[Review of works on medical ethics / by Thomas Percival and others. Anon.

  • John Brown
Date:
1850]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Review of works on medical ethics / by Thomas Percival and others. Anon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and nature will figlit it out, while he stands by and enjoys the battle,—except in desperate cases, when death must be expelled by death. Lest his apothe¬ cary should oversee, he oversees his apothecary. He brings not news, like a false spy, that the coast is clear, till death surprises the sick man. I know physicians love to make the best of their patient’s estate ; first, say they, it is improper that adjutores vitos should be nuncii mortis; secondly, none with their goodwill will tell bad news ; thirdly, their fee may be the worse for it; fourthly, it is confessing their art beaten ; fifthly, it will poison their patient’s heart with grief. So far well; but they may so order it, that the party may be informed wisely, and not outed of this world before he is provided for another.” We give the last sentence of his “ Life of Paracelsus,” that renowned, but ill-understood, medley of evil and good, darkness and light, of quackery and skill:— “ In a word, he boasted of more than he could do; did more cures seemingly than really, more cures really than lawfully; of more parts than learning, of more fame than parts ; a better physician than a man, a better chirurgeon than physician.” Here are the chief points of the degenerous gentleman,”—-they are like mottos to the chapters on the physiology of the noble rake in all ages:— He goes to school to learn in jest, and play in earnest. His brother’s serv¬ ing men, which he counts no mean preferment, admit him into their society ; coming to the university, his study is to study nothing ; at the inns of court, pretending to learn law, he learns to be lawless, and grows acquainted with the ‘ roaring hoys.’’ Through the mediation of a scrivener, he is introduced to some great usurer,” &c. &c. Sir Thomas Browne’s Religio Mediciy though full of true mo¬ rality,—of subtle and profound thought, and most pathetic touches, —as well as instinct with his own peculiar, grave, antique humour, and quaint thought—as odd as the root of an orchis, and, in its expression, as richly emblazoned with colours, as queerly gibbous as its flower, has less to do with our immediate subject than his ‘‘ Christian Morals,” wdiich are w^ell worth the perusing. 'Here is a sample:— Live up to the dignity of thy nature; desert not thy title to a divine par¬ ticle—have a glimpse of incomprehensibles, and thoughts of things that thoughts but tenderdy touch. Lodge immaterials in thy head, ascend until invisibles fill thy spirit with spirituals, with the mysteries of faith, the mag- nalities of religion, and thy life with the honour of God.” This is good wholesome advice at any time, and not the least so now, when sensible things are cross-questioning us more keenly and urgently than ever, when matter is disclosing fresh wonders every day, and telling her secrets in crowds; and, when we are too apt to be absorbed in her—to forget that there is something else than this earth—that there is more than meets the eye and ear—^that seeing is not believing—that it is pleasant, refreshing, and wholesome, after the hurry and heat and din of the day, its lights and its eager work, to cool the eye and the mind,
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