved formulæ ... / by James Copland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    34/1200
    By the plan of his work the Author attempts, at least, to fulfil the great functions of medical writing— to arrest the attention, to engage it with an unflagging interest, to infix what is important or undisputed in the memory, and to carry on the mind, by an enlightened induction, to a due recognition of pathological principles and of therapeutical intentions and precepts. He is unfeignedly conscious that his powers are inadequate to the full attainment of these ends, but he hopes that his attempt will not be without a share of success as respects both the advancement and diffusion of rational medical knowledge, and the health of the community. Having been engaged in discussing medical doctrines and practice from an early period of life, and having promulgated opinions, formed after close observation and due consideration, different from many received or confided in, the Author has lived to see these opinions adopted either very generally, or by many of the best authorities in the profession ; and he therefore hopes that his past experience in medical literature will justify his present undertaking. Whatever defects may exist in this work—and no one is more conscious of them than the Author himself—he believes them to be those of omis- sion, rather than of commission. Much may have been overlooked, but much has been duly recorded, and nothing deserving of notice has been willingly omitted. The Author has referred to the opinions of other medical writers —both of contemporaries and of those who have preceded him—as copiously as the plan of the work could allow. It would have been quite impossible to state these opinions otherwise than in the abstract, and he has done this as succinctly and as correctly as he could. He has been anxious to state the sources from whence he has derived his informa- tion, and he has, he believes, not failed to do so. He has referred chiefly to the names and the views of original writers and observers, and he has not in any instance interrupted the current of his histories of opinions by either eulogy or reprehension. Of those who have contributed to the science to which he has devoted himself he has recorded the labours im- partially, and he has thus evinced his estimation of their value, a value which eulogistic expletives could not have increased. When he has noticed opinions that required examination, in order that truth might be elicited, he has treated no one with disrespect. Although he hopes that his labours have not been without avail, yet he is too deeply impressed by his own deficiencies — he has had too often reason inwardly to regret the imperfect state of his own knowledge of many subjects, particularly in respect of the desired extent of knowledge, — to judge harshly of others. He has considered it better to pass over altogether what he distrusted or considered injurious, than to occupy his pages by adducing it for the pur- pose either of exposure or reprehension. He has not adopted this re- solution from a desire of his own ease, but from a conviction that he would be occupying valuable space, and still more valuable time, without adequate, if indeed any advantage. Although few can be more sensible of the imperfections of his work than the Author himself, yet he hopes the reader who attentively studies his pases will allow him the merit of industrious study of the best me- dical authors, and attentive observation of the causes, course, and conse- quences of disease, and of the effects of remedies. His labours which have been incessant for many years, have been persisted in, under cu-
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3